Villa Maya Flores

... about life. Oh, I suppose I also have not mentioned yet that there is no electricity in the park. This means that all electricity is made by local generators. And to save fuel, these generators – at least at my hotel – only were switched on from 6 – 8 AM and from 6 to 10 PM. That was also the only time of day, where you could get a warm shower. I tucked in shortly after nine, and woke up to the sound of the birds at sunrise. My original plan had been ...

... info as to routes, times, costs, etc and I have had so much conflicting info, I have to do the Latin American thing & leave it in the lap of the gods!

Best insurance would have been to take Oscar, from the agency that sold me the ticket, along as luggage carrier - never expected to find a cutie apply for the job so early into my trip!

... bug spray). While we were far from civilization, we still did not lack the comforts of home such as wireless internet and a California king-size bed. Thankfully, they also had an ample supply of and Gatorade which Rachel has been drinking non-stop having realized that she is severely dehydrated and lacking much needed electrolytes. We have both been drinking tons of water, but it for some reason had not done the trick. Now feeling somewhat better, we ventured into the ...

... the muddy road down to the entrance of the caves. Thankfully a tour was going through just as we arrived so we joined the back of it, although there is no need to go with a guide. The caves are all lit with lights and there are steps and a walk way built that takes you deep into the caves, however it is incredibly slippery and in some places treacherous, as weird shadows are thrown up by the lights and fantastic rock formations, stalactites and stalagmites loom overhead ...

... of a journeyman. At first when I saw him, I thought he was some joker because his outfit looked somewhat like a pirate: thick black pants, sturdy boots, loose white shirt under a black vest, two earrings in his left ear and a three-pointed hat. It took me some time to strike up a conversation with him, but it was worth the effort because we discovered we were kindred spirits. I hope I run into him again some day.
Flores, Guatemala tonka_eng

... and dug back show that they used to be smaller which is when the lay people were building the temple – they were generally smaller as they were fed less quality food, carried huge stone on their backs and heads and did not breed with the ruling/religious leaders. The leaders were larger because they did not work, ate good food, etc. Once the temple was finished, the larger steps were then put over the smaller so no lay people could/would walk on the temple. They were for ...

... from the ground but the climb to the top provides a good sweat drenching. I did notice the MC Hammer clown pants are quite a wimpy match to the elements and some of the lighter varieties such as rain and sweat soaked white give everyone a peepshow high above the jungle.

I guess it's true that nothing good in life comes easy and that includes exploring the best parts of this national park. People I met talked about how Tikal was life ...

... the border to change money. First road section in Guatemala very bumpy - Ivan did an amazing job of avoiding all of the stray dogs that kept wandering into the road. Rain had stopped shortly after the border. The reason we didn't stop in S.I. was the promise of spending the night at the incredible ruins at Tikal instead. We arrived at about 4pm - lovely hotel - had a ...

... and even a tarantula! I didn't really expect much when I went to Tikal and did the trip mostly because Vanessa was set on it, but it ended up being amazing and one of the highlights of my entire trip. go figure. That night we went out to dinner with some of the other travelers in the area and then had a couple beers but decided to go to bed fairly early cause we were pretty wiped out. The next day we slept in a bit and went cave tubing ...

... checked the email situation and came back and chilled at the hotel- I may have had a quick nanna nap that turned into 1 1/2hrs. Again I was still full from lunch so didn't join the others for dinner but met them later around 10pm for a drink a the local hot spot - Addicto. There were so many locals hanging around the front - a lot of them looking like they were about 14. We went in ...