Travel among obscure Maya Ruins in Petén.

 March 2010

Note that below are Youtube showings of this trip of each of the sites listed here. 

I normally only go on one Maya trip a year, but this one that a friend was arranging was so good that I cleared it with my dear lady and flew down for only six days. In this way, I would arrive the very day before leaving and fly home the day after with minimal domestic problemas. 

This resulted in my taking of no notes along the way. There were four days of intense travel, sandwiched in by two days of intense travel to and fro. Thus, I have dawdled in writing it and posting it.

This jaunt had the added advantage of allowing me to get rid of some Delta frequent Flyer miles in time to quit and avoid the annual credit card fee. When I signed up with Delta, I had been unaware that it is among the most bike-unfriendly airlines in the US.

I flew into Guatemala City a bit after 12 noon and by catching cab, I easily managed to catch the 2 PM Especial bus with Fuente del Norte, instead of hanging around Guate for an overnight one. I even had enough time to do a whirlwind tour of the nearby Railroad Museum before the bus left. It was daytime, so I opted for a first class seat, not a plush one below. This way I had a view when I wanted it, and a comfortable enough seat for reading.

I was there for a four day/three night truck trip, which a friend, Greg Vandiver, had arranged in collaboration with our locally esteemed travel guru, Dieter Richter, who runs Cafe Yaxhá and its related travel agency in Flores, Guatemala. In this trip we began the first day with seeing ruins at San Clemente, Motul de San Jose, Nixtunchich. All are reasonably close to Flores, so we spent the night there.

The next day, we saw Buenos Aires, Tzikintzakan and Ucanal. I especially liked having to cross over on a dugout canoe. They are not used to a lot of visitors, so there was only one.

We stayed at El Sombrero Eco-lodge at Yaxhá for the night. It is a basic place and a bit overpriced for what you get, but it is the place to stay if you are seeing both Yaxhá and Nakúm.  The morning breakfast at its restaurant was annoyingly skimpy.

The next night we stayed in hammocks at Nakúm after seeing Naranjo, Poza Maya, and of course Nakúm.  Naranjo and Nakúm are both impressive, but the latter looks like it is both ready and worthwhile for a lot of visitors, but the rush is not on yet.

The last day we saw the massive ruins at Xultun and saw a dig being done by the University of Penn. There is a lot of digging going on, but we were not welcome to even show it at all.

After visiting Uaxactún, we headed back to Flores, and it didn't look good for my catching the 9 PM FDN bus with plush seats, but I got to thinking that by taking the 11 PM ADN, I would have a couple extra hours with a great group of people. I would also arrive in Guate in daylight.

We had a late supper together at Cafe Yaxhá. Then I took the 11 PM Autobuses del Norte first class bus back to Guate, where I walked to the Mercado Central for breakfast and to look for a present for my wife and then flew home.

See some interesting guided tours/narratives from this trip on Youtube in Español by fellow

 participant and quickly a friend,  Eduardo González Arce, of those same sites as we saw them:

San Clemente, Motul de San Jose, Nixtunchich, Buenos Aires,

 Tzikin Tzakan, Ucanal, Naranjo Nakúm, Poza Maya, Xultun, Uaxactún

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