Tales From the Chicken Bus

Day: 36
After two days of laundry, pizza and wine in Flores we headed 40km northeast to the mother of all Mayan sites, Tikal. There are a few things that make Tikal such a special place. First off, its massive. The national park of Tikal contains thousands of ruined structures and is 550 sq. km. The central area where most tourist wander is 16 sq. km and has over 4000 structures. Besides being so large its the location that sets Tikal apart from other Mayan cities. Located deep in the remote Peten jungle, the wildlife alone would draw visitors.

We decided to get the most out of Tikal we should spend the night there. Once upon a time you could bribe security and camp atop the temples. With those days long gone we had to shell out $50 U.S. for a room at the Jungle Lodge. Overpriced but a really nice place in the jungle, we had our own veranda facing the dense green forest and there was even a beautiful pool. We spent most of the day reading up on Tikal and eating lunch at one of the cheap comedores (restaurants). At 3pm we headed in to the site, if you purchase a ticket after 3pm it is valid for the next day as well.

As we passed through the ticket office the trail entered the dark jungle, soon we heard the now familiar sound of the howlers at it again. No matter how many times you hear a howler monkey its always a creepy sound. Along the path were mounds of ruins covered with vegetation. We passed several smaller temples before rounding a corner and coming upon the Grand Plaza. “Wow, it is pretty damn impressive”, were my first words. To our right was Templo I, 44 metres high it is an amazing structure. Directly across the plaza is Templo II, which lost its roof comb but is still an impressive 38 metres high. Since a few people tumbled to their deaths you can no longer climb Templo I but number II has some rickety wooden steps to the top. Jordana is quite afraid of heights so I knew this was going to be fun. It didn’t help that the steps were rickety, did I already mention that? Yeah, they weren’t exactly Guatemalan craftsmanship at its finest. From the top we had spectacular views of the jungle and the surrounding temples. We climbed down safely and made our way up the north accropolis. As we climbed Jordana turned to me, “shhh, stop. Look up there.” An entire troop of spider monkeys were swinging across the tree branches, occasionally stopping to check us out.

We moved from the grand plaza to the far end of the central site, the walk through the jungle was incredible. Sorry, but the overuse of superlatives is required when describing Tikal, its that good. Eventually we arrived at Templo IV, built on a hillside and currently under reconstruction. At 64m high this is the highest temple at Tikal and the second highest in the Mayan world. The tallest is. El Tigre at El Mirador, located in a very remote region 60kn north of here. Temple IV was built in 711 by King Moon Double Comb. From the top it seems we can see all of Guatemala and all the way to Belize. Green treetops as far as the eye can see, only interrupted by the odd temple poking out from the forest. With the late afternoon sun, parakeets darting from tree to tree, monkeys howling and the friendly racoon like coatis watching us from the edge of the temple, all seemed perfect from here. What a beautiful and peaceful place. All was perfect until some loud French tourist decided to join us and couldn’t keep their mouths shut. That’s when we figured it was time to climb down and move on to the El Mundo Perido or Lost World.

We were stopped on our way down by another troop of spider monkeys as they crossed our path on the way to their dusk feeding. I was excited about El Mundo Perido, I mean a ruins called the lost world must be damn cool. The sun was quickly setting and with it the rest of the tourists seemed to depart. The lost world area consists of 38 structures surrounded by dense jungle, it was us and one other couple there. It really did feel like the lost world. Jordana and searched out which temple would be best to climb and watch the sun set from. We picked one, climbed it and then realized it was to short to see the sunset over the treetops. No matter, we stayed up there as darkness fell and listen to the incredible sounds of the jungle. The birdlife here is something I have never seen nor heard before. Birds sang sounds I never thought existed.
While the sunset was brilliant we soon realized that it was now dark and we were about 2km away from our hotel. Did I mention its thick jungle out here? I had thankfully brought along my flashlight and we had some light for the walk back. We met an American college teacher about a quarter of the way who looked followed us as he had no light.

Eventually in the darkness we reached our hotel and quickly changed into our swimming gear. Ahhh what a great feeling to have a cool swim after a day of hot walking around Tikal. The pool was set back from the hotel and surrounded by the jungle. The sky was crystal clear and the stars were as bright as we have ever seen. An absolutely perfect end to the day.

Day: 34
You can´t help but get up early when you are in rural Mexico. Roosters are up very early and soon after the family was awake and doing their daily chores. We had a good sleep in our very basic room. It was a thatched roofed, wooden walled place with walls that didn´t reach the roof, hence bugs could freely make their way in to visit. We had a moskito net, but it did not cover the whole bed. We were to be picked up at 9am for the ride back to Fronterra Corozal where we would take a boat down river to Guatemalan immigration.

Up at 7:30 I first walked across the yard to the showers and cleaned up, then Jordana made her way to the shared cement block shower. When she returned I was sitting on the bed reading up on Guatemala. About 20 seconds later I was startled as she screamed, “MICHAEL!!!” I jumped up and as she pulled her towel off her face I saw a huge scorpion drop on the floor and scurry under the bed. “It stung me!!” she cried out. My first reaction was pretty calm, “are you sure? did it really sting you??” Judging by the tears and screams my question was answered quickly. Now panic was creeping into my mind, “ok be calm let me see what the guidebook says.”

Scorpions are a problem in some regions. If stung, you should immediately apply ice or cold packs, immobilize the affected body part and go to the nearest emergency room.

Now real panic set in. We were about 4 hours from the nearest emergency room and how to you immobilize some ones face?!? I didn´t tell Jordana everything it said, “ok, lets get ice. It says put ice on it.” By this time Philip the German had heard the screams and come over to see what was going on. Thankfully he speaks fluent Spanish and we went over to the family to ask for ice and what to do. I was already hatching a plan to pay them to drive us to Palenque or just steal their car. The family was calm when we told them, this calmed me a bit but I still wasn´t sure. They gave us ice and Jordana kept in on her face, the sting was right next to her mouth on the cheek. If you don´t know Jordana shes a pretty tough girl and I could tell she was in some serious pain here, it didn´t help that she thought she was going to die. We calmed down a bit since all Jordana felt was pain and no other side effects of the sting. The old lady of the house explained how she has been bit several times and the scorpions here are only dangerous for kids.

At about 9:30am we were picked up for our drive to the border. I was still nervous about everything but Jordana said she still only felt the pain in her cheek, no dizzyness or anything else. I figured when we got to Flores, Guatemala we could see a doctor or get to the hospital. We quickly made it thought Mexican customs getting a, “ahh Canada” from the custom agent. I wasn´t sure if that was good or bad but he never asked us anything else. We made our way to a boat and 1 hour later landed in Guatemala. We boarded a bus and drove a good 5km until we stopped for the Guatemalan customs. I always find this strange, I am in the country but nowhere near customs. I could run off and they´d never know. Then again the El Peten region is the most remote jungle in Guatemala and really why would I want to sneak in?

Quickly through customs we boarded the bus for the 4 hour drive to Flores. Guatemala was already so different than Mexico, the road was the worst one I have seen, more of a dirt track with crater size potholes that swallow chicken buses. We passed through jungle and some cleared spots for cattle ranches. How long until the Peten looks like Southern Mexico?

Finally in Flores just before sunset and Jordana was feeling much less pain. I was searching for doctors online but all the recommended ones were in the capital, more than 8 hours away. After reading up on Scorpion stings we become satisfied that everything was ok. Apparently if the pain subsides and no other side effects are apparent after 6 hours then you are in the clear. This was a huge relief, to celebrate Jordana surviving the scorpion we splurged on some great pizza and wine. Flores itself was beautifully located on Lake Peten, a quiet laid back place. Much different then the tense, crime ridden country I had expected.

Travel is adventurous and we are always looking for new experiences. However today became a bit to scary for awhile. By evening we were already laughing about the scorpion and tagged Jordana the scorpion queen.

Day: 33 Up again before the sun has risen, but this time we were awake at 5am to catch our transportation south to the Lacandon jungle. Wouldn't you know it the day we have to be up at a crazy hour ... [Continue reading this entry]

Day: 32 "Jordana, is that the monkeys?" We were both awake at 5am by a haunting roar that sounded to be right out our window. Have you seen the vampire movie "30 Days of Night"? If not go see ... [Continue reading this entry]

Day: 31 We had met 2 Canadians on our tour the previous day. Fraser and Phillip were from Montreal. They were in Cancun for a wedding but decided to rent a car for their second week and see a bit ... [Continue reading this entry]

Day: 30 Our time in San Cristobal seemed to pass by with ease. Wandering the quiet cobbled streets with misty mountains in the distance then tiring and stopping for some coffee. Life for a traveller here was easy, cheap and if ... [Continue reading this entry]

Day: 26 Day light was just breaking as our bus pulled out of Chiapas' state capital, Tuxtla Guitteriz. I awoke as we left the bus station and as soon as we exited the city limits we began a steep climb into ... [Continue reading this entry]

Day 28 Every morning in San Cristobal we enjoyed breakfast on the terrace at our small, neat and very comfortable hostel. It was one of those places that had all the amenities you want as a budget traveller. Basic, bus spotless ... [Continue reading this entry]

Day: 21 to 25 We awoke in the morning to the sounds of pounding surf and the call of the orange salesman. Out our window was a deserted golden sand beach that stretched about 3km to our left and another ... [Continue reading this entry]