Blogs from Petén Region, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean - page 6

Geo: 17, -89.7No, it's not just an over-priced version of The Gap, it's actually a political science term! Do any search of it on the internet and once you filter through all the clothing ads, you'll find the origin of the derogatory term that's now somehow become a status symbol in the modern world of retail. There is much history behind the true meaning of the term, and Guatemala is considered one of the prime examples of a Banana Republic, a nation whose destiny was warped and distorted to benefit greedy imperialists. The idea seems ludicrous - how could a fruit company exporting Guatemalan bananas hold such power over a supposedly sovereign nation, manipulating not only Guatemala's economy, but also its government? As absurd as it may seem, the United Fruit Company did just that, boosting ... read more

Wow where to begin? We spent a couple of days chilling and wandering the cobbled streets of Antigua. We had an absolutely hilarious last night... We went back to Rainbow Rooms for what we thought was going to be a reggae night... It was pretty dead to begin with, just us, a rude American group and two extremely eccentric Guatemalan men. We got into a conversation with them, in a mixture of English and Spanish (mostly the latter) discussing everything from race, homosexuality and the positives of being a monk in India for three year. Our hilarious conversation ended up with us all in tears - literally - from laughing and an invitation the next day to their butterfly reserve in the mountains, which we politely declined due to the slight 50 year age difference. Alice ... read more

I headed off to Tikal with the two American air hostesses I had met in the Rio Dulce. We splashed out a whole $30 a night for dinner, bed and breakfast and a sunrise tour of Tikal. We had a shuttle drop us off outside the park entrance so we could wait the 2 hours until 3pm when we could but a ticket valid for the next day. We then has about a 12km drive through the jungle into Tikal and our hotel. Due to a mix up with transport we three we upgraded to a suite and the staff were so helpful, kind and polite. The hotel was set in the jungle and howler monkeys and small strange guineapig looking creatures, parrots and toucans hung out in the jungle garden and there was even the ... read more

After a 4-5 hour bus ride, we arrived in Flores (Flore-ess). Well just outside of Flores which is an island connected to the mainland by a 600m causeway. The mob of taxi drivers awaiting our custom informed us it was a 3km walk to the island, they seemed surprised when we said we would walk, it turned out to be about 1.5km. We ended up in a small but clean hotel room, at $60 US, one of our more expensive rooms, but the hotel had a pool which was a bonus. Flores is the gateway to the Mayan archeological site, Tikal. An early morning start the next day and we were on our way out. The archeological site is impressive, it is set in lush deep rainforest, populated by wild animals; we saw deer, monkey, a ... read more

Moving towards the coast! We decided to take an earlier bus from Tikal, so that meant we had to arrange a local transport instead of the prearranged bus. (Think small chicken bus.) At 11:00 (on time!) the bus arrived and we jumped right on it. We were extremely pleased to see that we were the only ones in the bus (extra-large minivan) and had our pick of the seats. We chose the first row of seats and started to get comfortable. However, one of the hotel staff approached us and said to get into the front passenger’s and middle seats. They looked small and cramped and we thought, out load but only to each other, are you nuts? The staff member assured us that we would find the smaller seats in the front much better in ... read more