First Night in Flores, Guatemala

I’ve  made it back from Guatemala and managed to do a lot: Mayan ruins, a pitch black cave on my own with a dodgy flashlight, climbed a volcano and visited an evil saint. It was a busy week.

To get to Guatemala I flew through Miami from Bermuda. It was actually really efficient, leaving Bermuda at 8:30am and arriving at Guatemala City at 1:30 in the afternoon. Then, I had a torturous 5 hour layover before my flight to Flores. Guatemala City airport has to be the hottest place in the world. There’s no air-conditioning and it resembles a giant greenhouse. I wandered for hours trying desperately to find a cool spot.

Eventually I boarded an aging turbo prop and took off for Flores, swerving between lightning storms. That part was actually pretty amazing, watching the clouds flash angrily, occasionally emitting bolts down to the ground. I was sat next to a Canadian girl on her way to volunteer at a center for animals that had been kept as pets or taken from traffickers. She also had a fear of flying. I tried not to point out the lightning storms, but she noticed.

I arrived at the airport and was soon outside looking for a taxi. It was 9:00 at night and I didn’t have a reservation anywhere, though I had a hostel in mind that I wanted to stay at called Los Amigos. I wound up in a taxi, which was actually a minivan that they loaded up with people. Then, we set off.

After arriving in Flores, I was the first person to be dropped off. The driver’s assistant returned my bag to me and gestured vaguely up the street when I asked where the hostel was. Then they drove off, I was left on my own in Guatemala without anywhere arranged to stay for the night. It was a nervous moment. This is where I was stood. Fortunately, the hostel wasn’t far up the street to the left and they had space for me.