Our first glimpse of Guatemala was great! Although we had had a long travel day crossing more borders and sitting on buses, where we were staying in Flores was beautiful. Our hotel was right on the edge of the lake and we had a great view from our room. When we arrived it was late afternoon so we skyped home before heading out for dinner as a group. Speaking to family always puts us in a good mood, so we were looking forward to grabbing some dinner and exploring the pretty little town of Flores!
The gorgeous view over the lake from our hotel in Flores
After dinner we took a walk around the streets before heading back to the hotel. There was a large group of us who were heading in to the jungle to discover the Tikal Ruins in the morning, so we all hit the sack quite early!
The next morning we threw on our hiking gear and waited for the bus to come and drive us an hour out of Flores in to Tikal. We had a guide called Juan, who is a Mayan himself and studied Mayan History at university so he was a wealth of knowledge and was able to answer any and all questions the group had.
Tikal Ruins
We spent the next 5 hours covering approximately 7km of jungle, discovering amazing ruins and artifacts whilst being told all about the history attached to it. We were able to climb some of the ruins and as these ones are so tall, the views across the canopy were breathtaking.
Temple number 1 in Tikal! He has a twin directly opposite.
Us at the top of Temple 4, the tallest Mayan building to exist
We got to see a lot of different animals as well, such as wild spider monkeys, tarantulas and other cool creatures! A couple of the girls were brave enough to hold the spider but there was no way I would be getting too close!
Emily – one of only 2 brave enough to hold the tarantula
Yuk!
On the way home I started to feel a bit unwell, which lead to 36 hours of being very ill due to a bacterial infection in my stomach. Never what you want on holiday, but Curtis (and family – via phone!) looked after me very well and I even managed to survive a 4 hour bus ride from Flores to Rio Dulce!
RIO DULCE
When we arrived in to this small little town, all I wanted to do was get in to our room and try recuperate from this illness! We had to take a small boat ride down to our hotel on the edge of the river but even though I was feeling terrible, I was still able to appreciate how pretty it was. The boat pulls up right in front of the hotel, and you climb out on to the small deck to be greeted by Hefe, the resident (huge!) Bull Dog cross. Sitting in the restaurant at the top of a small flight of steps, the view is magnificent. You look out across the lake and you can’t help but feel relaxed, you can even jump off the small jetty and swim out to the poontoon if you like (and many did!).
The view from our beautiful hotel in Rio Dulce
Our home for the few nights we stayed at La Tortugal
We didn’t do much over these couple of days, in fact we didn’t even leave the property. We were staying in a nice little bungalow and fell asleep each night to the sound of various creatures exploring the jungle which surrounded us. In the days, we would lay on the poontoon or in the restaurant reading our books and hanging out with the others in our group. It was great timing, as it was the perfect setting for me to fully recover and for everybody else to spend a few days to just relax and take in the scenery.
La Tortugal
ANTIGUA
We had an 8 hour bus trip ahead of us to reach Antigua, even though we were only staying for the night! We reached the pretty little town, which lays in the shadow of a large volcano, around 3pm. We all got settled in to our rooms before heading out on an orientation walk of the city. As seems to be the new trend, we got soaked walking around the town, but we found refuge in a nice cafe called Cafe Condessa where we grabbed some lunch and a hot chocolate before getting trapped inside due to a huge downpour and a very loud (and close) thunder and lightning storm! It settled down 30 minutes later and off we set to find the markets! I bought a gorgeous, colourful scarf and Curtis got a Guatemalan Soccer jersey to remind us of our time in Guatemala and then we headed back to the hotel for a rest before dinner! Its so exhausting having this much fun!
A beautiful church inside the town centre
The Arch
That night a small group of us headed out to dinner and our waiter made the most delicious salsa at our table! We loved it, probably the best salsa I’ve ever eaten! After dinner we slowly made our way home through the cobblestone streets in the rain, so that we could pack our bags ready for our homestay with a local family the following night!
Delicious salsa prepared at our table!
We can’t wait to tell you all about the homestay as we’re not quite sure what to expect!
C & C xx
Wanderlust 