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Published: March 21st 2009
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Tim Version:
* Went to Flores, not such a fan... the whole island is void of anything natural now.
* Saw Tikal, freakin incredible! Worth the travel for sure, its granduer is just amazing!
The version that ran from the fireworks covered bull-man-thing!:
Arriving in Flores from Coban I was a little disheartened! Hoping that the isand would have some natural areas left I was mistaken, it is 100% concrete and made up. It may as well not be an island at all. The bridge over to it is a bit laughable too, with Gallo beer owning the whole place with their banner printed all over the entrance. Its a bit of a disgusting look at corporate ownership and sponsorship gone way too far. I walked around the island but really there is nothing to see either on the mainland or on the island. It is however a good jumping point for Tikal, and thats why I am here.
Tikal time! Excited, this is one of the biggest things I wanted to see while here! I booked a 5am bus to get an early start. Thinking I might sleep in, I borrowed an alarmfrom the hostel
but it turned out my natural body alarm clock was still working perfectly and I didn't need it and was the first one to the bus in the morning! I don't think of myself as too organised but I think I must be as time and time again I'm the first one at the bus or plane I need, I have the gear for all the stuff I wanna do which many don't (i.e. people trekking in thongs, bringing a non-waterproof camera to a water filled place, not bringing water to drink etc). Must be the nerdy side of me I think. The bus turned out to be 20 minutes late leaving because of George, although not through a fault of his own, but it was early enough.
When we got to Tikal there was heavy cloud, and even with taking our time to climb the largest temple with the magic view you'll see in the my photos, it didn't matter that we weren't there at sunrise because the cloud covered nearly everything! Still, a pretty incredible view. As for the rest of Tikal, it is almost void of carvings but its granduer and the walks between temples are
Lake edge - damnit people, stop littering your home!
People are on the roadside bathing themselves too, having to dodge the plastic rubbish around them... amazing! Many more monkeys to look at, as well as other types of wildlife like a little mammal I caught sight of that I can't put a name to, provided that you walk quietly on the paths and don't rush too much. Its all there but only if you take the time to see it! One particular temple was awesome to climb, with the Guatemalans having replaced the steep steps for an even steeper set of wooden steps, heh not a change I particularly understand but hey. Steep enough that there were many people making it to the top then too scared to go down! The view though is completely worth it, unreal... The mixture of man and nature is good too, with not everything excavated so you see how nature reclaimed the area after it was abandoned. I ended up staying until 4:30pm, a tonne of time, and loved every minute of it. I even got to see the Mayan ritual going on that you will see in the photos. At the main central spot I somehow managed to land the job as photographer as person after person kept asking me to take photos of them, but on the
Gallo owns you
The entrance to Flores, totally owned by Gallo to a laughable extent! upside I'm now in many a family holiday album as it all usually ended up with them getting a shot with me!
Back in Tikal people were talking about a religious festival going on that night, and it turned out to be a hell of a lot of fun! With fireworks firstly being shot off from a cross type setup, into th crowd, into the trees, into building windows and everywhere, it gave it an exciting start, with people ducking for cover but always wanting to stay right in the action. That was then followed by a site I was really hoping to see and was so happy i caught, with a crazy guy in a wooden rectangular thing with a bull head, loaded to hell with fireworks going off in every direction, as he charged around the place chasing everyone with these fireworks going off all over him! Plenty more being shot into crowds and kids, whenever he would charge the crowd there was the beautiful sound of kids giggling and screaming (ok, it sounds creepy saying "beautiful sound" and "kids screaming", but I mean that happy excited fair ground type scream OK? sickos....) and the crowd moving
like a wave to avoid the fiery bolts. It was a good happy end to Guatemala as it isn't a country I'm much of a fan of.
Now for some tropical beach time again... Belize!
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