Flores, Guatemala

 Flores is a beautiful little town nestled in Lago Petén Itzá, Guatemala. It is just across the bridge from Santa Elana (the local town) and small enough that you can walk the whole place in about an hour. When you cross that bridge you return to non-tourist Guatemala. The prices drop, the English (what little there was) goes away, and the market is alive and bustling with people. If you want to go anywhere for cheap (on a chicken bus), ask for a taxi (a tuk-tuk) to the market in Santa Elana. It is madness in there and you can buy just about anything for 5 to 10 quetzales, without even leaving the bus. If you hop on a bus from there, you only need to give the bus driver 10 quetzales per person, and make sure each person hands him their own fare. If you don't, you will pay more and they are pretty impossible to argue with, even if you speak Spanish.

 There is only one ATM (cajero automatico) in Flores, so bring plenty of GTQ on the island. Originally, I stayed at the Hotel Villa De Lago, but later moved to an airbnb in El Remate for a fantastic deal. The Hotel Villa De Lago was amazing. They were super nice and helpful and had AC in the rooms and bats to watch (and hear) at night. Overall, I'm glad I stayed there, because that's how I got my awesome trip to TIKAL booked and it gave me an opportunity to see the city.

        Prices can vary from Q35- Q135 per meal, so if you are on a budget, you may have to shop around, but over all, Flores was worth it. As much as I loved El Remate, don't count on getting much sleep if you are off the main road, the roosters like to crow early as 4am and may never stop.... every 7-15 seconds.... but that is the norm if you want to live like the locals for a bit.

      Now I did something I never did before.... I skipped a whole country. I traveled through Belize without taking one picture and stayed and had a great time. If you want to know the best way to get from Mexico to Guatemala, you can follow this link and then take the first bus at the ferry station in Belize City to Flores. At least that's what I did. Now you may wonder... why skip over such a big section of travel? To be honest... sometimes, we all need to stay in the moment and have a memory that is just that.. a memory. You should try it sometime.... it just may be what you need to keep yourself living in the now.