Aug/100
Family Travel – Xocomil, Guatemala
Guatemala has surprised me a lot. It is so much more than I thought which brings me to my story:
My family an I were visiting a theme park in Guatemala that we love. It is called Xetulul and can be found in the Retalhuleu Department of Guatemala. The place is fantastic and we love visiting it, next to it is its sister, Xocomil Water Park. Since I'm not crazy about pools we had never visited it but this time we gave it a shot. I can't believe what I was missing.
The place is amazing! That's all there is to say. It has tons of pools for kids with waterslides and places where they can have some fun without adults having to run after them all the time. There are also huge waterslides for adults that looked pretty scary but the truth is that the turned out to be a lot of fun.
There are also some other interesting and fun rides for the whole family such as a rafting waterslide, a pool with artificial waves and artificial rivers where you can hop on a canoe and paddle for a while or just relax while you float among plants and representations of mayan stelas. We wanted to see both parks so we decided to spend a night in the area and found out that there are 4 hotels that belong to the parks. As usual we decided to see all four of them before I decided to stay in one. Finally we decided to stay in the one called Palajunoj which is the newest one.
Let me tell you what the hotel is like: It is inspired in rain forests all over the world that's why it has 5 buildings each with a different theme, they are: Polynesian, Indonesian, Thai, African and Mayan. It also has beautiful gardens with turkeys running around freely where you can go for a relaxing and scenic view. But my favorite part of this hotel was the restaurant it serves delicious Polynesian food in a beautiful and relaxed ambience.
I highly recommend coming here. I bet you never thought Guatemala had such a place. it's simply amazing!
Marina K. Villatoro, the Travel Experta, lives in Central America - Costa Rica and Guatemala for the past decade. She's traveled these parts extensively and now loves to organize vacations to these amazing parts of the world. Having first hand experience of all the places with her family, she can recommend the best options for you. Contact her for advice and to plan your perfect trip!
Jul/100
Central America Wildlife – White Lipped Peccary
This species typically prefers dense, humid tropical forest, usually with primary growth, although their habitat also includes dry savannas and tropical dry forests. They live in Central and South America. White lipped Peccaries are the big and aggressive brothers of the collared peccary. They have even killed jaguars when trying to defend themselves. That is why white lipped peccaries are considered as the most dangerous peccary.
The pelage of the white-lipped peccary is an overall dark reddish-brown or black. A curious thing is that each and every hair has two different tones: light at the base, and then dark. The average length of these animals is reported to be: body length, somewhere between 90 and 140 cm, shoulder height 40-60 cm, and body weight 25-40 kg. The maximum a white lipped peccary has lived is 13 years. It is an omnivorous animal because it feeds on fruits, roots, tubers, palm nuts, grasses and some invertebrates.
The white-lipped peccary is a diurnal mammal. It is also a social animal. It is known that they live in large herds of 50 to 300+ individuals, though there have been reported sightings of up to 2,000 individuals. With such a large number of herd members, it is necessary for white lipped peccaries to constantly move in order to obtain enough food. Studies have shown that a herd can cover about 10 km per day.
156 to 162 days is the gestation period of white lipped peccaries. When it comes to babies the great majority of births are twins. There are weird cases of single or triples births. The white lipped peccary doesn't have a specific breeding season. They breed throughout the year.
Although not immediately endangered it is threatened by deforestation and increased hunting pressure. This species is economically important, and one of the principal species for neo-tropical hunters.
Marina K. Villatoro, lives in Central America - Costa Rica and Guatemala for the past decade. She has traveled all over these areas with her family and now she loves to organize vacations to Costa Rica and Guatemala. Contact her for advice and to plan your perfect trip!
Jun/100
Some Facts About El Quetzal
Who are they? Quetzals are considered one of the world's most beautiful birds and the Guatemalan currency is named after them. They are also beautiful and exotic birds known for their bright colors and long tails.
Color: The male is unmistakable. Its feathers are from a vibrant green with its distinctive long tail feathers. There is also their scarlet belly and the white lower tail surface. Female on the other hand has darker green fathers and a red belly,
Food: Quetzals are specialized fruit-eaters, but can also be called omnivorous becuase they also like to mix their diet with insects and small frogs.
Growth: Males can be a meter long and can weigh up to half pound because of their tales. The body itself measures only 38 to 40.5 cm, the tail on the other hand can be 61 cm.
Age: Quetzal can't live in captivity, they get depressed and die. That's why no one has been able to study how long they can live.
Habits: Quetzals spend their days sitting on the forest canopy eating. Generally they live groups of 4 or 6 individuals or in couples.
Kids: Females can only have two eggs at once, these eggs are blue and measure around 3 centimeters. The male and female quetzals take turns incubating the eggs. The time it takes the young to come out of the shell is 17 to 18 days. Young quetzals can fly at about three weeks of age, but males do not begin to grow their long tail plumes for three years.
Mating: During mating season, male quetzals grow the twin tail feathers that characterize them and can grow up to one meter long. Females do not have long tails, but they do share the brilliant green and red coloring of their mates. The reproductive time is between March and June.
Importance: There are six different kinds of Quetzals and they are all endangered. These beautiful exotic birds because of all the illegal hunting and the destruction of their habitat are in the list of to be extinct animals unless things change.
Quick Fact: A Guatemalan legend says that when the Spaniards came there was a horrible fight between them and the Quiches (ancient town of Mayan natives), once it was over many quetzals landed on dead Mayan's bodies, where they got stained in their blood and that's where they got their red chests from.
Where can they be found? They need to live in a tropical forest. They can be found from Chiapas, Mexico to Panama.
Marina K. Villatoro, the Travel Experta, lives in Central America - Costa Rica and Guatemala for the past decade. She's traveled these parts extensively and now loves to organize vacations to these amazing parts of the world. Having first hand experience of all the places with her family, she can recommend the best options for you. Contact her for advice and to plan your perfect trip!
Apr/100
Safari Chapin – Much More Than An Animal Park In Guatemala
If you are looking for a day filled with adventure Auto-Safari Chapin is the solution it.
What you can do here:
Be in the middle of an exotic collection of animals in this car safari
Eat around like a king
Flop around in a huge pool
Take a gorgeous ride in a boat
You can take a leisure, rather, pleasure walk in their zoo!
You don't need a car to go in this safari. You can rent one from them and it won't cost more than the same price of the entrance fee of a car. You can drive close to the animals. When I say close, it's because they will be right out your window!
The park has different entrance fees: $8 for only the safari ride and $12for the safari ride, the pool, the boat ride, the zoo and a great lunch with a drink and dessert. The kids get discounts. I took the $12 package because the food is great and much more expensive when you buy them separately and I don't regret it.
Between the safari exhibits, you get to relax in a rest stop where the kids can play around and you can stretch your legs.
After that, you can head to either the pool or to an ultra-relaxing boat ride. I recommend the boat ride because it is really beautiful and calm.
To be honest, when I first paid the entrance fee, I didn't expect too much of it. But after all, I must admit it was pretty good.
Marina K. Villatoro, the Travel Experta, lives in Central America - Costa Rica and Guatemala for the past decade. She's traveled these parts extensively and now loves to organize vacations to these amazing parts of the world. Having first hand experience of all the places with her family, she can recommend the best options for you. Contact her for advice and to plan your perfect trip!