Wednesday, August 31, 2022
I arrived in Flores and took a tuk tuk onto the island. I walked the short way from the bridge to the hostel.
Los Amigos is a cool hostel with a restaurant. They gave me a room when I arrived at 7 am so they have my stamp of approval. They also have a turtle pond and a secret bar. What more can you ask for?
I put my stuff away and then went to Maple y Tocino for crepes. It wasn’t really a crepe but oh well.
Then I took a rest. Afterwards I explored the small town a bit and then went to Achiote for dinner. The food was okay but I wasn’t feeling well.
Thursday, September 1, 2022
Today I’m doing the main thing to do here: visit Tikal. Somehow I agreed to leave at 4:30 am to avoid the heat (a valid argument, but also SUPER early). I guess I’m just an early riser now. In hindsight, I definitely recommend taking the tour at this time.
Afterwards, I got tacos (near the basketball court) and ran into some people from the tour. We had a nice conversation about traveling. The tacos were a bit strange but they were really cheap and they were tasty.
To be honest, I didn’t love the ruins. Of course they were nice to see, but for some reason they just are never that exciting to me. I’ll be choosing which ruins I see very carefully from now on. (Edit: I don’t want to bash the experience or discourage you from visiting. The ruins are cool, the guide was good, and the preservation of the area was nice to see. It’s just not an activity that lit up my soul. I also tend to be more critical when I’m on a tight deadline.)
There’s also not too much to do here in Flores. There’s lots of lake activities but they’re not specific to Flores and I’ve just come from Lake Atitlan which has a lot more attractions. If I had no deadline, I’d stay longer but I’d rather keep moving. That meant I had to forfeit a paid hostel night.
I was able to convince the staff to transfer the money for my room to a tab, so now I have some money to spend at the restaurant. I ordered a crepe which was good. Then I rested (because I did get up at 4:30 am). For dinner I got veggie pasta, which was more veggie than pasta. I also tried a Gallo beer since I’m leaving Guatemala tomorrow and I haven’t tried it yet. It was pretty good.
Friday, September 2, 2022
Today I’m taking a long and complicated journey to Bacalar.
We first took a bus to the Guatemalan border, where we crossed and got on another bus. Both times I found my seat on the bus, another person on the bus did something to give me a worse seat than them which was pretty annoying. I used some of my money to get a lunch box from the hostel which wasn’t very good.
Our second bus took us to Belize City bus station where the group broke up. I waited a few hours for my shuttle. I had to pay for the bathroom in Belize dollars which I didn’t have so I literally had to exchange money to use the bathroom, except that some nice cashier helped me out (truly the light of my day).
Our shuttle left for the Mexican border, and somehow I’m the only one sitting next to a stranger even though all of these people seem to have come from nearby, and not GUATEMALA. It’s okay because they probably don’t realize and I don’t want to make a fuss. Then I realize I’m sitting next to some guy’s friend. The friend is sitting in a single seat by the door with extra leg room. This guy is also shorter than me and purposely made me get on the bus before him so he could have extra space.
I’m losing my patience.
We make it to the Mexican border where I have to pay two unexpected taxes. You have to pay to exit Belize whether you stayed for a while or not and you have to pay to stay in Mexico if you’re staying 7+ days. I’m staying 8 days by calendar but 7 by time. I also paid the tax the first time I entered. I just paid the tax without complaining because the border was busy.
Finally we took a taxi to Bacalar where we were dropped at our hostels. Yak Lake is a nice hostel but there’s not much space to sit in the shade. I also wish it wasn’t air conditioned. They have a nice bar and event calendar.
I’m starving, so I head to Mr. Taco since everyone has been talking about it. The tacos are strange but cheap. Then I go to a crepe/marquesita stand in the square. The crepe was actually good but the lady was rude to me when I asked her a question… Just what I needed today.
This shuttle experience actually put me in a pretty bad mood to be honest. I won’t let it affect me tomorrow or anything but my friends will hear my rant about it, and so will you, my lovely reader.
When you’re traveling, don’t take advantage of fellow travelers. Especially solo travelers. I was forced to sit in the worst seat multiple times at other people’s expense because they didn’t want to share a seat with their friend (or lover!!). If I were short I would understand, but I was actually taller than these people. It’s just a matter of selfishness. If you don’t want to sit next to your travel buddy on the bus, don’t travel with them.
Additionally, I’m not super thrilled about the taxes I paid or the price of the shuttle in the first place. Flores was also mostly a bust and I took another expensive overnight bus to get there. Having taken this journey, I definitely would have at least looked into flights from Guatemala City to Cancún, which would have saved me practically a full day of sitting on a bus and might not have been that much more expensive.
Check Out My Guide to Flores ⧉
My Google Maps Guides have all the important locations I mention in my blogs, and you can open them right in Google Maps to make it easy to plan your own trip!