Guatemala
Wednesday Feb 13
Took the 6am ferry back to Belize City, we got in early and booked a bus straight through to Flores Guatemala. Sounds simple enough, but let’s be real, nothing is ever as it seems down here. Our deluxe bus with AC, seats that lean back, and movies ended up being a van that was overbooked and packed to the max. Lucky for us we jumped on board the second it got there, because 3 other people had to figure out a different ride even though they had already bought tickets!
We got in to Flores in the afternoon and checked in to the Mirador De Lago hostel for 90Q’s a night (about $12), it was awesome! We spent the rest of the afternoon swimming at the lake and walking around. Flores is awesome, it’s a little island on a lake that you can walk all the way around in 20 minutes. It’s pretty touristy and where everyone stays when visiting the Tikal ruins!
This is the view of our hostel from the dock. We had a sweet view of the lake!
It’s so hard spending a day lakeside, now if only someone would give me a pedicure....
Getting ready for sunset! I love Flores so much, it is such a cute little town and we wished we could have spent a lot more time here.
Don't be deceived by the quaintness of these streets.... Just kidding they really are just as cute and quaint as they look in the picture!
That night at dinner we ordered nachos, instead we got Nacho Cheese Doritos and guacamole….
Maybe you’ve heard of a little place called Tikal? It was only like the mecca of the Mayan world in it’s hay day, no BD (as in Big Deal, which it clearly was)! We woke up and waited for our tour bus at 3 in morning! After 30 minutes of sitting on the street in the dark waiting to get mugged, the van shows up (I'd also like to note we were the first ones on the bus, so I don't understand the 30 minute delay) and the first thing we learn is that the travel agent lied and it was going to cost us another $15 each, meaning the total tour itself for both of us was over $100! That’s supposed to be our max budget per day, I was ready to kill someone and sadly this wasn't even the first time I had been duped in Flores! After an hour long ride we got to the base of the ruins still in the pitch dark, it was freezing cold but so serene. We started the couple mile hike up to Temple IV and along the way we saw a Crocodile in a swamp no more 2 feet off the path, a massive tarantula, so many stars shining, and you could hear all the sounds of the jungle. It was so amazing and peaceful!
We hiked on top of Temple IV and watched the sun come up. It was such an awesome experience hearing all the animals in the jungle and even seeing the monkeys swinging in the trees right below us! As we were sitting there you could hear all this crazy growling in the jungle, luckily we had already had our own run in with Howler Monkeys (maybe you remember the evil growling that I almost risked my husbands life for?) or I might have been a little (a lot) scared! On this hike our guide informed us that to make the sounds for the T Rex in Jurassic park they combined a lion and a howler monkey, that made me feel a lot better about being such a pansy! :)
You might also recognize this view from such little known movies as Stars Wars The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the JedI! (On a random note, I did not intentionally capitalize the I in JedI, the computer just keeps doing it for me…. This is probably some kind of a joke the programmers hid in the software feeling like JedI must have a higher calling in life and deserve the proper respect)
This is from the top of one of the Temples, I think maybe Temple VII, does the VII make sense in a layout kind of way to help you find your way around, nope not at all, they just seem to be randomly numbered for no rhyme or reason!
This place is so huge and covers an area of around 16 sq km, sorry I’m too lazy to type that in to Google and figure out the translation to American, but it’s massive, we were exhausted after walking all morning! We actually ended up leaving at noon (we had already been there for 8 hours) just as the herds and herds of tourists started coming in and we were like boo ya! Also the Mayans lived here from about 800 BC to 900 AD, see learning can be fun and interesting! :)
Another one of the temples, they used to let people climb these but eventually the death toll raised higher than the permitted limit... Cause apparently in Guatemala it takes more than one person to plummet to their death before they'll do anything about it. :)
We self timed this picture ourselves, are you impressed?
That night in honor of Valentine’s Day (we actually had forgotten what day it was until someone reminded us halfway through the day) McKay took me on a super romantic date to Burger King, followed up with the latest Die Hard movie and a double scoop of ice cream! Does he know the way to my heart or what? :)
Finca Ixobel
Friday Feb 15th and Saturday Feb 16th
We took one last look at the awesome view of the Lake from our hostel hopped in a Tuk Tuk and took a combi to Finca Ixobel. It’s this awesome little ranch slash hostel slash farm that I stayed at the last time I was in Guatemala. It’s such a great atmosphere there, everything is super spread out and centered around a main reception slash kitchen area. They have dormitories, apartments, camping and tree houses as well as lots of hammocks for lounging, a man made lake slash pond and of course a ping pong table! The food there is also so delicious, everything is made fresh, including all the breads and desserts! Every night they have a set menu with two kinds of salads, two kinds of sides, and two main dishes to choose from (vegetarian or meat) and there were always tons of locals that would show up just for dinner, that’s how you know it was legit! :) We spent 3 nights there and wished it could have been longer! On Saturday we did this amazing Cave hike that if I could only recommend one thing to do if you came to Guatemala this would hands down be it!
Tuk Tuk travel, fit for a Mayan King.... if they were still around.... I'm sure.
Ridin in style!
This is the entrance to the Finca, our Treehouses were just to the left in a big field!
Ahh, convenient, McKay snoozing away while I'm hard at work snapping some photos... :) This is our Treehouse, notice the super deluxe wooden windows held up by a rope and the super classy mosquito net, it also came complete with your very own candle set and matches to light the place up at night, it's like electricity only better!
The view from the deck of the Treehouse, notice the hammock, no reason, just wanted to make sure you saw it!
On our way to the cave with our guide Wilson and faithful companion Lady (as in Gaga)! We had to hike an hour through flat land and then up in to the mountains to get to the cave.
Apparently hiking in the woods makes me skittish...
See that endless black hole behind us? Yep, that’s the cave! :) It's on Finca Ixobels property so no one else has access to it but them. I can’t believe more people don’t do it, easily in the top 5 sweetest things I’ve ever done!
And in we go! Watch out for the flying bats streaking through the dark and blind fish living in the dark plaguing the water....
This is the cave, it was seriously so amazing! Half the time we were wading in water up to our waste other times it was so deep we had to swim. It was pitch black and along with our headlamps Wilson was lighting candles along the way.
Picture this, at the end of our hour long hike in to the cave, we're exhausted, we're wet and we don't remember what the light of day feels like. We come to a big waterfall, it’s so loud and all you can hear is the water pounding as it falls an incalculable distance, it sounds like it could be miles high. We turn our headlights off breathe in becoming one with the darkness and then you make the giant leap of faith in to the pitch black! Talk about YOLO (for those of you not in the know that means You Only Live Once, I am so a hipster)! In reality it was only about 15 feet high, but you feel like your falling forever! Ahhhh Yeeeah! Here’s McKay getting ready for the big jump....
Coming back in to the light!
The long hike home through the jungle felt twice as long coming back with wet shoes and major chafing!
Wilson the stud! He didn't even get us lost once!
Up next, adventures with hippies and we finally find a Little Ceasars!
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