Early in the morn, we leave for Tikal. It's one heck of a long drive and we've gotten up very early. Luckily, Eva's Bar has very good strong coffee.
I had pre-booked our Tikal trip with Guatemala Ecological Adventures. If I had gone through Lenny, I would have saved at least $100 and lots of hassle. I wouldn't recommend booking your hotel in advance at Tikal, because even at high season, there was plenty of vacant rooms. Worst comes to worst, you end up in the lovely lakeside village of Flores.
You can get to Tikal from Belize a number of ways, from private cab to public transportation. Here is how we did it. You get into a van that drives to the border, disembark, cross the border on your own, and meet your driver with a different vehicle on the other side. It saves them money and you time. It's fairly easy to leave the country, and I find myself wondering if US immigration is ever so easy-going. I could have smuggled half-dozen things across the border--no one checked.
The border crossing on the Belizean side is in a beautiful white building, sparkling clean and well-lit. On the Guatemalan side, it is almost like a movie-ticket counter with long lines and a crowd. This is also where you change money and there will be moneychangers and taxi drivers offering you anything you could want at the border. I changed twenty dollars into Quetzales here, so that we'd have money to get into the park.
Guatemala is quite different architecturally. I have heard it said that Belize looks carribean, but having never seen any of the Caribbean, I cannot say. However, to be sure, the wraparound porches and stilt-houses that were so common in Belize are less so in Guatemala.
At Tikal, we said goodbye to our drivers and the other couple. They were off with a Belizean tour guide. We had to pay upfront to get into the park and then had to find our tour guide. At the Jungle Lodge, we were given a room but they didn't know where our guide was. He was supposed to meet us there, but he wasn't there. We were also supposed to have a packet with our vouchers for hotel/food/guide/museum fees. The Jungle Lodge staff didn't know what I'm talking about. I luckily had a printout of my voucher, and the clerk tells me she has never seen anything like it before. Of course, two days later when we check out, she gives me a packet with the vouchers in it. Too little too late. Anyway, we do get an English speaking guide finally. He says our other guide is probably waiting for us at the airport. (!?!).