Flores is a little island, and it’s where most travelers stay to visit the Mayan ruins in Tikal. There are many little villages close to Flores. The first day of my visit, I went to one of these villages called San Jose. Not a lot of tourists visit that place, there isn’t much interesting tourist wise, but I like seeing villages. When I stopped by the village, I met 2 guys who were very welcoming and greeted me. For a minute I was a little apprehensive fearing they might act aggressive because they were drinking. But I sat with them and we became friends, they gave some tips what to visit in the village, it wasn’t a big village so it was easy to walk around. I went for a walk to see the little village, it’s a beautiful setting, and everyone I met would greet me when they passed me. I guess people in villages haven’t forgot the politeness that sometimes seem to be forgotten in big cities. I guess that’s what makes the place even more interesting. It was hot, and for the past few I only took shower only twice because I always was close to the water, so whenever I saw some water and especially that it’s hot I would just jump in the river or the occean whatever was close by, it’s great to cool down and you get dried quickly with the hot temperature.
I went back to the convenience store where I met the 2 guys when I arrived in the village. I sat down and chatted with them. We started learning from each other they asked me about my travel and about Canada. They told me how happy they were to live in that little village. They don’t get much work but yet they seem to be happy. One of the guys, has 6 children and one of his children is 2 months old. I played some Latin music I had on my phone, and one of them started dancing. It was great time to meet those guys. After that I took the bus and went back to Flores.
Tikal is about 80KM from Flores, it’s known for it’s Mayan ruins which are the most preserved and most important in Guatemala. It’s fascinating and it’s believed that only 5% has been discovered so far. Even recently they discovered a Mayan pyramid that was hidden with vegetation and trees although they walked near it many times. There were a lot of tourists in Tikal but it didn’t look crowded, I met a family from Quebec who were traveling in Guatemala. So far in this trip, I felt it was a lot of touristy. I like talking to the locals because I like to live the culture. My visit to San Jose kind of gave me a little taste of that.
I also visited a small village across from the island, I just love how people in small villages live. I also walked around Flores and you could feel how people live and seem to have enjoy their time. I would probably write another post just about how people live here.
