 Events
Semana Santa (Holy Week - the week before Easter) is Guatemala's
biggest festival, featuring processions and celebrations throughout the
country - Antigua's fiesta is said to be the best. Rabin Ajau, held
in Cobán, is a traditional Kekchi Indian festival which runs from
July 21-26. Independence Day is celebrated nationwide in September.
November features All Saints' Day, and Chichicastenango commemorates
Santo Tomás from December 13-21.
 back to top
 When to
Go
The dry season, from late-December to mid-April, is the most pleasant time,
climatically, to be in Guatemala. Along with summer holidays, however,
this is also the busiest time. Although the rain may restrict some activities
during the wet season, it's still worthwhile planning your trip for this
time of year, particularly as you'll be more likely to pick up accommodation
bargains. If you're planning to be in the area around Easter, try to be
in Guatemala for Semana Santa (Holy Week), the highlight of the country's
festival calendar.
back to top
 Attractions
Guatemala City
Guatemala City is the largest urban agglomeration in Central America. It
sprawls across a range of flattened, ravine-scored mountains, covering
an entire mountain plain and tumbling into the surrounding valleys. Like
all Guatemalan towns, a strict grid system has been imposed on the city's
layout: avenidas run north-south; calles run east-west. The
huge city has been divided into 15 zones, each with its own version of
this grid system.
Few colonial buildings grace the city, and it is visited more for its
role as the nation's administrative and transport hub than as a must-see
tourist site. In Zona 1, Plaza Mayor is a classic example of the
standard Spanish colonial town-planning scheme, and is the city's ceremonial
center and retail district. It's best visited on a Sunday, when it's thronged
with thousands of locals who come to stroll, eat ice cream, smooch on a
bench, listen to boom-box salsa music and ignore the hundreds of trinket
vendors. The square is lined by the imposing but earthquake-battered Palacio
Nacional and the twin-towered Catedral Metropolitana. An earthquake
destroyed the original market building adjacent to the square in 1976,
and today the hugely chaotic Mercado Central specializes in tourist-oriented
crafts.
 Street
scene, Guatemala City (18K)
Palacio
Nacional, Guatemala City (17K)
North of Zona 1 is the shady and restful Parque Minerva, featuring
a quirky relief map of the country. Several important museums can be found
in Zona 10, including the Museo Popol Vuh, which is a superb private
collection of Mayan and Spanish colonial art, and the Museo Ixchel,
which displays the rich traditional arts and costumes of Guatemala's highland
towns. Zona 13 houses the Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnology,
with its prized collection of Mayan art, and the Museo Nacional de Arte
Moderno, which has a superb collection of 20th-century Guatemalan art.
Several km west of the center lie the extensive ruins of Kaminal juyú,
an important Early Classic Maya site. Unfortunately, the ruins have been
largely covered by urban expansion.
Most of the city's cheap and middle-range hotels are in Zona 1, while
posh hotels are clustered in Zona 10. Zona Viva is the place to go to eat
expensively and dance the night away.
Antigua Guatemala
Antigua was the nation's capital from 1543 until the devastating earthquake
of 1773, when the capital was moved 45km (28mi) to the east to the present
site of Guatemala City. Antigua is among the oldest and most beautiful
cities in the Americas. Set amid three magnificent volcanoes - Agua, Fuego
and Acatenango - its superb yet sturdy colonial buildings have weathered
16 earthquakes and numerous floods and fires. Antigua is especially beautiful
during Semana Santa, when the streets are carpeted with elaborate decorations
of colored sawdust and flower petals. The city's churches have lost much
of their Baroque splendor, the post-earthquake repair and restoration leaving
them denuded of embellishment and elegance. However, many remain impressive,
in particular La Merced, the Iglesia de San Francisco and
the Convento de las Capucinas (now a museum). Casa K'ojom
is a fascinating museum of Mayan music and ceremonies and related artifacts,
and a visit to the local cemetery also provides an insight into
ancient Mayan beliefs. On Sundays, visitors and locals alike gather to
assess the goods for sale at the bustling market held in Parque Central.
Market
in the plaza, Antigua Guatemala (16K)
Chichicastenango
At 2030m (6658ft), the magical and misty highlands town of Chichi is surrounded
by valleys and overshadowed by looming mountains. Though isolated, it's
always been an important market town. The Sunday market is the one to catch,
as the cofradías (religious brotherhoods) often hold processions
on that day. The locals have combined traditional Mayan religious rites
with Catholicism; the best places to witness these old rites are around
the church of Santo Tomás and the shrine of Pascual Abaj,
which honors the Mayan earth god. Incense, food and drink are offered to
ancestors and to ensure the continued fertility of the earth. The town's
Museo Regional contains ancient clay pots and figurines, flint and
obsidian spearheads, maize grindstones and an impressive jade collection.
Quetzaltenango
The commercial center of south-western Guatemala, Quetzaltenango is an
excellent base for excursions to the many nearby villages, noted for their
handicrafts and hot springs. The city prospered during the 19th century
as a coffee-brokering and storage center, until an earthquake and volcanic
eruption ended the boom. The town's major sights are the central square
and the buildings which surround it, a couple of basic though useful markets
and the ubiquitous Parque Minerva - many such monuments honoring
the classical goddess of education in the hope of inspiring Guatemalan
youth to new heights of learning were built during the presidency of Manuel
Estrada Cabrera (1898-1920). The beautiful volcanic countryside surrounding
Quetzaltenango features natural steam baths at Los Vahos and Fuentes
Georginas. Also in the vicinity is the picture-postcard village of
Zunil, the market town of San Francisco El Alto and the handicrafts
village of Momostenango.
Flores
The capital of the jungle-covered north-eastern department of El Petén,
Flores is built on an island on Lago de Petén Itzá,
and is connected by a 500m (1640ft) causeway to the service town of Santa
Elena on the lake shore. Flores is a dignified capital, with its church
and government building arranged around the main plaza, which crests the
hill in the center of the island. The city was founded by the Itzaes, and
at the time of conquest was perhaps the last still-functioning Mayan ceremonial
center in the country. The pyramids, temples and idols were crushed under
the foundations of the Spanish city, and the dispersal of the Mayan citizens
into the jungle gave rise to the myth of a lost' Mayan city. Modern sights
include boat rides stopping at various lagoon settlements and a visit to
the limestone caves of Actun-Can.
Panajachel
Don't be deterred by this town's nickname of Gringotenango ('place of the
foreigners'), nor by the town's lack of colonial architecture or colorful
market. The attraction here is the absolutely gorgeous caldera lake (a
water-filled collapsed volcanic cone). Since the hippy days of the 1960s,
laid-back travelers have flocked here to swim in Lago de Atitlán
and generally chill out. Volcanoes surround the lake, and the town is the
starting point for excursions to the smaller, more traditional indigenous
villages on the western and southern shores of the lake. The most popular
day-trip destination is Santiago Atitlán, with its colorfully
dressed locals and a unique, cigar-smoking resident deity called Maximón.
The market town of Sololá has been attracting traders for
centuries, and the town's main plaza continues to throb with activity on
market days. Village life can be sampled at Santa Catarina Palopó,
while lakeside San Pedro La Laguna is perhaps more attractive because
it is less visited.
'Mayan
relics' shop, Panajachel (18K)
Sololá
market (21K)
back
to top
 Off
the Beaten Track
Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa
Situated on Guatemala's Pacific slope, this is an important site for anyone
interested in Mayan art and culture. The sugar cane fields are dotted with
great stone heads and scenes carved in relief. The artifacts are the remnants
of the Pipils, a non-Mayan Indian culture linked to that of the Nahuatl-speaking
peoples of central Mexico. There are three main archaeological sites in
the surrounding sugar cane fincas (ranches or plantations). Bilbao
consists of several ceremonial sites containing stone sculptures, many
of which are hidden among the cane. Hilltop Finca El Baúl
has the additional fascination of being a still-active place of worship,
while Finca Las Ilusiones contains hundreds of objects which have
been collected from the fields over the centuries.
Bas-relief,
Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa (21K)
Tikal
The monumental Mayan ceremonial center at Tikal lies northwest of Flores
in the department of El Petén. Its jungle location makes it a unique
site. Towering pyramids rise above the jungle's green canopy, while down
below howler monkeys swing nosily through the branches of ancient trees,
colorful parrots squawk and dart and tree frogs fill in the auditory gaps.
The steep-sided temples rise to heights of over 44m (144ft), and although
the undergrowth around them has been cleared, the dense rainforest canopy
is not far away, making passage within the enigmatic site an unforgettable
experience. The many ruins include plazas, an acropolis, pyramids, temples
and a museum.
Great
Plaza & North Acropolis, Tikal (16K)
Lívingston
The laid-back jungle hideaway of Lívingston is accessible from the
Caribbean port of Puerto Barrios. Black Afro-Guatemalans called
the Garífuna live on the island, descendants of Africans brought
to the New World as slaves who escaped or were shipwrecked. Intermarriage
with shipwrecked sailors of other races and the indigenous Maya has created
a distinctive culture and language incorporating African, Mayan and European
elements. Tiny Lívingston is an interesting anomaly, the way of
life definitely more Belizean than Guatemalan, with coconut groves, gaily
painted wooden buildings and a fishing economy. The town is the starting
point for boat rides on the Río Queqüeche and Río
Cocolí, which take you through tropical jungle scenery for a
swim or a picnic, or out to the Cayos Sapodillas for snorkeling
and fishing.
back to top
 Activities
Apart from the many activities with a Mayan connection, Guatemala offers
great hiking and climbing in the highlands and the volcanoes
surrounding Lago de Atitlán and Antigua. Contact your embassy or
consulate in Guatemala City for information on the current safety of particular
areas before setting out. Keep an eye out for the national bird, the quetzal,
when bird watching around Tikal National Park or Lago de Atitlán.
Spanish language courses are a popular feature of Antigua and Quetzaltenango.
back to top
 Getting There
& Away
Major international airlines fly into Guatemala City and Flores. Most flights
to the country pass through the North American hub cities of Dallas/Fort
Worth, Los Angeles or Mexico City. There is a US$10 departure tax.
To enter the north of the country by land means entering from Mexico
by lengthy bus or train journeys. Buses from El Salvador travel directly
to Guatemala City, while buses from Honduras stop at the border. Travel
from Belize is along a very rough dirt road through mountainous jungle.
You can also enter the country by sea, traveling from Punta Gorda in Belize
to Puerto Barrios or Lívingston. There is also a boat from Lívingston
to Omoa in Honduras.
back to top
 Getting Around
Unfortunately, internal flights only operate between Guatemala City and
Flores. Buses link most places cheaply and relatively painlessly, although
roads in El Petén often turn into muddy mires or disappear altogether
during the rainy season, and there are minibuses operating between some
of the more popular tourist sites. Some of Guatemala's national parks are
only accessible by boat.
back to top
|
Events
