Flores is a small city that completely covers a small island in the middle of Lake Peten Itza. The views of the lake are spectacular, especially at sunrise and sunset. I'll add a photo soon. If you switch to hybrid (satellite) view on the map below, you'll see the island.
We spent our first night in a reputable hostel, with a nice terrace on the roof with a palapa shack and hammocks. We had our own room and private bath, for $20/nite for 4 of us - really keeping that budget down! However, it's so oppressively hot and humid here, that after dinner, we immediately found another hotel - one that had A/C! We all hardly slept that one night in the hostel. An inadequate fan and holes in the screens meant we were hot and worried about malaria-carrying mosquitos all night! We were all awake by 5 or 6AM - too hot to sleep, checked out, walked over to the new hotel, and were all checked in by 7AM. The addition of cable TV at this point was most welcome, as we were all getting a bit homesick, and watching a bit of the Olympics again was fun.
We had planned to go to visit the Mayan ruins of Tikal today, but on Sunday night, Lori fell victim to the infamous traveler's diarrhea. I have a touch of it myself, but am doing fine compared to her. From the timing and the fact that the kids don't have it, we're attributing it to a short date we took yesterday afternoon. Having found "Cheaper by the Dozen 2" on TV, in Spanish, the kids were jumping up and down with excitement and high fives. We left them in the room and went downstairs to the neighboring bar for 2-for-1 margaritas. Within a couple of hours, it hit her hard.
It's to be expected when travelling in this part of the world, and I've been impressed with the availability of tourist-friendly food in Guatemala. The 4 of us have been eating out 3 meals/day for 2 weeks, and this is the first problem we've had. Nevertheless, it's unpleasant.
Yes, I'm getting the picture that cheap hostels and drinks aren't worth it. Given that we're spending much of yesterday and today just hanging out in an air-conditioned hotel room with TV (and not just caring for Lori, but trying to stay out of the unbelievable heat and humidity - reminds me of some of the worst summer days in Philly), I'm really glad we switched to the $40/night hotel! If Lori's up for it, we'll do Tikal tomorrow.
