Flores

  Flores, Guatemala
Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Week 4

Flores

Flores, the capital of the Petan Province in Northern Guatemala, is beautifully set on a man-made island on Lake Peten Itza. The town itself is quite small and can be seen in a couple of hours and most people use it as a base to explore the surrounding lake and jungle and visit the largest Mayan site, Tikal. It had been just long enough since the last ruins to build up my appetite. I promised myself these would be the last.



Just before boarding the bus for the tour on Tuesday morning I heard it was 150 Quatazales to get in, more money than I had on me. I had no option but to blag some money off somebody on the bus or try blag my way in. I chickened out of the former and when I arrived at the site I managed to persuade a restaurant there to charge my card and give me the cash. Something they were quite reluctant to do initially. The site itself is quite big, the walking tour at dawn covered 10 kilometers and that was just the highlights. Like many of the other mayan sites this site was set in the depths of the jungle. The shot of the canopy gives you a feel for how remote it is. There were masses of animals and birds to be seen and heard. Constantly in the background there were roars of howler monkeys broken every so often by a woodpecker. Similar to Palenque the site is in fanatastic condition as the ruins are Guatemala´s flagship.

Tikal Canopy

Tikal 2

Temple V

Our Tour Guide con Tarantula

The tour guide remineded me of Gabriel the guide from Mexico. He was full of beans, proud to be of Mayan descent and had an unhealthy appetite for picking up tarantulas.








I returned to Flores in the afternoon for some food and to have a more thorough look around. I had been in Guatemala for about 24 hours and had already noticed how much more difficult it was to get by here with limited Spanish. Very few can speak English which means the only converstion I can have with the locals is to ask for food, towels and beer. I saw an advert in the hostel for a Spanish School and after a few false starts I found a restaurant owned by same owner as the school. 20 minutes later I had book myself the 4 hour travellers crash course the next morning.  This was quite a god introduction but it was quite obvious afterwards I would need about 5 days to really see any benefit. I decided then to push on for Antigua that night and see if I could get a few days classes there.

Again having read the warnings in other blogs about Guatemala, things are rarely plan sailing praticularly transport, the next 16 hours came as no surprise. I fancied some sleep so booked a seat in a luxury coach from Flores to Guatemala City, due to leave at 21:00. For my conveience it would pick me up outside a designated hotel at 20.15, saving me a trip to the terminal on the mainland. 20.15 came and went. By 20.40 I had found a local with some english and asked for advice. It will come, it will come he told me. By 20.50 he was more concerned than me. I had no choice but to jump in one of the expensive (mafia run) taxis and head for the terminal. When I got there I was informed my bus had been cancelled and if I was lucky I would get a seat on the next and last lower class bus in an hour. "Lucky" I was and was on my way to Guatemala City, without an apology or refund. They turn the music and air-con up full blast just in case you thought you had a chance of getting to sleep on the bumby twisty roads. 8 hours later I was in a freezing waiting room in Guatemala City. Supposedly there was to be a guy waiting there for me to bring me to Anigua on a shuttle bus. As my bus was cancelled I had know idea how this was going to work or if he would show. Nobody was working in the station yet so all I could do was sit tight.  Guatemala City is known to be quite dangerous and I wasn´t going to venture out at 6 a.m. to find out how dangerous.  A "pleasant" young genetleman from Honduras arrived after a while to keep me company. He spoke good English and was quite entertaining. He had been cught entering the U.S. illegally and had been imprisoned for 6 months. He now was trying to find his way back home and had no money. Just as he was getting to his plea for some help my name echoed across the room. To my surprise my shuttle bus had turned up. I wasn´t quite sure if I was late or he was! Finally on my way to Antigua..