In my time between our main group trips to Oaxaca and then our 10-day tour of El Salvador, Jess, Maya, and I (2 other girls from our group) traveled in 4 days to Tikal to see one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centers of Mayans and to San Ignacio, Belize to climb through a cave with stalagmite, Mayan pottery, and even intact Mayan skeletons!
Our trip was a fun challenge at times: after a four hour bus ride from Xela to Guatemala City, our 9-hour planned overnight bus ride to the North of Guatemala turned out to take 15 hours and 45 min. because of multiple standstill traffic jams throughout the night. When we finally got to the city of Flores, we decided to see the Tikal pyramids with fresh energy. So, we checked into a cute little backpackers' hostel and took it easy for the rest of the day.
At 4:30 the next morning we headed to Tikal to catch an early morning tour. We drove into the official park property at 6am, the moment the park opened. The early morning tour was definitely a great idea - without the strong sun, we were able to see spider monkeys, toucans, and other birds and get glimpses of little mammals - one was called a "pizote"
We climbed up the pyramids, sometimes up stone steps and other times up steep, wooden ladders. Temple V was a highlight...apparently, they used the area to film plane races from "Return of the Jedi." At around noon we headed bak to the hostel, had lunch, and shared a yummy homemade brownie and ice cream, and headed to the Belizean border.
On top of Temple V! ->
We were worried about the border closing before we crossed that night b/c the cab ride from Flores took almost 2 hours but we had no problems. In the first minutes driving in from the border, we noticed so many differences between Guatemala and Belize. Most of the houses had beautiful finishes (felt a lot more "USA" style), there was cut grass and "Century 21" signs, and a lot fewer pot holes. It was weird to have a bit of a "culture shock" during a 10-minute drive from one Central American country to another. In reality, Belize still has significant poverty and corruption in government like in Guatemala, but the wealth seems a bit more spread than in Guatemala. When we got to San Ignacio, we found a cute little family-owned hotel in San Ignacio, Belize. The next morning at 8am we got ready for our tour to swim in and explore the ATM cave!
The travel rush to Belize was definitely worth it when we swam into the cave to see thousand-year-old natural formations, in tact Mayan pots, and even an intact skeleton of a young Mayan woman fro around 900 AD! The tour group we were with included our guide who had been going into the cave for 10 years, one girl from San Ignacio, 2 girls studying finance from Toronto, an Australian insurance worker, and another couple. It was fun exchanging travel stories during the tour.
The skeleton of the Mayan young woman!
Outside the entrance to the ATM cave -
That night after the cave we picked up a pizza and rushed back to the Guatemalan border in time to pick up an 9pm bus straight from the border to Guatemala City over the night. Then we were able to relax all day in Maya's friend's apartment where we showed, slept, and took a long visit to the high-class Guatemalan City mall...a great end to our little adventure before El Salvador!
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