The Rough Guide to Guatemala (Travel Guide eBook)

Rough Guides

Description

World-renowned 'tell it like it is' guidebook

Discover Guatemala with this comprehensive, entertaining, 'tell it like it is' Rough Guide, packed with comprehensive practical information and our experts' honest and independent recommendations.

Whether you plan to explore the Mayan ruins of Tikal, visit colonial Antigua or climb Volcán de Pacaya The Rough Guide to Guatemala will help you discover the best places to explore, sleep, eat, drink and shop along the way.

Features of The Rough Guide to Guatemala:
- Detailed regional coverage: provides in-depth practical information for each step of all kinds of trip, from intrepid off-the-beaten-track adventures, to chilled-out breaks in popular tourist areas. Regions covered include: Guatemala City, Antigua and around, the western highlands, the Pacific coast, the Oriente and Izabal, Cobán and the Verapaces, Petén and Into Honduras: Copán and around.
- Honest independent reviews: written with Rough Guides' trademark blend of humour, honesty and expertise, and recommendations you can truly trust, our writers will help you get the most from your trip to Guatemala.
- Meticulous mapping: always full-colour, with clearly numbered, colour-coded keys. Find your way around Guatemala City, the western highlands and many more locations without needing to get online.
- Fabulous full-colour photography: features a richness of inspirational colour photography, including captivating Lago de Atitlán and the vast Mirador basin.
- Things not to miss: Rough Guides' rundown of Guatemala's best sights and top experiences.
- Itineraries: carefully planned routes will help you organise your trip, and inspire and inform your on-the-road experiences.
- Basics section: packed with essential pre-departure information including getting there, getting around, accommodation, food and drink, health, the media, festivals, sports and outdoor activities, culture and etiquette, shopping and more.
- Background information: comprehensive Contexts chapter provides fascinating insights into Guatemala, with coverage of history, religion, ethnic groups, environment, wildlife and books, plus a handy language section and glossary.

About Rough Guides: Rough Guides have been inspiring travellers for over 35 years, with over 30 million copies sold globally. Synonymous with practical travel tips, quality writing and a trustworthy 'tell it like it is' ethos, the Rough Guides list includes more than 260 travel guides to 120+ destinations, gift-books and phrasebooks.

Sujets

• Travel
• Central America
• Guatemala

Informations

• Publié par: APA
• Date de parution: 01 juillet 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781789196207
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 41 Mo

Extrait

Jane Sweeney
Contents
INTRODUCTION
Guatemala
Where to go
When to go
Author picks
Things not to miss
Tailor-made trips
BASICS
Getting there
Getting around
Accommodation
Food and drink
The media
Festivals
Sports and outdoor pursuits
Culture and etiquette
Shopping
Health
Living in Guatemala
Travel essentials
THE GUIDE
1 Guatemala City, Antigua and around
2 The western highlands
3 The Pacific coast
4 The Oriente and Izabal
5 Cobán and theVerapaces
6 Petén
7 Into Honduras: Copán and around
CONTEXTS
History
The Maya achievement
Indigenous Guatemala
Rigoberta Menchú and the Nobel Peace Prize
Landscape and wildlife
Books
Language
SMALL PRINT
Rough Guides
Introduction to
Guatemala
Spanning a mountainous slice of Central America immediately south of Mexico, Guatemala is loaded with incredible natural, historical and cultural appeal. As the birthplace and heartland of the ancient Maya, the country is in many ways defined by the legacy of this early civilization. Their rainforest cities were abandoned centuries ago, but Maya people continue to thrive in the Guatemalan highlands, where traditions and religious rituals, mingled with Catholic practices, endure to form the richest and most distinctive indigenous identity in the hemisphere.
Guatemala today is very much a synthesis of Maya and colonial traditions, fused with the omnipresent influences of twenty-first-century Latin and North American culture. Baroque churches dating back to the Spanish Conquest coexist with pagan temples that have been sites of worship for millennia. Highland street markets prosper alongside glitzy shopping malls, and pre-Columbian festival dances are performed by teenage hip-hop fans.

iStock
WOMEN MAKING CORN TORTILLAS FOR A FESTIVAL
Guatemala is still a developing nation, a young democracy with a turbulent and bloody history that’s beset by deep-rooted inequalities. And yet, despite alarming levels of poverty and unemployment, most Guatemalans are extraordinarily courteous and helpful to travellers, and only too eager to help you catch the right bus or practise your Spanish.
It’s this genuine and profound hospitality combined with the country’s outstanding cultural legacy and astonishing natural beauty that makes Guatemala such a compelling place for travellers.
Where to go
Guatemala offers a startling range of landscapes, defined by extremes. Most travellers first head for Antigua , the delightful former colonial capital, its refined atmosphere and café society contrasting with the chaotic fume-filled streets of Guatemala City. Next on your list should be the Maya-dominated western highlands , a region of mesmerizing beauty, with volcanic cones soaring above pine-clad hills, traditional villages and shimmering lakes. The strength of Maya culture here is overwhelming with each village having its own textile weaving tradition and unique fiesta celebrations.
Lago de Atitlán , a beautiful lake ringed by sentinel-like volcanoes, is unmissable. The shores of the lake are dotted with charming indigenous settlements such as San Juan La Laguna , which has a good textile cooperative and several artists’ galleries, and San Pedro La Laguna , with its bohemian travellers’ scene and rock-bottom prices. High up above the lake, the traditional Maya town of Sololá has one of the country’s best (and least-touristy) markets, a complete contrast to the vast twice-weekly affair at Chichicastenango , with its incredible selection of souvenirs, weavings and handicrafts.
To the west, the proud provincial city of Quetzaltenango (Xela) is an important language school centre, and also makes an excellent base for exploring the forest-fringed crater lake of Volcán Chicabal , the sublime natural spa of Fuentes Georginas and some fascinating market towns. Guatemala’s greatest mountain range, the Cuchumatanes , is a little further distant. In these granite peaks you’ll find superb scenery and some of the most isolated and traditional villages in the Maya World, with Nebaj and Todos Santos Cuchumatán both making good bases for some serious hiking and adventure.

Fact file The republic of Guatemala’s 108,890 square kilometres include dozens of volcanoes (four are active), 328km of Pacific coastline and 74km of Caribbean coast. Guatemala’s population was estimated at 17.3 million in 2018, with a growth rate of 1.75 percent per annum (one of the highest in the western hemisphere). Ethnically, the population is almost equally divided between indigenous Maya and ladinos (who are mainly of mixed race), although there are tiny numbers of black Garífuna (about eight thousand in all), ethnic Chinese and non-Maya Xinca. Remittances from Guatemala’s large expatriate community in the US are the country’s main source of foreign income, equivalent to over ten percent of its GDP. Tourism is the nation’s main income earner, followed by coffee, sugar, clothing exports and bananas. About 46 percent of Guatemalans are nominally Roman Catholic – the lowest figure in Latin America – though many highland Maya practise a unique mix of religions that’s heavily dependent on ancient religious ritual. The nation is a democratic republic , headed by a president who is head of both state and government.

Volcanoes
Overshadowing the southern half of the country, a chain of volcanoes extends in an ominous arc from 4220m-high Tajumulco on the Mexican border to the frontier with Honduras. Depending on how you define a volcano – some vulcanologists do not classify lateral cones in the folds of a larger peak to be volcanoes for example – Guatemala has somewhere between 33 and 40. Three of these, Pacaya , Santiaguito and Fuego are highly active, regularly belching soaring plumes of smoke and ash. An ascent up Pacaya rarely fails to disappoint as it’s usually possible to view spectacular orange lava flows, but occasionally access is not possible due to volcanic activity. The 2018 Fuego eruption killed at least 159 people, and thousands were left homeless.
Lago de Atitlán is actually the former caldera of a giant volcano that cataclysmically blew its top some 85,000 years ago. So much magma was expelled that most of the vast cone collapsed, and centuries of rainwater filled the depression, creating today’s lake. Today the three volcanoes that line its shores can all be climbed. The most accessible is Volcán San Pedro which entails a return trek of around eight to nine hours. Licensed guides accompany all hikers.
The Pacific coast is generally hot, dull and disappointing to visit, with scrubby, desolate beaches backed by a smattering of mangrove swamps. One exception is the relaxed seaside village of Monterrico , which has some good accommodation and is part of a wildlife reserve where you can watch sea turtles come ashore to lay their eggs. There’s also a small but growing surf scene at Paredón.
Much of the east of the country is tropical , replete with banana and cardamom plantations and coconut palms. This region has some stunning lakes, including pristine, jungle-fringed Laguna Lachúa and Lago de Izabal , whose shores boast plenty of interesting spots, including an amazing hot-spring waterfall and the Boquerón canyon. The lake drains into the Caribbean via the Río Dulce , which flows through a series of remarkable jungle-clad gorges. At the mouth of the river is the fascinating town of Lívingston , an outpost of Caribbean culture and home to Guatemala’s only black community, the Garífuna.
Cloud forests cloak the fecund Verapaz hills of central Guatemala, harbouring the elusive quetzal, Guatemala’s national symbol. Cultural sites in the east are quite limited, but do include the compact Maya site of Quiriguá and the first-class ruins of Copán , just over the border in Honduras.
The vast rainforests of Petén occupy most of the country’s north. This unique lowland area, which makes up about a third of the country, is covered with dense tropical forest and savannah. Though loggers and ranchers have laid waste to large chunks of the terrain, nature reserves alive with wildlife remain, many dotted with outstanding Maya ruins.
From the delightful town of Flores , superbly situated on an islet on Lago de Petén Itzá, or the low-key village of El Remate , it’s easy to reach Tikal , the most impressive of all Maya sites, rivalling any ruin in Latin America. The region’s forest also envelops numerous smaller sites, including the striking Yaxhá , Aguateca and Uaxactún. For the ultimate adventure in Guatemala the ancient, remote Preclassic sites of the extreme north require days of tough hiking to reach. Giant El Mirador , in its day a Mesoamerican metropolis, is the main draw, but there are dozens of other unrestored sites to explore, situated in the densest rainforest in the country – if you have the time and energy.

Alamy
CHURCH, SAN ANDRÉS XECUL
When to go
Guatemala has one of the most pleasant climates on earth – the tourist board refers to it as the “land of the eternal spring” – with much of the country enjoying warm days and mild evenings year-round. The climate is largely determined by altitude . In those areas between 1300 and 1600m, which includes Guatemala City, Antigua, Lago de Atitlán and Cobán, the air is almost always fresh and the nights mild and