Nights in El Remate or Never seen that before moment

El Remate is a sleepy little town about 15 miles from Tikal.  It is situated on the crystal blue Lago.  The hotel manager told us where to eat.  He said the best restaurants in town are the french restaurant and a local place that overlooks the lake and known for their lake fish.  He also said if we go to the local place the fish takes a long time to get the food.

Our view from the restaurant and our hotel.
Can you see the crocodile?

We decided not to have French food in a village in Guatemala, seemed like a bad idea to us.  The local place called Chaui was about 2 minutes by foot from the hotel. The menu was completely in Spanish and had a few helpful pictures(thank god!). After translating the menu to the best of our ability we ordered the grande pescado and carne de palanchador (grilled beef) and 2 of the local beers.

Chickens right off the stairs of the restaurant

Chris and I settled into our chairs and started to watch the sunset.  It was the perfect evening!  Birds and insects were singing, geckos were barking, children playing soccer and laughing below the restaurant, horses were grazing on the banks of the lake, families were together on a pier. Add to this the sun was setting behind the mist and fog covered mountain on the other side of the lake. It so many ways it was a perfect evening.  We had the restaurant to ourselves, and cold beers in hand.  It was a slice of heaven made for just me and chris.

horses at the edge of the lake

Halfway through a meals some Aussies showed up and then two Americans by way of India joined us.  Everyone  was chatting and having a great time.  Then 4 more people showed up. The other Americans tried to talk to them and they barked out NO HABLE ENGLES....with a french accent and promptly turned away from everyone.  It was so perfectly stereotypical I was laughing.  It was as if they were hell bent on pretending they were the first foreigners to find this land and our presence was screwing with their reality.  Oh well, these people were not messing with my perfect night.

After some amazing fried lake fish and grilled beef, and some good conversation we grabbed some beers from the mini mart and headed back to our hotel to get some sleep.  5 am comes pretty early in the morning and we were off to Tikal. The hotel offered a wakeup call and we took advantage of it.  The night watchman comes by at 5 am and bangs on your door to wake you up.

Beer in Guatemala

Oh yeah...the never seen that before moment.  

Yes...we saw this

Motorcycles and dirt bikes are the preferred transportation in El Remate.  As we were walking back to our hotel a  motorcycle stops to make a turn and we notice two young women riding the bike.  The woman in the back is holding an infant all swaddled in a green blanket. No helmets, no car seat, do doors, no problem!

The other never seen that moment....three people on a motorcycle, apparently it was the express bus for the evening.