http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Flores-Tikal/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Central America Caribbean , Guatemala , Flores Tikal en-us Mon, 07 Dec 09 06:27:38 +0000 Mon, 07 Dec 09 06:27:38 +0000 Our first bus journey once it finally left Belize City proved to be mega easy. The driver did not believe in hanging about so we arrived in Flores in about 4.5 hours.Loved Belize but it was time to move on and by going by bus you get so see so much of the countryside along the way. It was also nice to see the war memorials just outside the city still with their poppies in place. The border was http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Flores-Tikal/blog-454274.html Alright peeps....sorry Ive been none existant but internet access has been limited.So I left belize and went back into guatemala. Did my second border crossing..this one by foot. Took a bus to the Belizean Border...did the imigracion business walked across a bridge and did the guatemalan imigracion business and then hoped on a shuttle to Las Flores. I ended up being the only person on the shut http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Flores-Tikal/blog-446426.html For travel journal click here To view a photo in a larger size please click on it. http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Flores-Tikal/blog-444561.html Tourist hassleFrom Lanquin I went to a small town Flores. This was the first time I took one of the tourist shuttles. So the busride was less interesting but surely much faster. After six or seven hours we reached the destination. But just before the busdriver stopped at an ATM nearby and said the ATMrsquos at Flores didnrsquot work. Kind of strange especially when I saw later that the ATMrs http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Flores-Tikal/blog-441377.html We must confess we hardly gave Guatemala city a chance. We arrived from San Pedro on Monday afternoon September 21. About an hour later we were sheltering from the worst rain storm we had seen yet. The streets flooded in a matter of minutes. After an evening meal of decent pizza again we left the dark and dangerous night and hid in our hotel until morning. We arose early took a few pictur http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Flores-Tikal/blog-440795.html Another interesting border crossing where you queue to pay and leave one country and then walk a few hundred metres to the next border where you queue and pay to enter it. Guatemela is immediately different with lots of ranchesfarms white cowboyhatted farmers on horses and fields of maize on cleared jungle hills. After arriving on the small pretty island of Flores we spent the afternoon cool http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Flores-Tikal/blog-438245.html After a short mini bus ride back to Guatemala City we jumped on to the bus to Flores armed with jumpers in case it was cold. Unfortunately jumpers werent enough and we found ourselves shivering in our seats and praying that the journey would go quickly. It wasnt to be and we arrived virtually sleepless in Flores early the next morning. As soon as we got off the bus we were surrounded by tax http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Flores-Tikal/blog-436366.html Waking up before sunrise to animal noises working all day cleaning up poop and dodging the monkeys peeing on you from above eating tasteless horrible food covered in bug bites mopping up toilet and rain water from the bedroom floor daily and at night checking each others hair for lice while the girls seperated by paper thin walls in the room nextdoor have dance parties listening to horrible http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Flores-Tikal/blog-429029.html Situated in the northern part of Guatemala the ruins of Tikal are considered by many to be the best remaining examples of Mayan architecture around. They are certainly the hottest.As we climbed onboard the battered minibus in Flores at 5am the air was thick with anticipation. Even the driver slumped halfasleep over the wheel with headphones hanging from his ears failed to quell the feeling of http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Flores-Tikal/blog-428146.html So yes how many people can say they have done that in their lifetime It's certainly something I never envisaged myself doing First things first upon leaving Buenos Aires I had a couple of flights up to Miami then back down to Guatemala City with a 9 hour wait at the airport in between them. I arrived there and managed to catch a taxi fairly quickly and cheaply to Antigua. I headed to the http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Flores-Tikal/blog-427284.html Health Alert...From the looks of it my frequent painful battles with gastrointestinal complications are a thing of the past if you dont count my erosive esopheghitis. My system is as strong as a donkey. Im back to the good oldays of devouring any type of street food Hondu and Guate can throw at me. Once again Im living an intrepid gastronomic free for all. Over all movements are solid fre http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Flores-Tikal/blog-427082.html reflections of tikal http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Flores-Tikal/blog-423705.html Its hot Im sweaty and sat in a laundrettecomeinternet cafe. Im in a little town called Flores in Guatemala we got here yesterday evening. The last few weeks have been amazing so good infact I barely have time to update this motherbitch of a blog The second week in Costa Rica was incredible eveyone in the group got on really well and we had an amazing time white water rafting salsa dancing http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Flores-Tikal/blog-421211.html Getting up at the ungodly hour of 4am was actually OK. Reason being we had though that the minibus taking us to Tikal was going to get us there in time to climb a temple to watch teh sun rise. Of course no such thing happened or could have happened as we found out while watching the sun rise from the minibus seats that the gate of the site didnt even open till 6am well after sun rise. So http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Flores-Tikal/blog-419506.html we have visited tikal for the past two days. we really like it here and I will come back here again and recommend this area for a great family vacation. The kids would love to be in a real Jungle with real Monkeys and wonderfull birds and great big plants. You can climb on the temples as you see in our photos if we get this right http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Flores-Tikal/blog-416969.html Na het oversteken van de grens merkten we meteen dat we in een totaal verschillend land terecht kwamende wegen onverhard en hobbelig veel kleine hutjes en mensen in traditionele indianenkleren veel koeien met een slobberige nek langs de weg het type heilige koe van India.We kwamen aan op het eilandje Flores middenin een meer. De buschauffeur zette ons af aan de hostel Los Amigos gehouden doo http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Flores-Tikal/blog-416258.html The border crossing from Mexico to Guatemala was quite unique and went surprisingly smooth. In Mexico I visited the small immigration office in Frontera Corozal where I was asked to pay M100 for a reentry visa to Mexico. Then I walked down to the Usumacinta river which forms the border between Mexico and Guatemala. I joined some fellow backpackers for the 20 minute boat ride to the Guatemalan s http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Flores-Tikal/blog-409537.html The following are just a few of the photos I took while visiting the ruins in Tikal during the month of March '09. The Parque National Tikal has the website www.parquetikal.com. I would suggest taking a look when time permits as the site would provide interesting information regarding the ancient Mayan culture and beautiful photos of the natural surroundings. http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Flores-Tikal/blog-402764.html Have to admit I was a little aprehensive of coming here after all the warnings I had read and advice theat had been received. It was going to either be a place I'd want get out of quick or it would be completely friendly and I would question what I was worried about in the first place. Well after a few days here I can safely say its definately the latter. Sure parts of Guatemala City look a bit s http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Flores-Tikal/blog-402110.html Day 784 23.05.09We'd made our way to Flores the previous day so that we could visit the Mayan ruins at Tikal. The Mayan people settled in the area around 700BC and began to build stone ceremonial structures around 200 years later. The ruins of thousands of buildings and temples that remained were rediscovered in the depths of the Guatemalan jungle in 1848 and have since been explored semiresto http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Flores-Tikal/blog-401984.html