Staying In the Jungle - Tikal National Park

The upgraded room, or as I like to call it, our original room that we booked & paid for @ the Jungle Hotel, Tikal

We finally arrived to Tikal after what seemed like an eternity. Hot. Tired. Exhausted from traveling. Just want to get there, shower, & pass out kind of vibe. Now, we had booked ourselves a spot at the ONLY hotel/accommodation inside Tikal Park, so that a) we wouldn’t have to worry about more transport, and b) we could literally wake up whenever and just go see some ruins.

What they don’t tell you is the Jungle Hotel knows you are their only option, and while the experience was really neat (I’ll get to that), they also have you completely at their mercy. Nearest hotel of any kind is at least an hour away. Once you’re there, you get what you get. Oh, and wifi? LOLOLOL. It’s the jungle, baby.

So we had booked a nice looking room online (thanks to several people suggesting we stay here for the above reasons). We roll up from our airport transfer, receive some welcome drinks (Hibiscus extract might be my new fave drink additive), and then promptly (or not so promptly) get told that the room we booked does not exist, and there are no other rooms on the entire property, so you’ll have to deal with this crappier one. For the same price, of course.

Smaller beds (plural— yes 2 instead of 1), further from the main lobby (no lighted pathways in order to preserve the wildlife’s habitat, which I get—until you eat sh*t and fall into the bushes on your way back to your room—not that that happened to me more than 4 times LOL), and most importantly — no working shower!!

Literally would have just taken the room we were given, were it not for the fact that the shower didn’t just crap out with cold water (we’re in the jungle after all), but it ONLY spouted scalding HOT water—so you literally couldn’t step foot inside. I know it sounds picky but the only burn I want is from the sun. During the day. And we were gonna be there a few nights.

So we trudge back to the lobby (no phones in this place), who sends in the maintenance man, who speaks zero English. That’s fine, I speak a bit of Spanish (but had entrusted Simon to deal with this) so I come back and it’s devolved into the worst game of charades/chicken (sticking your hand in a steady stream of boiling water is not exactly fun.) Men, I tell ya.

The room also had no safe, had 2 beds instead of a King as promised & this was the “last available room”… yeah I don’t think so. Where there’s a will there’s a way! BPK was ON IT. 2 hours and lots of frustration later, we’re in our own bungalow, with 18 foot ceilings, a massive bathroom with working shower AND a soaker tub, and the super King canopy bed I wanted the entire time. (*grumbles…”no more rooms my ASS”) - this is exactly what was booked! I should have known this was our first of many lessons in accommodation on this trip, but Simon and I were both so excited to finally have a spot to rinse off the airplanes & crawl into bed, we failed to realize that we were, in fact, in the MIDDLE OF THE JUNGLE. And what exactly that entails.

SO when I was forcibly woken at about 4:15 am to the sound of absolute jungle terror, Simon rolls over & assures me it’s just gotta be the CPAP machine from the bungalow next door (to which I burst out cry/laughing & realized he didn’t know what Howler Monkeys sound like!) It was incredible/terrifying - sounded like they had surrounded our room & were doing a sacrificial chant! Hearing those things in the wild is some next level stuff.

Off to discover the ruins tomorrow - we haven’t decided on whether or not we want a private guide (Simon’s leaning towards no, I say an emphatic YES—we’ll see who wins).

Bottom line: When you only have 1 option to stay in the jungle, TAKE IT, but just know: you’ll have more than a couple hiccups/unexpected surprises coming your way.

More tomorrow,