Flores, Guatemala

Another long day of travel consisting of a boat/bus/minibus combo from Caye Caulker and some pretty uneventful border crossings, had us arrive in Flores, Guatemala by late afternoon. This little town situated in the middle of a lake with narrow cobblestone streets seems quite tourist focussed. I suppose this should have been expected though, considering most people (like us) stay here in order to visit Guatemala's number one tourist attraction - Tikal, an archaeological site of ancient Mayan temples.

Our Lonely Planet book recommended we check out the local markets on one side of the Flores island for dinner, so off we went. Four or five stalls were selling the exact same foods right next to each other so we picked one and tucked in. The tacos and burritos were clearly pre-prepared so all cold and nothing on the ones we had in Mexico, but with cheap eats you can't really complain! Everyone surprisingly managed to abstain from the huge servings of cake on offer - literally reminiscent of the Matilda mud cake scene - which was probably a good thing as the daily treats and bakery trips have got a bit out of control as of late. I'm looking at you especially Scott! Donut addict.

Flores is connected by a short 500m causeway to Santa Elena which is the main town on the lake front. We were surprised to find a commercial mall in Santa Elena with a supermarket, bakery, a bank, shops and even a Burger King. Thankfully the supermarket and bakery allowed us to stock up on some breakfast and lunch for the following day, as we'd opted for the 4:30am pickup (yikes) to head to Tikal. Tikal is only about an hour drive away from Flores, but we'd been advised that it was best to be at the park for when it opened at 6am - both to beat the crowds and heat, plus increase our likelihood of spotting some of the many animals that live amongst the National Park that the archaeological site is situated in.

4:30am rolled around and we all dragged ourselves out of bed and onto the street to be picked up by a minivan to head to Tikal. Whilst the early morning start was a bit rough, I think it did pay off in the end. We had hardly set foot in the park and already saw a toucan, spider monkeys and an agouti (a rodent type thing). We also managed to see the howler monkey which we saw in Palenque as well, plus some parrots and turkeys. Supposedly there are some jaguars and cougars that live in the park too, but we didn't spot these. The Tikal site itself was pretty spectacular. The ancient city was all built and inhabited between 200-900AD until for some reason still unknown to this day, it was abandoned. It was rediscovered in the 1800s, only by the top of one of the temples being visible above the rainforest and moss that had grown all over the site since its abandonment. To this day, only parts of the site have been excavated - with no other real plans to do much more, so that the many different species of wildlife that now live in the rainforest here can continue to flourish.

Some of the temples are still covered in moss and trees so kind of just look like a small (albeit sort of pyramid shaped) hill amongst the forest if you didn't know what was beneath. We had an English speaking guide who was very informative to show us around the site and explain things along the way. The Mayans built their temples, facing in various directions, using the alignment of the sun to help tell the time of day, year and to predict the weather. Pretty clever really. Photo attached to illustrate! A few of the excavated structures could be climbed somewhat tentatively considering the steps are awkwardly steep and obviously these temples weren't built with handrails or safety in mind. We climbed a couple, including the tallest which is Temple I. Temple I sits at 70m in height and offered expansive views over the top of the park and beyond, punctuated by the peaks of some of the other temples. Stunning.

Feeling pretty knackered after the early morning start and walking around the Tikal site for a few hours, we headed back to base for a bit of rest. Unless you're talking about Mike and Scott, the crazy men who set out for a 12km run in 30 degree heat. No thanks. Rich has had an upset tum for a few days now so in contrast to the runners, the rest of us headed to Burger King to see if we could give his tum some respite with some familiar food.

Late afternoon we caught a wee boat across the lake to Jorge's rope swing. The local family that live here have really monopolised on this epic spot - charging 10 quetzal (£1/$1.80NZD) per person for entry to the property/use of the swing and then selling some beers and food at what is also a great place to watch the sunset. We timed our visit well and had the swing to ourselves for a good half an hour or so, each trying various different heights to jump from. Arguably it was the best rope swing any of us had done, with great height and distance to jump out into the lake. Once we'd all had our Tarzan fix, we set up camp with some beers to watch the sunset and set up a judging panel for the other jumpers and swingers that turned up, which proved highly entertaining. Some questionable dismounts! Even one of the kids from the house who resembled Mowgli from the Jungle Book and would have only been probably about 6 years old, jumped off the makeshift diving board that was probably a good 6-7 metres high. Impressive for a wee tyke! Our boat lady returned to collect us after sunset and proceeded to not so subtly smoke a joint with her friend on our trip back. Classic.

We realised that one of our friends George from Auckland happened to also be in Flores, so managed to catch up with him over dinner and I'm sure we will probably see him down the road again somewhere in Guatemala, as most people seem to do a similar route!

Next up, we're heading south to Lanquin to hit the mountains and continue with the jungle theme.Read more