Blogs from Petén Region, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean - page 17

After a short mini bus ride back to Guatemala City, we jumped on to the bus to Flores, armed with jumpers in case it was cold. Unfortunately, jumpers weren´t enough and we found ourselves shivering in our seats and praying that the journey would go quickly. It wasn´t to be, and we arrived virtually sleepless in Flores early the next morning. As soon as we got off the bus, we were surrounded by taxi drivers offering to take us straight to the Tikal ruins. As we wanted to dump our stuff at a hostel and get a couple of hours rest first, and we had managed to find another couple who felt the same, we all got in a taxi to Hostel Los Amigos and arranged for the taxi to come back at 8am to take ... read more

Situated in the northern part of Guatemala, the ruins of Tikal are considered by many to be the best remaining examples of Mayan architecture around. They are certainly the hottest. As we climbed onboard the battered minibus in Flores at 5am the air was thick with anticipation. Even the driver, slumped half-asleep over the wheel with headphones hanging from his ears, failed to quell the feeling of adventure. Each traveller was lost in their own thoughts and the conversation was minimal as we left the small town and headed out into morning mist. As the bus, laden with well-fed westerners and their backpacks, struggled up a hill, we entered the jungle. The anticipation was heightened by yellow warning signs at the side of the road. The first showed the shape of a rattle-snake, the second the ... read more

So yes, how many people can say they have done that in their lifetime?! It's certainly something I never envisaged myself doing! First things first, upon leaving Buenos Aires, I had a couple of flights, up to Miami, then back down to Guatemala City with a 9 hour wait at the airport in between them. I arrived there and managed to catch a taxi fairly quickly, and cheaply, to Antigua. I headed to the hostal and talked to Lee briefly as we organised meeting up before I had my first night without someone snoring in the room for 3 weeks. Heaven! And just to compound my lack of recent sleep, the following morning I was up at 4.30am as I had organised a hike up Volcano Pacaya, where the title of this blog gets it's name. ... read more

Hace unos años , en un programa de radio, tuve la fortuna de ganar un viaje estupendo para dos personas a la Riviera Maya . Sólo tenía que responder una pregunta ¨El nombre de una ciudad muy antigua con enormes edificios, que aun existen en la actualidad, pero que fue abandonada por sus habitantes de forma misteriosa´. Quizás a primera vista no pareciera fácil la respuesta , pero dió la casualidad, o no , las casualidades no existen, que unos dias antes habia leido un artículo en la revista Ronda Iberia, hablando precisamente sobre esta ciudad. Hoy me encuentro en esa ciudad que me permitió ganar ese premio, estoy en Tikal, una de las capitales del imperio Maya. Me cuentan en el hostal que lo mejor es visitarla temprano ,antes de que se llene de turistas, ... read more

we have visited tikal for the past two days. we really like it here and I will come back here again and recommend this area for a great family vacation. The kids would love to be in a real Jungle with real Monkeys and wonderfull birds and great big plants. You can climb on the temples as you see in our photos if we get this right!... read more