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Published: March 24th 2008
Flores
We liked the yellow house very much!!!!!20th - 22nd February
We left our Museum at 5am on Wednesday morning, we had a long day of travelling as Antigua was located at the south of Guatemala & we were heading to the Northern town of Flores not far from the Belizian border.So we drove through the whole country pretty much.
We got to Flores in the late afternoon its a small town on a island in a middle of a lake, and we were told that its the only safe town to stay in this part of the counrty.
We soon found a bar on the lake and ended up in the water pretty quick too! This night was the night of the lunar eclipse and we found another bar with a perfect view of the moon. However mother nature was not kind to us and with minutes to spare a dark cloud moved over the Moon & we missed the eclipse.
The next morning we awoke early again. This time at 3am. Why you ask? Well........ we were going to Tikal which was actually only an hour drive away. The plan was to get there for the sunrise over the ruins which was described by our
tour leader Chimi as for most people its the highlight of the whole trip!
We got to the park entarance still pitch black and hiked through the middle of the Jungle to get to temple 4. The noise of the bugs was deafening and it was extremly hot & humid. After 40 mins or so we got to the temple & climbed the wooden staircase at the side to the top. We found a spot and sat down looking over the complex, which still at this point was incredibly dark. There was also a thick mist over the Jungle and as the Sun slowly came up we could not see a lot except the odd tree. Actually this happens most of the time here in Tikal but apparently on the rare occasion when it is clear you can see every Mayan temple on the complex. So it was kinda a waste of time....... exept for the Howler Monkeys. As the Sun came up the eary howles from these creatures became louder & louder. The noise is very hard to describe but if you didn't know what was making the noise, You would be S***t scared in fact Steven Spielburg recorded
them for Dinosour noises in the Jurrasic Park films.
Anyway after the Sun came up & the howles stopped we followed our guide down the wooden stairs and into the Jungle. He was looking for Wildlife and soon found the howlers in the trees avove us. He then let rip his version of the howel and the monkeys talked back but louder then before. We could see them swinging from tree to tree and was amazing to see them in the wild so close up.
He then took us round the ruins themselves stopping every now and then to point out the odd bird species. The ruins here are much more impressive than anything we have seen so far & my favourite of them all was temple 5. Wow this thing was huge!!! I climbed the staircase on the side which was more like a ladder to the top, and looked down to see becci on the ground the size of an ant.
After a few hours walking around the complex and climbing all 5 temples we walked back through the jungle back to our minivan. Although the Sunrise was a bit of an anticlimax it was well worth going
that early. We missed all the crowds of tourists which were arriving as we were leaving & we got to experience the howles from those monkeys and a lot of other wildlife the Jungle had to offer.
We had a lie in the following morning & were due to leave Flores for the Belizian border at a more reasonable 10am. Before we piled into the minivan Bex, Rachel, Nikki & Alana & I went for one last swim in the lake.
Guatemala is a great place to visit. Spectacular mountainous landscapes with volcanoes & lakes and Antigua is a stunning & lively city. You have to be careful & stick to the tourist routes as we heard alot of horror stories of kidnapping & murders of tourists. However Bex and I felt 100% safe all the time we were here and the Guatemalean people we met were very friendly & I for sure would definately like to return one day.
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