Flores, Tikal - Gautamala

---

Unfortunately we left Belize unhappy, as Lizzie got her wallet stolen the night before we left. She was obviously distraught as all her cards were in it, and it didn´t help that it was 4:30am. We were leaving the club and saying goodbye to friends, and there were all these people around us, and my bag was zipped shut and we think someone took her wallet. Lizzie managed to ring home and get her parents to cancel her cards, and we made a police report the next morning. So the journey to Flores wasn´t the greatest as Lizzie had had nearly no sleep and I had only a few hours.

Crossing the border was very exciting, as there were lots of guards with guns, and we knew we were to fetched on the other side, but weren´t too sure of where the bus had got to. Ended up not having enough money to go into Gautamala. I got out enough to exit Belize, but not to enter Gautamala, lucklily a lovely guy from Madrid paid for us to go through.

Once we got back onto the bus it was plain sailing to Flores. You could tell the difference as soon as we entered Gautamala, as suddenly the roads were no longer paved and the housing was less substantial than belize.

We got to Flores last night and checked into a lovely hotel on the lake´s edge. At 3.50 pounds for a double room, with onsuite, it is really cheap. We got up early to go to Tikal - a huge site of 364 square KMs. It is the site of a great mayan city, and some of the buildings have been excevated. It took us 4 and half hours to look through the main temples and pyramids. we had a lovely guide, who without I´m sure we would have got lost as the whole thing was set in thick rainforest with very little in the way of structured paths. It dates back to 600-900 DC and was very interesting, and hugely impressively. I will have ot show photos when I return.

Well we are now going to relax by the lake and maybe go for a swim.

---