Izabal

On Guatemala’s Caribbean coast, in the deportment of Izabal, visitors will see the country’s largest lake, visit a Spanish fortress built to keep pirates out of the lake and travel down a lovely river bounded by lush tropical forest to a Garifuna village. On their way to the coast, they will visit an archaeological site with the tallest steal in the Maya world. Birdwatchers will find some of Guatemala’s most exciting birding in a rainforest reserve where jaguars and puma still roam.

Lake Izabal

Izabal is Guatemala’s largest lake, more than 45 kilometers long and covering about 590 square kilometers. It is manatees live in the lake and its tributaries. Most tours of Lake Izabal begin in the town of Frontera, where a bridge spans the Rìo Dulce , which drains the lake. The Castillo de San Felipe is found about a kilometer from the bridge. This small fortress was built by Spaniards in 1651-2 at the lake’s mouth, to keep out marauding pirates. Later it served as a prison and was reconstructed as a historical monument in 1956. Some of the pirates who visit the lake were Diego the Mulatto, William Jackson, William Parker and the Dutch pirate Jan Zaques, who burned and plundered the fort in 1684. Further along the lake’s north shore is the Finca el Paraiso, which offers lodging, waterfalls and caves to explore. The town of El Estor, at the western end of Lake Izabal, was once the site of a nicked mine. The Bocas de Polochic, a swampy area where the Pilochic river inters the lake, a wildlife refuge where manatees have reportedly been sighted.

Río Dulce

The Rio Dulce runs about 40 kilometers from Lake Izabal before it empties into Amatique Bay at Livingston. At its upper end, around Frontera, there are several hotels, marinas and vacation homes. Downstream, the river widens into an area known as Golfete, before flowing through a narrow, spectacular gorge and then on to the bay. The Chocon -Machacas wildlife reserve is found of the reserve, where monkeys and many tropical birds will be seen, Boat tours of the Rìo Dulce are available at Frontera and Livingston.

Amatique Bay

The lovely Amatique Bay on Guatemala’s Caribbean coast stretches from the Punta de Manabique, on a peninsula of land at the bay’s western tip, to Belize. Towns along the bay include Puerto Barrios, Santo Tomàs and Livingston. There are several hotels overlooking the bay, as well as some beautiful beaches. Cololì Beach is found just north of Livingston and Palma Beach is around the bay from Puerto Barrios.

Livingston

Livingston, a charming town located at the mouth of the Rìo Dulce, is unique in Guatemala due to its Garifuna culture. The Garifuna trace their history to St. Vicent island, where two Spanish ships carrying Nigerian slaves were shipwrecked in 1635. On this east Caribbean island, the shipwrecked Nigerian slaves encountered a native tripe originally from mainland South America, the Kalipuna, with whom they intermarried to create, a people known as the Black Caribs. In 1797, the British, to whom the island belonged, deported the Caribs to Roatan Island. But they were captured yet again by Spaniards and taken to Trujillo on the Honduras mainland. From Trijillo the Garifuna emigrated to Guatemala and Belize, bringing their own language, music and religion with them. Livington can only be accessed by boats traveling across the bay from Puerto Barrios or down the Rìo Dulce from Frontera. It has several fine hotels, as well as restaurants serving some delicious local foods, Siete Altares, a series of pools and waterfalls formed by a small river as it empties into the sea, is found about 6 kilometers from Livingston, a great place to swim and picnic.

Cerro San Gil

One of Guatemala’s finest bird watching destinations is the Cerro San Gil wildlife reserve, found near Santo Tomàs. The reserve is comprised of virgin rainforest, and receive more than 2000 mm of rain each years. More than 300 bird species have been identified here, including the Solitary Eagle. Crested Eagle and Olivaceous Piculet. Jaguars and puma also live in the reserve. A lovely river, the Rio Las Escobas, passes through the reserve’s lush forest, with numerous waterfalls and crystalline pools that are great for swimming. Cerro San Gil`s visitor center is named for birder Chandler S. Robbins, who has studied Guatemala’s avifauna and is the author of the most popular field guide to birds in North America. About 12 kilometers of trails wind through the reserve.

Quiriguá

The Quiriguà archaeological site, located just 94 kilometers from Puerto Barrios on the road to Guatemala city, contains the largest steal ever discovered in the Maya world. This Maya city was probably founded in the Late Pre-Classic era and flourished until the 10 th century, when it was abandoned for unknown reasons. Nice stelae, dating from 692 to 810 AD, are arranged around the central plaza, accompanied by altars carved into zoomorphic shapes. The largest of these. The ruins are unrestored and mostly unexcavated, but deciphered hieroglyphs from the stelae and altars tell a fascinating story of Quirigua`s relationship with nearby Copàn. In 653 AD, a Copan ruler erecter altar L, at Quirigua, to celebrate his control over the city. In 725, his son installed a ruler named Cauac-Sky at Quirigua. Bvut Cauac-Sky revolted against Copan 13 years later, defected 18-Rabbit in battle and a strategic position in the Motagua Valley, and probably controlled trade in obsidian and jade mined nearby. No one is quite sure how the huge sandstone blocks, quarried mountains to the north and carved into stelae and altars at Quirigua, were transported by the city’s inhabitants.