Quirigua-San Felipe de Lara Castle-Puerto Barrios
Our journey to the ancient Mayan city of Quirigua began in Puerto Barrios (a typical small Latin American town). The standard of living in Guatemala (in my superficial opinion) is no higher than in Ukraine. Accordingly, Puerto Barrios, devoid of any attractions, is of no interest to tourists.
The road from Puerto Barrios took about an hour. Throughout the tour, we drove the main highways for Guatemala - decent coverage, but narrow and two-lane. We went on a Sunday and there were no traffic problems.
All the way to Quirigua from the windows of the bus enjoyed the scenery. Hilly is a mountainous area, very green and picturesque. The settlements along the road are small, sparse and lost in the greenery.
Since I got acquainted with the issue in advance (Wikipedia and photo galleries), there were no surprises for me.
The attraction consists of two parts.
The first is a square with monuments (vertical stelae and horizontal animals), the second is buildings.
Pluses - the area is well-groomed, there is a tropical forest around, silence, birds sing, peace is complete; the stelae are the tallest of the ancient Indians, and quite interesting drawings are carved on them; I had never been to an ancient Indian city before.
Cons - each monument is covered with a thatched roof, which makes it less spectacular and difficult to photograph; buildings are not impressive; no temple; and it was very hot and stuffy.
San Felipe de Lara Castle
An hour on the road, and we are at the second point of the excursion - the Spanish fortress San Felipe de Lara Castle of the 17th century on Lake Izabal.
At the entrance to the fortress, the barker invited us to take a boat tour on the lake, we agreed. The boat was quite decent, I liked the trip on it too. Ride along the coast. We looked at the fortress from the lake (the best point for shooting).
We got to the "bird island" - several trees grow right out of the water and there are a lot of birds on them! There are a lot of birds on the lake, by the way. Eagles also fly over the park.
The castle itself has been beautifully restored and is very interesting. Lots of smaller and bigger rooms, stairs, cellars, towers, cannons… I think the kids will especially like it.
The territory itself, adjacent to the fortress, is a well-groomed, pretty park with a swimming area. So in the end we swam in fresh lake water with great pleasure.
From the fortress to the starting point is another hour's drive.
The tour was booked through a local travel agency. I think this tour is for cruise ship passengers calling at Puerto Barrios.
Minibus for 15 people with a guide - 450d;
Quirigua - 12d;
Fortress - 3d;
Boat trip -3d.
