The Ancient City of Guatemala | Ruins of Tikal

Finishing off our last day in Belize with a visit to Caracol was simply great but this morning its time to move on: we’re ready to cross into Guatemala! After taking a ride back to San Ignacio from Santa Familia (the place where we were volunteering on workaway), getting a bus to the border with Guatemala ends up being the easiest thing on Earth. In fact, these buses run every 15min c.a., from the bus terminal in front of the touristic office of San Ignacio and cost no less than 1-2BLZ. And here we are now, at the final stop of the bus in a little town before the border with taxi drivers circling us and offering the ride to our destination for “just” 5BLZ… yes, unlike the bus from Mexico to Belize, this time we’re not dropped off straight at the border but we still have a couple of km left. By the time we get our thumbs out, we’re already chilling in the back of a pick-up speeding away toward the border! Crazy efficient being hitchhikers here!

After the customs and paying the annoying fee for exiting Belize (40BLZ each), we still have no clue on how to get to the most famous historical site in Guatemala, located no more than 2hrs away: Tikal! Luckily, this time there is a Guatemalan bus at the border and even without knowing well in which town we have to hop down, we know that if its going to Flores then its going our way.

While onboard, thanks to the great offline maps app Sygic, we manage to figure out that for the fastest route we have to hop off at the junction road that leads up north just before Flores. Easy peasy! There we also manage to find a local cheap place to eat at that for just under a euro feeds us both with a big big traditional meal. Nothing more to ask. And as if that’s not enough, a couple of minutes after finishing our meal and heading toward the road, we see a bus with “destino” Tikal at the horizon. Jackpot!

Without even having the time for a nap, we reach the gates of Tikal in just around half an hour; there we pay our entrance tickets (sunset or sunrise: 150QZL, daytime: 100QZL) for the daytime entrance of the next day and also decide that paying the an additional 20USD for sunset/sunrise was not worth. Be aware, once at the ruins, if you decide you want to explore them at those special times, you’ll have to drive all the way back to the gates and purchase the tickets there as its the only ticket booth in the whole park!

Armed with tickets and hope for a cheaper accommodation, we decide to try our luck and pay a visit to all the fancy hotels near the ruins to see whether we can exchange some photography service for a free night. Well… everybody turns us down, no need for photography but in the end we manage to be lucky once again; at the jungle lodge, they also have “budget” rooms that they could rent us for 40USD for one night. Maybe its not the cheapest accommodation but going to sleep next to the ruins is simply a beautiful feeling. Once the tourists coming from outside have all gone, we can freely wander around the area of our hotel and enjoy the wildlife that starts to wake up: howler monkeys eating fruits just a couple of meters away from us, big colorful turkeys rasping around just in front of our room and many more “locals” that come pay us a visit.

The morning after at 5.45am we’re in front of the gates ready to explore Tikal. Although our day tickets allow us to enter the site at 6am the earliest, the guards at the entrance don’t seem to care much and with 25min for the sunrise to go we start our run for the highest temple. After getting lost in the woods for something like 15min we eventually managed to get out of the maze and realise we’re just below the temple everybody suggested us to climb to the top for the best sunrise: Temple IV. Excited we get to the top and together with another small group impatiently wait for the first rays of sunlight to appear at the horizon but… 6.00am, 6.10am, 6.30am… nothing, today the clouds are too thick for the sun to be seen. Well, guess that at least we have to be thankful its not raining (yet)!

A bit discouraged by the unseen sunrise, we spend the rest of the time in Tikal visiting the beautiful ruins scattered all around a huge forest area. Often you are left to enjoy the ancient buildings from down below just looking up as if you were a little lonely ant whereas sometimes you’re lucky and you get to climb to the temple top to enjoy spectaculars views. After what was for us a small relaxed stroll, we realise that for the last 4hours we’ve been walking around the site without stopping a single second to take a breath. Crazy! Everything is just so mesmerising that who could find the time to take a break from taking in all this beauty ?!

Finally, at around 10am we’re back at the entrance, tired but satisfied from having spent what could be described as a full day at the ruins of Tikal. Funnily enough, at the exit we see a huge cue of people, whom have joined one of the “Tikal Ruins” tour offered from Flores (or somewhere else) and are now trying to access the site as a single mass. Grey clouds… thunder and… it starts raining just as we enter our room. That was close! Once again, the choice of spending the early morning at the ruins couldn’t have been better. Imagine yourself now, wandering through the ruins under a heavy tropical rain, mud and together with several more people. Definitely not as enjoyable as it was for us!

Take a shower, have breakfast and pack up our stuff before the same shuttle of the day before (this time headed toward Flores) gets here at 11am. Perfect timing! As we leave Tikal behind, the rain gets heavier, our heads sleepier and with the shuttle unexpectedly all to ourself we slowly snuggle and doze away with the sound of the rain accompanying us. What a great day it has been!

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