Guatemala's El Peten

El Peten

The center of a massive empire that spanned across parts of present day Mexico, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador, the jungles of El Peten were once the heartland of the fascinating Maya civilization. These were a people highly sophisticated, developing their own type of writing, facilitating an advanced mathematics system and using their adept astrological abilities to map the orbits of the sun, moon and planets.

Within their empire, the Maya formed complex social systems, agricultural practices and religious beliefs. Then, almost a millennium ago, this network of cities that held hundreds of thousands of people, suddenly vanished. Even their temples which once dominated the horizon, were swallowed by the jungle.

Today El Peten stands as a sparsely populated backwater where every turn seems to unveil yet another monument of this ancient people. It is a city of exotic scenery and rare flora and fauna, where one dare not be still for too long as nature promises to swallow everything in its path. Within its greenery, visitors will find some of Guatemala’s most intriguing archeological sites, where howler monkeys cry in the distance and yellow toucans soar above. Visit Tikal, the most notorious of the Maya Ruins, and deservedly so with its towering temples ringed by miles of virgin forest, then venture to the neighboring sites, where numerous other mysteries promise to unfold.