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I’ve been through Santa Elena, in the north of Guatemala, twice now.  The first time we were heading for Flores, the more picturesque town on an island in Lake Peten, as one does when one wants to go see the ruins at Tikal.  The second time was to get a connecting bus to the south of Guatemala.  And each time we got mobbed, hassled and generally highly annoyed by the jillions of taxi drivers who hang around the station.  Okay, this is generally the case all over the world, but this was some serious dedication to the cause.

The first time we came in on a bus, they actually ran to the still-moving vehicle and leapt onto the sides of it, hanging off as our driver nonchalantly swung it round into a parking spot, apparently oblivious to the humans dangling off his wing-mirrors.  Getting down from the bus and into the swarming mass of them, while trying to get down our luggage from the overhead racks, was not a joy.

The second time was a little less fraught, but we nevertheless ended up with our own entourage of drivers who followed us into the bus station, shouting “Where you go?  Where you go?  Flores?  I take you!  Is cheap!  Is no problem!”  Since we weren’t, at this point, going to Flores, it wasn’t deeply helpful and when you’ve just had yet another border crossing where the officials demand money but refuse you a receipt, you don’t really need that.

Flores, by the way, ain’t all that.  It’s very pretty, and the lake is stunning, but the fact is that it’s really quite expensive for food and accommodation (you don’t expect to pay Mexican prices in Guatemala.  You just don’t.  Did you know that Mexico has the same problem with Guatemalan immigration that the US has with Mexican immigration?  They have that problem for a reason) and in the low season it is absolutely dead.  Not very atmospheric.

As crazy and chaotic as Santa Elena is, it would have made a better choice, once our bags were stashed in a hotel somewhere and we didn’t look quite so target-like.  Flores is there for the tourists; Santa Elena has some life to it, and as our bus south crawled through the hectic market, I had a moment of regret that we hadn’t had a chance to look around.

So perhaps the thing to do would be to stay in Santa Elena, check out the market, get a tour to Tikal sorted and have a nice meal, all for cheaper than you would on the island, and then have a stroll over the causeway to Flores and get some nice views and snaps of the lake.