Guatemala - Volcanoes and Pyramids

Group meeting in the morning at the airport of the capital of Guatemala. The guide and part of the group will fly together from Kyiv. You can join them or fly on other flights that are convenient for you. We load into a minibus and drive (1.5 hours) to the old capital of the country - the charming colonial town of Antigua. We check into a hotel, change money and go for a walk around the city surrounded by volcanoes.

Today, those who wish can climb the Acatenango volcano (3976 m). It is not difficult (you just need to follow the trail), but it is very long and tiring (11 hours of walking, 1500 m of elevation gain). If you don’t want to go to the volcano, you can skip this excursion and spend an extra day walking around Antigua. After breakfast, the main part of the group goes to the town of La Soledad (2500 m), where the trail to the volcano begins. The climb will take about 6 hours, then we will walk along the top of Acatenango for a couple of hours, watching the eruption of the neighboring Fuego volcano. It is only 2 km away in a straight line and lava explosions at its top will be clearly visible and audible. We wait for sunset (at dusk the lava glows even brighter) and begin the descent to the car (3-4 hours with flashlights). We will return to Antigua around midnight.

We leave Antigua and drive (3 hours) to Lake Atatilan. This is a huge body of water (20 km long) surrounded by mountains and jungle. We will stop in the resort village of Panajachel, check into a hotel and go for a walk along the lake for the whole day. We'll hire a boat and sail to the opposite shore to the "villages" of San Pedro La Laguna and San Juan La Laguna, famous for their murals and, of course, landscapes. Let's visit the local idol Mashimon and try to make chocolate from grains and yarn from cotton. In the evening we return to Panajachel.

In the morning we will stop by the ruins of Ishimche - the first Mayan settlement on our way. Then we walk around the center of Guatemala City (the current capital of the country) for a couple of hours. Well, we have to spend quite a lot of time in the car today. We are going to the North, into the jungle. If we quickly get through the capital's traffic jams and have time, we will make a stop at the Biotopo del Quetzal nature reserve. There, if you're lucky, you'll see a quetzal - a bird that is the national symbol of Guatemala. Well, you can consider it just a walk through the jungle with waterfalls. Overnight in the town of Koban.

In the morning we drive 2 hours from Coban to the Semuk Champey waterfalls. This series of cascades is similar to Pammukale and Plitvice Lakes. Warm, emerald water, stone baths and a river going underground. After we swim in the waterfalls, we will also make a foray into the underworld - with candles in our hands (it’s better to take a flashlight) we will walk about a kilometer through the half-flooded K’anba cave. Here you can also bungee jump into the river and raft on “bagels”. Most of the day will be spent in these water activities. We return to Koban for the night.

We drive for about 1 hour and arrive at the Candelaria caves. This time we will do without water procedures, just walk through the dungeons, accompanied by a local guide (aka shaman). Then we jump into the car again and drive to Saische. If we have time, we will stop by the ruins of Ceibal on our way. In Saische we transfer to a speed boat and float along the river for an hour with herons and crocodiles. We land at the foot of a cliff overgrown with jungle. We climb to the ruins of the Mayan city of Aguateca through an eerie forest and a narrow gorge. To create the atmosphere, howler monkeys and the ghost of a Mayan queen will scurry overhead. At sunset we sail back, get into the car and drive another couple of hours to Flores.

We get up before dawn to be at the Tikal ticket office by 6 am. These are the same Mayan pyramids that were featured in Star Wars. The territory of the complex is huge, the jungle is mysterious, so we will wander for a long time (4-6 hours). It’s a pity you can only climb 2 pyramids. In the afternoon we go to the neighboring Mayan city of Yashkha. It is much smaller, but there are not many people here and there is a beautiful lake nearby. We see off the sunset to the top of the pyramid. We return to Flores for the night.

In the morning, a 4-hour drive from Flores to the Sweet River (Rio Dulce). There we look at the small fort of the Castillo de San Felipe and leave the car at the hotel. We rent a boat and sail along the Sweet River towards the town of Livingston. Here on the shores of the Caribbean Sea live the descendants of slaves who survived a shipwreck. Interesting people, unusual place. We walk, stare, and in the evening we return to the hotel in Rio Dulce. It must be said that a hotel in these parts is most often an intricate complex of bungalows standing on stilts directly above the water. There are bridges between them and in the evening you can walk along them in search of crocodiles.

In the morning, drive 2 hours along the border with Honduras. We are going to Quirigua - another Mayan ruin (distinguished from others by the famous steles with carvings). Another option is to go to the Pacaya Volcano instead of the ruins. It is much lower and easier than Acatenango (only 1.5 hours from the car). There is also an eruption, you can see lava and fry marshmallows on it. After that we go to Guatemala City. The program is completed, you can fly home or continue the journey - the next morning the guide with part of the group flies further to Mexico, to see Aztec pyramids, Mexico City and Yucatan.