Country: Guatemala.
City: Flores and Tikal.
Currency: 1Euro = 7.6 Guatemala Quetzales
Elevation: m / ft

Arrival Date: Tuesday Jan 14th. 8pm

I got myself to the bus station again this morning in Belize at 10am and guess what the bus was late!! ahhhh my god!! what a shock! I eventually got on the bus for Flores and myself and a few others made our way across Belize and to the Border into Guatemala. It was a total of 4/5 hours to Flores from Belize City which was pretty cool but when we got the airport near Flores they put us off that bus and onto another one which funny enough had a tour guide on it trying to sell us tickets for Tikal ...which we wanted but didn't want them shoved down our throats!! Needless to say I didn't buy my ticket from him! So we got to a hotel and I booked into a room with Jerry from Colorado who is probably the seventh guy I´ve met in one day now and then shared a room with that night! hehehee

There are two others from Holland who were on the bus staying in the room next door to us and they were saying that they´ll probably go to Tikal in the morning as well so we might all go together. But then as I walked back into my room I bumped into Vincent and Evlyn (the dutch couple I left Omoa and travelled into Guatemala with the first time!!) They were staying in the room upstairs!! So they wanted to go to Tikal in the morning as well, so we´ll probably all end up going together!! hehehee it´s such a small world!! So then Evlyn showed me a place were she got her washing done and I managed to get mine done as well in three hours for about $5 which was pretty cool!! Clean clothes again!! Woo Hooo heheee the things that excite you when you´re travelling is really funny!! Hot water and clean clothes become a novelty!

So I just sat on the balcony at the hotel looking out over the lake at Flores while the sun sets after getting sorted! The lake is really peaceful and there is a real soothing sound to the waves lapping against the shore while there is a light breeze blowing and the birds are singing in the trees! But there is also a festival going on in the town this week so a few streets away there are loads of beer, food and craft stalls!! Plenty of partying and fun going on! So now I´m off to have some food and drink and fun too!! And pick up my clean clothes!! hehehe wooohooo!!

Date: Wednesday the 15th, 9pm

Ok so equipped with clean clothes the other night I picked up some yummy scones for breakfast then went for a drink with Jerry and Les (an guy from London that I met while booking my trip to Tikal!) It wasn´t really a late night last night as we had an early start to go to Tikal for the day! So this morning we got up at 4.30am and there was myself, Jerry, Vincent and Evlyn and Les along with lots of other people in the bus to the Ruins. So it was about an hour drive to the ruins where we got some breakfast before organising a guide with a few other people from Holland, the states and a guy from Germany, Nils. We had a four hour guided tour around the ruins with lots of explanations of the Sites, the Temples, the Flora and Fauna etc etc..It was really worth the $6 US we each paid for the explanations of everything just made it so much more interesting when you understadn why things were built the way they were!!

We saw the trees that the Mayans used to cut to collect the sap in order to burn as incense during ceremonies!! There was quite a trek through the jungle to the first Temple that we climbed but along the way we saw some Tucans, then some spider monekeys in the trees and then which was really cool some Howler monkeys!! It was just soo cool there!! Then we got to the first Temple which was huge!! 75m high and the steps are all at exactly 45degrees! It´s amazing how they managed to build the temples and buildings facing exactly north, south, east and west to the very degree almost!! It´s very cool!! So then at the top of the temples all you see in every direction is jungle as far as the eye can see!! Then through the jungle the tops of the other 6 temples can be seen as well!! It´s soo beautiful and so peaceful up there too!! It´s just amazing!

But then in the distance we heard the howler monkeys Howling!! and boy do they make some noise!! It was the scariest thing I´ve ever heard!! It sounded like a ten foot tall monster in Really bad form that was about to rip you to shreds!! We made our way through the jungle to the next temple and got some more explanations before we could go and explore a bit for ourselves. We took the tour for about four hours before hopping on the bus back to Flores! I went for lunch with Nils and then needed to take a sleep cos I was knackered after getting up at 4.30am and trekking about the jungle and temples for four hours!!

After my nap I just chilled for the evening and checked my mail before going for some street food with Les, Jerry and Nils. The last night of the festival was tonight and the streets were just packed with people who were partying all night!! The beer was cheap and everyone was taking advantage of it!! Then at one stage there was a huge procession through the town where they lit a load of bangers, fireworks and what sounded like bombs to me!! It was SOOO loud I was surprised they were even legal!! Mind you I´m in Guatemala so they probably aren´t anywhere else in the world!! heheheee Like that would stop anyone here though! but there you go! So I also bought my ticket for Palenque, Mexico for tomorrow!! I´ve been around Flores and over the bridge to Santa Elena as well and it´s fairly small so I reckon tomorrow is time to leave. Woo I´m on my way!

Date: Tursday the 16th, 7.30pm

Well I got up this morning again at bloody 4.30am in order to get my bus to Mexico! Well It wasn´t just a bus to Mexico!! It was a bus to the river at the border of Guatemala then a boat down the river for a half an hour to the Mexican border!! There we had our passports checked and were put on another bus to imigration where we were checked again and finally let into Mexico!! My first time here!! woo hoo so off to a town called Palenque, in the state of Chiapas in Mexico. So that was my kinda short but sweet visit to Guatemala, but I saw what I wanted to see in the time I had as I need to make my way through the Very Large country of Mexico in order to see a friend of mine in Mexico City for a few days before I fly out to the States!! So check out Mexico for the latest news! :-)

Here are the photos!!

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