We left Semuc Champey by shuttle quite early in the morning, the bus ride to Flores was predicted to be 6 hours (took 8, so not too bad). Flores was to be our last stop in Guatemala...I think we were all ready to stay put for a while so we were all a little excited Belize was almost here.
Flores is a town in Northern Guatemala, on an island on Lake Petén Itzá, linked by a causeway to the town of Santa Elena. Many people stay in Flores as a landing point to get to the nearby Mayan ruins Tikal.
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| The welcome sign as you come over the causeway |
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| Flores from the water |
Flores itself is a great little town, very pretty with lots to do. We stayed at a Hostel called Los Amigos. We have been so lucky with hostels lately, this one was arguably the prettiest. Low couches, and hammocks all over with trees and flowers in every nook and cranny...making little private areas for people to sit and have drinks. At only $55 a night, this was a steal!
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| Liv and I catching up on our blogs |
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| a hammock area |
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The dining area
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We planned on doing Tikal the next day so we thought we would enjoy Flores...We walked around town had some lunch overlooking the lake and then went to Jeorge's Jungle Swing, a famous swing, across the island on the main land...$5 to take a long boat and $1.50 to use the swing, totally worth it.
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| The centre of town |
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| Lunch overlooking the water |
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| Flores |
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| Taking the long boat across the lake |
Something I have not mentioned is I woke up a couple of days ago feeling like crap (man, I really don't have time for this!) felt like a sinus infection.Getting meds in Central America has been fairly easy. Even in some seemingly remote places, meds were available...(have I mentioned Anneka had lice in Ometepe, UGH! Not sure how she got it...Thank goodness I brought my industrial lice comb, after the shampoo we were easily able to buy, and a LOT of combing we finally got rid of them, YUK). Anyway, went to the pharmacy for sinus meds and was able to communicate my needs...they sell you pills by the singles, kind of funny, but was able to feel somewhat better so I could enjoy the day. Went to Jeorge' s Jungle Swing and had a great time swimming and jumping into a beautiful fresh lake. To be honest it felt a little like home...
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| Sun off the water made the pics look magical |
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| Liv taking off |
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| Jumping platform |
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| Anneka |
Tikal
Older (900 BC) and more impressive then then Chitzen Itza (I have heard I will let you know next month when we visit Mexico), Tikal National Park is a UNESCO Heritage site, a Mayan ruin definitely not to be missed. We opted not to do the sunset or sunrise tour as the park charges you $15 more a person and we are trying to save where we can. I was excited to go, and was hoping the kids would be a pumped as I was...to be honest, they were quite bored....the temples are largely spread out, the day was really hot, thank goodness our walk was through jungle on nice paths or we would have been dying by the heat... Once we would reach a temple the kids were quite impressed (how could you not be!), climbing up the steep stairs, overlooking spectacular jungle...what a site.
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| Notice how little Liv and Anneka are! Hardly any tourists anywhere |
When we got to The Great Plaza (one of Tikal’s highlights) Liv said, "we should have just hiked here...this place is awesome and has basically everything we have been looking at for the last 4 hours". |I see her point...All of the temples to me were so impressive, but maybe to a 6 and 10 year old they all looked the same. In The Great Plaza, you’ll find Temple I, (which you’ve undoubtedly already seen in tourism brochures). It’s a massive and awe-inspiring structure that rises to a height of 144 feet. Temple I is on one side and across the plaza is Temple II, which you can climb to get views of the surrounding area.
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The Grand Plaza
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| walking through The Grand Plaza, this was the palace |
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| Temple 2, The Mask |
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| Looking at Temple 1, the Grand Jaguar |
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| The Mask, that's Johnny in the right corner |
Overall we have LOVED Guatemala...I will say I still think I liked Nicaragua slightly better, but that's just me, many will disagree. After Antigua, every place we went had its own charm and uniqueness, even though you were in the same country, you really felt like you were exploring an entirely new area.We got around entirely by tuk tuks, private cars and shuttles. In the end that was a huge part of our budget (when we leave Belize and are in Mexico for a month I will have a whole post dedicated entirely to our Central American budget). Johnny wishes we had a car for Guatemala as he feels we would have saved a ton. Food was delish, and quite cheap in most places. Lodgings were slightly higher in Guatemala then in Nicaragua but we still managed to stay in MOST places for $50-60/night...(CAD) Some of our favourite hostels were here in Guatemala.
I have forgotten that I meant to add a highlight reel for every country...I am a little behind so I will try to quickly summarizes
My Guatemala Highlights include:
Montericco and the baby turtles...so cute!
Semuc Champey for sure!
Climbing Masaya and roasting marshmellows
Lake Atitlan
My Nicaragua Highlights include:
Granada
Islets of Granada
Apoyo Lagoon (one of my faves)
Ometepe (all of our faves)
Note: we did not make it to Leon or Corn island. but heard both are spectacular and worth the trip...for sure next time!)
