October 28, 2021 to October 29, 2021
El Remate
October 28th, 2021
We weren't supposed to end up back at El Remate today but things didn't turn out as we planned.
The plan was to cycle to Uaxactun, another Mayan site about twenty three kilometers into the park, spend the night there (not sure where) and then cycle back to Tikal tomorrow.
We had aleardy bought our ticket for entry to the archeological site but the officials at the checkpoint in Tikal told us that we need a permit from the park's administration if we wanted to go to Uaxactun. One of them led me to the administrative offices where another official had to search for the appropriate form. After I completed it and it had been signed and stamped a more senior official arrived and explained that we may not cycle there because it is too dangerous. The dangers pointed out were Jaguars, the narrowness and poor condition of the road and the risk of robbery (apparently there had been a spate of tourists being robbed on the road about three or four years back).
This started a to-and-fro process that lasted almost an hour. Eventually we got an interview with the park's head honcho and he basically said that if were are so stupid that we want to cycle there we can do it at our own risk. But that got us thinking.
More discussions with an English speaking tour guide convinced us that the Jaguar risk is quite low. But he suggested that cycling back could be dangerous because the impoverished locals would have spotted our "expensive cameras and nice bicycles" (his words). The narrow road was an issue because the only reason to cycle there was the opportunity to cycle through relatively unspoiled tropical forest and we would not be able to stop safely to bird or look for animals. The archeological site would have been a bit of a let down after Tikal and accommodation and food wasn't going to be a highlight.
So we decided to keep our great Tikal memories intact and cycle back to El Remate.
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Tomorrow we head for Melchor de Mencos on the border with Belize. They have pretty strict COVID restrictions in place so we might have to go through a similar argument again to be able to cycle into and through that country.
October 29th, 2021
We were supposed to be at the Belize border tonight and cross over into that country tomorrow but last night we re-assessed our plans. To cut a long story short we decided that the hassle (and massive expenses) of passing through Belize to arrive in the Yucatan a few weeks before we actually want to would not work.
So we have spent the day here planning as to what we do next.
What has replaced Belize in the plan is a few more weeks in Guatemala starting off with us heading to Rio Dulce where we hope to get some more nature stuff done along the river and its lake. Let's see how it pans out !
Changing plans gave us an excuse to spend an extra day in El Remate to make sure we are making a good a decision but the plan was developed and vaguely verified early in the morning. This meant I had enough time to get some work done as well as have a few hours birding in the afternoon.
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Tomorrow we plan to head to El Chal about sixty kilometers south of here along the way to Rio Dulce, given that the plan doesn't change between now and then.
Today's ride: 35 km (22 miles)
Total: 1,823 km (1,132 miles)
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3 years ago
There have been a few journals that we have read where the folks haven't enjoyed Belize (but others where they loved it) so hopefully we made the right choice. We're going to be referring to your journal for info once we get to the Yucatan.
Regards
Jean-Marc
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