Have you ever wanted to travel Belize? Then you'll want to read this fascinating take on our Central American tour by Dale of the Maritime Explorer.
I’m finding it hard to believe, but we are headed for the final country in Victor Romagnoli’s guided tour of all seven Central American countries for Adventures Abroad. We have just wrapped up an amazing eight days in Guatemala capped off by a visit to the best Mayan site I’ve ever seen – Tikal. This morning we will drive through the Guatemalan rain forest for about 60 miles (100 kms.) to cross the border at Cuidad Melchor de Mencos into travel Belize. Please join us as we explore this former British colony which is the only non-Spanish speaking country in Latin America.
Tikal – Guatemala’s Mayan Masterpiece
If ancient cities in the overgrown jungle are your type of travelling dream, then you'll want to read this installment from Dale of The Maritime Explorer about Tikal.
This is my final post on our visit to Guatemala as part of Victor Romagnoli’s Central American odyssey for Canadian travel company Adventures Abroad. Visiting every country on this vast isthmus that stretches almost 3,000 kilometres (1840 miles) from Colombia to Mexico has been an eye opening experience to say the least. I now understand that each country has its own ethos and that they are not just a bunch of banana republics with similar histories of civil oppression, American interventionism and endless wars and revolutions. I also know that, despite being third world countries (Panama and Costa Rica might dispute that designation), that they each have a unique beauty, unmarred by poverty and lack of opportunity. Guatemala has been particularly notable in this regard as I’ve noted in my posts from Chichicastenango, Lake Atitlan and Antigua. Our final stop in Guatemala will be at the fabled Mayan city of Tikal which is deep in the rain forest in the northeast of the country not far from the border of Belize.
Antigua – Guatemala’s Magic Ruined City
Often described as the jewel of Guatemala - but how does Antigua feel in real life? Luckily we have the words, wisdom and photos of our traveller Dale of The Maritime Explorer to explain.
Alison and I are continuing our journey through every country in Central America with guide Victor Romagnoli leading the way on behalf of Canadian tour company Adventures Abroad. We just spent two amazing days in the Lake Atitlan area which I describe in this post and now we are headed the short distance to the famed colonial city of Antigua Guatemala. On the way we dropped into the shrine of San Simon, which was an other worldly experience to say the least. We are now leaving the domain of the various Mayan peoples who dominate most of the Guatemalan Highlands and entering an area where there are more mestizos than purely Indigenous peoples. And although we got our first taste of a true tourist town in Panajachel on Lake Atitlan in quite some time, Victor tells us to expect Antigua to be much more crowded.
San Simon – A detour on a Guatemala tour
Life is full of detours, our Guatemala tours can be as well. Dale of The Maritime Explorer takes on one such detour as he ventures with Victor over to San Simon. Read on to find out how it went.
At the end of my last post on beautiful Lake Atitlan I wrote that I would see you next in the city of Antigua during our Guatemala tour, but we’ve decided to take a detour to see something that wasn’t on the original itinerary. By we, I mean a group led by expert guide Victor Romagnoli for Canadian travel company Adventures Abroad with which we have travelled many times over the past twenty-five years and never been disappointed. This tour is a specialized one-off designed by Victor and will include all seven countries that make up Central America. A few days ago we arrived in Guatemala from Honduras and I have been blown away by this very unique country. It is the only one in Central America where a significant number of the population are Indigenous Mayans. During our stay in the market town of Chichicastenango where the population is overwhelmingly Mayan, I got my first glimpse of the syncretic religious practices that incorporate Catholicism with traditional Mayan gods. Our group saw it again with the cult of Maximón in Santiago Atitlan and when our local guide Tony mentioned that there was another, quite different shrine between Lake Atitlan and Antigua we all said we need to see it. So here we go to visit San Simon in the village of San Andrés Itzapa. Won’t you join us?
Chichicastenango – Guatemalan Market Town
We love first-hand accounts of how our tours run and are so thankful for Dale of The Maritime Explorer for sharing with us his take on one of our Central American tours. This time, it is all about Chichicastenango. Enjoy!
We are close to the home stretch on Victor Romagnoli’s Central American odyssey for Adventures Abroad. Previously the group has visited Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador and lastly the ruins of Copan in Honduras. Today we are crossing back into Guatemala which we briefly traversed on the way to Copan. Our destination is the Guatemalan highland town of Chichicastenango which is world renowned for its Mayan market and syncretic religious practices. It’s a full day’s drive from the border to our destination, but I never mind travelling through a countryside I’ve never visited before – a stranger in a strange land so to speak, to parrot Robert Heinlein who was in turn parroting the Israelites time and exodus from Egypt. It’s literally a story of travel as old as the Bible and I hope you’ll come along for the journey.
Lake Atitlan – Guatemala’s Alpine Wonder
Another installment in the exciting Central American series with Dale of the Maritime Explorer. This time to one of our favourite destinations: Lake Atitlan.
This is my second post from the wondrous country of Guatemala which, despite years of civil unrest, finally seems to be returning to a semblance of normalcy that is seeing the return of tourists to the most popular areas. The first post highlighted the amazing market in the mountain town of Chichicastenango where I also got my first look at the syncretic religion practised by the K’iche’ Maya of the region. It definitely whetted my appetite to see more of this most unusual Central American country. While I am writing this at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic that has effectively ended tourism as we know it, I am hopeful that there will be a worldwide return to normalcy as well, I just don’t have a clue when. Once it does, this post might serve as an inspiration to visit one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen or been – Lake Atitlan. If, God forbid, things never return to normal and Lake Atitlan proves impossible to visit in the future, then let this post stand as a paean to its beauty.
