I like the island town of Flores, Guatemala very much. Located in Lago de Peten-Itza, it was the location of the largest active Mayan ceremonial site at the time of the Spanish Conquistadors. In their usual way, what the Conquistadors couldn't understand, they destroyed, so there is no trace of the site now. Instead, you find an charming island city so small you can walk around the perimeter in about an hour, which we did.
The cobble stone streets are medievally-narrow and wind up the steep hill toward the Spanish mission style church and its plaza. In the plaza was an artificial Christmas tree with the word Gallo and a stylized rooster head where there would be a star on a Christmas tree at home. We soon learned that Gallo is the Guatemalan beer, and Gallo sponsored the tree. Gallo, by the way, tastes like Budweiser. Everything here is sponsored by something. The town rotary, for example, is sponsored by the Rotary Club.
The cobble stone streets are medievally-narrow and wind up the steep hill toward the Spanish mission style church and its plaza. In the plaza was an artificial Christmas tree with the word Gallo and a stylized rooster head where there would be a star on a Christmas tree at home. We soon learned that Gallo is the Guatemalan beer, and Gallo sponsored the tree. Gallo, by the way, tastes like Budweiser. Everything here is sponsored by something. The town rotary, for example, is sponsored by the Rotary Club.
We have seen orange and yellow crotons growing as hedges in many places, but this is the only place we saw poinsettia bushes. We stayed in a nice hotel (Sabana) with a balcony looking over the lake and the rusted tin and palm thatched roofs of the city. Palm-thatched roofs used to be only on the homes of the poorest people, but now the palms are in short supply and a special building permit is needed to build a palm roof, so only the wealthiest people can have palm thatch now. The 2 to 4 story buildings are painted every imaginable pastel color, and it's all very picturesque. It's also very touristy, with interesting shops, good restaurants, and high prices.
They use little 3-wheeled, 3-seat vehicles with canvas roofs for taxis here. The sidewalks are narrow and start and stop unpredictably, so we end up walking in the street. The first night in the city, we were walking in the street and were startled by one of these speeding 3-wheelers. The driver hit his warning alarm, which sounds like a baritone saying "Gaaaaaaahhhs" in an ascending song, followed by a bleat of the horn. We jumped out of the way, which we figured was the purpose of the warning. Steve learned that those particular 3-wheelers are not taxis, but propane gas distributors who race around the city like ice cream men. They run at all hours of the day and night, blasting their "Gaaaaaaahhs" warning. They are driving so fast and recklessly, I don't know how their customers can catch up with them.
One night we were eating with the group in a restaurant, and heard music in the street. We ran outside to see a procession lead by women carrying a male doll and female doll. It was unclear if the dolls were Mary and Joseph or a bride and groom. Children were in the procession tooting on whistles, adults kept the beat with maracas, and bringing up the rear were 4 men carrying a huge wooden xylophone played by 3 men as they walked along.
We took a boat ride across the lake to visit a real Guatemalan town, San Jose. Here pigs and chickens wander around the steep unpaved streets. We took a Spanish lesson from some locals who support themselves by teaching Spanish to the turistas. I realized that I am one of only 3 in our group of 12 who is mono-lingual. Of course, the other 2 are also from the US. Again I felt that I can not be a citizen of the world if I only speak English, and I renewed my resolve to learn Spanish.Itza is the name of the local Mayan tribe. Like the Native Americans and the Australian Aborigines, years ago children were forced to learn English and forbidden to speak their native language. Still, the Mayan language survived and the locals now practice a mixture of Catholicism with the old traditions.
San Jose is trying to develop itself as a center for herbal medicine production and sale. Their website is
The weather has been very cooperative. It usually rains only at dawn. There was a downpour while we were in the medicinal plant garden, but we were next to a palm roofed ramada, and we ducked in there to don our rain gear. The rain ended after 15 minutes. Aside from the gully washer as we boarded the bus in Belize City, we haven't seen any rain. It has been in the 80s and quite nice.
