Flores - usually a gem of Guatemala

My adventure continued in Flores with a mix of rain-soaked contemplation, a captivating visit to Tikal, even some productive moments and sporty activities as well as a hospital visit. But first things first. ☝️

On my first day I explored the small island Petén, that is the area with the most hotels, hostels and restaurants respectively bars in Flores - also my Airbnb was on that island. 😎 I visited the „Cool Beans“ and “Maracuya” restaurants and enjoyed their relaxed atmosphere. The latter one even has a butterfly garden 🦋 to visit.
Another surprise of the island was the big and professional basketball court, where the local youth gathered as the sun set. Intrigued, I asked if I could join in, borrowing one of their basketballs 🏀 for a few shots. I haven’t played in a long time but it felt like yesterday and really great to let it fly again - at least for one evening.
Later in the evening, I reconvened with Paul and Harry as well as Simon and Demi (which I already knew from Bacalar and the journey to Flores) at the Skybar for drinks 🍸 with a backdrop of the picturesque town below. For dinner we went to “Tacos los Peches”, indulging in the local street food that Flores had to offer. We went to a few more bars afterwards to have some beers 🍻 and ended up in the “Los Amigos” Hostel which had its own little night club hidden in the back behind 3-4 doors. We played a really exciting and close game of foosball against each other before I left the place after midnight and went straight to bed. 🛏️

On a rainy second day, I embraced the weather and used the time to organize my upcoming travels 🗺️ as well as delve into my private software project on GitHub 🤖Despite the persistent rain, I also walked around a bit. But other than that, not much more happened that day. 😩

On the third day I got up at 4:00 am for my early bird tour to Tikal. Unfortunately it was still shrouded in morning rain 🌧️ and clouds for the most part so that our view was obscured when we climbed the highest pyramid. However, as the day progressed, the fog lifted, revealing glimpses of the ancient wonders below. The sun ☀️ finally graced us with its presence as we returned to Flores. Despite the weather, Tikal offered an immersive experience with lots of wildlife – for example from the calls of birds 🦅 to the playful antics of howler monkeys and spider monkeys as well as raccoon-like creatures. I also have to admit though that seeing the ruins in Tikkal was not that impressive for me anymore. After visiting 5 maya sights in the past couple of weeks, everything just looks more and more to me like random stones 🪨 in the forest. 😂 Indeed, I found it very interesting that in Tikkal many buildings were deliberately NOT restored and instead were left as is - covered by nature. The reasons for this are two-fold: on one hand it is a very difficult and time-consuming process due to the roots of many trees that have intermingled with the ruins over the past millennia. On the other hand, Tikkal was a huge city with more than a million inhabitants. It is believed that the Mayas cut so much rain forest to build Tikkal that they eventually had to abandon the city and move to the highlands ⛰️because they were otherwise running out of natural resources to support themselves.
Does this sound somehow familiar to you? (our civilisation seems to make similar mistakes just now🤦‍♂️)
So, restoring the city would mean cutting a lot of rain forests again. Thus, the Guatemalans have abandoned these plans and instead focus on the preservation of what is there. 😌
During the tour I met Rene (from Munich), Patrick (from Berlin) as well as a few more travellers. In the evening, I joined Rene, Patrick and Eve (from Düsseldorf) - who were all staying at the same hostel. We wanted to watch the sunset from the Skybar. The view from this elevated vantage point provided a nice panorama of Flores and its surroundings. 🌅 For dinner, we eventually went to “Las Terrazzas” - our initial destination (the „Bistro Puertas del Cielo“) already ran out of ingredients to serve their dishes. But our alternative was really good as well! Naturally, we ended our night again in the “Los Amigos” Hostel - playing foosball and beer pong. 😊

On my last day in Flores, the weather was great again. So I rented a kayak 🛶 for the day to explore the area by myself. My first (and unfortunately also last) stop with the kayak was the 30 min. away “Jorge’s Rope Swing” - a well known and super relaxed family run place at the lake. As the name suggests you can use a rope swing to jump into the water. I gave it a few shots and found it really easy. 😎 Mikkel (form Denmark) and Jochen (from Frankfurt) also joined in one the fun but my first attempts felt quite lame. I let go of the rope a bit to early and therefore was almost less then a meter above the water when I fell into it. I wanted to do better and thus I tried experimenting a bit with different ways of holding the rope and taking run-ups. 🏃‍♂️ During my last attempt for the day, something went horribly wrong with the jump. It felt like I slipped and then pre-maturely fell backwards into the water. 💦 I also remember landing on my back but it didn’t hurt. I didn't feel anything at first but I was just totally shocked when I saw the result: I dislocated my right middle finger when I slipped from the rope (I spare you the photos) 😳
Mikkel and his girlfriend Johanne as well as Jochen have been super helpful and gave me a ride on the water taxi they had already called before the accident to go back to Isla Pepén. The motor taxi driver called an ambulance 🚑 for me and made sure I was picked up immediately. We took the kayak on board of the water taxi so that it could be returned by Mikkel and his girlfriend as well as Johannes while I was on my way to the hospital. 🏥 In the hospital, I was treated immediately: they took blood samples, did an x-ray and injected some pain killers. Then I had to wait. 🕘 … and wait. 🕠 … and wait. 🕘 The problem was that the doctor who had experience with fixing dislocated joints was neither onsite nor could be convinced to come to the hospital. 🤬 It’s apparently an easy fix. So he suggested one of the nurses onsite would do it. The nurse told me straight away that that kind of procedure was quite painful and he had never done it before. 😱 It was kind of funny. I guess we both were almost equally scared. 😅 Nevertheless, after hours of waiting and hoping for the doctor to show up, I agreed to let the nurse try fixing my finger. Before he started, I got two anaesthetic shots 💉 in my finger - one for each side. Then it got serious: I expected the worst but surprisingly I felt almost nothing. Thank god, my finger was completely numb from anaesthetics …. and now fixed. The nurse and I were both quite happy. 😊 Of course the finger was still swollen - much like a sprained finger - but it looked already so much better than in the afternoon. Afterwards the nurse gave me some instructions and prescriptions for the pharmacy. And that was it. I was free to go.
I didn't have to pay anything - neither for the ambulance that picked me up nor the treatment in the hospital. Shout out to the Guatemalan health care system! 🥳 Anywhere else this would have cost probably 100s of EURs.
So, I went back to Isla Pepén with a tuk-tuk for laughable 15 QZT (approximately 2 EURs) . The price was even negotiated on my behalf by one of the security guards of the hospital who walked me over to the tuk-tuks 🛺
On the island I ran even ran into Hyesun (from South Korea) who I already knew from Valladolid - to my surprise she was sitting there in front of the “Tacos los Peches” street food stand. She was supposed to be in the U.S. but was bored there. Do, she went to Guatemala 😅 The world is so small sometimes. I was really happy to see a familiar face after that day. 😊 Over some burritos, we brought ourselves up to speed about the past weeks of travelling and our future travel plans. This is also how we realised that we would be on the same bus to Guatemala City and then Antigua that night.
Before my night bus I briefly met with Mikkel, Johanne as well as Jochen. They still had my drivers license which I had left as a deposit for the kayak earlier in the day and handed it back over to me again. 🙏
It is unbelievable how much help I had received from so many people in my moments of weakness that afternoon. I am nothing but grateful that I had so many good-hearted people around me that day. 🥰

Now I leave Flores behind me - with some mixed feelings. Due to the circumstances I cannot count it to my (personal) favourite spots in Central America. In Antigua I want to go on a popular volcano hike. I hope that is still possible with my little (newly acquired) handicap. 🙏Read more