W
e left Semuc Champey thinking we had an easy day ahead of us. All the buses head back to Coban to take the major highway up to Flores. With our freedom we would nearly cut the time in half... we thought. We made it about an hour and a half up the back roads, and only about a half hour from the main highway, before we were informed that the road was closed for maintenance. After some inquiry, the only road was to head all the way back to Coban. After three hours of driving, we were virtually back where we started, and hoping to still make it a good ways.
We stopped in Coban for some lunch, to refill the tank, and refill our wallets. During my transaction, the power went out, ate my card. The head branch was two hours away in the wrong direction! So, the day got worse, but we kept moving, still with an outside chance of making it to Flores before dark. We got to the river, it is only possible to cross by ferry, and asked why everyone was waiting. After finding out that the line would take about an hour, and put us on the other side in the dark with still an hours drive, we decided to stay. This was bad thing of the day number three, there was a reason no one was staying in the town. It was hot, dirty, nothing to do, internet didn't work, the $1 DVD wouldn't play in the computer, and the restaurants were unappetizing to say the least. We decided ice cream would make a better dinner than anything else, and headed back to the rooms. Erica asked me kindly if I would remove a cocroach from her room, she handed me a plastic bag. After grabbing it, I went to tie the bag, and Erica screamed it was on my shirt. After a triple salchow, the bug was gone, and I thanked Erica for giving me a bag with a hole in it, and went to bed.New day new luck, right? Well, we got across the ferry and it was looking good, until the flat tire.
We started to wonder if we were being told not to go to Tikal, but there is no way. We stopped for the girls to take a canopy tour to see the tops of the jungle, and then headed into Flores for some lunch and to catch up on some interneting. We headed into the National Park in the afternoon and got settled
. With the prices we opted for the free camping, including one of us in the car. With the moon being nearly full, we bribed a guard to stay in the park after for the sunset while we sat on top of an Mayan temple over 170ft up
.
It was amazing to see the park with just about no one there
. We ran into our friends Darren and Beth again, and had a nice meal before heading off to the sauna of a tent we had. The night was rough, but well work the price. We needed to be up at 4:30 to take our sunrise tour of the park, Nicole was nice enough to wake everyone up by setting off the car alarm at 4. We made our way with a big group up to the top of the same temple, but with the clouds the sun never really rose, but it was nice to hear the howler monkeys and get peaks of the other temples through the mist
. We continued afterwards to take a 4 hour tour of the rest of the ruins. Our guide was really informative, and other than the heat we had a great day. Mom, I am sorry, but we did get to see a toucan, look close, it has a yellow beak and chest
. We finished up the tour, and decided our luck might run out, so we hit the road and headed for our second to last country. It was a little strange to speak English, and the border seamed easier for us than the group of Russian girls sitting in the corner
.
e left Semuc Champey thinking we had an easy day ahead of us. All the buses head back to Coban to take the major highway up to Flores. With our freedom we would nearly cut the time in half... we thought. We made it about an hour and a half up the back roads, and only about a half hour from the main highway, before we were informed that the road was closed for maintenance. After some inquiry, the only road was to head all the way back to Coban. After three hours of driving, we were virtually back where we started, and hoping to still make it a good ways.
We stopped in Coban for some lunch, to refill the tank, and refill our wallets. During my transaction, the power went out, ate my card. The head branch was two hours away in the wrong direction! So, the day got worse, but we kept moving, still with an outside chance of making it to Flores before dark. We got to the river, it is only possible to cross by ferry, and asked why everyone was waiting. After finding out that the line would take about an hour, and put us on the other side in the dark with still an hours drive, we decided to stay. This was bad thing of the day number three, there was a reason no one was staying in the town. It was hot, dirty, nothing to do, internet didn't work, the $1 DVD wouldn't play in the computer, and the restaurants were unappetizing to say the least. We decided ice cream would make a better dinner than anything else, and headed back to the rooms. Erica asked me kindly if I would remove a cocroach from her room, she handed me a plastic bag. After grabbing it, I went to tie the bag, and Erica screamed it was on my shirt. After a triple salchow, the bug was gone, and I thanked Erica for giving me a bag with a hole in it, and went to bed.New day new luck, right? Well, we got across the ferry and it was looking good, until the flat tire.
We started to wonder if we were being told not to go to Tikal, but there is no way. We stopped for the girls to take a canopy tour to see the tops of the jungle, and then headed into Flores for some lunch and to catch up on some interneting. We headed into the National Park in the afternoon and got settled
. With the prices we opted for the free camping, including one of us in the car. With the moon being nearly full, we bribed a guard to stay in the park after for the sunset while we sat on top of an Mayan temple over 170ft up
.
It was amazing to see the park with just about no one there
. We ran into our friends Darren and Beth again, and had a nice meal before heading off to the sauna of a tent we had. The night was rough, but well work the price. We needed to be up at 4:30 to take our sunrise tour of the park, Nicole was nice enough to wake everyone up by setting off the car alarm at 4. We made our way with a big group up to the top of the same temple, but with the clouds the sun never really rose, but it was nice to hear the howler monkeys and get peaks of the other temples through the mist
. We continued afterwards to take a 4 hour tour of the rest of the ruins. Our guide was really informative, and other than the heat we had a great day. Mom, I am sorry, but we did get to see a toucan, look close, it has a yellow beak and chest
. We finished up the tour, and decided our luck might run out, so we hit the road and headed for our second to last country. It was a little strange to speak English, and the border seamed easier for us than the group of Russian girls sitting in the corner
.
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