The following afternoon around 3pm we took a transfer to Yax-ha,  the third largest Maya city in the region and located on a ridge overlooking Lake Yax-ha approximately 30 km southeast of Tikal.

Although the children’s entry in Tikal was free, Yax-ha was not and when we questioned this, the guards standing around the ticket booth all seemed to raise their automatic weapons. As the place was practically deserted (we only saw one other tourist during our time here) I thought it best not to rankle them any further so gave them a big smile and gave them a few ‘muchas gracias’  before paying our entry and moving on.

The Yax-ha kingdom is estimated to have had a peak population of around 42 000 and after walking around the various plazas, ball courts and pyramid complexes we made our way to Structure 216 which is a large pyramid on the east side of Plaza A upon the East Acropolis.

The remains of the temple shrine still stand upon the pyramidal base and the total height of the structure is over 30 metres making it the tallest structure at Yax-ha.  We made it to the top to enjoy a sunset view over the lake.

It was just magic up on top – hearing nothing but the birds and occasional howler monkey we spent about an hour on top spotting so many birds flying around – Guatemala really is a birdwatchers paradise.

Even though we had seen Toucans and Macaws up close (often shown during the Caribbean cruise) nothing beats spotting them in their own habitat.  We recognised the Keel-billed or Rainbow-billed Toucans and also another Toucan species the Collared Aracari.

The next day the girls had a complete rest and play day, while David and I shored up our plans for departure the next day into Belize as we had pre-booked and paid a deposit for our accommodation on Caye Caulker for the following night.

As El Ramate was a more remote village set slightly off the highway we didn’t have a large choice of options for transport – it was either a private car and driver who could take us to the border only and then it was up to us to do the next leg by negotiation on arrival or a mini-van (read backpackers bus) of dubious reputation, that could pick us up around 8.30am and take us all the way through the border and onto Belize city.  The larger ‘Linea Dorada’ bus company did not stop in El Ramate so it was either a trek back to Flores to come all the way back again or The San Juan bus company which had not had favourable reviews on tripadvisor.

After mulling this over we decided to go the easier option and paid our $22 per person fare for the five hour trip to Belize city, so we would arrive in time for one of the last water-taxi’s hour trip to Caye Caulker.

We called the girls back in from playing to do the dreaded ‘packing up’ ready for our earlyish departure tomorrow morning and I went to bed praying that the journey ahead tomorrow would be uneventful thus bringing our three weeks in Guatemala to a safe ending.