On 15th November (Thursday) I left Panajachel on an early bus, which rattled its way back up to the junction on the main highway – it didn’t break down this time. I got chatting to a fellow traveller on the bus – Beate from Germany. She was also heading for Antigua. The rain started coming down as we waited for the bus that would take us the rest of the way, and this wet weather continued for most of the trip to Antigua.

In Antigua we found a hotel near the terminal, got a room, and headed to the centre where, as chance would have it, we ran into Hans, from Liechtenstein. Following the Gringo Trail appears to guarantee that you keep meeting the same people! Furthermore it seems that in each place a certain restaurant gets highly recommended in the Lonely Planet guide, and becomes the “gringo hangout”. In the case of Antigua this place is “Doña Luisa”. Hans, Beate and I ate there and agreed to meet back there in the evening.

Nearby there was a marimba band playing in the street which was entertaining.

I had been told that a visit to the Mayan city of Tikal was almost obligatory, but to get there by road was arduous. However there was a domestic flight to the nearby town of Flores which, like everything else in Guatemala, was good value. So in the afternoon I investigated flights to Flores and made a booking for Saturday morning (2 days later), returning to the capital on Sunday, in time to possibly start a Spanish course on Monday. My plan was starting to take shape…

I met Beate for dinner later, and we ended up in a bar with Hans and a bunch of other travellers who were all swapping stories and useful information about Tikal, and countries further south.

Next day, Friday, I investigated various language schools in the morning, and after meeting Beate and Hans again for lunch decided on a school called Tecún Umán. I walked down to change money and then pay for the course, to start Monday. The director was very friendly, but spoke to me only in slow Spanish – their policy appears to be total immersion – no translating. He assessed where I was with the language and then asked me if I preferred my private tutor to be “un maestro” or “una maestra“…

I later reunited with Beate at Doña Luisa’s, we met Hans and found an Italian restaurant which turned out to be pretty lousy! Maybe best to stick to local cuisine in future…

My alarm woke me before dawn, and after packing and saying farewell to a half-awake Beate, I went to get the minibus to Guatemala City airport where I had breakfast. The flight was on a Handley Page Herald – a plane manufacturer I associate more with flimsy pre WW2 aircraft. It did the job though, and after barely half an hour it dipped down to land at Flores – a town originally built on a small island in lake Petén Itzá, but which is now starting to sprawl over the adjoining shore, to which the island is connected by a causeway.

4523 hr RTW 17-18 Nov 1990 - Flight to Flores and Tikal, Guatemala

4525 hr RTW 17-18 Nov 1990 - Flight to Flores and Tikal, Guatemala

4527 hr RTW 17-18 Nov 1990 - Flight to Flores and Tikal, Guatemala