The first border crossing

I learned two things, the first thing is: Don't believe everything a crazy American says and second thing: Don't trust any taxi driver.

There are two ways to get from Palenque to Flores, the shuttle transfer, where you are taken to the border and picked up after the border, is of course correspondingly expensive, or by public transport. Of course I took the cheaper second option.

The first border crossing was on Saturday (03.02.24) and that meant getting up early. At 07:15 I was already sitting in the colectivo to Tenosique. After a few more people were recruited, we set off at 7:30. The journey took a little over 2.5 hours, which meant that I had 25 minutes in Tenosique to cover a distance of 3km, when it was already 26°C. My only option was a taxi. My first mistake was telling the taxi driver that I wanted to go to the bus station, which only goes to the border. Due to the lack of space, the backpacks were thrown into the trunk and I squeezed into the back seat. The first two people got out and I told the taxi driver that I was getting out too as it was only a 5 minute walk. He said no, there are no colectivos there today🤨. I tried to ask him why and he said that let's take the lady in the passenger seat away first. We stopped in a completely different direction and in the middle of the field. By now it was already 10:20 and the Colectivo was supposed to leave at 10:30. We discussed using Google Translate and somehow I believed him that because of the day (Saturday) no Colectivos go to the border. I no longer had a real choice; time had progressed so far that I wouldn't have been able to get to the Colectivo on time. And since I only had the information that the bus behind the border leaves at 12:00 and 4:00 p.m., my choice was sealed, as I wouldn't have been able to get the bus otherwise and didn't want to wait until 4:00 p.m. We agreed on €30 for an hour's journey and then reluctantly set off...

In hindsight you're smarter, maybe he was right and there really aren't any Colectivos on Saturdays, of course I don't know, but maybe he completely fooled me. Anyway, we drove through the pampas at 140kmh sometimes without safety belts. So there were seat belts but no counterparts😅

After a short search by the police in front of the border, a siege by Mexicans eager to sell (a foreigner is taken to the border alone in a taxi -> he must have money and wants to buy all our stuff...😂) and a short hike, I arrived at the border house . And here I was faced with the next "fear" because I didn't have this document that the guy in San Cristóbal was constantly talking about. Absolutely unnecessary. I was asked where I came from, where I wanted to go, stamped in and done. I was in the first house for less than 5 minutes to leave. A few meters further, I was in Guatemala. I got my entry stamp in a small hut on the side of the road, no questions or anything. Wonderful. With a bad exchange rate, I was able to exchange my remaining pesos for Quetzales to at least pay for the bus.

I hadn't paid attention to the clock anymore but when I saw a bus pulling up to Santa Elena I knew it was 12 o'clock. So I quickly jumped up and off we went. With interruptions, many interruptions, we had to bring empty bottles to a supermarket, then someone got a few chicken eggs and then the driver bought a honeydew melon. The first stop was very beneficial to me because I hadn't been to the toilet for a few hours, but I hadn't noticed it until then. When I came back, everyone bought themselves an ice cream and we continued relaxed. This went on for 4 hours until I arrived in Flores around 4 p.m. After another 30 minutes I was at the ho(s)tel, actually a hotel with two 4-bed rooms within my budget🫠. I optimistically postponed the purchase of a SIM card until the next day and devoted myself solely to the purchase. While cooking, I chatted with a German and enjoyed the view of the lake. Because Flores is partly on an island in a lake.

After the first incredibly warm night in Flores, I went to the mall to get some cash and a SIM card. Neither one nor the other worked. It's Sunday and the cell phone providers are closed. The ATM wouldn't pay me any money, so I tracked down another one...and a third. Unsuccessful. I then checked at the hotel and found that my withdrawal limit was set too low...😑

Once that was fixed, it miraculously worked. I was also able to squeeze in a walk around the island before lunch (it only takes 20 minutes to walk around the island😂). In the middle of the island there is a small street food stand that looked very promising, and it was. A taco, a burrito, a torta and a fresh pineapple juice for €3.60, not bad. Later we went for a swim in the lake and ended the day on the terrace.

On February 5th, 2024 I tried my luck again with the cell phone providers... the entire system for new registrations in Guatemala is down, but is running. It should probably be possible again on Thursday or Friday, let's see. Then probably without internet outside of the hostels for now. I set off around 10 because I wanted to go to another village on this lake, El Remate. A colectivo then took me there. El Remate is a village of 2000? residents and actually only consists of 2 streets, a main street and a hotel and restaurant street right on the lake. My ho(s)tel (same concept as in Flores, only nicer) is located directly on the lake and the jungle, it has its own beautiful jetty with great sunsets. From here I plan to go to Tikal, one of the largest Mayan cities.

I walked a bit along the main street, which is about 20 minutes from the hotel, and noticed that there felt like nothing here😂. I threw myself into the hammock on the terrace and listened to the sounds of the jungle. At sunset we went out of the room with the others onto the jetty and into the lake, super beautiful. At around 7 p.m. we ordered our dinner here in the hotel/restaurant. Some people got the wrong thing, one wanted a soup without chicken, and a soup with chicken came. It was brought up and the soup went into the kitchen for what felt like a minute, the chicken was fished out and the same soup came back 😂. At least my noodles were right. We sat here until around 10 p.m., even though all the staff had already left.

Today (06.02.24) I got up early because the shuttle to Tikal was supposed to leave at 08:45. Since I didn't know whether breakfast would take as long as dinner, I planned enough time😅. In fact, it didn't take that long, but I got into a conversation with someone who was only in the lake for a short time yesterday, Kian. He and his wife also planned to go to Tikal today, but they have some kind of all-inclusive deal with the owner here, which is why he's going to Tikal. Yes, one thing led to another and I went to Tikal with them for free. We arrived at 10:00 a.m. and Santiago picked us up again at 4:30 p.m. Since the two of them were on a "private tour", I didn't want to disturb them and said that we would meet back at the parking lot at 4:30 p.m.

So now I was in a huge park full of Mayan temples and cool animals. It was similar to Palenque but much, much bigger. It was amazing, temples hidden everywhere and sometimes nothing at all for 20 minutes except the jungle with its inhabitants. I could see toucans, spider monkeys, (tapirs or a type of wild boar), coatis and a few birds. Beautiful. Unfortunately, I could only hear the howler monkeys again; whenever I was on their trail, they fell silent...

The view from Temple 2 and 4 was breathtaking. Especially from Temple 4, there was only jungle far and wide and a few temples that also towered over the trees. Craziness. In between I met the other two but they were also traveling alone. I took a lot of breaks at the temples to simply take in these mighty buildings. Tens of meters high and over 1,500 years old, it's unimaginable what they achieved back then. At around 3 p.m. I met Kian, he was painting and we went to the exit together. He's a really interesting guy and we had a good chat. And he, like everyone else, recommended that I stay at Lake Atitlán for a few days. I'm very excited about the places there. Anyway, we sat in the restaurant for quite some time, talking and waiting for his wife (unfortunately I can't remember her name). After she bought a few souvenirs, Santiago almost came and took us back to the hotel. Why he swapped the ancient BMW without a seat belt and without a functioning speed display for the cool pickup this time is a mystery to me. But it was an interesting trip😂 I watched the sunset again at/in the lake.