Guatemala Travel Planner - (Page 11)

Flores in El Peten. The area is also home to Quirigua, a small yet important Maya archaeological site and a UNESCO World Heritage site. This LateClassic city thrived from A.D. 692 to 900 trading with nearby Maya center of Copan across the border in Honduras. The main attraction is its huge carved stelae; the tallest of these in the Maya world at over 35 ft. and weighing 65 tons. Equally fascinating are the massive carved stones in various shapes—serpents, frogs, turtles and mythical beasts—all covered with hieroglyphs. inGuat inGuat P acific C o ast: U nex p ected Treasu res Fishing aficionados will want to visit Puerto San Jose on the Pacific Coast. of Spain’s King Philip and used as protection against pirates. The castle sits on Guatemala’s biggest lake, Lake Izabal, the only freshwater habitat known to shelter the manatee. The lake and its surrounding ecosystem of mangroves and tropical forest is a designated nature preserve, the 80-sq.-mile Biotopo Chochon Machacas Reserve, home to crocodiles and otters, as well as manatees. Visitors can explore many of the quiet waterways of the reserve by kayak or canoe. Across the bay from Livingston is Puerto Barrios, which faces Puerto Santo Tomas de Castilla, where cruise ships dock at the new cruise terminal. Puerto Barrios is the departure point for smallboat excursions to the little-explored beaches and wetlands on the peninsula of Punta de Manabique Wildlife Refuge, which draws serious birders to its large populations of sea and wading birds, including flamingos nesting here mid-to-late spring. Turtles also lay their eggs here, and dolphins play in sheltered waters. Because of Guatemala’s orientation, its “western” coast—that is to say its Pacific Coast—is actually for the most part to the south, so most Guatemalans refer to it as the “southern” coast. Stretching from the Mexican border, the region embraces the provinces of San Marcos, Retalhuleu, Suchitepequez, Escuintia and Santa Rosa, basically flatlands linked together between a string of volcanoes inland and the sea. The highlights along “la Costa” are archaeological and natural, plus offer some of the best sailfish angling in the world. One of the biggest draws on the southern coast for Guatemalans is the small black-beach town of Monterrico; as beaches go, the best Guatemala has to offer and the best for access from Guatemala City. In reality, its appeal lies behind the town in the Biotopo Monterrico-Hawaii nature reserve whose primary purpose is the protection of mangroves and sea turtles. Running for 15 miles along the coast and coastal mangrove swamps, this 6,918-acre reserve is bursting with bird and aquatic life, habitat for the leatherback and Olive Ridley turtles who nest and lay their eggs along the beach from June to February; birdwatching is best January and February. The Pacific Ocean waters off Iztapa are hailed as the sailfish capital of the world,” with world records for a single-day catchand-release firmly supporting these claims. Sailfish, the Holy Grail of deep-sea fishermen, are found in such numbers off the coast of Iztapa that it is possible to actually get a little bored with them. However, there are also large numbers of blue, black and striped marlin, tuna, dorado and roosterfish to keep the game quite interesting. While deep-sea fishing is in play year-round, most international fishing aficionados are from North America and come November to May; the P r es id en t ia l C h a llen g e tournament is held annually in November. The second reason international travelers come to this coastal area is archaeological, and they head for the town of Retalhuleu (locally just called Reu); access is most convenient driving from Quetzaltenango. The town is compact, with a pretty colonial-era church, a bustling central plaza, and a little archaeology and ethnology museum. What’s of prime interest is the ruins of Takalik Abaj (translating to “standing stone”), 18 miles from town. While not as famous as Tikal in the north, it is considerably older and just as important because it forms a link between Mesoamerica’s first civilization, the Olmecs, and the Maya. Native to this archaeological zone are the fascinating stone sculptures called b a r r ig on es (pot-bellies) that are actually human, although some look more like monkeys. 11 5-12 Cities .indd 11 6/21/13 12:16 PM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Guatemala Travel Planner

Editor's Notes
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Tour Talk: DuVine Cycling Adventure
Expedition Cruising: Explore the Unexplored
Eleven Experience's Chalet Pelerin
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Grand Solmar Land's End Resort & Spa
Guatemala Travel Planner
Latin America Specialist Courses
The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs
5 Ways to Adventure in North America
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Trinidad & Tobago
Soaring to New Heights in Saint Lucia

Guatemala Travel Planner