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Highlights
Guatemala includes mountainous cloud forest and the most extensive jungles north of the Amazon. The western highlands include 30 volcanoes, many of which are still active so you may see the red glow of volcanic rumblings some nights. To the west is the dry Motagua Valley, rich in jade deposits and dinosaur bones. Also the vast Lake Izabal, from where the beautiful Rio Dulce flows through a deep forested gorge into the Caribbean Sea. Guatemala has an array of things to offer.
Antigua
The best preserved of the Spanish colonial capitals is set amongst three magnificent volcanoes named Agua, Fuego and Acatenango. Fuego (Fire) occasionally lets out long plumes of smoke by day and lights up the night with a fiery red glow. Wise travelers spend as little time in Guatemala City as possible, preferring to head for this lively colonial city. The height of the season is the world famous ‘Semana Santa’ – Holy Week. Booked up at least a year in advance, it is one of the world’s great festivals. It is known for its incredibly colourful and intricate flower carpets that cover the streets. These mark out the routes of daylong religious processions that occur throughout the week.
Indian Markets
Chichicastenango, Quetzaltenango, Zuñil, and other highland market towns are located in deep valleys surrounded by green mountains. Red roofs and narrow cobbled streets still prevail in Maya market centres, where villagers walk for miles to bring their wares to sell.
Lake Atitlan
Referred to as the world’s most beautiful lake, it is a huge ancient caldera surrounded by three volcanoes and a patchwork of Maya fields and farms. It’s a wonderful place for a morning swim or to simply sit for hours and watch the colours and shadows run across the water’s surface. Panajachel is a handy jump-off point for hiking, boating, horse riding, mountain biking and taking ferry rides to the much less visited indigenous villages on the far shores of the lake.
Tikal
This magnificent archaeological site dates back to 700 BC and was occupied for over a thousand years during the apogee of the Classic Maya civilisation. Its towering pyramids rise spectacularly above the jungle canopy and its many plazas are alive with monkeys and birds. Stay in one of the simple nearby lodges to appreciate the sunrise and sunset over the primal forest or if you prefer a little more luxury, try the nearby town of Flores, which is built over an ancient Maya city on an island in Lake Petén Itzá.
Livingston and Rio Dulce
A different Caribbean. Populated by the Garífuna people - descended from Africans intermarried with shipwrecked sailors, and with the indigenous Maya. They developed their own lively culture which is quite different from the rest of Guatemala. The small town of Livingston has a laissez-faire atmosphere that is more Belizean then Guatemalan - where reggae is more popular than marimba. Here the jungle meets the sea where Lake Izabal empties through the Rio Dulce Canyon National Park. It runs past Chocón Machacas Nature Reserve, which protects the river landscape, the valuable mangrove swamps and most importantly the manatees which inhabit the rivers and bays.
Coban
High in the moist cloud forest is the home of the resplendent but illusive quetzal, Guatemala’s national bird. In this region there is fabulous white water rafting on the tropical Río Cahabón. You can also visit the Quetzal Reserve, historical coffee plantations and orchid farms as well as the remarkable caves of Lanquín, where thousands of bats emerge at sunset. Semuc Champey is one of Guatemala’s crown jewels, a remote series of pristine limestone pools deep in the tropical rain forest. The raging Río Cahabón actually tunnels underneath, creating the only double-decked river we know of.
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