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Chicacnab
(Alta Verapaz) |
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| In short |
Q´eqchi guides take you to the beautiful cloud forest at 2200 m amsl. Enjoy traditional Maya hospitality with finger-licking meals and cozy nights. Quetzal prime time is March through June.
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| Get there: |
From Carchá(17 kms., 1:30 hrs.)
Mateo Chub Microbus (US$ 1, Terminal de Caquipeq, Carchá, 5767-2953):
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| What to pack? |
Torch, raincoat, warm clothes, boots, sun block, binoculars.
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| Activities offered: |
GuatemalaStory (Aldea Chicoc, Cobán, 7952-3762, 4013-7912, www.guatemalastory.com):
Hike from Cobán to Chicacnab. Don't miss this unique chance to see the Quetzal and to stay with a K'ekchi host family. Prices include host family, guide and meals.
| prices per person | 1 pers. | 2 or more pers. | | | | | 1 night | US$ 45 | US$ 38 | | | | | 2 nights | US$ 60 | US$ 50 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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| Description: |
Trip Proposal: (you can book in Cobán with Guatemala Story):
1.day: 7:00 start at your hotel in Cobán. Your guide takes you to the Caquipeq bus terminal of the next town, Carchá. At 8:00 start with a microbus to San Lucas, drive through egg-carton-landscapes (1 ˝ hrs ride), from there walk through corn fields and cloud forest to Chicacnab (2 hrs, from 1800 to 2300 m altitude). After your first Maya lunch your guide takes you into the cloud forest. The host families’ fathers are trained guides who know the song of the Quetzal. If they hear a flock they take visitors to leave trails, sneak through the mossy forest and catch a glimpse on what many people call the most beautiful bird on this planet. During May and the first half of June the guides can take you to old rotten trees where the Quetzal nests in. This is a good opportunity to observe the bird arriving with food for the young and even to take photos.
At the end of the day you can relax with your numerous host family, retreat into your cozy room, or partake in an activity offered by your host family. Candle light dinner at 7:00. Host families know little Spanish, but they are very cordial. On request they invite their guests for dinner to the fireplace – warming moist clothes and watching tortillas being prepared for food.
2.day: Breakfast at the families’ fireplace. Then set out on a day’s tour through the forest, including a sacred cave, an enchanted lagoon and a vantage point. Eat “Mayaburgers” from your lunch packet and look for wild animal’s footprints (jaguar, wild boar and tepezcuintle are common to see). Gather juicy Rok Tix leaves and help your host mom to prepare delicious forest spinach with pumpkin seed seasoning.
3.day: Give an hour of classes in English in the local school (or partake in other local activities). After lunch, descend to San Lucas and return to Cobán.
Visitors, who want to experience a trip into the past of humanity can help searching firewood, make fire and tortillas. You can weave, learn to work with machete and hoe in the field or help to carry water on the head from the spring to your host’s home. During a moonless night you can participate in "Tepezquintle" hunting.
With your trip, you motivate local people to protect their forest.
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Tikal
(Petén) |
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Tikal is an abandoned Maya city with towering temples surrounded by miles of pristine rain forest. Maya glyphs are currently being deciphered in real time and visitors become witnesses of the discovery of a culture which was believed to be lost in the forest forever.
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Time and Money needed:
1 day and
US$ 100 |
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Semuc Champey
(Alta Verapaz) |
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Paradise on earth. Sorry, you can′t leave Guatemala without having been here. A small spring of turquoise water forms huge travertine pools over a thundering white water stream.
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Time and Money needed:
1 day and
US$ 35 |
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Atitlán
(Atitlán) |
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When the hippies migrated south, they discovered their paradise: Lake Atitlan. A huge volcanic cauldron, filled with water, because three volcanoes clog the drainage to the Pacific ocean. Around the lake there are 12 idyllic Indian villages, named after the 12 apostles.
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Time and Money needed:
2 days and
US$ 80 |
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El Mirador
(Petén) |
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El Mirador is an abandoned Maya city, overgrown by the jungle. Since 1990 it is being excavated by a genius American potato farmer. In Google Earth you can see enormous causeways which interconnected major Maya cities 2000 years ago. You get there with pack horses - not on the causeways but hiking through the swamp. Fascinating relieves and temples have been unearthed!
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Time and Money needed:
5 days and
US$ 750 |
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Antigua Guatemala
(Sacatepequez) |
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In 1990 it was still a heap of rubble left over from a series of earthquakes which roll through from three volcanoes. Now Antigua is the artificial colonial showcase of Guatemala, serving as tourist base camp for the exploration of the interior. The Spanish Schools of Antigua are a bargain. Come as a blank piece of paper and go speaking Spanish and knowing Latin ways.
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Time and Money needed:
1 day and
US$ 35 |
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Chicacnab
(Alta Verapaz) |
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Q´eqchi guides take you to the beautiful cloud forest at 2200 m amsl. Enjoy traditional Maya hospitality with finger-licking meals and cozy nights. Quetzal prime time is March through June.
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Time and Money needed:
2 days and
US$ 50 |
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Chichicastenango
(Atitlán) |
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Chichicastenango is located on a mesa surrounded by a maze of ravines. Big Maya families travel to this ancient market town, selling, among others, fresh gorge fish and apples. On the steps of the old church, they burn copal and pray for the next month. Very few tourists sit down at the market´s meat and veggie pots to enjoy the crowd.
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Time and Money needed:
3 hours and
US$ 25 |
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Pacaya
(Guatemala) |
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Every time I climb the Pacaya volcano, I find the peak has changed completely. At times, lava ejects from the crater, falling down like cowpats. Lava runs down the flanks, slowly filling a large former caldera to the north with a maze of frozen guts.
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Time and Money needed:
6 hours and
US$ 25 |
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Livingston
(Izabál) |
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Livingston is a fun town on the beautiful Caribbean sea at the mouth of Rio Dulce. The afro-American population lives on remittances of their relatives from the US. Let your hair be styled by local girls and take them out to dance Punta at night. Practical work will be performed by the Maya population.
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Time and Money needed:
2 days and
US$ 90 |
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Rio Dulce
(Izabál) |
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Rio Dulce connects Lake Izabal with the bay of Livingston. It winds through a steep jungle-covered karst landscape. Egrets, kingfishers, pelicans, and canoes are pursuing fish in the shadow of the shoreline trees. Taking a plunge you can taste saltwater in lower strata. Water bikes, yachts and barges cruise the center of the stream. There are many Marina′s where you can get contact to yacht owners.
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Time and Money needed:
3 hours and
US$ |
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Contact webmaster of www.guatemalastory.com
at:
Skype contact: "guatemala365" or "study.spanish"
+502 7952-3762
Office Hours 8:30 to 17:30 (GMT - 06:00) América Central
info@guatemalastory.com
© 2002 - 2010 by David Unger
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