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Published: March 14th 2009
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On the bus, Off the bus, On the bus, Off the bus....Ooops you missed it!
I had said goodbye to Antigua & school. Now armed with my three exercise books filled with all my worldly knowledge of Spanish (minus my dictionary which I had lost in Honduras - no! I haven't spoken about Honduras yet!), I set off with Jennifer to hit the tourist trail of Guatemala. We were off to visit the three main sights (Or the sights that I hadn't seen yet, really!).
* Tikal
* Rio Dulce & Livingston
* Lanquin & Sempuc Champey
Destination 1: Flores & Tikal We caught the 6:30pm luxury bus (essentially like greyhound bus) from Antigua for Tikal on Sunday. Given the 11 hour journey, we opted for the extra luxury to numb the arse pain a bit more. The ride itself was un-noteworthy except for the fact that I had about 3 hours sleep and I was forced to sit through two movies in Spanish...sigh!. We eventually reached the town of Flores - our base to visit the Mayan ruins of Tikal - at around 4:30am.
It would come as no surprise to anyone -
that I was not in fine form at that time of the morning. Dumped in the middle of an unknown town and being harrased by taxi drivers was not the most pleasant of experiences. Once we had gotten our bearings - Jen & I made our way to our Hostel (Hostel Doña Goya 2) to meet up with another girl from our school - Johanna. At that time of the morning - nothing was open (Really?) and neither was the hostel. We had reserved a room for 3 people and were told that we had to wait for later that morning because there were people still in the room (Again, I say - really?). We had no choice but to dump our bags in the Hostel while we went to the rooftop to try and get a few hours sleep in one of their hammocks. Did I mention the weather? Yes it is cold! Yes the rooftop is windy! No I did not have appropriate clothing for the climate! No I did not have anything to use as a blanket! and lastly - No I didn't get any sleep!!!! 😞.
I stayed up there till the sun came up
then made my way back downstairs to find out what was happening with my room -
"9:30am and it will be ready for you!" He said. I wandered around the streets to see to the town. It didn't take me very long to realise that it was not a very pleasant town! I had obviously gotten there at the same time as they were undergoing massive road reconstructions. Basically most of the roads throughout the town (it isn't very big) were removed, leaving nothing but bare dirt underneath & piles of rubble on the side. It was dirty, dusty & rather drab - Now that in itself didn't bother, it was more the fact that after walking around for an hour - There was nothing else to see! Nothing else to do! The locals had dour looks on their faces and wouldn't respond to a Buenas Dias or even a smile from me. When I walked into a tour office or a restaurant - I felt like I was bothering them from whatever it was they were doing. They would manage a grunt my way or not even both to turn around in other instances. Bored & hungry - I
made my way back to the Hostel to see if my room was ready & if the girls were awake so we could grab a bite and go to Tikal.
Surprise, Surprise - My room was not ready at 9:30am. In fact the guy at the front desk didn't actually know when it would be ready......Ummm - I had been traveling for 11 hours & had subsisted on 3 hours sleep - This was not music to my ears. It's amazing how quickly all of your Spanish Lessons come to hand when you need it - as sweet as pie (Ahem! - Tis true), I managed to convince him that it would be a wonderful thing to have the room ready 'quickly'. I must have hit the right note (I was very nice - honestly. It was the combination of begging in Spanglish - that did the trick) because my room was ready a few minutes later.
A place to call home, a nice bed & a warm shower does wonders for a girl like me.......All I needed now was a cup of coffee. This is Guatemala, the land of coffee - How hard can that be?.
Just arsing about....
Howler monkeys enjoying themselves We picked a place
"Restaurant Les Brises". It looked decent enough, okay a bit on the cheap side, a bit dingy & a bit dark - but still okay. It wasn't. The coffee was grey, with a pool of what looked like black mud everytime you dipped your teaspoon in. It was as if they thought coffee was made my including the used coffee granules that are usually thrown out. This didn't bode well for the rest of my meal....Sadly it all went down hill from there - sludge for coffee & sludge for breakfast - The day was not getting any brighter.
It was at that point that Jen & I decided to chuck in Flores and leave town on the next bus the following day, after our visit to Tikal. A truly wonderful idea!
Tikal is one of largest archaeological sights of pre-Colombian Maya civilization dating back to the 4th century BC. Visiting it from Flores involves a 1 hour journey by shuttle bus (cost = 60Q) to reach the National Park of Tikal. The entrance fees have sky-rocketed since July 2007 and it cost us 150Q plus an additional 20Q to get a map of
All the things you cant do in Tikal
The first thing you see when you walk in the location. I was a little uncertain about what to expect when I got there - was it going to be some big tourist showcase, done in the same vein as the Pyramids in Egypt - All lit up and filled with hawkers - but no! That wasn't the case. As you reach the entrance gate - you are met with one or two 'guides' who are more than happy to give you a guided tour of the park. They usually cost anywhere between 300 - 500Q depending on the group size if you are so enclined and if you don't want their services, they are gracious enough to accept - will give you a tip or two about what to see and leave you to go off on your own. We were happy enough with our map and wandered along the paths through the jungle to see the various Mayan ruins on our own. It is a very large "park" and without a map it gets a bit confusing. There are very few sign-posts and it is essentially a matter of walking through the jungle paths, identifying the temples along the way to guide you to your next destination.
To prove we were here!
Johanna, Me & Jennifer Along the way, it isn't hard to spot howler monkeys and an assortment of birds in the large Ceiba trees (Sacred Maya trees) scattered everywhere throughout the area.
In comparison to Copan, Honduras - the ruins in Tikal are very weather worn, with most of the intricate detailing and colours destroyed. However what it lacked in detail it made up for in sheer size as the Temples are ones the largest in Central America. We climbed to the top Temple 4 - A must do! The top of the temple (although currently undergoing restoration) has sweeping views of the jungle below, with the tops of the other Temple complexes jutting through the growth. It gives you a understanding of what this area may have been like when it was first discovered, all heavily covered with an abundance of trees and jungle.
After that we made our way back to the entrance to catch the second last shuttle bus back to Flores. Later that night the three of us went out to find somewhere decent to eat amonst the many restaurants along the main strip. Anything better than the swill we served earlier that morning. We found a place
The jungle walk
Es muy tranquillo..... recommended to us by the guy who sold us our onward bus tickets to Rio Dulce and had our last meal together with Johanna....
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