Due to the number of travelers who told us it was 'unmissable', we took a bit of an unexpected detour from Antigua to visit the UNESCO World Heritage site of Tikal, one of the largest archaeological sites of the ancient Mayans.

We stayed in fun rustic cabanas on an island near the city of Flores and made our way from there to Tikal.

Flores itself was quite a pretty lakeside town. We tasted the lake's 'blanco' fish at a local restaurant…tasty, and wandered through a few shops.

It was a 4am start for us to get to Tikal, and Alex took this especially hard, with an almighty slip (and stack) on taking his first step outside of our cabana. He collected me on the way down the stairs but, fortunately, we escaped any serious injuries (he he!). We arrived at Tikal's gates at sunrise, and despite our lethargy (and soreness), it was a beautiful time to arrive. The most striking thing about Tikal is that it is amidst a full-blown jungle and, at sunrise, the jungle is buzzing.

Our local guide, who grew up in the park (when locals used to live there), provided us with a bit of homegrown twist on the place (and spotted wildlife for us!). The park really does feel magical. We saw crocodiles, toucans, giant woodpeckers, spider monkeys and, in fact, big spiders (tarantulas). We wandered through the jungle for hours, coming across the ruins, one by one. There is something incredible about wandering through a place where people lived so long ago (over 2000 years ago!). There were simple houses, palaces and temples, often in the typical pyramid shape.

We climbed one of the ancient temples to above the jungle's skyline and got a feel for the magnitude of the place. Indeed, it was magnificent and, I think, worth the detour!

P.S Alex wanted me to add his piece of input on Tikal which is that one of the original starwars jungle scenes was filmed here.