Ruins Indiana Jones Style

From Lanquín, nearly everyone was headed to Flores, and I took a shuttle with the people from the caves (not cave people, but the four I did the bat cave tour with) to the tiny island. It's a cute touristy place with nothing to do but walk around and go for a dip in the lake. It is so small that if you stand in the main plaza at the center of town, you can see the edges of the island from each of the four sides of the square.

The hostel Los Amigos was pretty nice and had amazing vegetarian food. There, I met more people from Lanquín, crazy Canadian girl Cathy, and later met up with Nini again and her friend Asaf. It was lucky that when the shuttle first dropped us off we managed to get accommodation without having booked ahead. Nick and Suzi got their room, but there was only one dorm bed left. Tom graciously gave it to me and took a hammock for the night. If you're headed that way, it might be a good idea to book a bed.

Some people recommend taking the pre-dawn shuttle to Tikal (or camping the night before just outside the grounds), climbing Tower IV overlooking the jungle and observing the jungle as it "wakes up". I decided against that. Not only because I am not an early morning person, but at the time, there were reports that the mist didn't lift until after 9am anyway.

Nini, Asaf and I took a mid-morning shuttle instead. The site was enormous, and not like any other ruins I had visited on the trip so far. It was covered in jungle, with a few dirt tracks winding through to the main structures. There were the odd refreshment kiosk and toilet, but otherwise, it was like a quiet bush walk.

There were excavated pyramids while others were left covered in dirt and plants, so that they looked like strange little hillocks in the middle of the jungle with trees growing on top of them. The larger pyramids had wooden steps to scale them since history has taught that tourists can die when misjudging a step on such a the steep angle.

The view from the top of Tower IV was amazing. It reached above the trees of the jungle to reveal greenery as far as the eye could see, with the tops of other ancient towers peeking above the tree tops. Sitting there for hours would've been easy.

The main square was a lawn surrounded by mostly climbable ruins, but the most remarkable piece was Temple I. It was impressive. I could stare at it for hours and marvel at it. You couldn't take a bad photo of it. Every angle demanded another photo. It made me feel the same kind of awe as I did staring at Volcán Agua dominating over Antigua.

All in all, a great place to visit. It is different in that most of the jungle has been left intact, as have many of the ruins been left as they were found. There are no crowds of tourists ruining your photos or the peaceful vibes. You can take it at your own pace and truly enjoy the experience, but you must definitely give yourself at least a full day to explore the huge park.