To cross the border from Belize into Guatemala was an adventure in itself – first a taxi to the border; a 5 minute walk through no-mans land between the two countries thinking we had arrived in Guatemala (we hadn’t!); going through Guatemalan customs and finally entering Guatemala; catching another taxi five minutes into the nearest town; into a collectivo for 2 hours to Flores Town, then finally a quick ride in a tuk-tuk for the last leg to take us onto Flores Island and to our hostel door – PHEW!

The thing about collectivos in Guatemala is that they’re probably the primary way for locals to get around. There are no designated stops, and no limit on how many people can fit into these 15 seater vans, except your imagination and physical space. Even physical space is barely a limitation as we found out – we had about 21 adults and three children stuffed into our collectivo at one point!

Me outside our collectivo

Luckily Dave and I had received the hot tip to sit up front with the driver as they cannot stuff any more people up front without encroaching on the drivers space. So we escaped unharmed from the people overcrowding and elbows in face, heads in armpits experience that everyone else was suffering through!

I’ll tell you what though, despite being stuffed in like sardines, the Guatemalans were still always smiling and laughing in the van, and never once seemed irritated when the driver pulled over to fit 1, 2 or even 3 more people in the already crowded van. They were so well natured about it, you just got to love them!

We arrived at our funky hostel, Los Amigos, which had come very highly reviewed, on the beautiful island of Flores without too much hassle. Flores Island is pretty small, you could walk around the edge of it in about 40 minutes, and the beautiful colours reminded us of Caye Caulker again.

Flores

Los Amigos was a cool, clean and pumping hostel and we had a MUCH better dorm room experience than in Placencia – thankfully, as we needed to convince ourselves that dorms are ok as they’re a great way to save some money for the expensive tours and activities!

Los Amigos Hostel Entry and Courtyard

The Bar and Restaurant area

One our first night, we had made plans to catch up with another Aussie couple Kath and Mick (who we met at our hostel in San Ignacio) at Flores SkyBar overlooking the lake (I think it might be called Lake Peten). Here we got to enjoy the setting sun as we sipped on mojitos and chilled out.

Skybar!

View across the Lake from SkyBar

We didn’t stay out too late though as Dave and I had booked to go on the sunrise tour of Tikal the following day, which meant our alarms were set for 2:30am…. I KNOW, crazy right?!

Tikal

After leaving our new friends at the SkyBar, we had a quick dinner at the hostel and organised our daypacks and clothes for our tour the following day – next thing we know, its 3am and we are waiting out front for the shuttle which had us arriving at Tikal by 4:30am, the world still in complete darkness.

With headlamps on (or iphone flashlights), our small group of 5 people followed our tour guide through 2km’s of pitch black jungle paths as we headed towards the tallest of all of Tikal’s temples which we would be climbing to watch the sun rise. There was a lot of stumbling over tree roots and peering into the blackness wondering if you had just seen the telltale signs of yellow eyes staring back at you – jaguars are often seen in the jungle between sunset and sunrise – and hoping that if they were out there, they were just watching and then slinking away into the shadows…

Tikal is similar to Palenque in that it is set in the middle of the jungle, with the majority of ruins still owned by the roots, trees and vines that have reclaimed the buildings over the last 1,000 years or so. Currently, only about 25% of the ruins have been excavated at Tikal, but the ones they have excavated are beautiful and HUGE, which explains why Tikal is listed as one of the seven ancient wonders of the world, and a UNESCO site.

After 45 minutes trekking through the jungle, we were all sweating like crazy – the humidity out here is something else – and then we had to climb the 250 or so steep steps up Temple 4 to reach the vantage point for the sunrise. Our guide had told us that we were fortunate to have such a small group of 5, normally the sunrise tour has 20 or more people on it, and you obviously don’t have the same intimate experience. We had been expecting maybe 60 people to be on the template with us (from various other tour companies) but again, we re lucky there was only 20 or so people including us.

Tikal Sunrise from Temple 4

The vibe at the top of the temple was one of reflection – we could see the moon shining over us, and the tops of the other temples towering over the jungle canopy as they became more and more visible with every passing minute. It felt very surreal sitting up there in almost complete silence, looking out over the lush green jungle, and for me, imagining the Mayans doing exactly what I was doing all those centuries ago.

As the sun finally began to rise over the jungle, the whole atmosphere down below changed – the howler monkeys started going bananas (sorry, couldn’t resist!) as they bellowed and howled for all the world to hear, the woodpeckers were knockin’ on wood incredible loudly, the birds were chirping their little lungs out – the cacophony of noise as the jungle woke up, was incredible to feel a part of. Definitely worth the 2:30am wake up call!

We spent another half hour or so at the top of the temple watching the colours of the jungle and the sky change from night to day, and enjoying our makeshift brekky. How many people can say they have watched the sunrise from one of the seven ancient wonders of the world? Pretty bloody special really.

Our trusty guide Lloyd (Dave kept referring to him as “Llllloooyydddd” Ari Gold style from Entourage, we couldn’t stop laughing) then spent a few hours walking us around the park, through the other temples, the residential areas and the main acropolis explaining the customs and history (that they know) of the Mayans, and the Tikal site in particular.

Daytime trekking after the sunrise

Lloyd and some monkeys – different pics 😉

Every Mayan site we visit we add to our knowledge of these fascinating people, and yet, it seems the more we learn, the more we realise how little the modern age actually knows for sure about the way the Mayans lived. And the biggest mystery of all? Why did they leave their extraordinary cities, with temples galore, and all within a generation or two of each other?

Ruins

We are not just talking about the desertion of one or two cities but hundreds of them – across Mexico, Belize, Guatemala (that we know so far, I am sure as we visit more countries we will add to this!), yet despite all the research done, no-one knows for sure why they all left their homes, never to return, and destined these beautiful places to be repossessed by the jungles in which they were built. It’s a mystery and like the best mysteries, the answer will probably never be known.

The famous Tikal pyramid from a few angles – it is also the symbol on the Guatemalan flag!

Panoramic of Tikal Main Acropolis

One of the things Lloyd reiterated time and again to us though, was that the Mayans themselves did not disappear, they still live all over the country, especially around Lake Atitlan (coming up soon on our itinerary). Only now, instead of populating huge cities built by their ancestors, they now live in small, often remote, communities and whilst some still follow their traditional ways, it is interspersed with the Catholic religion that was forced upon them (but which they now devoutly consider their own). Interesting stuff. I look forward to being able to read more about the Mayans when I am home, that’s for sure!

A little friend we made

By the time our shuttle was ready to leave Tikal it was 11am, and boy, had the humidity and heat hit us for six. Unlike on the way to Tikal, where there was only the five of us, this time the shuttle was chock full to the brim, with every seat taken. We were all so exhausted that despite the heat and stickiness, pretty much everyone was silent, and falling asleep on the 90 minutes journey back.

We arrived back in Flores, had a quick shower to freshen up and then enjoyed walking around Flores and seeing some more of this beautiful town.

Beautiful Flores

We were originally not going to spend any time here as we had planned to stay in tents at Tikal itself (the extreme heat caused us to reconsider!) and the airconditioning at Los Amigos was waaaaaay too appealing! The town itself was super pretty though and I am really glad we change our plans and got to see it – it’s a bit of a gem!

In the morning, we would be heading deep into the remote Guatemalan jungle to the very small town of Lanquin to see the beautiful limestone cascading pools of Semuc Champey – stay posted for the pics as they were truly beautiful!