Set on a small island in Guatemala’s Lake Petén Itzá, the city of Flores is more than just a place to overnight en route to the Mayan ruins of Tikal. We spent a couple of days strolling its narrow cobblestone streets, exploring its historic church, and marveling at its amazingly colorful Spanish colonial architecture. It’s hard to be in a bad mood when in a place where everything is painted in such happy hues.
It’s hard not to feel like a Wiseguy carrying around a roll of hundreds fat enough to choke a horse. Back in the real world this wad of Guatemalan currency totals about $350 U.S.
Sometimes referred to as “chicken buses” because of their occasional use to transport poultry as well as people, these colorfully painted former school buses form the backbone of the public transportation system throughout much of Central America. There are other ways to get around, but traveling the way locals do has many virtues; not least of which is cost.
One thing we’ve come to realize is that people’s sense of “value” is deeply rooted in their ordinary experiences. If a two-hour, one-way, Greyhound bus ride typically costs us $30 U.S. in the states, then we come to think of that as a reasonable price for a two hour bus ride. What should a similar ticket cost in Belize, or Guatemala? It’s hard for foreigners to know. We’ve encountered a small army of people trying to take advantage of that ignorance.
We awoke to such dark skies and rain that we considered abandoning our planned trek to the Mayan temple of Xunantunich (Shoo-nahn-too-neech) in the Cayo District of Belize. After procuring some plastic rain ponchos we decided to brave the weather and undertake the bus trip and mile long walk needed to reach the ruins.
The Mayan Gods smiled on our fortitude.
Judging from comments, my readers are a well traveled lot. I’d like to draw on that experience in trying to piece together the next leg of our RVing route. When we return from Central America, we’ll spend a couple weeks in Houston; exploring the city and catching up on all the chores we’ve been neglecting the past two months. After that, we’ll hit Austin, maybe Big Bend, and then, well, we don’t really know.
You can see from the map were we’ve been, and where we haven’t. We’re planning on charting a northerly course up AZ/NM, CO/UT and WY over the spring and summer. I know there is a ton to see in that region of the country but we haven’t researched anything yet, so suggestions are welcome. The biggest challenge I’m seeing is finding interesting stops between Austin and Arizona (we’ve already covered a bunch of good stuff in NM). Maybe I just have to accept the fact that a couple of long driving days are in my future.
Well crowd, what do you think?
Everywhere Once 