Adios Flores, Hola Guatemala City

The best line today came from Miguel, our trusty guide on the Flores leg of the trip, who when asked if the land we were visiting was flat, replied  'Yes, once you've climbed the hill'. 

We set off for Tikal, the UNESCO World Heritage Site, early this morning.  The site was much more established than yesterday's site and was littered with rest areas, with a little Guatemalan man selling Coca Cola and benches to rest on.  There were a lot of other people there, unlike yesterday when we were the only group.

The 40 degree heat made the experience extremely strenuous, but worth it for the spectacular views of the temples from the top of the highest pyramid.  A big highlight for me today was meeting two French tourists at the top of this pyramid, who said to me, 'You are Helen, non?' - 'indeed - how do you know?' I replied, with surprise.  They said that they had been at the Rainbow Cafe on Wednesday night, when I did my routine! I have a fan base! Or, at least, 2 people who were there and remembered me.  Antigua was where our Guatemalan adventure began several days ago, hundreds of miles from Tikal. 

We saw a lot of wildlife today, including animals a bit like racoons, but native to Guatemala.  One came very close to it.  I tried to talk to it, but it only spoke Spanish.  We also saw coties wandering around and even a toucan in the trees.  We saw howler monkeys nursing their young in the trees.  They defecate on the people below to mark their territory.  Nice.

My jungle-strength insect repellent doesn't seem to have worked on the vicious mosquitoes of Flores - my little arms and ankles have been nibbled, despite long-sleeves and copious amounts of sweet-smelling jungle lotion.  But I have been taking anti-malarials on Tuesdays, just to be on the safe side, so if any of those naughty mosquitoes are malarial, I am safe.

We flew back to Guatemala City from Tikal in a larger plane than we had flown there.  This plane even had an air hostess, who kindly bought us a drink and biscuits during the flight.  What a job that must be - 45 minute flights from Guatemala City to Flores and back, presumably only when enough people want to fly.  There is something quirky about flying within a country with a tiny airline that no-one has heard of.  It was a pleasant flight, and we didn't need earplugs as previously, which was a relief.

Manuel was waiting for us at the airport.  He had had a haircut, so looked refreshed.  He said that he had missed us, but I'm not sure if this was true.  We piled into the bus and headed to downtown Guatemala City, for our final night here.  Tomorrow we are wandering around the city in the morning, then starting the long journey back to reality.  Night night everybody.