Explore Guatemala’s Mayan ruins by bus
About this Adventure
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Duration: Customisable
Price: Customisable
Rumble around these spectacular sites in the continent’s most widespread transport
If a mode of transport has ever represented a continent then it is the bus and Central and South America. There is no widespread rail network and so buses are the workhorses of the public transport system. What better way then to explore the Mayan ruins that Guatemala is famous for?
The Mayan temples in Guatemala’s Peten province are almost absurdly plentiful. Many of them haven’t even been excavated, they are overgrown with trees and other vegetation and simply look like hills, it’s only when you get close or a guide points out that you notice they are a little to regular to be anything but manmade.
Tikal is the most visited of the cities, and really anyone coming to Guatemala should visit it, if only to see the sunrise over the jungle from the top of Temple IV, the highest in the complex. After exploring the ruins at Tikal hop onto a local bus to head to Uaxactun, another complex close to Tikal, but often overlooked by tourists. The buses are crammed with all the parts of local life, people travelling to market with their chickens, geese or sacks of corn fill the brightly painted bus, and salsa music blares from the radio.
Uaxactun is larger and older than Tikal but gets a mere handful of visitors, so anyone who does go is likely to have the entire complex to themselves, although you may have to share the experience with some spider monkeys, foxes and toucans. For information on the temples visit the Guatemala Tourism Ministry.
