Next Matt and I planned to head to Tikal in Guatemala. But as he was shorter on time than me he arranged to go as a day trip from San Ignacio where as I chose to head to Flores for a couple of days which was also the cheaper option. Mandy was also heading back to Guatemala so after a quick breakfast we both jumped in a taxi to the border. After a little bit of hassle at the border we took a collectivo headed for Flores. This collectivo was a 12 seat van but at my last count had 24 men, women and children plus our bags on the roof. The 2 hour ride took us through some breathtaking scenery, more mountainous than Belize the rolling green hills reminded me a lot of back home, apart from the palm trees! I'm not entirely sure how the van made it the whole 2 hour journey but after parting ways with Mandy and a short tuc-tuc ride I made it to Flores safely.

Flores is a beautiful colonial village built on an island on lake 'Peten Itza', connected by a causeway to the neighboring town of Santa Elena. Flores reminded me of family holidays to Spain with colorful buildings with terracotta tiled roofs the beautiful lake that surrounds it becomes the ideal swimming spot with one of the best sunsets I have ever seen.

Standing at the cash machine three familiar faces walk past me. Joel, Teresa and Hege were staying in the same Hostel, Los Amigos!

That night we caught up on the last few days over a few more rums and I booked onto the sunrise tour of Tikal. The 4am start didn't sound all that appealing but people had assured me that this was the best time to see Tikal. Despite the early start, we still weren't actually up a temple to watch sunrise but it was still magical to hear the jungle wake up. The birds tweeting almost drowned out the distant sound of Howler Monkeys defending their territory.

Tikal, one of the largest and most powerful of the ancient Maya sites was once home to 100,000 residents. Construction at the site was started around 400 B.C. and is now preserved as a 222 square mile national park.

One other advantage to the early start is to miss the midday heat when trying to scale the massive temples. Rising more than 70m, Temple IV offers one of the most spectacular views over the jungle canopy with the peaks of Temple I and II in the distance. Temple IV was the second largest structure in the New World until the first skyscrapers were built in North America. The modern wooden staircase constructed alongside helps protect the temple and the hundreds of tourists that scale it every day.

During the six hour tour we saw Howler Monkeys, Spider Monkeys, a mahoo-sive spider and we were lucky enough to spot the very rare Quetzal (the national bird of Guatemala)

After a hot day in the jungle it was back to Flores for a swim and to wave off the guys as they headed further into Guatemala. Back to Belize for me!