Tikal and my birthday

December 18 - Tikal

I packed up all my stuff in Flores and got ready to meet Amie and take the shuttle to Tikal. I dropped my bags off at her room then took my laundry to the local Lavenderia, where they agreed to have it ready for me in an hour. It's such a treat here getting laundry done. They wash and dry everything, then fold it and pack it up. It's like having a little bit of love on your holidays. I was worried the first time I tried this, in Antigua, about my synthetics and delicates but they turned out just fine.

While my laundry was being done I grabbed a coffee at Cool Beans. I sat outside - everything is open air here - and enjoyed the moist jungle air and lake view. Then I went to book my shuttle for the long trip to Cancun the next morning. It was going to pick me up from the hotel at Tikal and take me to a nearby little town called El Remate where I would rendezvous with the main bus that would take me all the way through Belize to Chetumal in Mexico, where I would then catch another bus to Cancun. The price was exhorbitant but the travel agent said that was the only price I could get...He gave me his cell number and told me to call from the hotel to confirm where they should pick me up, once we'd decided on one of three hotels in the park. That was my plan for tomorrow.

After booking this I met Amie and we headed to the Tikal Inn and asked to see a room. It was phenomenal. We negotiated a good rate ($40 U.S. for a shared room) because it was off-season and abandoned the bare bungalow option. We were so excited to be there and it definitely felt like a birthday treat. We had a great lunch outside by the pool. No one was around because all the guests were out at the ruins, so we had the place to ourselves. We had a nice chat with the waiter who is practising his English and helping me with my Spanish! Then we hopped in the pool which was gorgeous. It was so cool to be swimming in the jungle, with the trees all around and animal noises coming from the distance. It was a bit rainy and the staff thought we were nuts, but to us it was warm and the water felt great!

The only problem with the jungle is it's always damp, so I had to haul my wet bathing suit and towel to Cancun. They finally dried two days later and didn't smell too good!

Later I tried to call the travel agent to confirm my hotel, but couldn't get through. I needed to do this before Amie and I headed into the park for our last evening at the ruins. I had high hopes to take some quiet time to sit with the ruins in the Gran Plaza. After 3 pm most of the people have cleared out. I asked the concierge at Tikal Inn for help reaching the travel agent and we tried a bunch of different phone numbers - none of which worked. Weird. There is more to the story, but in the end the concierge called a number he had in his drawer and was able to confirm my early morning pickup. Amie and I took off for the park but by this time it was late, and sundown would be happening in less than two hours.

We hiked in the 45-minutes or so and first visited a temple (pyramid) that we hadn't seen before, then headed for the Gran Plaza. By the time we got there, the sun was close to going down. There were a few people in the plaza, and we recognized a girl we'd met at the hotel that morning, Eveline from Switzerland. The three of us were trying to figure out which temple we were supposed to climb to see the sunset from, when a couple of park rangers, one with a gun (it's reputed to be dangerous hanging out there after dark - banditos...), told us to follow them. They took us on a narrow path through the jungle and we had no idea where we were going. The guy with the gun was at the back. Eveline understood Spanish and later told us the guy was pretty excited about having a job where he got to carry a weapon around...Anyhow, lo and behold we arrived at the designated temple, according to the two guys. And super fast because of the shortcut. We climbed the stairs as it was getting cloudy and could just see the sun above the horizon way over to the left side of the temple.

We never did get to see the sunset. It got too cloudy. I didn't get my time in the Gran Plaza either. But we hiked back almost an hour in the dark with Amie's flashlight, joining up with a couple more touristas to increase our number to five. We were safe, and went to dinner at a neighbouring hotel. We had a couple of glasses of wine then went back to Eveline's room and I did Tarot readings for each of us! Then Amie and I tried to get back into the hotel (Eveline was staying in a bungalow) and it was locked up. We weren't relishing sleeping in the jungle and luckily a sleepy staff person heard us and let us in. We sheepishly thanked him profusely.

The next morning the shuttle didn't show up. I had a major bus journey ahead and if I missed it, I would miss meeting my tour group in Cancun. The concierge - a sweet 18-year-old that I had a great chat with the day before - went and got the hotel manager. He phoned San Juan travel and gave them hell. Apparently they're known as the Coyotes and basically I was totally ripped off. The manager assured me a shuttle would arrive in half an hour and that I would make my bus. He told me I could easily have gotten a regular shuttle for 1/6th of the price if I'd ordered it through their hotel. Something to remember for next time! He gave me a coffee on the house in the dining room, where Eveline was having breakfast with an American couple. They gave me some bread and I settled in to wait for the shuttle to arrive. Which it did shortly. Everything went smoothly and I made my bus connection. I recognized some people on the bus from my tour of Tikal a couple of days earlier. This was cool because it was a very long trip, especially with the border crossings and I sure appreciated connecting with nice people. Hardly anyone speaks English so I rely on other tourists a lot.

I had a great time on my birthday and got to spend it exactly where I'd hoped - even better because we stayed at the Tikal Inn, which was just awesome and more than I'd expected (I had pictured sleeping in a hammock or tent based on what I'd read in my guidebook). I was so happy to meet Amie and Eveline - total strangers who became fast friends.