Flores, Guatemala

Day 6: We decided, for a little weekend excursion, to head across the border into neighboring Guatemala! Benque is so close, that it was only a quick 20 minute walk to the border. After paying our exit fee and getting our passports stamped, we eluded the over-charging taxi drivers and found a ¨collectivo¨bus to take us to Flores for real cheap. Flores is a little tourist-friendly city on an island in the middle of Lake Peten Itza, the second largest lake in Guatemala. We had heard from Jam about a sweet little hostel called Los Amigos, an inexpensive refuge for backpackers from all over, complete with excellent vegetarian-friendly cuisine, a ping-pong table, and resident parrots. We were lucky enough to secure the last two available beds.

The city of Flores is so colorful. The buildings are all brightly painted, full of shops selling beautifully patterned clothing and textiles, arts and crafts. We did a lot of shopping, which was tricky because everything was so over-priced for the tourists, that each purchase involved a drawn-out bargaining battle. Often what it took to get the price down enough was to actually pretend like we were leaving the store before they´d name a price that we were happy with. We ended up getting pretty good deals for everything, but it wasn´t easy. We made our way back to the hostel at nightfall, ordered some brownies, ice cream and coffee, and caught up all the way on our blogging (escargots, we´ve been). We´re looking forward to visiting what is called the most magnificent of all the Mayan ruins, Tikal, tomorrow.

Pictures from Day 6