Tikal - the greatest mayan city

Our next stop was Tikal, Guatemala. We looked for the cheapest tour operator that would bring us to Flores stopping one night in LaCanja, but we learned that "lo barato sale caro" (the cheap stuff turns out to be expensive). The tour operator forgot to write Flores in our voucher and the bus driver didn't want to bring us there. Moreover, the tour agency didn't have their own buses and we had to travel in the public colectivos. After arguing for the entire day with the bus driver, we finally managed to get to Frontera Corozal, the mexican side of the border with Guatemala. However, once we got there they wanted to make us pay 15 pesos that the zapatistas charge to get into Frontera Corozal. That was supposed to be covered by the agency, and we had to argue again... After all this we crossed the river and then catched a bus in Bethel that took us to Flores through a dirt road during 3hrs.

Boat from Frontera Corozal to Bethel

During the trip we learned about the sad history of Guatemala, which has been in war for more than 30 years until 1996, and the experience of Mynor, our guide, who fled to the US after being persecuted by the militars who shot him when he was leaving.

We decided to stay at Posada del Cerro in el Remate, instead of Flores, because it was a quiter place next to the lake and closer to Tikal. We felt like at home in Posada del Cerro! It is a very nice hotel with huts and it is managed by a German guy and his Brazilian wife.

Tikal are definitely the most spectacular ruins we have seen so far. Actually after seeing them, the other ruins feel more like an amusement park. To avoid the crowd and the heat, we took the tour that picked us up at 5:30 am. The ruins are in the middle of the jungle and most of them are not restored. The guide claimed that there are about 18,000 mayan structures in the entire area.

We felt like Indiana Jones, hiking through the jungle looking for pyramids and also observing the animals. We saw tarantulas, snakes, howling monkeys (monos aulladores) and pizotes, which looks like a mix of dog and monkey.

When we came back from the ruins we went to swim in the lake.

We were totally alone but after a while a 12 year old kid came to our dock. We started to talk to him and he claimed that he was selling handicrafts, however we didn't see them. Our conversation went more or less like this:

We - Do you go to school?
Kid - Yes, but it ends at 12 pm and then I have all my afternoon free.
W - And what do you want to study after you finish school?
K - Mmmm I don't know, I don´t know if I will ever go to university
W- But don't you have a dream?
K - I only have bad dreams.
W - But what do you want to be when you grow up?
K - I want a job where I can earn a lot of money working very little
W - But this doesn't exist!
K - Yes, drugdealer! They make Q500 a day

This is a very sad story but might reflect a reality of how kids can adopt as role model what they see on the street.

The following day we came back to Palenque through the same road, and again we find issues with the bus drivers and immigration. We had to wait for 1.5 hrs in immigration because the officers wanted to do a backgroud check of a tourist from Israel, but the internet conection was not working. Victor even had to work as a translator between the oficer and the tourist.

After this intense trip we decided to rest for a day in Palenque.

NEXT STOP: Merida