Guatemala Highlands

Well I left Belize and headed to Tikal, Guatemala. Took me about half a day to make the trip from San Ignacio, with no problems at the border crossing, and then took a bus to El Remate where I caught a shuttle up to Tikal. I was able to string up my hammock at the Jaguar Inn, and they have lockers you can use (25Q). Went wandering around the ruins a bit that evening and saw lots of birds and Howler monkeys, for being so small they sure can make a lot of noise.

If you buy your ticket after 3pm you can go in the next day also (50Q). I got up at 4:30 the next morning to be able to catch the sun rise atop Temple IV. You can’t be in the park before 6am without a guide so I pretended to be with a tour group until we got past the guard shack. It was a great morning being there hearing the jungle wake up around you, howler monkeys and bird cry’s echoing through the jungle. By 11am I was ready to go and caught the first shuttle down to Flores (12:30pm) and got a bed at Dona Goya which was a nice Hostel and pretty empty. The town of Flores is nice but there’s really not much to do around there so I bought a ticket for a night bus the next day to Guatemala City(12hrs $24). I splurged and went for a nicer bus since it was at night and also going to be my bed for the night.
I got into Guatemala City around 5am and was able to jump right on a bus to Xela which is another 4 hours (35Q). I got into Xela and check out a few hostels which were not great. So I was wandering around looking for this place in the Lonely Planet but couldn’t seem to find it. This girl asked if I needed help, she said that she could show me were the hostel was but that she also rented out rooms from her house. Well I decide to check her place out first and I’m glad I did it’s in this really huge old house right in the middle of downtown, she’s the only one living there and only has 3 rooms for rent$5/28/100 for a day ,week, or month. She also makes breakfast in the morning and for $2 she will do lunch or dinner for you to.  It’s a great place and I highly recommend it.  Sary Munoz (54084361) 12 Avenada 8-31, sarymunoz@yahoo.com.mx. I’m going to be staying here for about a week there’s a few hikes I want to do including the highest peak in Central America (Tajumulco). Will be updating more soon, and hopefully with pictures.