Sunday, April 3, 2011

Guatemala - the best of the country in 1 week

For our family trip to Guatemala, we only had 1 week (7 nights/ 8 days) to tour the country (ok, so I've been living here for 6 months, but my family was on Spring Break and only had a week here.)


We opted for an itinerary that emphasized quantity over quality, spending only a day or so in each location in order to see as much of the astounding variety that Guatemala has to offer. Our trip took us from the jungle ruins of Tikal in hot, humid Peten to the volcano-rimmed lake Atitlan nestled deep in the highlands. Overall, this is what we managed to see in only seven days:


-The Guatemalan National Cemetery/ City Garbage Dump

-The Volcano Pacaya (hike)

-Ruins at Tikal

-Lanquin/ Semuc Champey, including the pools, the caves (grutas) de Lanquin and the caves of Semuc Champey

-The city of Antigua

-Lake Atitlan



Our itinerary went like this:


Day 1: Fly into Guatemala City, hike Volcano Pacaya

Day 2: Fly to Tikal early in the morning, Spend the night in Tikal

Day 3: Travel to Lanquin/ Semuc Champey, see the grutas de Lanquin

Day 4: Semuc Champey limestone pools/ Caves of Semuc Champey tour

Day 5: Travel to Antigua, dinner and shopping in Antigua

Day 6: Travel to lake Atitlan, shopping/ relaxing at Panajachel and La Casa del Mundo

Day 7: Morning at the lake, travel back to Guatemala City in the afternoon, dinner/ night in Guatemala City

Day 8: Fly home


Here are 7 select pictures, one for each day of our trip:


Day 1 - Sunset at the top of Pacaya

Day 2- Climbing the ruins at Tikal

Day 3 - Creepy bats leaving the Grutas de Lanquin

Day 4 - Beautiful waterfalls at Semuc Champey

Day 5 - Volcan Agua frames the city of Antigua

Day 6 - Colorful Fabrics in Panajachel on Lake Atitlan

Day 7 - Paradise at La Casa del Mundo hotel (Lake Atitlan)


Following this post, I'm going to make approximately 1 blog post per day of our vacation that includes photos/ travel information for each leg of our trip, descriptions/ reviews of hotels and transportation, and information about the sites (age-appropriateness, history, facts, etc etc.)

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