Flores on Christmas Day
Christmas Day – what a great excuse to finally have a lie in and read some more of the books! We opened the curtains to find the whole place covered in mist. We wondered if it was all the smoke remaining from the excess of fireworks and firecrackers being set off the night before! It didn´t take long to clear though.
Flores town was quiet as expected – most places were shut, being it Christmas day. We went back to church to see if Jesus has appeared in the manger and He was there – it was a pretty display. We found a little place for breakfast – a large mug of wazzy Nescafe, fresh orange juice, an omelette with a large lump of refried beans and a couple of fried bananas. We´ve been a bit more adventurous with the refried beans this year but this dose really did look like a lump of Ghandis revenge on our plate – couldn`t face it this time.
Quite a few of the Flores men appeared to be having an excellent Christmas as they staggered past the front of the cafe. And then some familiar faces, it was Dan and Elysabeth who we´d shared the trip from Palenque with yesterday. They disappeared and then came back asking if we`d like to go out on a boat on the lake with them this afternoon – great idea.
So Miguel took us out on his long wooden boat. The breeze from the lake was lovely! First we stopped off at an animal sanctuary where Miguel showed us round. It was superb. Eug joked it was “I´m a Celebrity, Get me out of here”, as there were lots of little stalls as you walked round where you could smell, touch and feel things like tortoise shells and indigenous woods and plants. One very friendly monkey followed us round the display of insects. He also enjoyed agitating some of the caged birds. One monkey was kept in a cage – Elysabeth went bravely in to feed him and he sat on her arm – she loved it. We kept our distance! It was a good place to visit.
Back on the boat we went round to our next stop – the Mirador. This was lots of steps up to a look-out where you could see for miles across the lake and beyond. It had been a lovely relaxing few hours. Miguel took us back and we went for a drink in La Luna.
We were back to La Luna again tonight as the food was so good but the place was jam-packed so we had to wait an hour for a table. No problem. Interestingly, everywhere else in town was quiet so this place obviously has a good reputation. It ended up being rather a late night – typical when we have to be up for the bus to Tikal at 5am!
Tags: Guatemala
mihai