Guatemala, Honduras & Belize
These three Central American gems combine beautifully for anyone interested in the Mayan Heritage, natural beauty, birdlife and diving or snorkeeling.
GUATEMALA is the Mayan heart of Central America, bordering Mexico, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador. It is relatively large at 108,890 sq km and offers everything from the most impressive Mayan ruins to ornate colonial cities, high active volcanoes to black volcanic Pacific coast beaches, and its colourful smiling people. It is also known as ‘the land of eternal spring’ for its wonderful climate. The population of over 13 millions is made up of Mestizos, known as Ladinos and people of European descent (primarily Spanish), and Amerindians, descendants of the Maya. Guatemala beckons anyone with an interest in the Mayan culture, to its spectacular ruins at Tikal and Yaxha among others. For those with an eye for landscape its volcanoes, rolling hills, jungles and beaches and deep blue lakes such as Lake Atitlan will astound you. For history and people there is nothing better than walking the cobble-stoned streets of Chichicastenango on market day with its mix or Mayan and colonial architecture, or browsing the shops of the very colonial Antigua.
HONDURAS is a vibrant country of rainforests, mountains, white sandy Caribbean beaches, and fascinating ancient ruins. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean, and to the north by the Caribbean. Honduras is truly a little gem with an area of only 112,000 sq km and a population of 7.3 million. Its capital is Tegucigalpa, surrounded by mountains and formerly a gold- and silver-mining centre. Honduras has a rich, multi-ethnic past, with the Mayan presence around the city of Copán in western Honduras, near the Guatemalan border. As with other countries in the region it became colonized by the Spaniards. Honduras is also home to a rather large Garifuna society, also known as the Black Caribs, which originated in the 1600s. Garifunas come from a mixture of Indian tribes form the Orinoco region and the lower Antilles, and shipwrecked African slaves. Honduras has more than 700 species of birds including the Harpy eagle, and populations of rare mammals such as jaguars, pumas, ocelots, giant anteaters, tapir and mantled howler monkeys. It’s “Mosquito Coast” area one of the world's few remaining undisturbed true wildernesses.
BELIZE is located at the tip of Central America, bordered by Mexico to the north, Guatemala to the south and west. and the turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea to the East. It is quite small with just 22,966 sq km but is rich in history and wildlife and its coastline offers a divers’ paradise, around its 400 plus sq. km of islands, of ‘cayes’ as they are known locally. For the outdoor enthusiast and adventure traveller. You might say that Belize is the outdoors. Among its possibilities are scuba, snorkeling, fishing, sailing, other water sports, golfing, birding and caving It has a rich and colourful history of Mayans, pirates, buccaneers, Spanish sailors and even a band of Confederate Civil War soldiers.