Flores and Tikal, Guatemala

The cobbled streets of Flores, Guatemala

It wasn't without a certain amount of trepidation that we made our first overland border crossing in Central America, from Belize into Guatemala. An early start, a deep breath, some money changing into the Guatemalan quetzal, some departure tax, a walk across nomansland, a quick negotiation with the Spanish speaking taxi drivers and before we knew it we were on our way through the lush countryside heading towards the beautiful island of Flores situated on Lake Peten. Small lakeside hotels and restaurants, cobbled streets and brightly coloured painted houses with a church sat on top of the hill. This is Flores and you can walk around it in  20 minutes.

We hardly had time to enjoy happy hour before we were being collected at 4.30am the next morning to visit Guatemala’s jewel in the crown and ‘the heart of the Mayan world’, Tikal National Park.  It stands in 360 square miles of jungle and contains the largest Mayan temples in the world which stretch out beyond the jungle canopy. Its Guatemala’s most visited site and we could see why.