Skip to main content

Taking the Tikal Trail in Guatemala

As we climbed onboard the battered minibus in Flores at 5am the air was thick with anticipation. Even the driver, slumped half-asleep over the wheel with headphones hanging from his ears, failed to qu...

As we climbed onboard the battered minibus in Flores at 5am the air was thick with anticipation. Even the driver, slumped half-asleep over the wheel with headphones hanging from his ears, failed to quell the feeling of adventure. Each traveller was lost in their own thoughts and the conversation was minimal as we left the small town and headed out into morning mist.

As the bus, laden with well-fed westerners and their backpacks, struggled up a hill, we entered the jungle for our Tikal tour. The anticipation was heightened by yellow warning signs at the side of the road. The first showed the shape of a rattle-snake, the second the unmistakable outline of a jaguar, while the third was surely the silhouette of a turkey? This worried me: what are these jungle tukeys and should I be afraid of them? What do you do if faced by an angry jungle turkey?

I didn't have time to mull it over, we had arrived. Clambering out ungracefully, we made our way to the gate. We passed two silent guards holding pump-action shotguns in the shade of a tree. It was 8am and already it was sweltering. The man at the gate said '42 dollars' in broken english. Piecing together the last of our notes and coins we paid and walked in.

From the first moment, when we were shaken by the terrifying roar of a group of nearby howler monkeys, we knew we were somewhere special. To get to the different temples you had to walk through dense jungle, most of the time alone. The thought of jungle turkeys had left our minds, but the thought of the jaguar was running strong.

The crowning glory of our Mayan route tours was climbing Temple IV and looking out over the jungle. It was jungle in all directions, with only the tips of a few of the other temples breaking the green sea. This was the king of Mayan ruins, this was something else.

Practicalities for your Mexico Self Drive tour

* You don't have to wake with the rooster at 5am. Buses leave every hour up to midday.

* Bring a big bottle of water with you. If all else fails they do sell snacks around the park.

* Bring some footwear that's comfortable to walk in. Flip flops didn't quite cut it for me.

* Give yourself 2/3 hours to explore, and remember if you miss the midday bus home, there isn't another for two hours. Alternatively you can pay one of the waiting drivers to get back to Flores if you can spare the cash.

Want to include Mexico in a longer trip? Book your round the world flights here.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Power of Appreciation

Is there anything more mysterious in theworld than the formula to having a successful romantic relationship? Asa divorced woman, I now marvel at those who are able to createpassionate, loving, long-term relationships. From my studies with booksand the school of hard knocks, I believe that one of the most importantingredients in relationships, of all kinds, is appreciation. What is Appreciation? Appreciation is likea much-needed rainfall to a farmer's crops that have been withering ina drought. Just as the crops start to shrivel and die without water,human relationships also start to feel brittle without a steadyapplication of the nourishing, even life-giving, impacts ofappreciation. The dictionary defines appreciation as "a favorablecritical estimate," "sensitive awareness" and "an expression ofadmiration, approval or gratitude." When you appreciate someone, youare tuned into a positive quality of another human being and expressyour gratitude for it. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Best time to Visit Great Wall of China

Great Wall of China is the greatest tourist attraction in the World. And the longest wall in the world, it is an awe-inspiring feat of ancient defensive architecture. Travelers from the eight directions all flock to the Great Wall to walk on the only man-made structure visible from space. To look out from one of the guard towers out at the barren mountains and the Wall snaking off into the distance is a view not to be forgotten. Standing on the Wall, you can get a good feel for what the Wall was all about. The Great Wall offers a timeless charm to tourists, but scenery varies with seasons. Visit it in different time you will get a quite different scene. Most of the popular sections of the great wallare located around Beijing, so the following is written with Beijing's climate in mind, although temperatures are likely to be colder and rainfall more as the Great Wall is on the mountains. Tips: The Great Wall at Simatai has been closed for major renovation from June 2010. The renovat...
Post a Comment
Read more

Achieve Seamless Scalability With Construction ERP for Subcontractor Management

The subcontractor management in the construction ERP software is just a useful tool used to watch and pursuit the relationships between organizations and all the third party contractors. This ERP software module monitor all the initial building agreements, as it is tightly integrated with the accounts and inventory collectibles. Many companies in this project-based construction and real estate industry believes in working with the strategies of outsourcing and subcontracting to have effective pricing policies and delivery edges. Why is it so necessary? For reliable bid preparation and subsequent project execution, subcontractor database handling is quite needed. The stored database in this offered module should also manage in such manner so that vendors and outsourcing agencies performance could be tracked. Also, the database must have relevant information that efficiently operates processes of a construction company to earn the better profit margins. Specifically, this part of constru...
Post a Comment
Read more