Sunrise over Temple IV

Danger High Voltage! Don´t they know that electrics and water don´t mix....
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After a long bus journey from Mexico, Belize and a couple of hours of unpaved roads in Guatemala we arrived at Flores, a little island town.

We ended up staying with the friends that we had made on the bus, Seth, Hectar, Thurstan and Etienne. The Hotel was cheap but the rooms were a bit damp and smelt of sewage! Oh and the shower was fitted with a deadly electrical device on top of the shower head to heat the water!

The first sounds we heard were the Howler Monkeys roaring

Tuk tuk´s in Flores
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That evening we arranged our trip to Tikal (probably one of the biggest Mayan ruin sites set in the middle of the jungle) and with the help of some good bartering skills from Hectar we got a good price. To celebrate we all went for a meal at a really nice, traditional Guatemalan restaurant where we enjoyed local dishes all served with yucca, and we thought this was a house plant!

The next day we were up at 3am to get to Tikal in time for the sunrise. I made the mistake of sitting up front in the minibus and witnessed a hair raising race to the ruins with another minibus of tourists, oh our bus won! We got lucky and our bus was allowed to drive right up to Temple IV the largest structure (72m) at Tikal (otherwise it would have been about 45 mins jogging!). We climbed the steep ladders and sat ourselves down on the terraced steps in time to hear the jungle wake up. The first sounds we heard were the Howler Monkeys roaring like Lions, then the birds started, it was fantastic! We sat for about an hour while the sun came up and the cloud cleared to reveal more temples in the jungle.

Seth takes his position on Temple IV after being caught trying to climb to the very top!
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The rest of the day was spent with our guide exploring the ruins and seeing loads of wildlife, including a massive tarantula which Seth insisted the guide put on his head, nutter! Another highlight was climbing Temple V, yet another steep ladder to the top and a vertigo inducing view once we were there. As I sat down, legs dangling over the edge my sunglasses fell, they tumbled 60 meters to the ground and I feared they were lost forever, however when I got back to ground level our guided handed me them back and apart from a few scratches on the frame they were fine, not bad for three quid from Tescos! It was on our tour that we also met Aimee and Agnes, two friendly Canadians on their hols in Guatemala. By 11am we were all ready to go back to Flores, it was hot and humid and we were all shattered.

Sunrise starts
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That evening we met up with our gang for a meal and drinks by the lake in a restaurant where you could feed the fish bread while you waited for your meal.

The next day we were on the move again, this time to Antigua, this is where we said goodbye to Hectar and Aimee and Agnes........or so we thought!