Articles tagged with "Guatemala"
Guatemala calls itself the land of eternal spring, and in the highlands that is close to true. The country spans sea level to well above 4,000 m, and altitude does almost all the work the calendar does elsewhere.
Guatemala is straightforward to enter, with two conditions that are easy to miss: an online declaration that has to be filed before you travel, and a vaccination rule that can be triggered by a long connection rather than by your destination.
Guatemala has one clear dry season and one clear wet one, which makes the timing question simpler here than in most of the region. What complicates it is the festival calendar, which moves the busiest week of the year around.
Quirigua is not large and it is not famous, and it holds a collection of eighth century monumental sculpture that has no equal. It is inscribed for exactly that, and it takes about two hours.
Tikal is a major Maya city standing inside a national park of rainforest, and it is inscribed for both. Understanding that the forest is half the reason it is there changes how you visit it.
Antigua was the capital of Spanish Central America for two centuries, until an earthquake ended it. What makes it extraordinary is what happened next: the capital moved, and the town was left as it fell.