National Geographic Traveler - USA (2019-12 & 2020-01)

118 NATGEOTRAVEL.COM

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HOW TO GO Tz’utujil Maya artisans lead tours, conduct workshops, and sell textiles, leather products,

and yarns offered by Lake Atitlán-based Ethical Fashion Guatemala. ethicalfashionguatemala.com

IF YOU LIKE

WHY GO NOW

Meet the Maya—past

and present

A treasure map created using revolutionary laser technology is

leading to new discoveries under the jungle canopy of the Maya

Biosphere Reserve in northern Guatemala. Armed with informa-

tion gathered via the Pacunam Lidar Initiative, an 800-square-mile

aerial survey, archaeologists are finding long-hidden pyramids,

watchtowers, and other ruins of an extensive pre-Columbian

civilization considerably more complex than most Maya experts

realized. While not yet accessible to the public, the latest dis-

coveries confirm that Guatemala is the place to dive into Maya

culture, then and now.

Ancient roots run particularly deep in the northernmost Petén

region, the jungle-cloaked heart of the Maya world. See the stone

jewels of Central America’s pre-Hispanic past in Uaxactún, Yaxhá,

El Mirador, and Tikal National Park. In modern, multicultural

Guatemala, Maya descendants constitute more than half the pop-

ulation, making the country the only one in Central America with

an indigenous cultural majority. Experience this culture in the

Tz’utujil Maya villages around Lake Atitlán.

VISIT

GUATEMALA

CULTURE

WHEN TO GO

NOV-DEC

17

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PACIFIC

OCEAN

PACIFIC

OCEAN

NORTH

AMERICA

JUNGLE TEMPLES

The Temple of the

Great Jaguar towers

over the main plaza

of the ancient Maya

city of Tikal.

BEST TRIPS 20 20