Guatemala - Tikal

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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 it will surely be well used as ours have been.

We made our way to the side of the road waiting for numerous vans to collect passengers with corresponding tickets to Flores (the northern shoulder of Guatemala). After a quick stop in a remote hotel for a buffet breakfast we arrived about 3 hours later. We cleared Mexican customs and took a long tail boat up the river to Guatemala. They made us wait for about 30 minutes and the bus to reach maximum tourist capacity. The conductor requested $5 USD each for Customs, Immigration and we suspect his pocket.

3 more hours of gravel roads and countless pot holes wouldn’t have been so bad if the seat had been comfortable. A few of us negotiated a minibus to shuttle us directly to Tikal - the mother of all Mayan ruins. We befriended a solo traveler from Switzerland and couple from Belgium. We secured accommodation for about $5 USD each, in tents, hammocks and dorm rooms.

The guards were easily persuaded ($2) to turn a blind eye if you wanted to explore to archeological site after hours. Liam didn’t realize how big the site was. Thankfully he took his headlight and ended up jogging through the jungle amongst the howling monkeys, squawking birds and hissing insects. He claims it was one of the scariest things he has ever done.

That night it poured down rain and the tent we rented didn’t seem to inviting. The Belgium couple invited us to stay in the vacant beds in their dorm. Lightning and instantaneous thunder shook the building louder then anyone of us has ever heard. The strike must have been very close. Cedric the Swiss guy and Liam slept in the hammocks outside, while Katharine slept beside the stinking overflowing toilet (one of the french girls just couldnt help herself).

We woke up at 4 am to prepare for our sunrise tour of the ruins. We met our flamboyant local tour guide Louis who spoke with Texican twang and hiked through the dark jungle for about 30 minutes. We arrived to the 2000 year old temple with a few other groups totalling about 50. The spot (same temple used in the original Star Wars) was magical and the guides insisted on silence to experience the jungle at its best. Unfortuantely the the mist was too thick to actually see the sun rise.

The rest of the tour was excellent. We saw monkeys, numerous birds including toucans, and many fascinating insects all amongst an ancient civilization dating from 650 BC to 650 AD. The city is said to have been one of the largest in the world with an estimated 150 000 inhabitants all whom mysteriously abandonded the area over a thousand years ago.

To finish the morning Louis coaxed a tarantula out of its hole and help a few people in our group overcome their spider phobia (Katharine NOT included).

We caught a minibus back into Flores and organized our onward journey to Coban (5 hours). The nice driver kindly charged us double for our fairs and Liam lost it on him when we realized what he had done. Thankfully Liam loosing it on someone only cosists of a scrunched-up face and a few aggressive words so no-one was hurt...this time.

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Comments

[Mom]

I like spiders but.........
You won't see me with no tarantula on my hand either! Stay healthy and happy. love and hugs, Ma C