We enjoyed visiting Chichen Itza many years ago. In October of 2018, we decided to sign up for the Route of the Maya through Overseas Adventure Travel to visit Mayan sites in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize. OAT is all about small groups of travelers, lots of activities, interactions with families, and in-depth discussions of local politics and traditions.
Route of the Maya
We flew into San Salvador, the largest city in El Salvador. The monument in the following picture celebrates the end of their civil war (1980 – 1992). Mother Nature demands that peace must be maintained in the future. In front of her are two soldiers, on government and one rebel, who are releasing a flock of doves.
Don’t mess with Mother Earth
There are many volcanoes in El Salvador and southern Guatemala. One of our first activities was to climb a volcano just outside the city of San Salvador. We started in sunshine but finished in a drizzle, which limited our view of the caldera.
The first Mayan site that we visited was also close to San Salvador. Joya de Cerén was first discovered in 1976 when a bulldozer blade scraped a rock foundation. In about 600 AD there was a violent volcanic eruption that buried an entire Mayan city under fifteen feet of ash. As a result, the entire city was preserved in pristine condition. Though not as spectacular as other Mayan sites, much has been learned about everyday life through the huge collection of pottery and tools.
Joya de Ceren
From El Salvador, we traveled by bus to Copán, just inside Honduras near the border with Guatemala. During the Mayan Classic period between 250 and 900 AD, Copán in the south and Tikal in the north were important political centers.
Ball court
Our tour leader, Luis Felipe, grew up near Tikal, developed an early interest in archeology, and later learned to read Mayan hieroglyphics at the University of Texas. From such texts, we now know exact dates and names of rulers.
Luis Felipe
Guatemala City was built upon layers and layers of ancient Mayan cities. These ruins are located in a city park.
This may look like a garbage dump, but it is actually a gigantic recycling center. Families, and in the past even small children, spent up to 12 hours a day sorting through trash. They took it home, did more sorting and cleaning, then sold it to recycling companies, who in turn shipped the cleaned and sorted trash to China.
Guatemala City Recycling Center (AKA Garbage Dump)
We visited Safe Passage, a school adjacent to the city dump. The school was established by Hanley Denning, who went to Guatemala in 1997 to study Spanish. After viewing the conditions at the dump, she sold all of her belongings in the United States and created an alternative for the underprivileged by providing food and a safe school environment.
Safe Passage school in Guatemala City
We next stayed at a beautiful resort on the shore of Lake Atitlán. Several volcanoes would have been visible on a clear day, including the active Volcán de Fuego (Volcano of Fire).
The next day we took a boat ride to the village of San Juan La Laguna. The large Mayan cities were abandoned around 900 AD, but the Mayan people did not disappear. This Mayan village has changed very little during the past 1000 years. We had lunch with this Mayan family.
We had lunch with this family
Tour leader Luis interviewing a midwife
This teenage artist has a show scheduled in Prague
We stayed in Antigua three nights. It would be easy to spend much more time there. We stayed at the Camino Real, a very beautiful hotel.
Camino Real Antigua
The city is famous for its holy week processions. The cobblestone streets are covered with intricate designs made from flower petals. Heavy floats that depict religious themes are carried on the shoulders of teams of men or women, as they walk on the carpet of flowers.
During other weeks of the year, Antigua is a destination site for weddings.
Antigua Arch
Buy an old school bus in the United States, load it with marketable goods, bribe border guards with marketable goods, refurbish with a huge engine and colorful design, and find a suitable route. Our 20-person van was passed many times on curvy, steep mountain roads like we were standing still.
Chicken bus
We made many stops to learn about local markets. We visited a Macadamia farm, a chocolate company, several museums, and an artist who makes toy chicken busses.
Chicks for sale at a local market
Street Market
Roasting Coca beans to make chocolate
Making a toy chicken bus
Incense burner in museum
The highlight of our trip was Tikal, a magnificent complex with many monuments towering over the jungle. With a peak population of perhaps 100 000, the city would have compared favorably with the largest cities of Europe at the time.
We didn’t climb this one
We did climb the one on the right
The ten OAT travelers
We visited another Mayan site, Cahal Pech in Belize. This site dates to 1200 BC, so much earlier than the Mayan classic period.
Cahal Pech
On our last day in Belize, we had the opportunity to explore the Lamanai ruins. We decided to go snorkeling instead. Our tour leader was very helpful in suggesting where to go and how to get there. We rode a public water taxi to Caye Caulker, were met at the dock, fitted with gear, the rode a small boat to the reef. Lots of fish, rays, and choral, then another dive with reef sharks. Too bad we didn’t have a waterproof camera. This is the best we could manage.
Reef sharks
A very relaxing and enjoyable end for our adventure in Central America, although our skin suffered from way too much sunshine. Time for a beer before taking a water taxi back to Belize City.
A final dinner in Belize City, then an uneventful trip back home the next day. Uneventful is good when applied to international air travel.
