Guatemala: Tikal & Semuc Champey

First stop in Guatemala was Flores which is the most popular place to stay when visiting the Mayan ruins of Tikal. Flores in itself was a beautiful wee town, well it was an island really, and had a lovely feel to it. We both instantly liked the place and thought we could have spent time there even if we weren't going to Tikal....

This is proper Indiana Jones type stuff - look it up online, the place is incredible. We had been to Chichen Itza in Mexico but this place was so much better in every way. The scale of it, the trek through the jungle, the lack of people selling tacky items, being able to explore the ancient sites and at times feeling like you were the only people there, surrounded by wildlife.


After Tikal we headed to a place called Lanquin / Semuc Champey. We had never heard of Semuc Champey before but someone in Belize told us about it and had shown photos that looked good. It's a big national park and when staying at the local hostels you can arrange to go tubing (literally floating down a river drinking beer), and caving / hiking. The place was beautiful, but we hit more drama. I can't be bothered going into it, but essentially Dave fell into a bush and ended up with thorns stuck in his hands, causing muchos pain and preventing him from moving some fingers. We went to a local doctor who cut his hand open but didn't actually help the situation (at time of writing, in Lake Antitlan, I think Dave is now better. Either way I am over it).

Tubing was great fun, just lying there while the current carried you downstream and calling for a beer when you ran out. Happy days.

We both really like Guatemala - everything about it so far (minus poisonous plants (note that I am ok with the poisonous plants)) has been great. The temp at night is just that bit cooler so we're sleeping well, we've seen some amazing things, the people are friendly and it's the first country where we've been to a few different places so I'm getting a good feel for it overall. Next stop, and blog, is Antigua, Guatemala.