Flores, Petén, Guatemala
After our very relaxing but short stay at the natural pools of Semuc Champey, we decided to go on with our trip and reach the north of the country, going to Flores, the capital of the state Petén.
It seems close by car, but with the bus we had to go back all the way to Cobán and from there to Flores, which meant that we had to drive another 9 hrs (one day in the bus).
This time it was way more fun, but still exhausting. The driver had a good vibe, put Reggeaton music (of course) and the people that drove with us were cool.
At some point we even had to cross the lake with the bus. For that we drove on a floating little wooden thing and got to the other side. A bit scary to be honest.
The local bus just drove next to us and this little cutie was saying hi, for her all of this seemed totally normal ;)
The old part of the city is located on an island on Lake Peten Itza, connected to the mainland by a short causeway. On the mainland is the suburb Santa Elena and, to the West, a contiguous municipality San Benito.
The Itza left the Yucatán region in the 13th century and built the city later known as Tayasal as their capital. They called it Nojpetén, (noj peten, literally "Great Island" in the Itza language). The Spanish called it Tayasal, possibly derrived from ta Itza, or "Place of the Itza".
For me the most interesting fact is that it was here, on the island of Flores on the shore of Lake Petén Itzá, that the last independent Maya state held out against the Spanish conquerors. In 1541, Hernán Cortés came to the island, en route to Honduras, but needed to move on and did not try to conquer it.
The Spanish did not manage to conquer the island until 1697, when they marched in, attacked via boats, and destroyed it. Those who could flee did so, and many Itzá people hid in the jungle for years. From the ruins of Nojpetén arose the modern city of Flores. The modern city can thus be regarded as the second oldest continuously inhabited settlement in the Americas, after Cholula.
We went there because of the beautiful lake, the colonial style of the city and of course because many Maya ruins like Tikal are close to it.
Once we arrived it was already late and as I told you already at my SunThursday post last week we got there just in time to find a cozy place and have a drink watching the sunset.
A sunset like this you don't see very often, so I will share a few more pics with you ;)
The next morning we got up early to see the sunrise.
After that and a delicious breakfast we went walking around the city and enjoying the colonial lovely style of this little village.
No wonder the Mayan didn't want to give up this place, but now its still super colorful and full of good vibes.
The city is full of lovely little restaurants, hostels, yoga places, spas etc. - Perfect to relax!
I've never seen a colonial city that actually looks like in the pictures and is so beautiful and clean!
When we arrived to the city center, we saw a girl selling nuts together with her 2 year old. - So cute, of course we took some to support them :)
After that the sun was about to get down again so we decided to go to the lake once again and enjoy another beautiful sunset.
What a beautiful day and a nice place to be!! - We had a great time at the promenade and went to bed early because we would wake up at 4am to drive to Tikal and watch the sunrise at the ruins in the jungle; but more about that soon - So stay tuned!
Cheers,
Liz
As always I hope you enjoyed reading my post and I am grateful for every Upvote, Resteem and Comment, as you are supporting my travels with it!!
If you would like to see more about Cécile Morgado Photography, find her at her instagram page or at her facebook page
Here you can check out my previous posts about Guatemala:
Guatemala Part 2 - Mayan culture at the colorful market in Chichicastenango (Fotos + Videos)
Guatemala Part 3 - The beautiful lake Atitlán and surroundings (Fotos + Videos)
Guatemala Part 4: Paragliding at Lake Atitlán (Photos + Videos)
Guatemala Part 5: Defeating the Vulcan Acatenango - The 7 hrs hike to the camp (Photos + Videos)
Guatemala Part 7: The gorgeous natural pools of Semuc Champey National Park (Fotos + Videos)
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