Flores and a trip to the Mayan site of Tikal

The town of Flores itself is an island in the centre of Lago Petèn Itza, connected to the land by a bridge, on the other side of which lies the town of Santa Elena. We actually stayed in a small village directly north of Flores called San Miguel. The easiest access to our hostel was via one of the regular boats that carry locals this short trip. Our hostel was a beautiful site of small timber huts, set high into a hill side with views out over the lake below.

Enjoying breakfast with a view.

Flores was well into Semana Santa mode when we arrived, there was music, parades, jugglers, hula hoppers, food stalls and boozing. It’s a huge destination for Guatemalans to celebrate Easter. Our hostel owner told us that during Semana Santa, it doesn’t matter whether they are rich or poor, every Guatemalan travels for the week. This sacred holy week is a very busy week for Flores, where they normally only see tourists who are visiting as a stopover to the nearby Mayan ruins.

Tikal is one of the largest existing old Mayan towns in the area and was once an urban centre of the Mayan civilisation. Parts of it date back to the 4th century BC, but the main structures were built during the height of the Mayan rule, 200 to 900 AD. It was later discovered by the Spanish in 1848.

All of the altars and pyramids constructed were set out to the compass, so there were always monuments on the north, south, east and west axis. North was the upper world (heaven), south was the under world or afterlife, the east represented light and sunrise and the west darkness and sunset.

The archeological site has been described as the New York City of Maya, because of the fact that it’s artificial. The area originally was a dense forest and jungle, but the Mayans chopped the trees and shrubs down and brought in stone from other places to build their city. It has also been called the Mayan Vatican City because of the religious significance of the city.

In fact, our guide liked comparing the city to us ‘westerners’ in a way we could understand, so many of his descriptions involved films. Just a selection were; the Ceiba tree which is found in the area was the idea behind the life tree in Avatar, howler monkeys whose constant screech could be heard throughout the site were the sounds that were used in Jurassic Park to imitate a T-Rex, and one of the temples built here (temple 4; the most famous temple in Tikal) was used in the Star Wars movie Return of the Jedi.

Preserving the temples under the soil

Since 1979, Tikal has been declared an Unesco World Heritage site and they say that the geologists and historians are not allowed to uncover the buildings fully, only 50%. The best form of preservation is to keep the buildings underneath the earth and natural vegetation that has accumulated over the years and covered all of the structures. Hopefully this will keep this wonderful, magical site in a condition to be enjoyed by generations to come.

Price Breakdown

Accommodation
We stayed at Chaltunha hostel a short boat journey from Flores, costing $9.50 for a dorm room. It’s a good place if you plan to stay in the area a while and relax but otherwise if you’re on a quick stopover it may be easier to stay in town.

Food
A meal in a middle range cafe/restaurant is around $4/5. There are quite a few upmarket restaurants with great views who understandably charge more. There is a small supermarket on the island but it is limited, the bigger stores are back on the mainland.

Travel
We arrived at Flores via a transfer from our previous hostel in Lanquin costing $20-30 (I can’t remember the exact price). Be aware of the tourist touts, they met us on the mainland and came in the van with us. We were dropped off at their office. Fortunately ours weren’t pushy and just helped everyone get to their desired destination. The boat over to the hostel is $1, the owner pays for your arrival and return journey.

Trips & Tours
Our trip to Tikal was booked via the hostel. There are several options, we chose to arrive for 6am as we were told by fellow travellers it was really cloudy in the morning so we probably wouldn’t see sunrise. Altogether for travel, a guide and entrance fee it cost $40.