Excursions to Discover New Lands

Mysterious and captivating Tikal awaits you

Travel for most people is an interlude- a short break between what you do everyday. What would you call travel that is not an interlude? When your home is a boat, you seek a different description of travel.

We say we “take excursions” to explore the new lands we have just discovered. Although we may take some well-worn paths where many have trod before, the allure of the unknown persists. Isn’t that one of the reasons we do this? We might just find some old-fashioned adventure along the way- even if the adventure is merely taking a kayak and paddling down a jungle tributary. 

Come along with us and explore fascinating Guatemala and Belize.

Across the border and Tikal

We had to leave Guatemala or risk being illegal aliens.

We were required to leave the country for a minimum of 72 hours before we could renew our Guatemala visas. We followed the recommendations of others to take a road trip to Belize for a few days and then return to renew the visa.  

Transportation in much of Central America can be very good and inexpensive. Despite some poor roads here and there, the combination of buses and passenger vans (colectivos) help you go to most any place you want to visit.

We were advised by the agent at the local bus station AGAINST making bus reservations. He explained we should purchase our tickets just prior to boarding to save some money. We paid the very low price of Q65 (about $8.50 US) for an air conditioned 4-hour bus ride to Flores, Guatemala. With reservations, the full fare was about Q110 ($14 US). Once the bus arrived, the crowd at the bus door grew larger by the minute. Fortunately, the bus driver selected us to board among the first group. We are not really sure why he did this but we think he may have just given a favor to the gringos. It was a good thing as passengers continued to board even after the last seat was taken.  Four hours of standing in the aisle would have been exhausting.  

Leaving Fronteras by bus – What will be our next adventure?

Some passengers had to endure standing on the bus to Flores

Flores

Our first stop on our way to Belize was Flores, located on an island in northern Guatemala on Lake Peten Itza.  Flores dates back to pre-Columbian times, where the Maya Itza from Yucatan built the town as their capital in the 13^th century.  Called Nojpeten, or Great Island, it was the last independent Maya state to hold out against the Spanish.  It took the Spanish over 150 years to finally conquer the island.  In 1697 the Spanish marched in, attacked by boats, and destroyed the town.  The modern city of Flores was built upon the ruins of Nojpeten, and is considered to be the second oldest continuously inhabited settlement in the Americas, after Cholula.

As soon as the bus entered Santa Elena, the sister city to Flores on the mainland, it pulled off the road, and announced that this was the stop for Flores.  We were a bit confused, as we knew we weren’t in Flores, and we did not relish the thought of walking with our bags several miles into town. However, when we got off the bus, a taxi was waiting for us. Before we could pose the question about paying for the taxi, the driver told us the ride was included in the bus fare. He took us directly into the middle of Flores, dropping us off at a tourist agency, which in part, explained why we did not have to pay for the ride. The agent/taxi driver asked if we needed lodging, and then asked what we wanted to see in the area.  Before we could even mention Tikal and Belize, he calculated $600 per person for 4 days, not including food and lodging. Tracy had done her homework, and knew that our trip should probably cost about $200 for the both of us. We told him that his quote was far too expensive, and that all we needed was a place to stay for the night. He grumbled and complained. We relented a bit and agreed to arrange a shuttle across the border to Belize the next day.  We knew the short trip would cost 2-3 times more on his terms compared to navigating on our own (about $25 per person), but he would simplify crossing the border and catching transportation to our next destination, the town of San Ignacio.  After we exchanged money, we caught a lancha to our accommodations at Casa de Grethel in the town of San Miguel on the north side of Lake Peten Itza.

The colorful town of San Miguel as seen from the main plaza in Flores

It was really a delightful ride in the small boat to our lodging. As the hostel provided shuttle service to and from Flores for free from 6 am to 9 pm, we explored Flores for the remaining afternoon and early evening. Similar to Antigua with Spanish-influenced architecture, Flores is an interesting town to explore.  Narrow and winding cobblestone streets are lined with hotels, hostels, restaurants, and shops that sell colorful Maya trinkets and souvenirs.  After spending the afternoon getting lost down back alleyways, we found a restaurant to watch the sun set over the lake.

We were enticed to explore colorful Flores as seen from our lodging across the lake at Casa Grethel 

San Ignacio

The trip to San Ignacio, Belize was uneventful, except that we had to get up at 4 am to catch the lancha across the lake to Flores and then catch a shuttle to San Ignacio.  We had no idea why the shuttle had to leave so early as the Belize/Guatemala border was only 1 ½ hours away, and San Ignacio was no more than another ½ hour from the border.  We imagined it must have something to do with tourists needing to get up early to complete their long itineraries. We did catch a few minutes of sleep on the shuttle before we were dropped off to walk across the border out of Guatemala and into Belize.  A taxi waited for us after we crossed into Belize to take us to our hotel, Bella Maya, in the heart of San Ignacio.  

San Ignacio is the second largest town in Belize, about 10 miles east of the Guatemala-Belize border.  Settled initially to harvest mahogany and chicle during British colonialism, it now serves as an eco-tourism hub for tours of the nearby ancient Maya ruins of Caracol, Xunantunich, Cahal Pech, and El Pilar, and tours of Actun Tinichil Muknal cave, Barton Creek Cave, Chaa Creek Nature Reserve, and Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve.

The downtown pedestrian walkway is lined with restaurants and about six different tour shops within one block. Most of the tours cost $100 per person, which includes transportation, and possibly, a packed lunch.  We decided against the organized tours to pursue low-energy activities such as walking through the open-air market on Saturday morning, and eating Belizean food.  Even as far inland as San Ignacio, much of the Belizean fare includes seafood with a curry coconut sauce, and of course, beans and rice.

Scenes of San Ignacio on a Sunday afternoon

Riding Sidewalk Sage’s motorcycle

Tracy got a hair-brained idea that we should rent a motorcycle and take a trip into the mountains near San Ignacio to see a waterfall and assorted attractions. We eventually found our way to meet the Dave, the “Sidewalk Sage”, a former British (Scottish) soldier and policeman. He gained the local reputation for his gift of gab, his humor and his advice. He took an immediate liking to us and we lingered to hear a number of his stories about his life in Central America and Belize.

We eventually paid Dave $45 to ride the small Chinese-made 125 cc motorcycle for the entire day. Dave said we did not have to leave a deposit because he could tell from his days as a policeman that we could be trusted! Dave explained this was the most dependable of his motorcycles (the only operational one), and not one of his go-fast bikes (unavailable) which are in constant repair from the young guys “hot-dogging and destroying them”. The bike was still muddy from the last rental, but we were told not to worry as we should expect to have dry roads now. Bud asked “How are the roads?”.  After some hesitation Sidewalk Sage answered, “They are Belize roads. They are OK”.

We returned the motorcycle to Dave with big smiles and a bit more mud.

At one point in the conversation, Dave rummaged around the cluttered shop and pulled out an old Cuban cigar box. From it, he revealed an old hand-written map. He was willing to share his map with us. “Of course you can’t take it with you. Just take a picture with your phone”, he laughed.

Well-worn map from Dave to assist in navigating the roads to Mountain Pine Ridge

As we were to discover, after leaving the paved portion of the road, the dirt roads were passable but rutted and uneven. Bud was challenged to remember some of his techniques from riding motocross decades ago, but his biggest challenge related to short-term rather than long-term memory. This Chinese-made bike had the opposite shifting pattern compared to what Bud was familiar on his Yamaha motorcycle. On this bike, he had to push down on the shift lever to shift into higher gear. The Yamaha shift pattern was so ingrained in Buds’ brain that just as we would start picking up speed, he would forget the correct shift direction and throw us forward as we bogged down with a low gear downshift. After about dozen or more attempts he finally shifted smoothly by the end of the day. 

Our first stop was Francis Ford Copola’s retreat (yes, the award-winning Director of The Godfather and other films), the Blancaneaux Lodge.  After 1 ½ hours of bumping up and down deeply rutted and potholed dirt roads, the lodge was a welcome to rest our sore butts.  Tracy treated herself to a beer, and we shared a tasty and crispy pizza on the patio.  Would you expect anything less at Copola’s retreat than a wood-burning pizza oven imported from Italy? 

Pizza from a wood-burning oven in the courtyard at Blancaneaux Lodge

Peeking at the elegant accommodations of the Blancaneaux Lodge

The bungalows at Blancaneaux Lodge are spacious and include a central open sitting area with hammocks.
Some of the bungalows start at $400 per night.

After wandering through the gorgeous grounds, we returned to the motorcycle and headed to Big Rock Falls. We hiked a well-marked trail with sturdy stairs down the canyon wall to the Big Rock Falls. We could have stayed for hours, but we considered we did not want to attempt the 1 ½ hour ride back to town in the dark.  After a dip in the cool stream we hiked back up the canyon trail and bounced our way back to San Ignacio.   

Beautiful Big Rock Falls

El Cruce and Tikal

After spending our required 72 hours in Belize, we headed back to Guatemala for our next excursion. For this part of the trip we opted to navigate back to Flores on our own. We caught a local bus from San Ignacio to the border town Benque Viejo Del Carmen and a taxi from the bus station to the border.  We walked out of Belize and into the border town of Melchor de Mencos, Guatemala, where we were immediately harassed by taxi drivers.  The drivers wanted to charge us about $30 per person to take us to our next destination, El Remate, and tried to convince us that public transport, the colectivos, don’t go there.  After waiting about a half hour, we caught one of the non-existent colectivos to the town of El Cruce, just south of El Remate for about $5 each.

Our next destination was Tikal.  We had not completed our planning for this part of the trip in part because there simply was not much information available on the internet on how to find our way there. (We think that may be part of the plan to keep the tourist’s dependent on travel agents?). We were dropped off on the side of the road from the colectivo, and we walked to El Remate, about a mile and a half, to look for lodging.  Although we had Guatemala SIM card with data, the phone was not working. Although it should no longer be a surprise, we remain amazed that even in third-world countries, cell phones and internet are ubiquitous. We stopped at a tienda (a small shop) that sold SIM cards and asked for help. We discovered the fix was simple. Since we left the working range of our Guatemala SIM card when we went into Belize, we just needed to restart the phone here to re-register. 

Tracy took a quick look at the hotel options in the area, and found an interesting option for one on the east end of Lake Peten Itza about a mile or so up the road.  It was a long walk, but it was well worth it.  Posada del Cerro was more of a retreat than a hotel, with private bungalows for about $30 a night, and food made to order.  We stayed there two nights, and arranged transportation from there to Tikal the next day.  

We were rewarded after our hike up the hill (cerro= hill) to Posada del Cerro with delightful lodging

Open seating area at Posada del Cerro called us to grab a hammock and a good book

Keychain for the coati mundi room at Posada del Cerro. We were thrilled to see a few of them at Tikal

Happy hour at Posada del Cerro overlooking Lake Peten Itza

Friendly staff at Posada del Cerro cooked us a dinner of chicken and rice

Tikal

Tikal encompasses the ruins of an ancient Maya city, Yax Mutal, located in the rainforests of northern Guatemala.  Tikal is huge. It is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centers of pre-Columbian times.  In 1979, it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Tikal was the capital of one of the most powerful kingdoms of the ancient Maya, dominating much of the region between c. 200 to 900 AD.

Painting of Tikal from an Ornate hawk-eagle perspective in the trees

Tikal is clearly an amazing experience- not merely a destination or a place to check off on your must-visit list.  Part of the allure is spending time close to nature.  The site covers 222 square miles, with thick vegetation and abundant wildlife. As we walked the paths through the forest, we saw and heard hawks, howler monkeys, spider monkeys, coati mundis, red lored parrots, great kiskadees, montezuma propendolas, pileated wood peckers, and ocellated turkeys.  We calculated we walked about 10 miles around the various structures. We could have spent more time.  Tikal and the Maya will captivate you. As you explore, you will be challenged by more and more questions about this fascinating place and the people.

Pyramids at Tikal had steep, sturdy stairways to give you a bird’s eye view of the park. 
We got a lot of exercise climbing the structures. 

The view was always worth the effort.
Morning fog made the mix of the jungle and ruins appear more mysterious.

Temple IV (of the two headed serpent) is the highest temple pyramid of Tikal (~ 69 m)
and had one of the most spectacular views

Atop Temple IV – Watch your step, no safety lines or handrails here!

The forest never sleeps. 
All of the structures in the park were completely covered with vegetation
and only discovered in the mid 20^th century

Temple V was the first temple pyramid built in Tikal c 600 AD

A well-preserved carving on a pyramid

A tree-of-life (Ceiba tree) entangled with a strangling fig vine 

Color amidst the green vegetation

The coati mundi ignored us taking photos as they searched the vegetation

Keel-billed toucans are a rare sight to see in Tikal.  

We did not see any. 

We spent a wonderful week on this excursion. We caught a colectivo back to Flores, a bus back to the Rio Dulce, and then finally we took a tuk-tuk back to Leilani – home sweet home.

NEXT TIME:  Join us on our next excursions to several nature reserves in Guatemala.