Guatemala - Flores & Tikal

Kayaking on Lake Peten Itza

Sunset from Hotel Lacandon

We arrived in Flores at lunchtime after an extremely civilised border crossing and short ride. We crossed over the bridge to Isla de Flores - a beautiful little town on an island in the middle of Lake Peten Itza, with a very romantic and almost European vibe. We stayed at Hotel Lacandon which overlooks the lake with amazing views and a prime spot for watching the sun go down with a cold beer in hand. The prices in Guatemala are already a welcome change to the high prices of Belize, with our hotel room just $10 a night for two and a beer about $1.20.

We kicked back for the rest of the afternoon, chatting to our German host Oliver about how he has traveled to Flores and fallen in love with it and never left - twelve years later he has a Guatemalan wife and two beautiful children. The following day we rented kayaks from the hotel and had an idyllic paddle across the lake to a beautiful spot run by a local family, where you can sit in hammocks and fling yourselves off rope swings. Here we joked around with some fellow travelers (Kiwi, British and Dutch) who we would later bump into again.

The evening saw the first rain in over three months, and subsequently the whole island's electricity went out. So we had supper by candlelight and went for a swim in the pitch dark! It was a little spooky but pretty awesome lying back and looking at the whole island in darkness. Next day we set off at 6:30am to go and visit the giant Mayan ruins of Tikal, to try and beat both the crowds and the vicious sunshine. We arrived after an hour with the site almost empty, and headed into the jungle. The site certainly did not disappoint - we spent 3.5 hours exploring the vast, extremely impressive ruins, climbing temples and admiring the wildlife: howler monkeys, toucans and strange anteater-like mammals called pizotes. Gallery As we were heading out vast groups starting arriving - we'd definitely recommend getting there early and leaving by about half 11. We spent the rest of the day soaking up the beautiful lake and preparing ourselves for our first big ride the next day - into the Alta Verapaz region to Lanquin.