Flores: Tuesday Feb 9

My time in Lanquin passed in a blur. Lost track of which day was which during my 5 nights in the valley. Yesterday’s trip out and up to the north here took all day, but felt like a week. Every time in future I have ‘Monday blues’ I shall remember that bus ride.
Although having talked to fellow travellers here in Los Amigos, the hostel at the heart of Flores, it turns out I had it easy. Not only did I have a seat (even with springs poking through the ‘foam’ padding,) but our bus made it, albeit very, very slowly.
Horror stories abound of broken down vans, overcrowding and missed connections. So given most of my travel until yesterday has been mainly fairly enjoyable and the run here mishap free, only painstakingly, bone achingly, slow, I have got away lightly by Guatemalan standards so far.
Today I am more or less recovered from the trip and am now ensconced in a smaller but quieter room. The ‘artist designed’ colourful bedroom with brightly decorated balcony I stayed in last night was great on the eye but hard on the ears, being right above the trendy bar. Plus I have negotiated a better price for this dull little room further away from the action. I love the friendly community feel of hostels but I do prefer an ensuite if possible, and here they are at a premium, literally.
Flores Island, where I am based, is tiny, linked by bridge to Santa Elena and by boats to San Miguel and other islands. I hopped on the boat across to San Miguel village to climb the mirador and admire the landscape. Worth the hike, although I went up faster than planned due to the unwanted attention of fierce feral dogs.

From San Miguel looking over towards Flores ( on the viewpoint)

Looking away from Flores

Too terrified to walk back down past them, I walked round the island through the jungle until I finally found another tourist, equally terrified. We scrambled down the slope through thick vegetation to the beach and had to pay a local boatman an extortionate rate (20 q) to take us back to Flores, only to then have a rather too close for comfort encounter with an enormous iguana swinging down from a low lying branch on the way. So much for a quiet day!
Tonight I met up with my fellow bus riders from yesterday for a lakeside supper of filled tacos, potato skins and pineapples for the princely sum of 10q. That's a pound for more than I could eat. And a superb sunset thrown in for free.

Amazing sunset

Night fall from the balcony

The main attraction here is the famous tikal ruins, an hours drive away. Looking forward to visiting tomorrow, fingers crossed for good weather, today was the first sunny day here for s week, apparently. The dry season this year has been a wet one! The rooms here all have air con as its supposed to be hot, but I, like most guests, have borrowed a blanket, the nights are unseasonably cold. Still, I can't complain, its a balmy 25 during the day. Better than England ….