JAN 14, 2016 – I took a night bus from Flores to Guatemala City and a so-called “chicken bus” to Antigua. These buses are very common in Guatemala: Old school buses from the United States are exported here and colorfully repainted to serve as public transportation. Of course the benches, designed for children, are left unchanged. As soon as I arrived in Antigua I was greeted by a Spanish teacher, and after a tour of his school, I decided to take twenty private lessons spread over four days. I had planned to do that a few days later in San Pedro, but my impression was that Antigua would give me good options for half-day trips too. The school’s offering was quite convincing, with lessons for USD 6 per hour and the option to stay in the same building, where a host family provided three meals a day for a fair price.
Besides learning Spanish, I hiked to two volcanoes (see following posts) and visited a carneval-like event in the nearby village of Pastores with my teacher. We also prepared an international dinner with some of the other students.

JAN 7, 2016 – After a night in Flores, I visited the archeological site of Tikal. It was the most impressive one I had seen so far, particularly because of its dimensions: One has to walk on jungle trails for at least half a day to visit all of the temples and other buildings of this old city. On the other hand, there aren’t many steles, lintels or other detailed artworks left, and many of the structures have not even been excavated yet. Apparently the size of the site and the very limited funding make it hard to achieve the same level of restoration and protection as in Mexico.
Tikal is also a nature reserve, and it is not uncommon to encounter howler and spider monkeys, toucans, parrots and other animals along the way. For me it was particularly funny to see green parrots: One of my favorite computer games as a child was Indiana Jones and the fate of Atlantis, where one visits Tikal and talks to such a parrot. Unfortunately I didn’t find the secret grave of an Atlantean king which one discovers in the game – but I did notice a temple where about half of the surface was completely enclosed in walls, and started wondering what might be in there…