San Ignacio, Belize / Flores, Guatemala

What an amazing experience I have had so far. After my last post from Tulum, I headed back for Cancún for my last night there. That evening, I had dinner at the Chac Mool hostel (tortilla española or a basic omelette with onions and potatoes) and prepared for bed since I had a bus to Chetumal, Mexico on the Belizean border the next morning at 5:00A.M. Well, Adam did not set the alarm right and we woke up at 4:40A.M. so we missed that bus. In retrospect, THANK GOD! We ended up taking the 6:00A.M. bus to Chetumal (5 1/2 hours) in which we met Marie from France. She is the sweetest girl and is travelling part of Central America on her own to then meet her father in Chile next month.
Once we arrived in Chetumal, we waited at the bus station to figure out how to get to Flores, Guatemala (about 9 hours away by bus) but found out it was impossible that day since the only bus leaves at 6:00A.M. and it was already 2:00P.M.
At the station, I met Jacob and Magnus (two super cool Swedish boys) and Santé and Kelly (a couple from Oklahoma). There we all decided to stick together because our options were to either spend the night in Chetumal or in Belize City, Belize. We obviously chose Belize City.
There is a catch though! On the bus to Belize City, which was a SCHOOL BUS painted red and blue, two things happened. One, we say a Santa Claus piñata with local children beating it with bats (I almost peed my pants) and second, we found out that Belize City is over run by gangs and crime EVERYWHERE. Honestly, we had to divert and did not know where. Once we did customs and got our exit and entry stamps from Mexico and Belize respectively, I decided we should go as close to the Guatemalan border as possible and stay in a small village which would probably be safer and quiet than the SCARY Belize City. Everyone agreed. I must say, the bus we were riding was full to capacity with every seat taken, the whole aisle filled with people and there were even monkeys, YES MONKEYS, hanging from the luggage and the windows! Once we arrived in Belize City to transfer to another bus to go to San Ignacio (the village/town we chose near the border) a local yelled "Welcome to Belize City; Don't be afraid". It was hilarious!
Well, after being on the bus since 6:00A.M., we finally arrived in San Ignacio at around 10:00P.M. You have no idea how long it takes to drive 100km in unpaved roads! There, we found "Max's Place", a family home, which let us stay (all 7 of us) for $5.00US each a night. Yes, I know, incredible! When we got settled and began walking around the shadiest town ever, we met Levis. A local gay bum that gives out free gum to people just to be able to make them laugh and have a good time. We were all cracking up. When we took pictures, his line was "Don't say cheese, say winter fresh!". The guy was a riot! He took us to some street ladies who were cooking food on the street (don't worry it was COOKED) and all of us ate like KINGS AND QUEENS! We had rice and beans, chicken and potatoes for $2.50US. We all thought we would get sick but thank the lord Jesus the savior hallelujah (lol) nothing happened. The next morning Max organized for us to get to Tikal for $15.00 US each and since it was direct without stops, we couldn't refuse. Well, as usual in Latin America, it never goes as smoothly as one expects. Once we got to the Belize/Guatemala border, we found out that it had rained for almost 2 weeks straight. We went through customs again without a problem and began the trek on a different vehicle. Max (the hotel guy) had to find some local border guy to drive us on a 4x4 to Flores, Guatemala since his van would simply not make it. The roads were bubble gum (the mud was sooooooooooooo thick and gooey that there were tens of cars and buses stuck along the way) so it took us about 2 hours to get to Flores (a town only 50km away). Since I was the smallest person in the group, I rode in the trunk with all the bags! Honestly, an amazing and unforgettable experience. We arrived without a scratch. Once we got to Flores and settled in our hostel, we went in search of an ATM. The town had none. We had to walk to the nearest town across a bridge called Santa Elena. There we found 4 ATM's but all of them were out of money. Apparently, the whole of Guatemala had no money in the ATM's. We still don't know why. After searching and searching, I found a little ghetto bank in a corner that didn't even have signs, which had a small ATM machine. LORD PRAISE THE LORD OF CHICKEN HALLELUJAH! I was terrified I would have no cash. In the end all was solved and we ate the best food in the whole trip so far. I ate Churrasco, rice, black beans, fried plantains, cheese, tortillas, cream, and two Fanta's for $3.00US. Never in my life had I eaten so much for so little. Guatemala is exceptionally beautiful and the people are very friendly. I can't wait to see more and get my hands dirty with the locals and their obvious socio-political issues. I have no time to write at the hostel (30 minutes to write per person) but I promise I will post more pictures as soon as I get access again. Until the next time!