Welcome to Guatemala! At your arrival meet with your driver for your transfer to your hotel in Antigua.

After breakfast enjoy a guided walking tour of Antigua.  You will visit breath taking colonial monuments and find out why this city was the bustling center of the region for the Spaniards. During the walking tour you will be able to eat delicious Guatemalan dishes just like the locals do. While strolling through the city streets learning about Antigua’s famous churches and ruins, you will have the opportunity to eat different foods.

Breakfast at hotel. After breakfast meet with your guide for your transfer to Iximche. Iximche, a Pre Columbian-Mayan site in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. It is not the major archaeological site but was founded by the Kaqchikel Maya in 1,470 after a prolonged conflict with the Quiche. When learning about Mayas in Guatemala, this site is essential to Mayan history.  It was also the capital of the Late Pre-classic Kaqchikel kingdom from 1,470 until its abandonment in 1,524 with the Spaniards arrival.  After tour enjoy lunch at local venue in Tecpan. After lunch transfer to Lake Atitlan

Breakfast at hotel. Meet with your guide for your boat transfer to Santiago y San Juan. Along the shores of Lake Atitlan, you may find different towns, each of these villages is named after the twelve apostles. Santiago (St. James), is a village located on the south end, home to Maximon, a pagan saint who drinks moonshine and smoke cigars. Maximon is visited every day by locals, healers and tourists asking for favors. San Juan la Laguna, famous for its naïf art galleries, town murals and natural dyes textiles. This town is set as an example of organization and tourism destination among the highlands. Its beauty and cooperatives have set the perfect village. Lunch at local venue. Boat transfer back to your hotel.

Breakfast at hotel. After breakfast, your guide will meet you at the lobby of the hotel for your transfer to Chichicastenango. On arrival, your guide will show you the church which is important and iconic monument for the indigenous and Mayan history itself. If you’re lucky you will also witness special ceremonies and mix of religions. Market days are held every Sunday and Thursday and draw not only the K'iche' Maya of the surrounding region, but vendors from all over Guatemala. Lunch at local venue. After lunch transfer to Guatemala City.

Early transfer to International Airport for your local flight to Flores. Box Breakfast. At your arrival to Flores meet with your guide for your transfer to Tikal National Park. Your guide will show you the layout of the temples, architecture, history, some theories of why the Mayans disappeared and if you are lucky a few monkeys, parrots, macaws and toucans will be on site. After the tour, enjoy lunch at a restaurant in the middle of the jungle. Transfer to your hotel.

Breakfast at hotel. Meet with your guide for your transfer to Yaxha. Yaxha is an archaeological site and ancient ceremonial center of Mayan civilization situated in the northeast of Petén.  Located approximately 30km (18.6 miles) southeast of Tikal and 75km from Flores. This site is better known by the CBS reality show “Survivor” filmed in 2005. Yaxha (emerald green water) is an important ceremonial center located between lagoons of Yaxha and Sacnab.  This site has over 500 structures including 40 stelea, two ball courts and nine temple pyramids.  Structures at Yaxha show the influence of Teotihuacan and include the only twin pyramid complex outside Tikal. After tour transfer to Melchor de Mencos. Welcome to Belize!

Our Belizean driver will be waiting for you at the other side of the border with a welcome sign with your name on it. You will then be transferred to San Ignacio.

Ecotourism adventures abound in Cayo, the largest district in Belize, which is the gateway into Belize from Guatemala and also home to the capital city of Belmopan. An astonishing 880,000 acres of protected land, in the form of nature reserves and national parks, is an unsurpassed combination with Belize’s largest Maya sites and Central America’s largest cave system. The lively twin towns of San Ignacio and Santa Elena and the quiet border town of Benque Viejo del Carmen provide a glimpse into the lives of the friendly residents.

Have a look at how the San Antonio Women’s Group still makes ceramics by hand. They will demonstrate how this is done using the “coil method” and guests will be able to try their hands at creating something of their own. Following this, help to prepare your lunch by learning to make corn tortillas on a traditional fire hearth. Hear about the process of grinding the fresh corn and transforming it into the “masa” or dough that you will be forming into the tortillas. While the women finish preparing lunch, walk the rest of the property and learn about the sustainable processes used to fire the ceramic kilns and sustain an organic garden. Enjoy a specially prepared meal starting with warm Atole, followed by roasted chicken pieces, fresh hand-made salsa and your recently prepared corn tortillas.

After the tour you will depart to go to San Ignacio. Upon arrival at San Ignacio town your guide who will give you an easy introduction to the history of the Ancient Mayas in Belize. You will first start with Xunantunich Maya Site located in the San Jose Succotz Village. This is one of the most popular Maya Ruins in Belize because of its unique attributes and its easy accessibility. To reach to the site, you will have a short ferry ride to cross the Mopan River followed by a 1 mile drive to the main entrance. The center is composed of six major plazas surrounded by more than 25 temples and palaces. The largest pyramid, El Castillo, is well known for the frieze or band of stucco decoration which at one time extended around the entire temple. El Castillo rises 40 meters above the main plaza and offers an impressive panoramic view over the Mopan River valley including views of our neighboring country, Guatemala.

Our local representative will meet you by the lobby and will then transfer you to Punta Gorda with a drive through Spanish Lookout.

Spanish Lookout is accessed by a beautiful drive through rolling hills. Spanish Lookout is a settlement in the Cayo District of Belize in Central America. According to the 2010 census, Spanish Lookout has a population of 2,253 people in 482 households. Spanish Lookout is a community of Mennonites in Belize.

The Mennonite community in Spanish Lookout is quite modern: they use cars and other modern conveniences and the overall impression of the settlement is rather like rural North America than Central America or the Caribbean. The citizens of this community speak Plautdietsch as their mother tongue. Most also speak English and Spanish. It is largely an agricultural community with some light industry, furniture making, prefabricated wood houses and the only oil field in production in Belize.

The Toledo district is not only the southernmost distinct of Belize it is widely unexplored. Filled with dense forest of hidden treasures yet to be discovered. Here you can find a rich taste of Belizean Garifuna and Mayan Cultures, giving its visitors the opportunity to experience culturally immerged programs. Punta Gorda town is the gate way of the Toledo district to surrounding attractions. Bring on the coast as well as inland activities like caving, fishing and visiting surrounding islands abound.

Today you will visit the Chiacs. They make functional crafts that are bought by other villagers for their own use. Visitors to the Chiac’s can all have a go at making these crafts under the guidance of Juan, Hilaria and their daughter Marta. The visit lasts a couple of hours, the time really flies by and guests leave with their face muscles aching from all the laughing they have done; mainly at themselves and their beginners efforts. It is only when you visit the family when you realize the amount of work that goes into making a basket or hammock. What is most impressive is that to make the hammocks and bags Juan Chiac goes out into the forest to collect the leaves of the Henequen plant from which he extracts the fibers that he then manually weaves into long soft thread. To make baskets he collects the tai vine from the forest which he strips and dries in preparation for its use. Juan makes are baskets, hammocks, shoulder bags, palm fans and small rosewood carvings. His wife Hilaria weaves cuxtal bags.

The Cals showcase a Mayan home as it would have been fifty years ago before the modern world began to impinge. They have a bed in which the mattress is made from the rolled out bark of the “macapal” or Moho Tree and bench seat made from a balsa trunk. There is a wooden mangle for squeezing the juice from the sugar cane and wooden moulds to make the sugar cakes. They grow four different kind or corn, white , yellow, red and black. They also keep a sack or berries from the soap berry tree for guests to use to wash their hands. Food is cooked on an open fire hearth and drinking, dowels are made from the calabash fruit. They also prepare meals for their quests who can roll up their sleeves and get involved in the preparation with Anita and her daughters.

Grinding corn, cocoa or coffee on the volcanic grinding stone or wrapping fish in waha leaves and baking corn tortillas on the iron “Comal” over the fire. Visits are highly interactive and fun with all five senses involved. On a tour around the kitchen garden yard guests taste and smell the herbs and spices used to season the Mayan Cuisine

After breakfast take a land transfer to Punta Gorda and then 30 minutes ferry ride south along the coast to Barranco village beyond the mouth of the Moho river. Our local guide Alvin Loredo will take the group to the Dabuyeba (Garifuna temple) and talk about their religious and spiritual ceremonies including the Dugu ceremony that connects the living with the ancestors and through them to God. Lunch will be a traditional Garifuna meal. We will also organize drumming and lessons for those who want to try, and a medicinal plant walk through the village. Barranco is the spiritual center of the Garifuna in Belize as well as being the home of Andy Palacio Belize’s most famous international music star who died tragically early in 2007 and where he is buried today.

Today you will be met by our local representative who will transfer you to Hopkins. Hopkins is a Garifuna village on the coast of the Stann Creek District in Belize.

You will have a short stop at the Mayan center to enjoy a cultural tour and a Mayan lunch. The Maya Center is a small Mopan Maya Village. Here you will have a look at the traditional Mayan lifestyle and culture.  Visit the Maya Center museum where you will be shown hands on demonstration of the traditional corn tortilla making. Also observe a Cultural Dance training before having a tasteful traditional lunch. Next is the Chocolate & Cacao Farm Tour. Chocolate making is more fun when you get to do it yourself. Learn why the Mayans highly valued the Cacao Tree and the Cacao itself. After your tour continue on your transfer to Hopkins.

Hopkins is considered by some Belizeans to be the cultural center of the Garifuna population in Belize. The town hosts its own national holiday, Hopkins Day, and welcomes people for their celebration on Garifuna Independence Day as well, they do this with drum ceremonies that can last till early hours in the morning. Hopkins is surrounded by the Maya Mountains and the Cockscomb Range inland, and the Caribbean Sea on its shore. It is also very close to the Sittee River. The village was created in 1942 to replace the village of Newtown, which was devastated by a hurricane further up the coast.

Today Hopkins is a small but vibrant community. The people live mostly by farming and fishing, and more recently many have found work in the growing tourist industry. The residents are known for their friendliness and genuine hospitality, and welcome visitors to their village. Hopkins has a selection of gift shops, restaurants and small bars

Guests have the beautiful opportunity to dress in our Garifuna traditional clothing for the duration of your Garifuna experience. Explore the rich legacy of the Garifuna people via our cultural display center and share in the history of our Garifuna people.

At an advised time, our local representative will meet you by the hotel lobby. You will then be transferred to the International airport. Upon arrival you can proceed to check in for your international flight.