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Home > Destinations > Central
America > Guatemala > Trip
Reviews >
Belize, Guatemala and Costa Rica
After completing this three-week trip through Central America, visiting Guatemala, Belize, and Costa Rica, and having already visited Honduras and Panama as well as five previous trips to Costa Rica, I have a comprehensive and in-depth appreciation of Central America. What delights me most are the vast differences between neighboring countries. Each retains its own character, and every one has something different to offer visitors.
Life Among the Maya
In Guatemala I was under the supreme tutelage of our Wildland guide, Alfonso Muralles. Affectionately known as Poncho everywhere in Guatemala, he not only shares his vast knowledge of Guatemala with our guests, but he makes our experiences even more interesting and fun because he knows local people in all walks of life in every town. On every Wildland Adventure he leads, whether for 2 or 12 persons, he particularly enjoys helping each traveler create the experience and discover the insights they want out of their vacation. Last April a group of friends traveled with Alfonso and when he discovered that one of our clients owned a funeral home, Alfonso set up visits to two funeral homes, one in the city and one in a rural area, and then compared those services with funeral rituals among the Maya in rural Guatemala. Alfonso was the personal secretary for the native Maya Nobel Peace laureate, Rigoberta Mench, and as such is very knowledgeable about and respectful of local Maya throughout Guatemala.
Whether or not you include the ancient city of Tikal on your own itinerary as I did, on any trip to Guatemala youll discover numerous ancient Maya sites. Some of the more offbeat Mayan ruins that Alfonso shares are extremely fascinating. At Abaj Takalik en route to Quetzaltenango on our Guatemala Highlands Odyssey, archaeologists found Pre-classic stones and temples, including enormous carved stelae and an ancient altar, still in use by living Maya today. It was only a stop along the drive, but Alfonso turned it into an archaeology lesson and spiritual introduction to Mayan temple design and mystical symbolism in stelae carving.
What is even more memorable than ancient ruins is the living Maya culture. Throughout the highlands we visited local markets in small villages where women are adorned in colorful hand-woven textiles. Most impressive is their gentle spirit and deep connection to the Earth and spirits of nature. While most visitors to Guatemala visit the famous market at Chichicastenango (included on our highland itineraries), we take the time to visit Totonicapan, a traditional market for local people where textiles and other handicrafts are not produced for tourists but are bartered among native Maya.
Alfonso has a close working relationship with Carlos Medina, a native born in Totonicapan who recently received his PhD in tourism. Carlos has organized selected local artisans who have decided to bring visitors into their workshops. We started the day with a traditional home-cooked breakfast prepared by Carloss wife, Arlette. We sat at the table with the whole family, including Carloss three daughters, and feasted on handmade tamales from ground corn and chicken in tomato sauce wrapped in a banana leaf.
I spoke with Carloss kids, all of who are learning English in school and speak quite well. The family was anxious to share their English skills, so the conversation was lively. We walked across the street to the home of a local weaver. Miguel has been weaving for 23 years having started with his father at the age of 10. Now hes training his nephew. The Guatemalan fabrics are so stunning with the natural blue and red dyes on traditional cotton mixed with bright acrylic colors. Miguels wife, whose name is the same as mine, but in Spanish its Raquel, sat me down at the spinning machine, a bicycle wheel that winds thread onto a bamboo spool.
It was fun visiting the local market with a resident; people chatting with neighbors, vendors barking out to prospective customers, lively bartering back and forth, all of the interesting handmade crafts or home grown items for sale that youll find nowhere else. We browsed the vegetables and the household goods and then visited the fabric section of the market, where I wanted to take some close up pictures of the designs. I was the only tourist in the entire market and an attraction to a few small boys, curious about why I kept changing lenses on my camera. I pointed the camera towards them to see what kind of a reaction I would get and received a huge grin and a Please, take my picture! Come on! I was happy to oblige.
This surprised me about Guatemala. In most places we visited, perhaps because there are fewer tourists and fewer cameras, I found that native Maya were more than willing to pose if asked, and were actually honored and a little embarrassed that I wanted their picture. In the same market at Totonicapan, I asked a woman surrounded by vibrant blue fabric if I could take her picture. She immediately sat up straight and posed for me.
Creole Flashback
I traveled through Belize the next week with our Belizean naturalist guide, Sam Tillett. We met in Tikal, just across the border from Belize and only 4 hours from Belize City. Tikal is included in most of our Belize itineraries because its closer and less expensive to get there from Belize City than Guatemala City. We traveled to the village and nature reserve of Crooked Tree where I stayed at Sams guesthouse. Walking into Sam Tilletts Guesthouse was a Peace Corps flashback because it was so similar to a family compound in The Gambia, West Africa, where I served for 3 years. Sams house is next to the guesthouse and just a stones throw across the yard lives his two brothers, his sister, and his parents. This time of year theyre busy harvesting the cashew crop, separating the fruit from the cashews, the fruit for wine and the cashews to process and sell. Our Wildland travelers stay at Sams place for one night on most of our itineraries because its a true cultural experience where you get a real feel of Creole life; there are lots of kids, friendly canines, tasty home cooking, and local people sitting under porches to escape the midday sun.
In Belize we took time to see a few new hotels, including Francis Ford Coppolas Turtle Inn in on the beach in Placencia on the south coast. Its an incredible place, in fact, surreal for down-to-earth Belize. The rooms are enormous thatched roof cabanas, each with a hardwood porch looking out to the ocean. The hotel has a Polynesian theme; all of the doors were imported from Bali. Rooms are decorated with huge sofas and king sized beds, decked out in soothing soft browns and deep greens. Outside each room is a small private garden with an outdoor shower where you can wash off the salt and sand before entering the cool sanctuary of your room. Its simply luxury in the tropics, perfect for anyone looking for a more exclusive and unique property, especially honeymoon couples. Rates range from $200-$350 a night including a continental breakfast.
Avoiding Ambergris
Belize is known for its great snorkeling and world class scuba diving. My husband John, who isnt an avid snorkeler, joined me on this portion of my trip. Im a certified diver, so I was determined to show him a good experience. It was easy. All of our trips to Belize include snorkeling but we completely avoid the cayes and reef environment around Ambergris Caye where most tourists go because it has become so overdeveloped and heavily impacted compared to the more pristine marine habitat of southern Belize.
Our coastal guide was a Belizean Creole named Alex. We left our hotel at about 9am and motored 40 minutes from our base in Placencia to a private little caye owned by Alex and his family. On our first snorkel Alex pointed out a lobster, a nurse shark and a beautiful parrot fish. The snorkeling in shallow calm water from the beach is so easy and beautiful. It was a sunny day and the water was only about 8-12 feet deep, just right for snorkeling considering some of the coral was almost breaking the surface. We saw thousands of tiny fish schooling to protect themselves from predators, numerous butterfly fish, tangs, and angelfish, and watched a leopard ray flutter across the eelgrass. Lunch was fresh fish and potatoes cooked in tin foil over an open fire on a grill made from an old refrigerator coil. Following lunch we strolled to the other side of our private little island paradise to watch pelicans fishing.
Costa Rica, Yet Again!
I concluded my trip in Costa Rica where I met our other Costa Rica Program Director, Melissa Morse. We attended the annual conference and travel trade show where we meet with many old friends and new colleagues from throughout the country, many of whom we have been working with for over 20 years. Certainly, Costa Rica is a forte of Wildland Adventures, its where our director worked for the local National Park Service before starting the company.
Of course theres lots more to share which I love doing as I create new itineraries and help our travelers plan their Wildland Adventure. My experiences in Guatemala, Belize and Costa Rica were relaxing and deepening in my own life, besides providing essential first hand knowledge I need as a Program Director at Wildland Adventures. Every time I go back to Central America I learn so much and see so many differences and unique aspects of each country. I couldnt agree more with one of our Guatemala travelers: Go now, go often. nothing beats the sights, sounds, and hospitality of Guatemala. Of course Id add Belize, Costa Rica, and Panama to that statement
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