Flores, Guatemala

July 19 - Lanquin to Flores
We got up early today to catch the mini-bus from Lanquin to Flores which we had booked through Zephyr lodge. Zephyr says that they guaruntee the spots they reserve, so it was slightly annoying when there were 6 spots remaining for 9 people who wanted a ride. No worries, they called for another bus and we were on our way. First stop, Coban, where much to our surprise and delight, we switched to a slightly larger and more comfortable bus! Then it was a pretty smooth ride all the way to some truck stop for lunch (delicious chicken and sauteed beef dish, with beets, potato salad and salad on the side). Afterwards we made our way to Sayaxche, where our microbus boarded a ferry and were taken across the river, and continued our journey all the way to Flores. Here we were dropped of at Los Amigos hostel, which we had pre-booked from Zephyr (its high season now, so pre-booking is becoming more and more necessary). All in all, it was a long ride, about 10 hours or so, but mostly uneventful.

July 20 - Tikal
Today we got up at 4am for our tour of Tikal, along with about 40 other people who were either staying or had booked through Los Amigos. There were probably about 5 buses total in our convoy. At roughly 4:30, we all headed out en-mass and began the 1.5 hour journey from Flores to Tikal. About 15 km outside the ruins, we all stopped and got out of the car to purchase our tickets to the park. At this point it started raining, and we were thinking shit, its gonna be a long day, but luckily it stopped just as fast as it started, we got back on the bus and finished the 15km to the ruins. At the ruins, we stopped for a bite to eat and some coffee, and then were rounded up by our tour guide Boris (from Guate, not Russia) and made our way to the first site, Complex Q. Here Boris talked about how the ruins are stacked on top of eachother, the history of its preservation, and other kinds of background information about the temples like how the royals were treated like gods because they looked like them (they flattened their forheads at birth, made them crosseyed, were super tall and strong, and sharpened their teeth... I guess thats what a Mayan god looks like). After a bit of time exploring here, we decided that it was a clear enough day and headed off to Temple IV. Temple IV is the biggest at Tikal, and much to my excitement, was part of a short scene in Star Wars: A New Hope, where it plays a rebel base on the moon Yavin 4. This probably means nothing to most of you, but if you go back and watch that scene you see the exact view that we had on top of Temple IV, which is basically a jungle with a few temple tops poking out of it. After half an hour here, we headed on to the observatory, where Boris talked about how well Tikal had been set up to align with the summer and winter solstice. Apparently they used the rising and setting sun to tell what season it was (it would rise or set exactly over one of three temples, depending on the season) and based on that what time to plant which crops (pretty clever right?). The whole complex is also set up to look like the Big Dipper (aerial view), which points north and coincidentally, directly at another Maya site El Mirador, from which some of the Tikal people had immigrated. After wandering around for a bit, we were brought through the ball court and into the city center. Here we found the famous Temple I (not allowed to climb) and a number of other temples, one of which included a huge face carved into its side. We finished off our time at Tikal with a quick trip through some of the upper class living quarters, and then had a nice leisurely walk through the jungle back to the bus. Another two hours later, and we were back in Flores. Starving, we began a search for cheap food in Flores and ended up finding a much needed book exchange instead. Picking some books and making a mental note to come back, we eventually found a food cart in the city square. Full, we decided to walk around Flores and meandered back to our hostel. Back at Los Amigos, we grabbed our books for trade, traded them, and then had a much needed marathon internet session. After this, we were pretty much exhausted, so we ate some dinner, took a shower, and called it a night.