Guatemalan Highlights!

 

 

Founded in 1543, La Antigua was once the third most important Spanish city in the Americas. The city, built on a grid plan inspired by the Italian Renaissance, amassed a number of superb monuments in less than three centuries. Its rich colonial heritage (the town is packed with churches, monasteries, and convents), famous Easter celebrations, three surrounding volcanoes, and abundance of flowers, make it a Mecca for tourists.

 

The Peten is an area of exuberant tropical jungles teeming with wildlife, deep forests and dry plains dotted with lakes and Maya cities.

There are three reasons why travelers would want to penetrate the forests of El Peten: first to visit Tikal, the greatest Maya religious center yet discovered; second to enjoy the great variety of birdlife; and third to see the Guatemala of small farming villages and jungle hamlets, without paved roads or colonial architecture.

The Lake Atitlan is located in the mountainous Department of Solola, in the Guatemalan highlands about 1563 m. It is a natural wonder of blue, set against a backdrop of three 10,000-foot volcanoes - Toliman, Atitlan and San Pedro - towering on the southern sky. Their cones are covered with pine and wide leaf forest, are a refuge for endangered plants and animals. Lining the shores of Lake Atitlan are a dozen Indian villages where life and customs have changed little over the centuries.