Tikal Bound

Yesterday afternoon we reached Flores, a small island in a lake about an hour away from Tikal, the famous Mayan ruin site. Soon, we will head there to catch (hopefully) both sunset and sunrise at the park (depending on the rain situation) and maybe see some howler monkeys, too, if we are lucky! Then we have one more night in Guatemala before shuttling over to Belize.

We have been having a great time - even better than we had hoped. Guatemala is truly beautiful. Our internet situation has prevented us from uploading as many photos as we would like but as soon as we can we will show you just what we have been up to!

Steve and I both fell in love with Lago Atitlan, where we stayed at a great hotel built right into the cliffs. La Casa Del Mundo (see below) was such a great surprise and we really got into just hanging out on their balconies, enjoying the cool lake breeze, and meeting the other travelers. Plus, the swimming in their little cove was fantastic. We found out they do destination weddings there, so that gave us some ideas. :)







After leaving La Casa Del Mundo, we spent a final night in Antigua before taking an 8 hour shuttle to El Retiro near Semuc Champey. El Retiro is a pretty little riverside hotel with thatched huts and animals roaming free.



It also featured eco-banos, which trust me you do not want to know about. The best thing about El Retiro was the awesome day tour we took of Semuc Champey and the local caves. Now, parents may want to stop reading now because thanks to the less stringent safety guidelines here, the highlights of that day including jumping off a bridge into the rio and rappeling down and then jumping off a 5 meter waterfall. We also explored a cave by candlelight and played in the beautiful limestone pools. See me very tentatively jumping off a bridge into the river below:



After a very long and hot shuttle ride, we are now in Flores as mentioed and are taking it easy prior spending a night in a hammock in Tikal. We will post back soon!


Steve enjoying his new favorite drink Squiz.