Bryn Mawr Alumnae Travel with Host Lecturer Maria Luisa Crawford ’60 presents ... Small groups: Never more than 24 travelers—guaranteed! Route of the Maya EL SALVADOR • HONDURAS • GUATEMALA • BELIZE POST-TRIP EXTENSION 15 days—Land Tour only— To/From U.S. C Internal flight Managua a Granada r i Land route Masaya b NICARAGUA b 06Miles 0 Lamanai e a Lake a n from e Nicaragua $ Tikal National Park S Yaxha S From Belize City e Lake Petén-Itzá Belize a 2595 City n Flores BELIZE a COSTA e 16 days—including international airfare b RICA MEXICO b i Pacific r Ocean a $ C from Philadelphia—from 3495 PRE-TRIP EXTENSION GUATEMALA Additional departure cities are available GUATEMALA HONDURAS PRE-TRIP EXTENSIONS: Panajachel Copán Lake Atitlán HONDURAS Ataco Suchitoto El Salvador: Colonial Suchitoto & Antigua Guatemala City San Salvador P EL SALVADOR the Flower Route a c i P acific f i c EL 4 nights from $595 O SAL O cean c e a San Salvador VADO Nicaragua’s Colonial Cities & n R Volcanic Landscapes 5 nights from $1145 I TINERARY S UMMARY POST-TRIP EXTENSION: APRIL 13, 2015 Southern Belize’s Natural & PRE-TRIP OPTION: El Salvador: Colonial Suchitoto & the Flower Route Cultural Gems OR Nicaragua’s Colonial Cities & Volcanic Landscapes 5 nights from $1395 DAYS DESTINATION LODGING 1-2 Fly to San Salvador, El Salvador Hotel Alicante It’s Included or similar n International airfare, airport transfers, government taxes, fees, and airline fuel 3-4 Joya de Cerén • Copán Clarion Hotel Copán surcharges unless you choose to make your Ruinas or similar own air arrangements 5-6 Guatemala City Best Western Hotel n All land transportation and 1 internal flight Stofella or similar n Accommodations for 15 nights 7-8 Lake Atitlán Porta Hotel del Lago n 34 meals—daily breakfast, 9 lunches, and or similar 10 dinners (including 1 Home-Hosted Lunch) 9-11 Antigua Hotel Los Pasos n 23 small group activities or similar n Services of a resident, English-speaking 12-13 Fly to Flores • Tikal La Casona del Lago OAT Trip Leader or similar n NEW for 2015: Gratuities for local guides, 14-15 Belize City Belize Biltmore Plaza drivers, and luggage porters or similar n 5% Frequent Traveler Credit toward your 16 Return to U.S. next adventure—an average of $183 POST-TRIP OPTION: Belize’s Barrier Reef & Ambergris Caye Please mention this code when booking: G5-25654 Reservations & Information: Call Toll-Free: 1-800-353-6262 • Press 2 OR call Sarah Doody at (610) 526-5316 • [email protected] I TINERARY Day 1 Depart U.S. • Arrive San Salvador, Day 3 falls on a Monday, we’ll enjoy a visit to to Guatemala, stopping en route to visit the El Salvador. Today you’ll arrive in San Fernando Llort’s gallery in lieu of Joya de Cerén. Museum of Paleontology in Estanzuela, home to Salvador, where your OAT Trip Leader will B,L,D— Clarion Hotel Copán Ruinas or similar both Mayan artifacts and prehistoric fossils, and assist with your transfer to our hotel. There, to enjoy lunch on our own. This evening, we you’ll meet your fellow travelers, including those Day 4 Explore Copán ruins • Optional check into our hotel in Guatemala City, where who took our optional pre-trip extensions to La Pintada Village Horseback Ride. This we’ll have dinner at a local restaurant. El Salvador: Colonial Suchitoto & the Flower morning after breakfast, we set out to explore B,D— Best Western Hotel Stofella or similar Route or Nicaragua’s Colonial Cities & Volcanic the crown jewel of the Mayan civilization: the Landscapes. This evening, dinner is on your own. ruins of Copán (or Xukpi to the Maya)—a Day 6 Visit local nonprofit • Explore Hotel Alicante or similar UNESCO World Heritage Site. We enjoy a Guatemala City. Today, we’ll explore the full morning here to explore its sprawling ball hardships many Guatemalans face by visiting a Day 2 Explore San Salvador. After court, adorned with markers resembling macaw local nonprofit organization supported in part breakfast at our hotel, we’ll embark on a full- heads; the Great Plaza, scattered with altars by Grand Circle Foundation. The day exploration of San Salvador. We’ll begin and carved stelae, stone statues of powerful organization provides financial, medical, by viewing the city’s history from multiple Mayan rulers; and the Hieroglyphic Stairway, developmental, and academic support to perspectives as we visit the Museo de la Palabra which features 63 steps with 2,500 glyphs, impoverished children between the ages of 2 y la Imagen, the Military History Museum, and or symbols, carved into the stone. During our and 21, while also offering adult literacy and the San Salvador Cathedral. After lunch, we’ll visit, we’ll keep an eye out for the toucans and social entrepreneurship programs to their visit a local women’s coop. We’ll return to our monkeys that inhabit the surrounding jungle. parents and families. We’ll meet some of the hotel and enjoy some free time before dinner After lunch, join us for an optional horseback organization’s students today and discuss how at a local restaurant. ride to La Pintada, a quaint farming village they are striving to rise above their difficult B,L,D— Hotel Alicante or similar of thatched-roof homes and garden patches, situation. This afternoon, we begin our where we’ll meet its friendly residents and enjoy explorations of Guatemala City with a Day 3 Discover Joya de Cerén • a traditional Honduran dinner. Or take the time panoramic drive, enjoying views of its stately Overland to Copán Ruinas, Honduras. to explore the sleepy town of Copán Ruinas Civic Center, the red Baroque façade of the This morning, we’ll explore Joya de Cerén, before dinner on your own. Iglesia Yurrita, the Neoclassical Metropolitan a well-preserved Mayan ruin that features B,L— Clarion Hotel Copán Ruinas or similar Cathedral, and the bustle of Reforma Avenue. dwellings once buried under 20 feet of volcanic We’ll return to our hotel in the late afternoon. ash. Afterward, we travel overland to Honduras, Day 5 Overland to Guatemala City, Dinner tonight is on your own. stopping for lunch en route and arriving in time Guatemala • Paleontology Museum. B— Best Western Hotel Stofella or similar for dinner at a local restaurant. Please note: If Following breakfast, we journey overland Reservations & Information: Call Toll-Free: 1-800-353-6262 • Press 2 OR call Sarah Doody at (610) 526-5316 • [email protected] Day 7 Overland to Panajachel. Today, Catarina Barahona. Here, we’ll briefly visit the jungle. After enjoying lunch at a local we’ll depart for Panajachel—or “Pana,” as a local school (when in session) supported restaurant, we travel overland to Belize City. it is fondly called by locals—stopping en in part by Grand Circle Foundation We’ll enjoy a brief orientation walk around route to meet a family that makes roof tiles and meet two local families. We will the area before gathering for dinner at a and bricks in El Tejar. We’ll also stop to join one of these families for a Home-Hosted local restaurant. visit a local market in Sololá, one of the Lunch, where we’ll enjoy a taste of regional B,L,D— Belize Biltmore Plaza or similar largest Mayan cities in Guatemala. Here, specialties and glimpse into the lives of our we’ll see colorfully dressed locals selling hosts. We return to Antigua this afternoon, Day 15 Explore Lamanai ruins • meat, vegetables, fruit, housewares, and when you’ll have time for independent Discover Belize City. After breakfast, we clothing. In the late afternoon, we’ll arrive exploration. Tonight, we’ll have dinner travel by boat up the New River to explore in Panajachel, with time to check in to our at a local restaurant. the ruins of Lamanai (a Mayan word which hotel and enjoy a brief walking tour before B,L,D— Hotel Los Pasos or similar translates to “submerged crocodile”), the dinner at a local restaurant. ruins of which date back to 700 BC. Nestled B,L,D— Porta Hotel del Lago or similar Day 11 Discover Antigua • Optional amid thick jungle vegetation alive with Life in Guatemala’s Mayan Villages exotic birds and howler monkeys, Lamanai Day 8 Cruise Lake Atitlán • Optional tour. This morning, we embark on boasts the second-largest Classic structure Canopy & Hanging Bridges tour. Today, a walking tour of Antigua, one of the in the Maya world: its magnificent High we cruise breathtaking, volcano-ringed Lake Americas’ oldest and loveliest cities—full of Temple. The site also features the 13-foot Atitlán, the deepest lake in Central America Spanish Colonial and Baroque architecture, Mask Temple, a stone temple mask of a Maya and the heart of the Mayan world. We’ll narrow cobblestone streets, and graceful king. After our exploration of Lamanai, we’ll discover the lingering influence of Mayan stucco homes—and a UNESCO World enjoy a Belize City tour. Tonight we toast the art when we stop to visit a textile market in Heritage Site. Our tour takes in several of completion of La Ruta Maya over a Farewell Santiago. While there, we’ll also learn about Antigua’s museums, as well as the restored Dinner at a local restaurant. the traveling statue of Maximón—a famous convent of Santo Domingo. Then, enjoy an B,D— Belize Biltmore Plaza or similar Mayan deity—and visit an altar where local afternoon at leisure in Antigua and dinner people still perform rituals to honor him. on your own.