Tikal day!! I was up bright and early in time for the 4:30am pick up for our tour... Sarah decided to skip the tour as she wasn't feeling well... I got dressed and ready and lugged my incredibly overweight suitcase down treacherous stairs to keep stored in the chill area of the hostel seeing as we were leaving that night and had to check out our room... I picked up the packed lunch we had ordered the night before and waited for our shuttle to arrive to take us to the ruins!

We got to the park after about an hour shuttle ride and had some time to grab coffee and breakfast before the park officially opened at 6am... I got chatting to others on our tour- I just love hearing people's stories about their travels and it really just fascinates me how there is an entire community of people out in the world on some adventure!!

We had a great guide- of Mayan descent who knew so much about the ruins and was so good at sharing his knowledge with us... The park itself is amazing- a big jungle filled with fascinating creatures - most commonly the spider monkeys! The nature we saw and the ruins were absolutely incredible! Some facts I got from the tour:

- One of the species of animals we saw was called Quatimundi - distinguishable by their long tails that stand vertical for stability...
- Some of the Pyramids have been totally restored i.e. uncovered from the gigantic mounds of sand and trees covering them, while so many are still under trees and sand - huge mounds as high as the pyramids they cover!!
- The Altars in front of the pyramids were used for sacrifices to the Gods - sacrifices of both animals and sometimes humans...
- The Mayans believe the sun has a life cycle of 5,200 years - we are on the 6th cycle presently. Note the Mayans never actually predicted the end of the world - rather that psycho American radio DJ chose to take purple for a big ride!
- The names of the kings as we know them today are actually just symbolic based on what was found around them when the ruins were discovered eg lord chocolate
- The human sacrifices on the altars - people were drugged to make it more humane?!
- Mayans are naturally short people due to the heavy loads they were made to carry.. The nobles were taller as they didn't have this task (this can be seenin the size of the steps on the pyramid)
- Only used flint to dig up and carve stones for the pyramids - making it all the more incredible!
- Tallest pyramid - 70 meters, 22 stories, used to be tallest in Guatemala (6,000 men, 49 yrs, 2,000 tons)
- No foundation needed - used existing bed rock and that's why these have stood the test of time...

It was an incredibly fascinating tour! We even got to climb some of the pyramids which was just spectacular (and quite exhausting haha)...

Our tour ended at the tallest pyramid and we were given time to explore on our own until the shuttle left again at 12:30 (feels like the whole day was over but we weren't even halfway!)

Once back at the hostel, we literally had time to kill before our 8pm pick up for our overnight bus... We stayed at the hostel in the chill area which was so divine - just spent time with other travelers, Skyped home, took a walk around town with this American girl I got chatting to, showered and freshened up after a long hot day, got some dinner and finally got onto the bus!!

The bus journey from Flores to Guatemala City was brilliant.. We had seats on the top deck right in the front so a view of the road ahead of us... I managed to get a good few hours of sleep in... We arrived in Guatemala City around 5:30am and then had to transfer to a shuttle (mini van vibes again) to Antigua... Antigua is just incredible!!!! Fell in love with the place as soon as we drove in... Cobbled streets, gorgeous buildings... Just stunning!! We then had to wait another hour or so for our final shuttle to Panajachel so went and grabbed a muffin from one of the bakeries as it opened up and some coffee (feels like we're in Europe!!)...

The shuttle came, and our cowboy driver raced along the cobble streets at an insane pace - puts our taxis to shame haha... I unfortunately got stuck on the back seat which I've now learned is never an option as you feel every bump and vibration!! I sat next to two very interesting people though... A polish lady who had taken a month of unpaid leave from work to come learn Spanish in Antigua, and an American man who was given a 7 month sabbatical from work and was on his way to learn Spanish in some other Guatemalan city... The idea has since been planted in my head that perhaps that's what I need to do after the Lake! Hhhmmmm... Will continue the journey in the blog entry relating to San Pedro! All in all a long day of traveling but something that comes with the package of traveling through Central America and something I actually quite enjoyed...

Lesson of the day: Don't leave your neck pillow on the bus when you transfer to the shuttle :(

Moment of the day: Arriving in the gorgeous town of Antigua in the early hours of the morning...