Flores, Guatemala – May 25 – 27, 2011

We left Tikal around 11:30 for the trip to Flores.  There were only two of us for the first while but then we started picking up more people once outside of the park.  Students in school uniform obviously use these shuttle vans to get back and forth to school and by the end every seat was full and some were standing at the back behind the last row of seats and there were three students in the front seat with the driver.  It was definitely a lively trip. 

As you get away from the park and closer to Flores you have the lake, Lago Peten Itza, on the right hand side of the road and it looks really nice and appears to have some lovely beaches on it.  We went to the bus station again and our friendly tour operator offered to drive us across the causeway and to the island of Flores to our hotel.  He wasn’t really being all that generous.  He just wanted to claim a commission from the hotel and he did even though he had nothing to do with us choosing to stay there.  Oh well, I guess you have to make a buck somehow.

The island town of Flores is very small.  There are only two main streets around the outside of the island and then a few streets that cut across the island and bisect the streets going around.  The streets are very narrow in places and look more like alleys in some cases but then there wasn’t a lot of traffic so it seemed to work out okay.  Most of the streets are cobblestone or brick so that definitely adds to the old-world feel.  The town square is on the highest part of the island.  There is a church and city hall around the square, an artisans’ co-op, a music conservatory and a lot of smaller vendors.  The music school was neat because it’s almost open air and there were students practicing the marimba.  The vendors were also great as it was hot and I really appreciated my orange float while enjoying the view from the hillside.

As I already noted, the lake is beautiful.  The water looks clear and calm and great at reflecting what’s on the other side of the shore when the light is right.  The lake is not very big so there are lots of shorelines to reflect.  Many of the nearby shores have homes and other buildings on them.  Farther away the shoreline looks more deserted.  Our hotel was on the inner road but it was right at a cross road so there is an open view right to the water.  At the end of the street, which is only one building wide and thus only a three-minute walk at most, there is a dock.  The dock was busy at most times of the day.  Generally it was just busy with swimmers but occasionally a few water taxis pulled up at the shore beside the dock to pick up or drop off passengers.  We went down to cool off a couple of times and the water was very refreshing.  The only complaint was that the old wooden steps that were below water level were very slippery.  However, I enjoyed the refreshing dips anyway.

The streets in town are full of hotels and restaurants and travel agents and other touristy operations.  It didn’t take twenty minutes to walk around the whole island so that will tell you how big it is.  There were also residential homes somewhere but what was really apparent as you walked around the streets were all the small businesses.  It was a very relaxing and laid-back spot to visit.  The weather was exceedingly hot and humid so having the water nearby also helped.  This was another spot where I paid for air conditioning because the rooms were small and stifling at times.  Our place had a rooftop terrace with hammocks so that also helped, and the view from there was equally stunning.

The first day we wanted some lunch so went wandering to the right along the lake shore.  Someone gave us a hand-written flyer for a French restaurant and that’s where we ended up.  Two guys worked there, including the guy who earlier gave us the flyer.  You sat outdoors in an enclosed area that luckily had some shade and some breeze.  The crepes were great and very, very inexpensive.  The two young guys running the place were hilarious.  One was in his bathing suit with no top and no shoes.  The other had a top on but was continually smoking a cigarette.   This was not your typical restaurant experience but we enjoyed it.  At night we went to a restaurant recommended by someone we met and it too was great.  It was right on the water or at least across the road from it with nothing on the other side of the road.  Two of us shared the large catch of the day and it was a huge meal.  It was also delicious but did cost a fair bit more.  The second night we went to another place for dinner, also right on the water, and it too was very enjoyable.  I don’t remember what breakfasts were but I know we frequented the little grocery store next door regularly so I think we probably just had something quick for breakfasts as we were always on the go early.

On the 26^th we were up early and off for another tour.  There were only two tourists and one guide so it was very personal service.  Because I hate the heat of the day and we were going to be gone most of the day we asked to leave an hour earlier.  That worked well except that when we got to the park it wasn’t open so we had about 45 minutes to kill.  In other words, their original timing would have gotten us there just in time.  We had just past a resort sign that included reference to a restaurant so we went back to that spot.  It appeared to be deserted but someone did appear and cooked us a wonderful breakfast which we enjoyed on the deck overlooking what looked like a lake but they called it a lagoon.

Now I should say that getting this far was a miracle.  The road was pretty rough and by the time we got to the park he had broken the air valve on one of the tires.  While we had breakfast he changed the tire but the spare was low on air.  He got that pumped up but we weren’t really sure how we were going to get back out this rough road with a little spare tire that was obviously losing gas.  We did make it though and it turned out that the tire wasn’t our problem on the way back.  Instead the car kept missing and sputtering because he said he had some bad gas.  I thought it was going to die anytime and there wasn’t a lot of traffic on some of these roads.  A couple of times he just shut it off for a minute and then started again and it seemed to be better.  Eventually he got to a gas station and put in some more gas and that seemed to help.  Eventually we did get back to Flores but it was certainly an interesting trip.

So back to Yaxha.  As far as we could tell we were the only two tourists in the park.  There were a few guards and guides and workers around the area but basically we were all alone.  It was another hot, humid day but there was just enough shade and enough of a breeze off of the lake to make it bearable.  The setting by the lake is beautiful and there is one place with a series of steps and platforms going down to the lake and these steps date back to Mayan days.  There are three other Mayan cities (Topoxte, Nakum and Naranjo) on the other side of the lake so it seemed to be several communities connected to each other by water.   These cities were active from 400 BC to 1450 AD.  Some parts of Yaxha are not yet uncovered.  Some parts are partially uncovered and restored, and a couple of the areas are totally uncovered and restored.

 We wondered around for several hours and thoroughly enjoyed the peace and quiet and the spectacular sites before us.  There were some stones of different shapes that were carved, but it was hard to make out exactly what they depicted and we didn’t have guide with us.  Some of them definitely looked like men well adorned with headdresses and necklaces and other heavy jewelry.  Some of the carvings were parts of the Mayan calendar that we had seen before.  Others were very ornate and curved and large and incredibly detailed so the stone carvers were obviously very talented.

One of the largest structures in the complex was the Temple of the Red Hands, so named because of the red hand imprints that were found here.  We didn’t see any red hands but we did climb to the top and had a great view of the lake and the surrounding jungle as we were well above the tree tops.  In this particular case they had stairs up the side of the pyramid instead of allowing us to climb the pyramid itself.  From here we could also see the tops of several of the other structures in the park.

The most beautiful spot in the complex was the Acropolis North I think. I say I think because I’m guessing which area it was by matching my pictures to the tiny Spanish map I have.  Regardless, it was an area with several pyramids on it.  We climbed the tallest one by walking up the Mayan steps and some of them were quite crumbly so you had to pick your path carefully.  When you got to the top you had another incredible view of the countryside and other parts of the complex.  You also had a good view of the immediate area which included smaller pyramids to the left and to the right.  All of the pyramids seemed to be what I would call step pyramids and most had seven or nine steps or levels before they reached the top.  With the sun shining on them they were absolutely beautiful and detailed.  Every stone seems to show up on the pictures. 

Some of the paths between the different structures were very open and sunny while others were just through the jungle.  The fact that we were the only two in the place and it was so remote and quiet only added to its charm.  There were obviously palaces and plazas and residential areas and markets in the complex but a lot of it was left to the imagination.  The last pyramid we climbed was the Complejo Astronomico Mayor which I assume had something to do with astronomy.  It was another high structure and afforded more great views.  Again there were wooden steps up to the top and we didn’t have to use the old steps. 

Yaxha was a much less popular site than Tikal and yet the walkways and signage were much better.  Unfortunately they were only in Spanish so we had to guess a bit about what we were reading.  Someone told us they only have about 200 visitors a year to this site but I think it was definitely worth it and it would have been nice to have caught the boat to some of the other nearby communities as well but there was just no time to do so.  We had one more night in Flores before heading off early in the morning by bus, which turned out to be more like a big van, to Belize.  I’ll pick up that part of the story in a later blog.