Lodging:  Prices really vary on the tiny island town; however, the absolute best price I found was at Hotel La Canoa, right across from the taxi and tourist info stand in front of the lake, just to the left as you come off the bridge from Santa Elena.  If Santa Elena doesn’t make you nervous (it isn’t safe to walk around at night reportedly), there are some decent accommodations with a little bit more in the way of amenities and for less of a price than the more resort-like hotels on the island.

ATMs:  There are at least 2 ATMs that are easy to get to.  One is located in the only supermarket on the island and the other is located just down the street from the supermarket.  Look for the cajero automatico or cajero electronico signs as the ATM is located inside a small room with a door.  If these make you a bit nervous, cross the bridge to Santa Elena.  On the other side, on the left hand side, is a small mall with a couple of banks that have ATMs attached, and with an armed guard, and there is also another one located in the grocery store inside the mall.  VERY few businesses accept credit cards, so it’s always best to have cash on hand.

Food:  There are a LOT of fairly inexpensive places in Flores; however, your absolute best finds will be up the hill (head towards the church in the center of the island).  Around the plaza are various vendors where you can get combos that include a healthy amount of food and a drink for $2 USD or less.  And it tastes pretty darn good as well.  You’ll have to sit on a bench or on the side of a wall, but it’s a small price to pay for saving a LOT of money.  Just over the bridge are some decent choices as well.  For breakfast our favorite place was a bit nondescript.  Take the 2nd ring road toward the bridge.  Right before the road curves to lead back up the hill, you will notice some white buildings on your right.  In the morning they serve some very good breakfasts at great prices.  Walk through the open door and into the courtyard where you see the family’s hammocks hanging.  Someone will greet you and lead you to a table.  It isn’t fancy fare, but it’s good and cheap, which is a nice combination in my opinion.  The family is extremely nice as well.  When the food is good, I especially enjoy eating at these types of places because I’d rather be helping out a family than some fat cat who owns more than one of the local businesses.

If you’re looking for a refreshing dessert, stop by one of the Sarita ice cream shops.  They have some great deals on sundaes.  My favorite was the button-busting La Bomba:  3 scoops of ice cream, fruit, syrups, whipped cream, and a wafer cookie, for just over $2.

Nearby attractions:  Go for a walk, or take a tuk-tuk, into Santa Elena and enjoy the daily market.  It’s a great way to see the local culture and to get some local food.  Also very worth the trip is the Petencito Zoo.  The zoo is located on another small island on the lake.  Grab one of the lanchas (motorized canoes) anywhere along the malecon.  They will take you there, wait, and then bring you back for about $15 per boat (accommodates up to 8 people).  Admission to the zoo is about $3 per person, less for children.  One of our favorite parts about the zoo was the spider monkey exhibit.  The monkeys come up to the fence and put their paws and tails through desiring human touch.  You can stand there and just hold their paw.  It’s really an amazing experience.  The ones that can’t reach you with their paws will curl their tail around your wrist or forearm.  Sometimes the babies come over with a leaf in their mouth.

Make sure to bring some good shoes, however.  Part of the zoo is accessed through a nice hike through the woods, and some of the trails aren’t always that clean so you may feel like you’re a trail blazer as you clamber through the undergrowth.

There are some very cool small towns located around the lake.  They are all reachable by either lancha or by taking one of the colectivo mini buses (the cheapest way of getting there but also the slowest) or hiring a taxi.  They’re too far for the tuk-tuks.

The lancha pilots will also try to sell you on other trips around the lake besides the zoo.  The prices really aren’t that bad, especially since it isn’t per person.  Stops can include the watchtower which affords view over the entire huge lake, a nice sandy beach for swimming and sunbathing, and, of course, the zoo.

Along the malecon you will see several docks jutting into the lake.  This is where locals and tourists alike come to go swimming in the refreshing lake.  The color of the water may put some people off, but it’s actually quite clean.  We spent a week in Flores and were in the lake every single day.  It’s a great temperature for cooling you off but without freezing you in the process.  It’s also a great way to get to mingle with locals, and if you’ve brought children along they’ll enjoy the lake and playing with the other kids who also enjoy practicting their limited English skills from time to time.  You will notice a small island in the middle of the lake.  This is a museum.

If you’re planning a longer visit to Flores, I’d recommend giving yourself at least 4 days to really get to absorb the culture and find all the little hole-in-the-wall places.  We could’ve easily stayed longer than a week.

The stone indicating “Lord Chocolate” was the ruler

During a friend’s recent visit to Guatemala, he was planning on going to Tikal.  I was going to send him a link to my tips on visiting the ancient Mayan ruins, which we did on my birthday last year, only to discover that I had, in fact, never written about our visit there!  I decided that needed to be rectified post haste!

Tikal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site,  is one of the largest pre-Columbian Mayan sites to have been studied thus far.  That’s saying something since they continue to find other Mayan sites throughout the jungles of Guatemala and the Yucatan.  Ah Cacao (aka Lord Chocolate) was its longest ruler and brought it to the heights of its prosperity.  One of the many amazing things about this site is how much is still uncovered.  When walking throughout the park you will see small hills that look out of place.  Beneath the greenery are buildings that have yet to be reclaimed from the surrounding jungle.  Apparently the entire area had been clear-cut by its inhabitants in order to build the vast city.  Interestingly this is also the basis of one of the many theories as to what led to its eventual abandonment.  But over the centuries the jungle has crept back in, and with it wildlife meaning that one has to watch out for monkey poop when walking around the site, one of Tigger’s fondest memories.  That’s okay since it also means you’ll probably get to enjoy sightings of howler monkeys up in the trees above you.  And thankfully they aren’t the type of primate that seems to enjoy flinging their feces at humans.

See the baby hanging on its mother’s back?

I’m going to be writing about Flores, the island town that Tikal visitors use as their jumping off point, in a separate post so will leave those tips for that article.  To get to Tikal ask your hotel to set up a shuttle.  This usually costs $8 per person and is cheaper than using the many tour vendors found throughout the island.  The shuttle includes a tour guide for the most important parts of the site.  You can always hire him or a different one if you want a guide for the longer term, but we didn’t really find it necessary. The price of admission will set you back a bit, though, at about $20 USD per person (discount for kids and senior citizens), but I’d say it’s worth it.

There are several temples worth a visit, and most of them are pretty close to each other.  However, if you tend to get tired easily or like me have uncooperative joints, I would suggest you get to Temple IV as quickly as possible.  Why?  Because there are a set of wooden steps leading up the side of the temple that will take you to the top.  This is the tallest structure in the park, and the view is so worth the climb.  Especially when you consider that during Tikal’s time only the ruler and the priests were allowed to get to this point.

Many of the other structures are easy to explore as well.  I really liked that you can climb most of the buildings there.  Makes it more fun for the kids, which makes it more fun for the parents.  Especially the shutterbug ones.  I hear much less groaning and “You’re taking ANOTHER picture?” when he can keep himself busy climbing the buildings and chasing iguanas.

There are some food and drinks vendors in the park.  You can also bring your own food, but it’s worth getting drinks there since they’re cold, and, well, you’re in the jungle.  And because of that make sure you do whatever you normally do for mosquito bite protection.  It’s quite easy to spend an entire day there. Or longer.

Another cool thing about this park is that you can camp there, which means a visit during the full moon or watching the sunrise from the ruins is completely doable.  There are also 3 hotels located at Tikal, going from about mid range to fairly luxurious in prices and amenities.

Next up I’ll post some tips about visiting Flores.  It has a lot of hidden charm.  In fact we ended up staying there for a week and actually started looking at places to rent for a longer stay.