Blogs from Tikal, Petén Region, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean

Today we went to Tikal using a shuttle we booked when we arrived in Flores. There was some confusion as the company we booked with didn't show up and we went with a different company that traded in our voucher. We arrived and checked into the Jungle lodge. We have been really lucky because we haven't had any of our hotels booked in advance but it is the low season and there are hardly any tourists. We toured part of Tikal on our own today but by 1:30 it was so hot we had to leave. Back in the room we met the resident lizard we promptly named short tail Willie. We hung out at the pool for about 2 hours. The water was hot but felt good after the hot walk. We then went to ... read more

Guatemala has always me think of two things: worry dolls; Those miniature colourful woven cotton handmade figurines kept in matchboxes and purchasable from the shop ‘Evolution’ “to take away your worries” and my friend Tree whose parents spent much of her formative years working tirelessly on human rights for Amnesty International in this part of the world. That’s it. I know little else about Country Number 2 of this travel adventure…. Leaving Mexico behind and crossing our first border took me further East into the isthmus of Central America. We decided to pay for the privilege of a ‘shuttle bus’ from San Cristobal to Lake Atilan as border crossings can be notoriously challenging and with warnings of the dangers of doing it alone, we wanted the easy option. For a few pesos more, the chicken bus ... read more

As we continued on an outer circle around the ruins, we came across some areas called complexes which were identified with letters instead of numbers. The complexes did not features such large temples, and some none at all. The one thing that they all did feature was a set of impressive hieroglyphic rock carvings (the best of which are now in museums) which contained the text of the ancient Maya. After having visited a few of these complexes, we noticed that the clouds started lifting at which point we decided to start making our way back to Temple IV – now about 25 minutes away. As we were walking through a trail in which we didn't encounter another visitor of park, we heard a crash in the trees above us and soon realized that there were ... read more

Hola! Tikal Mayan ruins were nothing short of spectacular. The ruins are amazing - as is the setting! Set deep in the jungle and sprawled over 25 square miles you walk through a series of trails to each site whilst monkeys and birds sit above you in the canopy. The excavation work that has been put into recovering such an interesting settlement has been in itself amazing. Imagine having to remove centuries of the rainforest growth in the blistering heat and humidity, when all you have is a machete? Many Mayan sites have been dated between 2000 years BC to 900 years AD, or later until the Spanish arrived in the 1500's or so. There are periods of classification during this time to indicate the type of building style they used, the style of ceramics they ... read more

Sitiing on the first bus we took in gauatemala for six hours, accompanied by a rather pungent smell of urine, and a spitting child, meant it was a relief to finally arrive in Flores. Flores is a little island, surrounded by a lake and is very pleasant to walk around. It is also the proud owner of a Christmas tree complete with star wars music (awful and continuous) and a cockerel at the top. Lots of street food - cakes, dips, colours, music, live band. We avoided this on arrival thinking it would be a permanent feature - why party on a thursday? Spent the next few days in regret, with no street food in sight: Tikal. Early start, 4am to avoid tourists. Went on a tour this time. Paid lots of attention in the horoscopes ... read more