Friday, May 7, 2010

Guatemala Day 9, 10, & 11: Flores

We slept in and went to breakfast at about 8:30. Not the best breakfast, they brought my fruit uncut and then generic STRAWBERRY yogurt on the side with a side of granola. weird. Kylee had french toast -which was good and came with more fruit. After breakfast we went for a walk to see if there were any crocodiles in the close pond. Absolutely NO sign of them. We were so sad...but we did see a few turtles.

We arranged for our shuttle at 12:30 then went to hang out at the pool. It is so hot in Tikal that the pool felt great. Of course we were ready for our shuttle at 12:15 and it didn´t come until 12:45. Of course I am totally in a panic by then, even though everything is ALWAYS late here. We were the only one´s in our shuttle and thought we were going to be lucky but no...everytime there was someone on the side of the road, we picked them up. Soon we were not only full, but still picking people up! And dropping them off! It took us 2 plus hours to make a 1 and a half hour drive. Ugh. And did i mention it´s HOT. No AC in anything.

Lucky for us, our shuttle dropped us off right next to the Gran Hotel de le Isle and we walked right in. $77 for a room with AC and NO BUGS! Not a fancy room, but check out the AC unit in the top corner. woo hoo!

It´s a miracle. It´s so hot here. I think the further north you get, the hotter it is. It´s different though. In AZ you can´t just ride with the windows down and be okay - I think it's because there are black asphalt roads and concrete buildings everywhere. Here, it´s all jungle so if the windows are down you get enough of a breeze that you don´t feel like you´ll die.

Flores is a quaint little town. It's an island and it's very small and crowded.


The streets look like this:

Which is pretty much what it looks like in most of the cities. We walked along the water and did some shopping and then we got some GREAT pizza. Of course we were so excited to get some real pizza that we ordered a Grande (which was very large) and then we ended up leaving half of it. You´d think we´d learn our lesson, but no. At least we can take our leftovers on the bus this time.

After dinner, we walked and shopped some more and ended up at our hotel pool to kick back and read, then shower (best shower ever) and bed. It´s funny how even this old hotel feels like the Phoenician right now!

Day 11: Leaving Flores
We thought we reserved a spot in the fancy expensive bus but as we waited for it at 8:15 this morning - it never came. At 8:50 I went to check on it only to find out it only runs at night. Ugh. Our not-so-fancy bus leaves at 10:00.

We took the back seat again and the drive was not bad. I can´t wait to get back to Greg and the kids but I really don´t want to leave Kylee! Check out our bracelet collection, we like them a lot...