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Published: September 20th 2015
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Off again for another early morning border crossing, from Honduras back to Guatemala. We had a long way to go from Copan Ruinas to Flores so we were up bright and early making our way over the border to Chiquimula. The bus from the border was uneventful and all the research about buses north went out the window when we reached Chiquimula. Our Letigua (it's a company) bus driver had us get out near the main market when we told him we were heading north and another man helped us carry our bags to the Maria Elena (another company) office near the main bus stops; he didn't even pause for a tip when we got there. We originally bought a ticket to Rio Dulce but later realized they ran a bus an hour later the full distance up to Santa Elena (the main city near the Tikal ruins which was our intended destination) for GTQ100. The ride was a long and warm coach ride but the open windows made the trip bearable, and it was only slightly uncomfortable when the bus stopped. It felt like the ride took forever, but once the bus emptied out near Poptun and the speed bumps
Hanging out on Yarvin IV
An 8 second shot used in Star Wars: A New Hope was filmed here. eased off the road it felt like we were flying. In Santa Elena we were able to catch a cab for GTQ10 each from the bus station to Flores (an island town) where our hostel was.
At the hostel we had some supper and got pointers about going to Tikal, the main Mayan ruins nearby. The next day we opted to go for the sunset tour, it was GTQ20 more since the ruins were supposed to close at 1800hrs but the sunset was after that. Not sure if it was all above board, but we did have the extra security guards there after the park closed. This was also the first time we had a tour guide at any of the ruins. All told he offered some great background on the entire Mayan culture and history but, for Dan, the local information regarding Tikal was a little lacking. Some of the dates were cool, like the 'Lost Temple' having it's base built around BC640 and the final construction in Tikal being around AD860; about 1,500 years of contruction. Another interesting number he threw out was that when Tikal was at it's peak, supporting a population of about 250,000 people,
Close Bird
Animals were more active out of the heat of the day. London in Britain was supporting about 7,000. Our guide expressed that one of the most accepted theories for the decline of the civilization was a fifty year drought that undermined the demi-god ruling class, showing that they couldn't control the rains. Dan was mostly surprised that such an early civilization could survive a fifty year drought; they must have had a pretty good water management system. While walking around the park we spotted a bit of wildlife too; lazy howler monkeys, busy spider monkeys, toucans, raccoon like coati, colorful turkeys, and a myriad of flying birds. We spent the sunset on Temple 4 looking out over the jungle. Temple four also happened to be the view point in Star Wars: Ep 4 A New Hope, so that was pretty neat for the nerdier among us.
We planned a river border crossing to Mexico for the morning, but that got side tracked when we learned of someone else crossing the border. It sounded like they might know what they're doing so we were going to try to catch him in the morning and tag along.
More pictures
here.
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