Hotel Villa del Lago Flores

... venomous snakes and hungry and fearless coatis. The most impressive animal sight was that of the many concentrated lines of leaf cutter ants relentlessly collecting leaves from a designated tree and carrying the same back – sometimes for more than 50 m – back to their home. I head, but did not see, the howler monkeys (brøleaber). They sound amazingly and much like angry lions. Despite having presumable dressed for the jungle, it did not take long for us to ...

... temples, and jungle, we were
of course, sun burned, hungry, thirsty and thoroughly ****** off ;) it was time to
go...

I have attached a special picture of rebecca to this post, one she wont thank me for
in the van on the way home. still not quite sure what it is i see in her!!! ;)

Spoiled critique that i am, the architecture and grandure of Tikal doesnt quite rival
Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the Bayans there were precise architects, perfectionists,
i felt ...

... at the bar with the rather crazy and spaced out bar staff (although that didn’t stop one of them having a threesome with two Israeli girls on my last night as an early birthday present). Instead of paying 50 Q and having a huge plate of food to myself, Cat and I decided to go halves and share our dinner which was a much better option. The card games continued well into the night and thankfully I took myself off to bed before the birthday celebrations really kicked in ...

After the week on the boat we stank but we opted to press on to Tikal near Flores in Guatemala rather than take a night to refresh and shower and clean our clothes.

Dave also decided to buy tickets for us on the cheapest and longest bus ride to Flores.

When the bus arrived it was already totally full and boiling hot and there wasn't very much standing room for the ten or so passengers that got on at the Rio ...

... However, I'm hoping all of that will change soon
after some additional schooling in Antigua, which is where Shi and I
are headed to tomorrow.

No definitive conclusion of this
random assortment of paragraphs, but the satisfaction of cultural
immersion is quite satisfying. I sure do enjoy being the minority
because it is such a different perspective from daily life in the
Midwest. Hope everyone is well. I have setup a Skype account and will
be using ...

... down your back. As a consequence swimming the lake that surround Flores has been a welcome break from the heat. Today we got up a the crack of dawn (4.15am) to get the bus to Tikal and avoid the heat. We had an exceptionally enthusiastic guide who could amazingly recognise and locate all the wildlife purely by listening to the random jungle sounds. As a consequence we saw a spider monkey, a howler monkey, a racoon type animal that I can't ...

... all else fails they do sell snacks around the park.

* Bring some footwear that's comfortable to walk in. Flip flops didn't quite cut it for me.

* Give yourself 2/3 hours to explore, and remember if you miss the midday bus home, there isn't another for two hours. Alternatively you can pay one of the waiting drivers to get back to Flores if you can spare the cash.

Kieran Maartens,
www.mexicotravelplan.co.uk

... and actually found a Mexican patch! wooo hooo So together with my Guatemalan one I picked up at Tikal my set is complete. As lunch was really late I couldn't fit anything in for dinner and was stuffed from the heat so I chilled out and finished my book. We head to the lakeside town of Rio Dulce tomorrow which I am looking forward too! Plus we are going by private van which will cut down a heap on our traveling time..