Blogs from Flores, Petén Region, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean - page 29

From rainy rainy Coban we left our hotel early to get the one direct bus which we had been told left at 10am. While walking through the market looking for the bus terminal, we were stopped by a guy who asked us where we were going. We told him Flores and he said, hang on, got out his cellphone and phoned someone. Next thing we know he tells us sit in the cafe , order a coffee, the bus will be here in a moment. This was strange because we were told it was a large pullman bus that left at 10, and it was 9.15....Apparently the buses don't always go in low season, and even in the small shuttle there were just four of us. We had a pretty smooth ride to Sayaxhe where we ... read more

Pour repondre a ta question sensei Jean, quand je m'entraine seul les differentes reactions que je vois c'est : Si c'est une petite ville, les jeunes garcons s'installent non loin et me regarde faire, j'ai l'impression qu'ils aimeraient ca pouvoir en faire eu aussi, mais c'est mon impression. Les jeunes filles souvent elles rient ou bien elles se retiennent pour ne pas rire et elles continuent a marcher. Les femmes plus agees qui reviennent des champs ou bien de faire leur lavage dans la riviere, elles sourient * on dirait qu'ils sont nees avec un sourrire, c'est agreable * Les hommes ne portent pas vraiment attention, tu es un touriste c'est normal que tu sois different. Si c'est une grosse ville ou bien sur le bord de la plage, souvent les gens connaisse plus les arts ... read more

The day began on the bus up from Guatemala City that had been our bed for the night. Just before we reached our final destination of Flores, an island town in northern Guatemala, the bus stopped by a minibus parked at the side of the road who it turned out was offering free hotel drop-offs (the bus station isn't on the island). We took that offer, and also paid for a ride to Tikal from the same company, which was obviously the idea. But it all worked out extremely well - we had time to make ourselves feel human again after the overnight bus trip, and before we knew it we were heading to Tikal. Tikal is a site of Mayan ruins, of what were once pretty magnificent temples and such like, in the middle of ... read more

5 am was announced by the chickens outside our window. We packed our bags, which has become much easier since a routine has been established. Dirty clothes and shoes / sandals in the bottom, then extra books, first aid kit and homeopathy remedies, clean clothes, and rain jacket close to the top. Zip lock bags containing 4 pieces of similar clothing make it easy to extract what you need at short notice. Before leaving, Katharine found two other travellers sleeping outside having arrived to Palenque in the middle of the night, and invited them to use our room for the rest of the morning. Since they were greatly admiring our head torches, Katharine managed to find (in her now super organised bag) her second head torch, which she gave to them. It was greatly appreciated and ... read more

Flores is a very pretty little town on an island in the middle of a lake. It is connected to the mainland town of St. Elena by a bridge and you can easily walk between the two. Flores is also quite expensive being the main town base for tourists, such as ourselves, wanting to visit the famous mayan ruins at Tikal, an hour away in the jungle. As always hotel staff and tour shops are touting for your business as soon as you step foot in the town and after weighing up the costs we decided it was worth paying the extra to visit Tikal with a tour guide to see the sunrise which also meant we could get the night bus out the next day. After securing our tour tickets we had a wander around ... read more