Julie wasn't feeling very well this morning. The cough and sore throat had given way to more shivery and flu-like symptons, but she soldiered on.

With our bags packed and ready to move, we went down for breakfast where a repeat of yesterday's tasty dishes were devoured.

Less than a hour later we stood at the pier waiting for our boat to come in. I turned to Julie and in an attempt to cheer her up, told her "this will be the last boat ride for a few days". She struggled a smile. You could tell she was properly unwell. 

It didn't take us long, about five minutes from the resort back into town where our minibus was waiting for us. This time our luggage was lifted onto the roof of the bus, giving us more space inside. Although, despite the extra choice I think we all sat in the same seats.

As we were about to leave on the next leg of our journey, Jonathon reminded us all to crosscheck our important belongings like passport, mobile phones, wallets. Then we heard Katie say something, which became increasingly desperate when she realised she had left her phone back in the resort.

"Perhaps it's in the hammock" said Julie as she remembered where Katie was sat whilst we waited for the boat. Jonathon returned to the hotel by boat, returning 10 minutes later, with the phone! He had found it in the hammock!

That was so lucky. We rely so much on our phones these days, and not just for phoning people.

Only a few minutes later than scheduled we left the town of Frontera (or Rio Dulce) heading North, skirting the Belize border. Jonathon drew our attention to a lookout on top of a hill which was inside Belize, then at the village of Modesto Mendez the border was literally 20 metres away.

Apparently this area is a little conentious about where exaclty the border exists. 

About an hour into the journey we came to a police check point. Jonathon explanied why, and it had nothing to do with being close to the border.

Back in the fifties the entire banana crop, not only in Guatemala but across the entire world, was decimated by a fungus called the Panama disease. The most common banana variety back then was known as Gros Michel, (Big Mike) but after the Panama Disease it was all but wiped off the face of the earth. A new more resilient variety of banana, known as the Cavendish and developed in Kew Gardens, London, was introduced, which is the banana we know and love today.

Ever since the late 1990s this region of Guatemala has stopped every vehicle to check they are not carrying fruit, especially bananas into the area.

Four years ago when we drove through here I thought it was an overly cautious, almost symbolic gesture, about a historical problem but there has been a remergence of the fungal disease (also called Fusarium wilt tropical race 4 or TR4) slowly spreading across the Americas.

So the threat was real.

Whilst Jonathon was talking bananas I quickly realised that I still had one in my bag. My instinct was to quickly shove it in my mouth before we came to be inspected. 

A police officer boarded the bus, said something in Spanish, which Jonathon translated as "Does anyone have any fruit?"

"No" we replied like well-behaved school children.

He then got off the bus and waved us on. It wasn't exactly a thorough check, there were no sniffer dogs involved, or a random bag checks. We could have had a kilo of cocaine or a suitcase full of guns and got through the check point undetected.

In hindsight I should probably have declared my banana skin.

Jonathon continued to talk about bananas and the role they played in the Guatemalan civil war. I found it fascinating.

At the turn of the century an American business called the United Fruit Company (UFC)grew their control of plantations across much of Central America. They became a very powerful and influential business, especially here in Guatemala & neighbouring Honduras.

With over 40% of the country's land owned by the UFC, they employed a huge amount of the population. They paid their workers in tokens which they could only spend in UFC stores. A practice made popular in 19th century British cotton mills.

With so many people not spending outside of the United Fruit Company, they effectively controlled the country's economy, and in turn heavily influenced the government. This is where the often used term "Banana Republic" came from.

Since independance in 1821 Guatemala had a history of attempted revolutions and in 1944 they succesfully forced the incumbent president to resign and democratic elections took place. As the wave of socialism spread across Central America the government began talking about land reforms which would have seriously damaged the United Fruit Company's stranglehold.

 It wasn't long before the United States got involved, plotting a coup d'etat through a covert CIA operation. In 1954 they overthrew the democratically elected government and installed a right wing dictator, not only to crush any thoughts of reform and protect American business interest but also to stem the flow of communism, such was their paranoia.

President Carlos Castillo Armas and the others who followed were brutal in their methods of quelling unrest. Thousands were killed. Eventually, in 1960 an armed struggle began, with the emergence of several different rebel groups and it continued for 36 years!  

At the town of Santa Ana Vieja we pulled off the road to reached a small settlement called Nuevo Horizonte, (New Horizon).  We were here to visit a newly opened (2022) museum preserving the history of this community, the region of Peten and the story of Guatemala during the civil war.  

We parked up in the grassy village square where a memorial stood to those who lost their lives during the struggles. It's estimated that across the country 200,000 people were killed.

This memorial however was to those from this community alone. It was a white obelisk on a black plinth and covered with names.  It was a sobering thought that these were probably hand painted by their survivors, their childre, their families..

We entered the patio of the museum where we were given an introduction to their story in Spanish, which Jonathon kindly translated for us.

It was founded when demobilised fighters from the Rebel Armed Forces (FAR) settled on a farm here, in Santa Ana. There was nothing here, no housing, no drinking water but they made this place a home. To call it a retirement home for rebels would to be an injustice. It was more than that. It was a shelter in a storm for a community of displaced people persecuted by the government forces.  

Most have left now, returning to their homes, and the communities they left but some have stayed and it is those and their descendants who have opened this museum to preserve the memory of what happened in Guatemala. (MUNH)

The museum had six rooms of artefacts, photographs, testimonies, and local art which made for an interesting collection.  Their a logo, in the red and black colours of the rebel group FAR, was an image of a canoe, a catfish, and the phrase "la solidaridad como el agua al pez"  which translates as "solidarity like water to fish". I interpreted the message as our "togetherness sustains us". 

In the first room was the actual dug out canoe illustrated in the logo. It was found here when the community was set up and was taken as a strong symbol connecting this place and themselves to their ancestors who came before.

They had several information boards explaining the history of this region, which was called Petén. Unfortunately it was all in Spanish, and our musuem guide was explaining it all in Spanish. Jonathon did his utmost best to relay most of what was said.

In the next room local artists portrayed strong heroic people, especially women, in paintings of surprisingly high standard.  From ancient warriors to proud mothers.

Then came a room with several information boards about the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the subjugation of the people. One called "The Human Zoos" caught my attention  where it explained how the indigenous people were included as the curiosity of the country, as part of the flora and fauna.

We next came to the period sometimes called the Silent Holocaust, an under reported genocide of the Mayan race. Forced disappearances by the hands of death squads was a constant threat. Summary executions, like the one we learned about in Santiago de Atitlán, were regular occurences.  

Whole communities, including the women and children would mobolise themselves as armed resistence to the state sponsored aggression. The conflict escalated where in truth both sides were guilty of terrible attrocities.

The whole museum experience was an essential lesson to this country's past troubles and gave us a better understanding of who are the Guatemalan people and what they have endured. 

Once we finished, it was time for lunch.

The community here at Nuevo Horizonte provided us with food. It was all included with our tour. 

Julie had chicken which she struggled to get much meat off the bone. I struggled to find anything to eat and had to settlte for a few side dishes, but they were so kind and welcoming we couldn't question their hospitality.

"Ever felt like you've been watched?" I said.

Julie turned around to see this adorable dog looking longingly at her, or what was on her plate, more like it. It wasn't begging or being a nuisance, just looking, hoping.

Back on the road it wasn't long before we reached Flores, a small island in a sheltered corner of Lago Peten Itza, the second largest lake in Guatemala, and connected to the mainland by a causeway.

It felt so good to finally arrive. We never made it here four years ago. It was at this point in the journey we had to run to the Mexican border before they closed.

We checked in to our hotel, Casa Turquesa.  It was nicely painted in white and turquoise. Apparently it wasn't the usual hotel used by Intrepid but it was literally next door and owned by the same people. Jonathon told us that in his opinion it was an upgrade.

We all gathered in the lobby for the room lottery and we got room 101. It was at the back of the hotel, the opposite side to where we entered. This meant it potentially came with a view of the lake or even a balcony. Unfortunately it had neither.

It was clean but very basic. "It's a bit of a cell" said Julie moments before throwing herself onto the bed. She was rapidly going down hill.

We had a few hours to wait before Jonathon had arranged for us all to meet up and have a walking tour of the town. Some of the group went for a swim in the lake but I wanted to find somewhere where I could get a decent view of the island.

Julie didn't feel like doing either activity so she sat in the shade of a small cafe bar sipping diet coke.

I had heard that the second floor of a shopping mall, back on the mainland, was somewhere from which you could see the entire island. So I marched over the causeway.

It was much further than I thought and I worked up quite a sweat trying to get there and back as quickly as possible.

It wasn't an official viewing balcony, just a door to a small outside space on the second floor. Standing on tip-toes to see over some overgrown shrubs I did get a great view of Flores. Although to truly appreciate the island I could have done with a drone! 

At the highest point of the island I could see the bell towers of the whitewashed cathedral (Catedral de Nuestra Senora de los Remedios) standing tall over the red tiled rooftops. The tree covered hill in the background was actually the Tayasal peninsula on the other side of the lake and not Flores.

On the Eastern side of the island I could see how rising water levels had reached the doors of the houses along that side. Jonathon had mentioned that some parts of the island are now routinely flooded. Climate change is of course to blame, but he also cited deforestation as a major factor.

On my way back I stopped at this Mayan stelae similar to that which we could have seen in Quirigua. It was of course a replica but nevertheless it was really fascinating.

I stood there for a moment, in a park where a small child was learning to ride a bicycle, looking into the face of perhaps the Ajaw Kan Ek, ruler of the Petén Itza kingdom.

The island of Flores was the location of Nojpetén, the capital of the Petén Itza and in 1697 it was the scene of the Mayans last stand against the Spanish conquistadors. They were the last city-state to be conquered.

I returned to the island, joining Julie at cafe bar where a cold bottle of Gallo beer was gulped down in seconds, the next one I sedately sipped. Before I could order another one it was time to gather in the lobby and join the group in a guided walking tour of the island.

We followed Jonathon from our hotel, turning up Calle Centro America. The cobbled streets and the colourful houses made for an incredibly attractive and charming town. 

On the the junction with Avenida Barrios, by the most colourful house of them all, we turned uphill. It wasn't steep but it was a steady climb. At the top we came to about a dozen steps that brought us up to the main square, Parque Monseñor Próspero Penados del Barrio.

The first thing we noticed was a basketball court and then the catherdal, Catedral de Nuestra Señora de Los Remedios y San Pablo Itza, to give it it's full title.

When the Mayan city of Nojpetén was conquered in 1697 the conquistador Martín de Ursúa planted the Spanish flag here, at the highest point of the island, and renamed it Nuestra Señora de Los Remedios y San Pablo, Laguna del Itza, or Remedios for short.

It didn't take the vicotrs long to destroy the twenty pagan temples that they found here and build this cathedral. 

It didn't take them long either to gain independance from Spain. In 1821, only a 124 years later, Guatemala was born. This island was renamed Flores in honour of a prominent politcian Cirilo Flores Estrada who was instrumental in acheiving independence.

With us having reached the centre of the island, we were technically already heading back towards the hotel as we walked down Avenida Libertad.

The colourful houses continued, even the simple whitewashed were touched by rainbows. From the doors, to the steps, the balconies and the iron window guards they were all brightly painted. It really brought them to life. It's not especially traditional, it's more of a new fashion, another effect of social media.  

At the bottom of the hill we turned left and followed the road until we came to the side of the lake. Which concluded our walking tour of the island. It really was a small area.

We all went our sperate ways.

Julie was deteriorating rapidly, so we retired to our room. I was getting very concerned about her, so I messaged Jonathon to arrange for a doctor to prescribe antibiotics to help Julie with her symptoms. He told me they were easily available over the counter of any pharmacist. So I googled the nearest one to me and found a pharmacy a minutes walk away.

The lady behind the counter listened to me explaining Julie's symptoms and she suggested an antibiotic called Azitromicina. "it's good for a sore throat" she added.

I paid Q150 about £15 for them. It was quite an easy and straightforward transaction. At home, in the UK, it's very controlled and regualted but at least it's free. (for now at least)

Whilst Julie googled the common side effects of Azythromycin I went outisde to thank Jonathon and let him know I had found and bought some drugs for Julie. He was sat outside on a bench with Nicole and Andrew watching the sunset. I joined them briefly to soak in the wonderful peaceful energy from the lake and the sun.

Back in the room Julie had discovered that a common side effect of Azitromicina was diarrhoea and nausea. "I don't think I'm going to take it" she said, worried about being on the minibus with even the slightest risk of vomiting or shitting herself.

We asked Shaila for some pharmaceutical advice through WhatsApp and she agreed with Julie. It was a strong antibotic. 

The group were meeting up for supper around 7:00pm and crossing the road over to Restaurant Raices. We had checked out their menu earlier and it didn't offer much for the vegetarian. It was more of a bar & grill, great for burgers and fries but not for me.

In need of an alternative I was properly exicted when I came across a restaurant called Maracuya which had vegan versions of Pepián and Jocón, two traditional Guatemalan stews, traditionally made with chicken. I simply had to try one of them!

It turned out that a few others also wanted something more interesting than just burgers and fries so we lead a small breakout group in the direction of Maracuya.

Along the way we stopped at the pharmacy, which I was surprised was still open. Julie wanted to check out any alternatives, hopefully with less side effects. Shaila and Evie followed us inside to give their professional approval to the less agressive more commonly administered Amoxycillin.  

The restaurant wasn't far. It took us less than five minutes to walk. It was on the East side of the island and the entrance was lakeside. We saw first hand how far the water had risen, literally to the front door. Undeterred they made the most of their lakeside location they built a small wooden boardwalk over the water.

 They even went as far as building a fairy lit pergola at the end of a jetty, with two comfortable chairs for a couple to enjoy a romantic interlude.

It looked pretty although Julie saw through the fantasy and with her wonderful streak of realism said "Oh my God, I would be bitten to death if I sat there".

Inside the restaurant people were dining downstairs, it hadn't flooded yet!

We were shown to our table upstairs. As we walked towards the staircase we noticed the staff were using a fireman's pole to quickly get downstairs. They were even doing it with dirty plates in one hand!

The tables upstairs were all outside, which was really nice. It always feels better to eat outside. I'm not too sure why but it does. As long as there's no mosquitos of course!

The restaurant had a relaxed atmosphere. I patted myself on my back for making such a good choice. Everyone seemed to be pleased.  

I chose the vegan Pepian. It sounded like the tastiest of the two dishes. It was a good choice. The thick deep red pepian sauce was incredibly rich with flavour. It was a tomato based mole with chilli, thickened with ground sesame seeds and pumpkin seeds. The vegetables were potatoes, green beans and a squash or gourd called Chayote. I loved it. 

Julie couldn't face eating anything and only ordered a side of potatoes. She even struggled with them, that's how ill she was!

I wasn't the only vegetarian. Shaila ordered the vegan Jocon. It looked a little bland in comparisson to the Pepian, a bit like lobscouse without the meat,  just a plain vegetable stew. Kate, Katie and Evie all ordered either the chicken Pepian or Jocon.  

As soon as we all finished, we asked for the bill. Julie was fading fast.  She was a cheap date tonight, our food and drink only came to Q155.  

On our way out Kate decided to exit via the fireman's pole. It wasn't an entirely succesful decent. Her grip on the pole was tight as she stuttered her way down. It was quite funny. I even filmed it for her but "I don't think I'll be sharing that!" she laughed.

I'm not sure what everyone else's plans were for the rest of the evening but ours was to return to our room and try and get some rest. It had only gone 9pm but it was time for bed.