Road Trip

Historical Side note

There is a long history to Flores, perhaps the most interesting of which is the pre-Columbian part: Flores (under the name "Tayasal") was occupied by the Mayan Itzá people, after they had been booted out of their city of Chichen Itzá in Mexico—now a popular tourist destination near Cancun.

The Itzá were the last major Mayan civization to fall to the Spanish, only being conquered in 1697 (extremely late in conquest history), and the Itzá language is still spoken by a small community of families in the area.

Last week, from Wednesday to Sunday, the four of us took a road trip from Guatemala City (in the highlands) to an Island town called Flores in large lowland region called the Petén.

Our route: click for detail

We'll fill in anecdotes in later postings, but here is the gist: headed out Wednesday, passed through Rio Dulce Frontera, stayed overnight en route in a fancy resort with a gazillion (maybe two) North American tourists, stayed in Poptún Thursday night, got to Flores mid-day Friday, stayed Friday & Saturday night, returned Sunday.

Here are some shots that we took along the way:

Rio Dulce Frontera: Locals at the cantina

Having some fun on the road—"Itsy bitsy spider" was a big hit during the long rides. It's the same mystery as cat toys: how did whoever wrote that figure out what drives kids nuts?

Biker dude on a road near Flores.

Busy commercial clutter at Rio Dulce Frontera, a popular tourist centre for Guatemalans