On a warm afternoon in January, 2023, I stood atop a tree covered Mayan pyramid in a remote part of Mexico south of Xpujil, near the border between Quintana Roo and Campeche. We were at Calakmul. Previously unknown to us, this exotic ancient Mayan city ended up being the highlight of our first Mayan ruins tour. From the top of that pyramid, I peered into the distance. I could see a small speck far across the border into Guatemala. This, our guide told us, was El Mirador. Deep in the jungle, people trekked several days to reach it. This seemed like the ultimate adventure. Guatemala seemed kind of dangerous. The state department website said if you were planning to go there, you should “reconsider travel.” Maybe not now, but one day I vowed I would go.
I subsequently learned that you could make the trip to El Mirador by helicopter, avoiding a five day hike through swamps. That was how Mel Gibson had done it while researching his not-so-historically accurate film, Apocalypto. I may not be as well heeled as Mel Gibson, but it turned out there wasn’t all that much difference in cost between hiring outfitters to guide your trek and just riding in the helicopter. I also learned that U.S. State Department recommendations are often hyper conservative, warning travelers off from places that are really quite safe with common sense travel precautions. Sometimes the information is outdated. Sometimes tourists are discouraged for political reasons. Whatever the reason for the warnings, Guatemala turned out to be friendly and welcoming.
These motivators led me to research a second Mayan ruins trip to some of the major sites I had not yet seen, namely Tikal, El Mirador, and Copan. There were other sites I may have visited on my own, but this time Andrew had agreed to come, and Audrey was considering making the trip. At times, Audrey struggles to commit to large ventures. In her defense, when we took this trip, she was seven and a half months pregnant. Certainly, this would be some cause for concern.
One thing I have learned, though, is that whoever I’m traveling with, good communication and some compromises are nearly always necessary to ensure an enjoyable trip. Audrey proved to be a great travel companion. We occasionally changed our plans to accommodate her needs, and she was communicative when she needed to be and also willing to contribute when her comfort level caused us to make more expensive travel choices. It worked out well for all of us in the long run. I hope that both Andrew and Audrey will contribute articles for this series.
I planned to stay flexible for most of this trip. The aforementioned Mayan sites were on my “must see” list. The round trip tickets I found – for less than $400 – flew us in and out of Belize City. Belize has a reputation as a beautiful Caribbean beach destination. That could offer some fun ways to spend some time. Guatemala was also home to the 16th century Spanish colonial city of Antigua, a couple of very impressive looking lakes, a bunch of big volcanoes – some of them still active, and a huge market in Chichicastenango. Both Guatemala and Belize also hosted several other significant Mayan sites not on my list. I figured we could go see my “big three,” then maybe hit some areas around Antigua and Lake Atitlán, and if we ran out of things we wanted to do in Guatemala, we could hang out on the beach for the last few days in Belize.
As it turned out, we found plenty to do in Guatemala and really enjoyed our time there. It was inexpensive and friendly. A little bit of Spanish was plenty to navigate the country. Transportation was a bit challenging at times, but there are plenty of inexpensive options if you don’t mind taking local transit. Driving in Guatemala was quite stressful, but the rental car we used cost just $133 for an entire week. We spent a total of four nights in Belize and two full days on either end of our trip. We left most of our Belize explorations for another trip.
We crossed the border once into Honduras, the per-capita murder rate capital of the world. It turned out that the town we visited was actually quite safe. We spent only about a day and a half in Honduras. It would be interesting to spend some more time there. I would only do this after significant research. There are safe places to go in Honduras, but I get the impression there are also quite a few places that are pretty dangerous as well.
We had a great time, and highly recommend Guatemala. We learned that not all of Belize matches the brochures, but that there are indeed some very nice places to visit there, too. We learned that even in Honduras there are some safe and beautiful places one can visit. I hope you will enjoy going vicariously along on our journey through the next several articles.