As far as we know, the spokes never arrived at the address in the US. So we left Antigua without spare spokes, by bus to the town of Flores. After a few days in Flores, we got back on the bikes to cycle to the Maya ruins of Tikal. It was a good test for the wheel which was checked out by a mechanic in Antigua.

The wheel was doing great and after about 65 kms (39 miles) we arrived in the little town next to the ruins. We finally had the chance to camp again. We went to the ruins the next morning; the sunrise it supposed to be very beautiful if you see it from the highest temple. Unfortunately, it was very cloudy and it even was drizzling a bit. So no sunrise for us. The drizzle turned into rain, but because the whole area is situated in dense jungle we weren’t affected by it that much.

Just like Machu Pichu in Peru, this also was a mystical place. Because we were so early there almost were no other people around and we were walking around there in solitude. The central square with many buildings around it was abandoned and it was completely quiet except for the far howling of the howler monkeys. All of that made it very mysterious. There are very many structures but most of them still have to be cleared from the dense jungle that has overgrown the whole area. The area is flat, but there are many hills. Underneath all of those hills is another structure. We walked many kilometers to see the whole area. It kept getting busier and we were happy we had been that early and had seen it in solitude.

At around 11 am we had seen most of it and we went back to the campground. We packed our things and got back on the bikes. We had to go back the same way we came for about 35 kms (21 miles) and we had plenty of time to do that that same day. There, we spent the night.

The next day was our last day in Guatemala; we cycled to the border with Belize and, again, had no problems at all crossing both borders. We met a guy from Taiwan who’s been cycling the world for the last 9 years. An interesting guy! Guatemala cried for us leaving, when we were at the border a huge downpour hit us. Belize welcomed us with tears of happiness…