With Mexico behind me i’d have to figure out how to navigate my way through Central America without the ADO bus. I decided the best place to make my future plans would be Antigua, Guatemala so I headed in that direction.
Approximately one hour and 45 minutes from the Belize/ Guatemala boarder is Tikal, the ruin of an ancient city and famous archaeological site in the Guatemalan rainforest. AKA, the perfect place to stop and visit when traveling the great distance from San Pedro, Belize to Antigua, Guatemala. I thought about spending a few days in San Ignacio, Belize since it’s close to the boarder and offers day trips to Tikal, but decided against it. At the time I felt I had already spent too much money in Belize and Guatemala would be much cheaper. Looking back, I wish I had made a different choice and feel that San Ignacio was a missed opportunity.
Flores, Guatemala
Tikal
Flores is a small town on Lake Petén Itzá that’s connected to the mainland suburb of Santa Elena by a short causeway. It’s a convenient spot for tourists wanting to visit Tikal National Park since it’s about an hour shuttle ride away. Revisiting my decision to stay away from hostels, I picked a place with a patio and an awesome view of the lake, perfect for sunset watching.
After visiting Tikal, my list of things to do in Flores was complete. I spent most of my time on the patio with my laptop. I managed to leave my patio perch once or twice to explore a bit. I walked around the island taking pictures, searched for sunglasses at the large market in Santa Elena and went for a boat ride across the lake to explore the town of Tayasal. My visit ended with a motorcycle ride to the bus station (glad my suitcase can convert to a backpack) where I boarded the night bus to Guatemala City, followed by a connecting shuttle to Antigua at 6am the next day.
Fun fact: I got ripped off Flores but not as bad as that time I paid a whopping 280 pesos for a 50 peso cab ride in Puerto Escondido, Mexico. I don’t remember what I paid for the bus ticket from Flores to Antigua however, I know the price was supposed to include a shuttle from the ticket office to the Flores bus station, a bus from Flores to Guatemala City and a shuttle from Guatemala City to Antigua. Except, there was no shuttle to the Flores bus station, the guy ended up taking me to the station on his motorcycle, and there was no shuttle to Antigua, I had to buy another ticket for the Antigua shuttle. I actually got lucky here, things could have been much worse if I wasn’t able to board the night bus.
Moral of the story: sometimes being cheap costs more than you bargained for!
