Blogs from Flores, Petén Region, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean - page 16

Border crossing We got picked up early to start our way over to Guatemala, bit of a bus ride then we stopped for breakfast and made our way to the river and immigration. While we were waiting for we dont know what, this older, pot bellied, grimy, loud gringo made his way over with his suitcase. For some reason, the guy in charge decided to give him our four tickets putting him in charge. Once he realized this guy didnt even have a ticket and was a bit off his rocker, he took them back. We expected the 25 minute ride across the river to Guatemala to be on a boat but it was a skinny little fiberglass 'boat'. We slipped and squished thru the mud down the hill with our gear, almost losing our thongs ... read more

Apres avoir roule toute la nuit en bus depuis Antigua avec 3 autres etudiants, nous voila arrives a Sante Elena/Flores, a l'autre bout du Guatemala (8 heures de route en bus depuis Guatemala Ciudad). Une chose est certaine, au Guatemala, tout achat entraine une discussion sur le prix, tout se negocie. Cette fois, l'enjeu : les billets de transfert jusqu'au parc de Tikal et les billets retour le lendemain jusqu'a Guatemala City. Ensuite, nous poursuivons notre voyage dans un minibus. Une heure plus tard, nous entrons dans le parc de Tikal... C'etait un voyage avec bcp d'improvisation, mais sympa quand meme. Les ruines mayas sont nombreuses, impressionnantes, gigantesques. Parcourir l'entierete du site nous demande efforts physiques et ravitaillement regulier en eau. La pluie n'est pas de la partie, il fait chaud, tres chaud. Nous avons aussi ... read more

We left for Palenque last Friday and en route stopped at 2 waterfalls in the mountains. The first one, Agua Azul, was quite impressive but didnt really compare to the second, Misol Ha. We went swimming at the bottom of a 30ft waterfall in the Mexican mountains and when we were in there it started chucking it down with rain (no it wasnt just the waterfall, we're not that stupid!) which was pretty special. We got to Palenque and went straight to the Mayan ruins and climbed the huge stone pyramids and fabricating our own version of Mayan history (we were too cheap to pay for a tour guide!). We stayed in a hostel in the middle of the jungle and woke up to the sound of howler monkeys each morning, the evenings were pretty good ... read more

Buenas Dias from the tropical city of Flores, regional capital of El Peten in the North East of Guatemala! I left Xela on a chicken bus around 8 in the morning and we arrived in Guat city just after midday. From there, a quick bus up to antigua, where I met up with my host family in order to drop a few things off with them so I have a bit less to carry around with me. It actually worked out that taking the chicken buses was faster, cheaper and more fun than using the coach company that I went to Xela with - we never broke down once! The night bus to Flores Afterwards, I chilled out in Antigua until 6:30pm, when I was met by a person from the agency that I'd booked my ... read more

Feeling Tikalish - by George Knackered from our epic journey through Guatemala we arrived in El Remate, our base for the next couple of days. What brought us to the North Eastern part of Guatemala, so close to Belize and Mexico? Tikal, heart of the Mayan Empire. Much of the history behind the Maya and more specifically Tikal is unknown and everything that is currently believed may be poo-poo'ed in the future. Tikal was first inhabited before the birth of Christ and was abandoned in the mid 10th Century. Currently En Vogue at the moment is the belief that there was a massive drought and with no natural water sources the giant city of approximately 150,000 people could not be sustained. Somehow Kate and I had managed to get ourselves a private tour with an excellent ... read more