Travelling to Guatemala?

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rfgrinnell

I'd pick Guatemala over El Salvador, simply because it has a much more diverse choice of entertaining places to go. Popular spots are:

Lake AtitlÃ¡n - beautiful crater lake ringed with volcanos
Antigua - UN heritage site, previous colonial capital.
Tikal - some of the best Mayan temple ruins
Beaches - Atlantic and Pacific coasts offer diversity
Volcanos - Climb Pacaya, an active volcano if you are in really good shape and feeling adventurous; just stay to the safe (North) side.
Chichicastenango (Chichi for short) - Beautiful marketplace.
BioParks - Look for the elusive and beautiful Quetzal bird while walking along unspoiled parkland.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Check in with the locals for beautiful "untouristed" places to go. Also, the locals can advise where NOT to go for personal safety, as is true in any country.

Guapa

I don't know how you can get ahold of them, but if you are going to be in the area there is the most amazing hotel on Lake Izabel called Denny's Beach. It is only accessable by boat and is accross the lake from Mariscos. It is secluded, gorgeous, quiet, refreshing, a real tropical paradise and its very affordable. I was there about a year ago and I would KILL to go back. Absolutely beautiful. Also, Tikal is very much worth going to, but plan to spend a couple of days there. Guatemala is a gorgeous country. You are lucky to be able to go there. Also, check out www.ecoquetzal.org if you want the experience of a lifetime. It is intense, a little scary and guarenteed to be totally out of your comfort zone but it is WELL worth it. I consider the day I stayed in Chicacnab with a Mayan family to be one of the most amazing days of my life. Its hard to describe it, but I would highly recommend this program.

Barometer Soup

There is a nice resort called Cayos Del Diablo (Devil's Keys) in the ocean near Puerto Bario; very nice.

Tikal has pyramids and when I was there in 2000 you could actually climb many of them.

Lake Atitlan was very pretty - although we hired a local to give us a tour of the lake and it was kind of unsafe. No lifejackets, overloaded boat, etc.

Antigua has "processions" for Easter - parades through the streets over colorful, artistic designs of sawdust in the streets.

Now the scary stuff. When I was there (2000) we ran across a group of indians blocking the freeway with a burned out car and guns. They were protesting an increase in bus fare and the week after I got back to the US I read that a similar protest turned violent and 4 people were killed.

Within a month of coming back I read that a japanese tourist was burned alive in one of the remote areas because he was taking pictures and a rumor spread that he was there to kidnap children. This dude was with a whole tour-bus of Japanese, so its not like being with a group helped him or anything!

I don't know what the situation is today, but in 2000 one of our tour guides said that in the remote areas the indians were well armed, accustomed to violence after a long civil war, suspicious of foreigners, and completely ignorant. Not a good combination.

I took a plane from Guatemala City to Tikal and it must have been 50 years old and made in Czecoslovakia. It was one of those flights where I kept saying, "Its OK, the pilot and flight attendant do this every day and they don't want to die..."

In summary, most likely you won't have any problems, but you might want to stick to the touristy areas mentioned above and stay with a group.

it's beautiful

Go to Antigua for sure!
I went there.
It is SOOOOO gorgeous!!
I'm not sure what part but there is a part where this building is covered in moss. and it is a dreaaamm!
it is beautiful. So go to Antigua!

tango

go to Jamaica its a fun place.

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