Tikal Guatemalla

Gil and I met a really nice couple ,who had drove across Guatemalla from the Pacific side. They were staying at the marina hotel for a night And then the two of them were heading to Tikal and then to Belize. Jill and Kurt Strecker turned out to be a very interesting couple,they have bought their first boat and learned how to sail it and then went through the Panama Canal. We invited to travel along with Jill and Kurt to Tikal .They would continue on their way and we would come back to the Rio by bus. Anyway we all piled into a small rental car and drove up into the mountains to a town called Flores. The attraction was to stay at a hotel on a man made island. It is hard to believe now that tis quaint town was once"Tayasal"-the ceremonial and political center of the powerful Maya Itsa confederation. In 1542 Hernan Cortes arrived . In 1697 Martin de Urzua y Arismendi conquered the last independent Maya stat and captured Itza king Canek. The Spanish built a fort on the Island because it was easier to defend and fewer biting bugs than on the mainland. Flores was named after Cirilo Flores who was a political leader and was lynched in Quetzaltenango. But before that it was called Nuestra senora de los Remedios y San Pablo de Itza and then it was called Devil's Island when it had a prison built on it. All in all it is quaint with its gaily colored buildings and cobblestone streets.The hotel was called Hotel Peten and it was very large with three large beds and a small balcony looking out on the water. We ate fairly good food at reasonable priceses. As soon as we found out that they turned the electricity off in the hotels at Tikal we returned to Flores and the hotel Peten for our second night.