Lanquin to Flores by bus

From Lanquin we caught the 8am microbus that picked us up from the hotel, and being first on board we bagged the best seats for this expected 9 hours sweatbox of a journey. When we arrived in town we were pleasantly surprised to find the bus was only half full so everybody had room to stretch out which was lucky because the seats were incredibly uncomfortable and being a plastic type finish made you extra sweaty to enhance your already miserable experience. After 2 hours my arse was killing me and again we had a driver who thought putting on the a/c was not a luxury we deserved. All the windows were open but the air coming into the bus was like standing next to steel blast furnace in Sheffield so no respite was forthcoming. When we stopped for fuel, I asked the driver to put the a/c on and he said that he could not as people kept opening the windows. I closed them all for the lazy bar steward as he could not be bothered and he agreed to put it on. Soon as he did some dozy ( I am ashamed to say) English mungbean opened her window…...which is when the driver quickly turned around and gave her a mouthful.

After 8 hours Kathy was loving the hot and sweaty minibus.

The journey was never ending, the air-con feeble in the heat and barely noticeable. After 6 hours the road run out and we descended onto a dirt road which bordered a river with no bridge. We waited for a makeshift ferry to come across to collect us, you know the sort…...the ones you see on the news where it says “Two English tourists died today when an overloaded ferry on a river in Guatemala capsized due to poor maintenance procedures” type of thing.

Waiting for the ferry of certain drowning to come across.

 We did eventually arrive in Flores after 9 hours but they would not let us off the bus until our new bestest buddies ever tour agents hopped on and gave us the super duper hard sell for trips to Tikal. We declined their offers but they were persistent, even jumping on the bus with us, off the bus with us, walking with us to the boat jetty and even phoning the hotel to send a boat for us. After we got on the boat we lost him…..Thank god for that!

Our escape vessel from the over amorous tour agent.

The Posada San Miquel was on the far side of the lake, off of Flores for sleep reasons as Flores is an Island that never sleeps. We had a great room with a balcony loaded with hammocks overhanging onto the shore of the lake with a total uninterrupted view of Flores. Beautiful.

Ted was admiring the view of Flores from our balcony.

Next day was the usual 6am wake up service supplied by the sun streaming through curtains that could not even keep moonlight out as they were so thin. The lake was beautiful that time in the morning and we took breakfast overlooking it. Soon the heat started to build and climaxed at 39c that day which was way too hot for a couple of pale skinned Brits. We took a boat over to Flores Island for 50p each and started to explore the island but quickly succumbed to the heat. We retreated into a cool looking courtyard and ordered a couple of traditional Guatemalan breakfasts which we has become very fond off as they were cheap and filling. Then we tried to explore some more but only made it as far as the ice-cream shop. After that it was the bakers for some treats and eventually we made it to the top of the hill to the main town square which was pleasant if a tad boring with a scattering of locals trying to stay cool in the shade. The heat was too much for us so we submitted to the yellow ball in the sky and headed back to the hotel , but on the way booked a tour to Tikal and our onward bus journey tickets. Back at the hotel, I was straight in the lake for a swim as the water was surprising clean but Kathy settled for a soak in the shower. The day fizzled out with hammock swinging in earnest and a surprisingly cheap, tasty and filling meal in the hotel restaurant which bucked a trend. A walk down the shop followed and we are pleased to report 6 large cans of beer only set us back £3.60 which kept us supping in the hammocks until late.

The jungle seemed to swallow up the Mayan structures at Tikal.

Another 6am early rise next day, a boat to Flores again and jumping onto our bus to take us to Tikal for our guided tour. An hour and a half later we arrived after the usual start/stop journey where nobody knows what's going on and disembarked to a very empty sight. I was surprised as it is billed as Guatemala’s premier attraction so expected the throngs….but no…..there was nobody. We walked through registration, got our wrist bands for £15 each and followed our guide into the thick jungle. Our guide Ceasar who had a unusual New York style twang to his accent led us through at a fairly leisurely pace through the monuments and temples. The heat was very oppressive though and sapped our energy and enthusiasm so we spent a lot of time admiring the monuments rather than climbing to the top of them which suited us fine. Ceasar done his best to keep us interested in the history of it all but ran out of steam as the day progressed and after 4 hours we were done which also suited us as well as we just wanted to doss about in the shade watching the Howler monkeys growl at all the passing tourists from their branches above us. It's a noise which I will never forget for its loudness and aggressiveness.

Climbing to the top was allowed but took extreme effort in the heat.

Tikal was not as we expected being so overgrown with jungle. The location was awesome but we both expected something more grandeur and complete to look at but were happy with what we saw as the site is massive so you could not visit all the structures in a day. Exhausted we both fell asleep on the return journey , glad of the air-con to revive our souls, and headed straight back to the hotel by 4.30pm. There the hammocks got another good work out, the Posada restaurant received our patronage again and that 6 cans of beer for £3.60 …...well who could turn down an offer like that.

Well that’s it for Guatemala as we decided to skip Rio Dulce/Livingstone which was going to be our next stop and use the time to visit Belize where we could have a welcome relief from our terrible Spanish as due to its history with the British Empire has luckily has its first language as English. Hooray!

Mayan structures are awesome.