It started to rain again this morning, as I left Caye Caulker towards Flores. It wasn't a short downpour but torrential rain throughout the entire 1hr boat ride to Belize City and the 5.5 hour bus ride towards Flores. Likely caused by the recent Hurricane Otto which hit Nicaragua and Costa Ri
The direct bus from Belize City to Flores was ran by Mundo Maya company, and departed an hour later than scheduled. It was a big bus, with only 1 other passenger and I! I expected there to be more people.
Despite the heavy downpour, we made good time and reached the border crossing in less than 3 hours, catching up with a smaller shuttle that left Belize City 45mins before we did. A departure fee of USD20 had to be paid, before we could get to immigration.
Then we had to walk towards the Guatemala border. The immigration checkpoint for Guatemala isn't very obvious as there are no signs pointing to the counters, which is located on the left side of the crossing (A few of the dorm mates at Los Amigos that arrived a day earlier, didn't see the Guatemala immigration counter and went through without getting tamped. They had to make a separate 2.5hr drive to the border to get their passport stamped and another 2.5hr back!).
The bus stopped at Santa Elena, and a shuttle brought us to Flores, an island connected to the mainland.
When I checked in at my hostel, I noticed they had a tour agency on site which charged GTQ100 for the Tikal tour (inclusive of guide) and GTQ100 for shuttle to Lanquin. There was no price to Lake Atitlan, but there was a warning at the hostel about other tour agencies over charging or not providing the type of transport as required.
I guess I will have to figure out if I may had been scammed when I get to Lanquin and check the rates there! Wish me luck!
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