Flores Guatemala and Tikal

I left Caye Caulker for Belize City via water taxi, and from there it was an interesting bus ride to Flores Guatemala. I was sitting up front with the driver and shortly after our boarder crossing he stopped at a local roadside craft market, stepped out of the bus and made a purchase. When he returned I was puzzled to see a newly acquired billy club that he admired for a moment then places on the center console. It was about a week later that I was informed of the rebels that had fled to the north east area of Guatemala and had been rumored to have stopped and robbed some tourist buses/vans. That would explain the uniformed officers I saw at checkpoints throughout Guatemala. Ignorance is bliss.

Flores was pretty interesting. An island on a lake accessible by a land bridge. The hostel Los Amigos was much more social then I had expected and I enjoyed my extended stay. I was unable to travel south due to the Christmas holidays stopping some bus routes for a few days. So, a group of us kept busy lounging around the tiny island and chilling x-mas day by dock on the lake.

I spent one day visiting the ruins at Tikal National Park. A van picked me up before sunrise to get me to the park at dawn. The ruins are located in a pretty dense forest with many signs indicating the varied wildlife found there. Aside from slim possibility of encountering predators like the Jaguars you're more likely to have feces tossed at you by the large howler monkeys roaming the trees. It's quite an experience to explore ruins to their roars echoing through the jungle.

I would say that the most exciting ruin for me was Temple V. Because of the danger of attempting to climb the weathered (and extremely steep stairs) they have installed a staircase to the top, 57 metres (187 ft) high. I use the term staircase loosely, more like a series of ladders, can they still be stairs if while you foot is on the step your shin is pressed firmly on the next? At the top, with no railing, the view is magnificent as you can see the tops of the other structures piercing the treeline.

The decent of Temple V was actually more unsettling then the climb up, and the realization of that fact became apparent when at the bottom I realised that my forearms were exhausted. During the steep decent there were some parts with an unsecured railing, causing one to apply a death grip on either the ladder-like-stairs or the railing on the opposite hand. I cannot fathom how the Mayans navigated the climb, one misstep and you'd surely plummet down a stone staircase clear to the bottom.