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Updated 06/26/09

Petén Information.

  There always seem to be old stories out there about the safety aspects of actual travel in Guatemala, despite major  improvements in recent years. Even  the guidebooks have not really kept up with facts on the ground.  Some things that were  happening some years back are still told as if they are going on today. See the web page of the US embassy in Guatemala for dates and details of major crimes against  foreigners in order to better figure out any trends and situations to avoid. It looks like there may still be some targeting of tour buses  My opinion is that it  has never been entirely safe to visit anywhere, but knowing what to be careful of is helpful.

Local companies  ~ Airlines   Buses and Shuttles  Car Rentals   Hotels   Ruins  Spanish Schools

 Petén Tour Agencies  Volunteering in Petén.  Useful Flores phone numbers  Miscellaneous 

Navigating  the Guatemala City  and the Flores Airports. Current Weather and Ten Day Forecast for Flores

Use this Trip Planner for Flores weather. Petén Map  Current and Historical Exchange Rate to the US dollar. 

How to get to El Mirador  --- Getting to Uaxactún without a tour. Going from Flores to Palenque on your own, 

Getting to Tikal and back.  Thoughts about trash.  Do you need a visa?    Guatemalan Bus Schedules

Getting to El Mirador by Helicopter is affordable if you can go on one of their  selected

 dates and  enough people sign up for all of the other flight options, or check out exploremirador.com.  

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General Petén Information     Petén is the northern most Department in Guatemala. In its forests are a number of ruin  sites that were major centers of the Pre-classic and Classic Maya civilization.  Flores, the capital of Petén, is built on an island on Lake Petén Itzá, and is connected by a long causeway to the nearby town of Santa Elena on the lakeshore.  The pre-Hispanic city was was known as Noh Petén or Big Island. Sometimes it was also called Tah Itzá, or the Place of the Itzá. At the time of its conquest in 1697, it  had been the last still functioning independent Maya city anywhere, having been founded by the Itzá people after they left Chichén Itzá and later Mayapán in Mexico during the late Post-Classic Period . There was some belief among some of the Itzá that an 8 Ahau period ending date was prophetic for turning over the area to the Spanish. The latter tried to use the prophecy to convince Itzá to do so, but most of the indigenous locals were not taken in. However, the Spanish were never put out by a lack of invitation, they came, built large canoes, massacred many and took the city.  The Spanish destroyed the pyramids, temples and religious icons of Noh Petén. They  pronounced Tah Itzá as Tayasal and replaced the rubble with the Spanish city of Flores. The dispersal of the survivors into the jungle may have even  given rise to the myth of a surviving and lost Maya city.  There are still Itzá villages in the area at San Andrés. San José and San Miguel. Although a boatman may offer a visit to a "Tayasal" on the other side of the lake, this can be doubtful. Much of Noh Petén or Tah Itzá lies beneath the city of Flores, and it doesn't require any boat trip.  However, if your boatman takes you on the other side of the very close  peninsula where San Miguel sits, you can see impressive remains of part of a city where no archaeological work goes on, but which preceded the coming of the Itzá.      Online Services    Airlines to and From Flores                      International           USAir does some International Flights via Cancun. Grupo TACA to and from USA, Belize, Cancún and Guate. Get an idea of TACA Flight Schedules between Guate, Flores and Cancun.   National TAG flies between Guate and Flores and from Guate to Copan. Maya Airways to Belize City. Tropic Air to and from Belize only. You may very well do better to book via an agent when you are in Guatemala. Check out the weather in  Flores   Local Rental Cars in the Flores (FRS) Airport    Koka Rent Autos  Phone: 7926 1233, 7926 0526     Rent Autos Garrido Phone: 7926 0079 Auto Rental San Juan  7926 0041 Tabarini   Note that the airport is only a couple of miles from Flores.  If not bringing a lot of baggage, just do a very short  walk out to the highway and turn right to hop a 5-10Q tuk tuk or to enjoy a relatively short walk.      Petén Tour Operators      INGUAT Petén List   Adonis Lopez, who is across the lake from Flores in San Andrés, arranges trips in Spanish to El Mirador and other places from there.   Cafe Yaxhá, in its form as The Mayan Adventure,  has affordable (for four people) day trips to Yaxhá and another ruin, La Blanca, and some two or three day trips by 4 wheel drive vehicle that include those sites and Nakum. You can choose to camp or for more money, to stay at a nice hotel at Yaxhá.  If you have a group, you can also come up with affordable trips to some of the more obscure Maya sites in 4 WD double cab trucks.   You could arrange a trip to El Mirador and/or Nakbé directly with the Carmelita, but you need to speak Spanish. The Cooperative seems to be essentially defunct and I only have one contact so far.  I was listing Rudy Marroquín, but he definitely overcharged someone whom I know to be credible.   If you are alone or in a small group and your Spanish is limited, but you want to trek to El Mirador or from El Zotz to Tikal, try Los Amigos Hostel to arrange things. You will still have a Spanish speaking guide, but arranging it would be simpler.   Fanny's Tours has offices in Santa Elena, Guate and Chiquimula.   Iwana Tours is based in Flores and offers tours of Tikal, Dos Pilas and Aguateca, Yaxhá, and Cancuén.   La Casa de Don David in El Remate does a number of tours.   Martsam Travel lists a lot of tours.   Nitun near San Andrés sounds impressive if you can afford to pay a bit more.   San Juan Travel.  If they had a website, I would not list it. I have read too many bad things about them over time to recommend anything but avoiding them, especially for the Flores-Palenque trip.  For getting to Tikal, unless you take a bus from Santa Elena, you are stuck with them.   Tikal Canopy Tours. The price includes shuttle to Tikal, but charged extra from island of Flores when I looked.   Tikal Connection, formerly Ecomaya,  runs some relatively low-priced tours to El Mirador, El Zotz and El Peru, but you can often do better elsewhere.  My brief experiences in dealing with them suggests that they are somewhat more likely to respond to an email in Spanish. E-mail them and follow up if needed.   Tikalpark.com will arrange various trips from Tikal, with returns to either Tikal or Flores. Just keep in mind that you can visit Uaxactún overnight via bus much cheaper than what is listed there. Tikalpark.com also does affordable helicopter day trips to El Mirador if they have enough people for each option.   Tikal Travel is based in Melchor de Mencos, Petén and advertises many different tours, but has no prices listed.    In Sayaxché, Viajes Don Pedro is visible on the river.  7928 6109. I used this agency to get to Dos Pilas and Aguateca.   Walfre Chí', of San Andrés, the hard working and helpful guide on my March 2008 trip, who has worked at Yaxhá and Nakúm for the past five seasons, is now guiding on his own. He plans on getting people to interesting places that most agencies in Flores ignore, and some that they don't, such as El Mirador.     See Flores Phone Numbers for other agencies and sources.         Miscellaneous Items Looking to learn more Spanish in a pleasant place, such as Flores? Consider  Academia de Español "Dos Mundos" Listen to Guatemalan Música from Poptún Scarlet Macaw Biological Station A Satellite Photo of the Flores Area  These could simplify paying deposits for treks. Escuela de Español Bio-Itza (Spanish  School), San José  Information about Tikal Park Goodtime Bob's many photos of Tikal How to not travel between Palenque and Flores. How to travel between Flores and Palenque Interesting trip between Guate and Flores via Coban Continued environmental  problems of the El Mirador/Río Azul park area. The Story of Carmelita and El Mirador. Allianza Verde. (in Spanish) The Green Alliance is a group of local businesses that believes that the only hope for saving even a part of the Petén jungles is through responsible tourism that involve the local populations.  Fiestas in Petén  Learn about efforts to save the Mirador Basin. A review of Petén Conservation efforts and problems Read abut Propetén       Satellite Photos  A Petén Journey.  Mike  Reed made it to Dos Pilas, El Ceibal and Uaxactún. Tikal Ruins, a good description of  a traveler's view of Tikal. A Trip to El Mirador. It's not all that hard. A Recent Article about the Pre-classic Collapse.   Plundering the Petén,  an article by archaeologist Richard Hansen.   Thoughts on Food Safety   Volunteer Opportunities Volunteer Petén in San Andrés also  has a language school. Volunteer to work at repatriating wildlife with ARCAS.  The Scarlet Macaw Biological Station is located on the San Pedro River, which has nice bass and tilapia in it.    BYO fishing equipment for a spare time activity.     La Muerta, near El Mirador         A tourist in the  Mirador Basin

Buses and shuttles   To Tikal Asociación de Transportes runs buses between Santa Elena and Tikal, leaving the bus  station at 6:00 AM, 6:30, 7:00, 8:30, 10:00, 11:30,  and 12:30 PM for 20Q.  There are also runs at 1300 and 1500 to Tikal ending in Uaxactún.  If you come in on an overnight bus, you will be in the same station as this option. If your bus is first class or better,  there will be at least one offer of a van ride to Tikal.    Schedules to Guatemala City   Getting to Cobán Night bus and shuttle to Antigua Getting to Belize City Getting to Palenque, Mexico   Van Rental If you have a group and want reasonable prices for getting to places in Petén, toward Palenque or to Belize, take a look at  Mayan Adventure.com   Linea Dorada runs Tikal Mayan World, which runs luxury buses to and from Flores to Belize and to Chetumal, Mexico.  It looks like you could book online if you need to. Take the reference to bar and food with a grain of salt. BYO adult beverages and food consisted of soda and a sandwich on the overnighter I was on. Autobuses del Norte runs regular first class buses between Guate and Flores, including a night one. Note that if you type in autobusesdelnorte.com without the www, you will wind up at a sneaky Linea Dorada website instead.   Fuente del Norte has several night first class buses  and a couple day ones to Flores.  Check these timetables.   Turansa runs shuttles between Flores and Cobán. Scroll down that page.    ________________ City Information and Hotels by Location   INGUAT List $50 and under   Bethel Posada Maya Bethel is not online but has a restaurant, allows camping and can arrange transportation down the Usumacinta to Mexico.  (502) 5801-1799 or 1800, but you can do that yourself when there. This is an important stopover only if you are late in the day and are heading to Palenque and Yaxchilán.   Carmelita One of the comedors has rooms for 35Q per person as of January 2006  call 7861 1809. Ask for Brenda Zapata.   El Remate La Casa de Don David    List   Flores:  Why I love Flores Inexpensive list Info Visit Flores on YouTube (in Spanish)   The Hotel Santana has a pool and some rooms with balconies and a great view of the lake and it made a great splurge in early January of 2006 and February 2007. Hotel Doña Rosa a is a friendly family run place  that includes a public water bottle for guests. It is on the north end on Calle Fraternidad.  7827 5279 Hotel Mirador del Lago, 15 de Septiembre,  7926 3276 is not online, but it is clean and inexpensive. Hostel Los Amigos has e-mail, and is a good budget place with a decent inexpensive restaurant. It also has extensive directions and bus and shuttle schedules on its website. Hotel Sabana is less expensive than the other hotels in town with  pools that I am aware of and it has a beautiful view from  the northern end of the isla. Hotel Villa del Lago looks nice enough. La Casona de la Isla was great for a splurge after  the Mirador Basin in 2002, because of its pool. Casazul looks okay for a splurge. Inexpensive List   Near Flores on the Lake Posada San Miguel     Also see Tikal and El Remate   Melchor de Mencos Rio Mopan Lodge is a bit expensive, but  has a tour agency right there.  Hotel y Restaurante La Cabaña advertises a pool and AC.    Poptún Hotel Tropical Inn has parking and a pool  in town and is not expensive.   South of town Finca Ixobel   Listen to Música from Poptún.   Raxrujá (right across the border from Petén toward Cobán) El Amigo is inexpensive, nice, has a pool and  provides purified water.   San Jose (Across the lago from Flores} Expensive Hotel Bahia Taitza has rooms and bungalows, hot water,  parking and a restaurant.    San Luis (south of Poptún) See the city website   Santa Elena Jaguar Inn  See a good comparison of the merits of staying in Flores vs. Santa Elena.     Sayaxché. The Guayacán is not terribly pricey and it is the the best place in Sayaxché, which isn't saying a lot. I have enjoyed sitting outside sipping a beer on its large porch after a hard day.    7926 6111 Hotel Petexbatun is not online, but it sounds like a better buy.   7928 6166,   Near Sayaxché (Anything listed below tends toward very expensive. If on a smallish budget, Sayaxché might be the place to stay) Posada Caribe is  one hour by  boat from town, and also has camping  and e-mail. Petex Batun Lodge is expensive, but also has dorm rooms. Chiminos Island Lodge is on the Río de la Pasión. It is expensive, but it is in a wonderful location if you want to get away from it all and see some nearby ruins. However, if you are looking to see the ruins on the property, don't expect to be impressed.   Tikal   These hotels are all expensive, but the Jungle Lodge probably still has some small, dark cheaper rooms. Check on them in person. It also advertises having a pool. The Jaguar Inn rents hammocks and mosquito nets that are already set up. These are first come; first served and cost $7.  I understand that it also has tents for $10. Room reservations made by e-mail without a deposit are held until noon of the arrival day. There is a 10% surcharge on credit cards, so bring cash or traveler's checks.   Tikal Inn has a pool and direct e-mail that works for reservations and info. It also has expensive Internet for guests.   Comedor Imperio Maya has good food  at decent prices for Tikal. So does the one next door.   Check in the restaurant at the Visitor's Center to see if one of their very basic lodgings is available for 50Q. You can also camp there for less, but you will need to leave belongings for safekeeping at the center while visiting the park.   You can also leave your pack at the Visitors' Center for a small fee if you are either heading to Uaxactún for the night or you decide to not spend the night at Tikal and return to Flores.     Check out El Remate   Uaxactún How to get there without a tour. EcoCampamento is basic and has hammocks with mosquito nets under a palapa.  7926 0077 El Chiclero has friendly management, inexpensive rooms, camping and good food in its restaurant.   Yaxhá  Eco-Sombrero is a bit steep, but it  is nice and it is the only one available to outsiders there in case you are planning to spend the night.  The owner can also arrange trips to Nakúm, which is a wonderful site and to others. Correct phone numbers are (502) 7926-5228, fax (502) 7926-5528 , tel. (502) 7926-5229.   Some Other Petén Hotels. Most are not online, but it does include some budget places.          Ruins For good discussions of Maya ruins by non-native speakers of English in Guatemala, see Authenticmaya.com Aguateca or see many photos and a youtube view Altar de Sacrificios Cancuén and getting there.   Dos Pilas El Ceibal   El Ceibal photos  El Mirador   Holmul La Corona (Site Q) La Sufricaya The Melchor de Mencos Stelae (a collection of artifacts in town) Motul de San Jose Naachtún Nakbé   Nakum  Piedras Negras See some photos You can get to these ruins   as a day trip from Palenque and here is how to do it.   San Bartolo   Tikal Links Tikalinformation.com Tikal Map Tikal Lots of Photos! Tikalpark.com Online Tour of Tikal   Uaxactún and getting there   Waka' Thoughts on getting there   Yaxhá in Spanish   Yaxhá Tour Beginning in Spanish Tour Part 2 Below

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Adonis Lopez does tours to El Mirador, Nakbé and other places from San Andres, across the lake from Flores. 

He speaks  Spanish only:  7928-8106 or e-mail brenda_aventuras (at) hotmail.com.  His quote for a 6 day trip to El Mirador and Nakbé  for two people in August 2005 was $300 each, including transport from San Andres.  More people would be less, as would a  5 day trip just to El Mirador. To get to the departure point, you would take one of the frequent buses and minivans that go to San Andres/San José from the bus station.