Tikal, Mayan ruins number two

I'd noticed tour agencies in Copan offering bus tickets direct to Tikal in Guatemala for $40US each, which would certainly have been convenient, but I reckoned just getting local public transport would work out much cheaper. Indeed it did, only costing us about $16US each, and the whole thing was yet again really easy (anyone reading this back home has to realise of course that saving $24US so easily is a fairly big deal when your daily budget is only about $25US).

6am in the morning we caught the local bus to the border, and had no queues or bother at immigration. Sarah had to change money with a moneychanger guy though as there was no bank or ATM, but it wasn't too painful and soon we were on our way up towards the town of Santa Elena, the main staging post for getting to the Maya site of Tikal.

We knew we had to change buses at Chiquimala, but luckily the minibus conductor guy was really friendly and led us through the streets and local markets to the connecting bus company (he even insisted on carrying my rucksack for me). It turned out he was really after his small commission from the other bus company, but at least he didn't try to hit us for a tip, and without his help we would have had a real problem finding the right place.

Our connecting bus was leaving in 30 minutes, so I had plenty of time to get to an ATM and get some Guatemalan money. On the way I saw the sickest looking dog I've ever seen - incredible to realise it was still alive. I've seen some sorry looking dogs before in Asia, but this poor guy really was heart-wrenching (and I'm sure I'll see a lot more, even worse cases once I get to India). Anyway, our bus left spot on time and arrived in Santa Elena on time too. The bus actually left us a wee bit outside the town, but a cheap minibus was waiting to ferry passengers (only us as it happened) into the town.

After a bit of debating as to where to go, we got the minibus to leave us at a cheap place outside the main tourist area of Flores (as it was closer to the bus terminals). The cheap place recommended in the book wasn't so cheap - it's a very common problem with the guidebooks, but you just use them as a guide, and nearly always find a much cheaper place very nearby. That's exactly what we did again here, and so settled into the Hotel Alonso.

The hotel booked our bus transfer to the ruins for the next morning. After having so few other tourists at Copan, I reckoned there was a good chance Tikal would be kinda quite too, and so I didn't book a mad early bus (they start at 4am!), booking the 6am bus instead (it's over an hour bus ride to the ruins).

Again the ruins here at Tikal are incredible - really something only personal experience can do justice. The weather this time was very overcast, but in fact it kept the temperature at a nice comfortable level, which was convenient given the large amount of walking we had to do to see the entire site, as it's all very spread out.

Again we did our usual of eating breakfast and lunch atop a mad temple, and again the ruins were amazingly quiet, although there were a few more people milling about than at Copan.

Back in Santa Elena we sorted out a bus to Mexico, and this time I did decide to get a tour agency bus. In this case the price didn't seem so exorbitant and according to our guidebooks the border crossing into Mexico is much more awkward, as it involves a river crossing. It also meant not having to worry about moneychangers and negotiating prices in an unfamiliar currency with bus drivers and boatmen. So with that bus ticket sorted out I could relax, and we strolled across the causeway from Santa Elena to the lovely island of Flores.

Here we strolled about along the waterfronts, had a drink in a nice waterfront bar at sunset before trying a Japanese restaurant for a change. It turned out to be a great choice as the food was delicious and the view over the full-moon illuminated lake was top-notch. It was then a nice leisurely stroll back to our hotel and yet another crazy early start the next morning for the bus journey across into Mexico.