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Published: April 16th 2012
The 4am wakeup call to catch our flight to Flores came around much too soon. It didn't help that we had stayed up dancing to a live salsa band the night before at our hotel the Westin Guatemala. Luckily the flight to Flores was under an hour and we were picked up from the airport by 9am. We were soon on our way to Tikal one of the most important archaeological sites of the Mayan World, Tikal, means “Place of Voices," was built during the Maya Classic Period. Tikal is considered the second largest city in the Maya world. Tikal has the distinction of being the first site in Guatemala declared as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. We walked the complex of Temples and Acropolis for around 4 hours in the hot sun, the humidity was high and we felt exhausted. Our guide took us to the temples via short cuts through the jungle, Ron said he felt like Indiana Jones.
On our second day at Flores we were picked up by another guide to visit Yaxhá, a former ceremonial centre and city of the Pre Columbian Maya Civilisation. The site is not visited by many tourists and we
found ourselves for most of the time alone with our guide who explained the site in detail. He was also able to spot the varied birdlife including Toucans and was able to call the spider monkeys who returned his calls. He today explained much about the Mayan way of life and painted a vivid picture for us. We were lucky that our guide also offered to take us in to Flores on the way to the airport as we had a spare hour before our flight. After all the walking around the Mayan sites we enjoyed a rest and a drink at a little restaurant on the pretty harbour of Flores before our flight in a small aircraft back to busy Guatemala City. Off to Costa Rica tomorrow.
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Liz Weston
non-member comment
A bit for for us to come for dinner
Hi Guys Looks like you are having a great time. We have been talking about you and was going to ring to catch up for dinner. A bit far for us to come though. Maybe when you get back. I look forward to reading through your blog. My short read tells me you have dancing. Sounds great. Have fun, stay safe and see you when you get back. Liz and Calum