Isla de Flores - The eleventh step ... Los Africanos Perdidos - CycleBlaze

October 23, 2021

Isla de Flores

Yesterday we decided that even though the island is very touristy and not where we would like to stay for long it we might regret not spending a night there. So after a late check out we cycled across to the island and got ourselves a room with a balcony over looking the lake.

We took a stroll around the inner parts of the island which revealed a world different to that along the lakeside.  I can only imagine that pre-COVID foreign tourists would have covered the island island like a rash but we have seen only a handful.

The church on the highest point of the island is very new but quite tastefully done.
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Stepping away from the touristy parts on the water's edge shows the parts of the island where real people still seem to live.
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Beers and tacos for supper on our balcony is one of the reasons why we wanted to spend a night here.  But it's not going to be a quiet one because there is a very loud club booming out music near by.  One of the reasons why we normally avoid places like this.

Our hotel room has a lovely balcony with great views of the setting son and the water taxis criss-crossing the lake.
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Tomorrow we head for El Remate before carrying on to Tikal, our primary destination in Guatemala.

Today's ride: 3 km (2 miles)
Total: 1,719 km (1,067 miles)

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Scott AndersonVisiting Flores and Tikal 20 years ago is one of our favorite travel memories. It wasn’t too touristy yet then. Our guide lives on the island and picked us up on her punt to ferry us out to the island and her home where we stayed the night. The next morning she drove us up to Tikal for the day. We ended it sitting on top of the ruins watching the parrots come to roost in the canopy below us as the sun went down.

We drove back to her home, the empty road filled with figures walking in the dusk. Homes all along the highway were dark inside, save for the illumination from their cars sitting outside shining their headlights through the front doors.
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3 years ago
Jean-Marc StrydomTo Scott AndersonTikal blew our minds. I am worried that everything else will seem insignificant now.
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3 years ago
Scott AndersonTo Jean-Marc StrydomI’ve never seen any place at all like it. Great photos! I’m very envious of you being there with the right camera and the knowledge of what to do with it. I think I just had an instamatic with me at the time, and was a terrible photographer.
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3 years ago