Soooo right after the Belize trip with the family, I flew back to Guatemala and met up with Amy (my bff from Virginia) The day after she flew in we got up suuuuuper early and were picked up and taken to the little airport where we boarded a tiny plane and flew to Flores on the other side of Guatemala. From the airport there, we hopped in a shuttle bus to our hotel in Tikal!
The hotel (Hotel Tikal Inn) we were in did not impress me much. It only had power some of the time and the food was good, but nothing special. There were also some pretty vicious biting flies who weren't deterred by jeans (they could bite straight through them!).
The first day we settled in and then went on an afternoon tour of Tikal. Let me just say that Tikal is utterly amazing! The size of the site and the height and intricate-ness of these structures is astounding. We walked all over, looking at the temples, the areas where nobility lived, we even climbed up some of the structures! It was crazy hot up until it started to downpour. Our tour took refuge under a grass hut protecting a stele. At the end of the tour, they set you free to wander and Amy and I walked a loooong way out to two of the far away temples. While walking we spotted some coati families (so cute!).
That afternoon we wandered around the hotel area some, spotted more coatis and walked out to a crocodile pond (though we didn't see any crocodiles).
We went to sleep early that night because we were waking up at some ridiculous hour (3am, i think) in order to watch the sun rise over the tallest temple in Tikal, Temple IV. To do this we had to hike through the jungle in the pitch dark. At one point we were trekking through the underbrush, led by the guide of course, when the guy in front of me stops and goes, "Is that a snake?!" Turns out, directly by the side of the trail we were on was this tiny, baby fer-de-lance (think ultra-venomous and painful, kills quickly). He was curled up into a tiny ball with his head up and looking directly at our ankles. (Fer-de-lance babies are the most dangerous because when they bite, they empty all their venom into the victim, once the snake get older it learns to control the venom and keep some in case it runs into more trouble later.) He scared the shit out of me. After that heartattack, we didn't run into more trouble. We climbed Temple IV and tried to watch the sun come up; a difficult thing to do when it's as cloudy as t was that morning. We really just watched the clouds get lighter.
After that, we headed back to the hotel and hung around until our flight that afternoon. The flight back to Guatemala City was one of the worst flights I have ever been on. The pilot was either battling hurricane winds, drunk or incompetent. At one point the plane was bouncing up and down while simultaneously swinging from side to side. I was never so happy to be in a plane on the ground after the pilot finally thumped us on the runway.
We spent two nights in Antigua after that. I love Antigua! All we did was walk around, shop, and eat. We took some beautiful pics and it felt good to be clean, cool and well rested after the hot, dirty trekking about in Tikal. The hotel we stayed in, is one of my favorites, Las Camelias. After our time in Antigua, we shuttled back to Guatemala City before catching the same flight into Richmond. Mom picked us up at the airport.
The hotel (Hotel Tikal Inn) we were in did not impress me much. It only had power some of the time and the food was good, but nothing special. There were also some pretty vicious biting flies who weren't deterred by jeans (they could bite straight through them!).
The first day we settled in and then went on an afternoon tour of Tikal. Let me just say that Tikal is utterly amazing! The size of the site and the height and intricate-ness of these structures is astounding. We walked all over, looking at the temples, the areas where nobility lived, we even climbed up some of the structures! It was crazy hot up until it started to downpour. Our tour took refuge under a grass hut protecting a stele. At the end of the tour, they set you free to wander and Amy and I walked a loooong way out to two of the far away temples. While walking we spotted some coati families (so cute!).
That afternoon we wandered around the hotel area some, spotted more coatis and walked out to a crocodile pond (though we didn't see any crocodiles).
We went to sleep early that night because we were waking up at some ridiculous hour (3am, i think) in order to watch the sun rise over the tallest temple in Tikal, Temple IV. To do this we had to hike through the jungle in the pitch dark. At one point we were trekking through the underbrush, led by the guide of course, when the guy in front of me stops and goes, "Is that a snake?!" Turns out, directly by the side of the trail we were on was this tiny, baby fer-de-lance (think ultra-venomous and painful, kills quickly). He was curled up into a tiny ball with his head up and looking directly at our ankles. (Fer-de-lance babies are the most dangerous because when they bite, they empty all their venom into the victim, once the snake get older it learns to control the venom and keep some in case it runs into more trouble later.) He scared the shit out of me. After that heartattack, we didn't run into more trouble. We climbed Temple IV and tried to watch the sun come up; a difficult thing to do when it's as cloudy as t was that morning. We really just watched the clouds get lighter.
After that, we headed back to the hotel and hung around until our flight that afternoon. The flight back to Guatemala City was one of the worst flights I have ever been on. The pilot was either battling hurricane winds, drunk or incompetent. At one point the plane was bouncing up and down while simultaneously swinging from side to side. I was never so happy to be in a plane on the ground after the pilot finally thumped us on the runway.
We spent two nights in Antigua after that. I love Antigua! All we did was walk around, shop, and eat. We took some beautiful pics and it felt good to be clean, cool and well rested after the hot, dirty trekking about in Tikal. The hotel we stayed in, is one of my favorites, Las Camelias. After our time in Antigua, we shuttled back to Guatemala City before catching the same flight into Richmond. Mom picked us up at the airport.
