Travel Guatemala by Martsam Travel

Guatemala Tours

2011-12-05T10:54:00.001-08:00

5 Days and 4 nights

Activities:

Native market – Live culture - Sustainable Cultural Tour – Culture and History

Highlights

Antigua Guatemala – Chichicastenango – Lake Atitlan

Day 1:	Arrival – Transfer to Antigua Guatemala
Day 2:	Chichicastenango
Day 3:	Lake Atitlan (San Juan and Santiago Atitlan)
Day 4:	Antigua Guatemala
Day 5:	Back Home

This is a wonderful tour through the heart of theGuatemala highlands, driving through incredibly colorful landscapes:indigenous people wearing their typical suits that shepherd their sheep anddairy cows, hillsides planted with vegetables and flowers, towns whichwitnessed our history and can now been seen in the paintings and crafts made bylocal artists. Here you will enjoy the multicolored market and theirtraditions. The ancient, indigenous commercial process of flower scents andincense provide for a magical moment.

Scenic boat ride across Lake Atitlan to the village ofSan Juan La Laguna where you can visit the women’s textile cooperative to seehand weaving and the natural dye process. Visit the studios / homes of thecelebrated naïf painters and the then continue to the village of Santiago visitingthe Maya God Maximon and learn about the textiles, spiritualism and beliefs ofthe T’zutujil Maya.

In Antigua you will enjoy walking tour visiting ruins,churches and museums. In this city the stories and legends of the colonialtimes are still present along with the old paved streets.

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Festival Tours - Travel Guatemala

2011-10-19T10:47:00.000-07:00

FESTIVALTOURS – TRAVEL GUATEMALA

Everyyear on November 1st, most of the Mayan villages celebrate cultural religiousactivities showing their respect and devotion to their ancestors.

InGuatemala, heart of the Mayan World, these events have been developedthroughout history and remain as a tradition transmitted from parents tochildren.

The importance, mysticism and the amazing colorful of these culturalevents have created great interest on many visitors from differentnationalities that prepare their luggage every year to be witnesses of theseevents; and some of them get involved on the process and development turningtheir trip into a dipping to our Mayan culture roots.

Wecan mention some destinations where these amazing cultural activities takeplace:

SantiagoSacatepéquez – Giant Kites
SumpangoSacatepéquez – Giant Kites
TodosSantos Cuchumatán – El Venado and El Torito dances together with thetraditional race of horses are presented.
SanJosé Petén – The Holly Skull

You are already on timeto plan your vacations at Mayan World, contact us and our travel advisors willfit your trip to these wonderful events.

www.martsam.com

info@martsam.com

Tikal Grew and Decline

2011-09-19T15:19:00.000-07:00

1. Tikal Grew and Decline

The Maya city of Tikal, located in a dense subtropical forest in the center of the state of Petén in northern Guatemala, was one of the most important cities in the Mayan lowlands.

Its first permanent inhabitant settled in the area around the year 900 B.C. It saw its greatest growth between A.D. 700-800. Many of the structures you will explore today were constructed during that time.

The hot a humid climate throughout most of the year made the forest ideal habitat for an abundance of animal and plants species which provided food, medicine and construction material. The city was built on elevates areas, which were surrounded by “bajos”, or slight depressions that flood during the rainy season.

The center of Tikal, with an area of 16 km², has approximately 4,000 structures, including plazas, temples, palaces, ball courts, causeways and pyramids. Its population has been estimated at 90,000 people, including the living areas around the city.

Tikal was continuously inhabited for almost 1,800 years. Its history includes powerful rulers, great alliances, victorious battles, defeats, economic power and the monumental architecture that secured its legacy for centuries.

Travel Guatemala - Upcoming Tours

2011-09-10T16:42:00.000-07:00

Ceibal - Aguateca - Dos Pilas
Three days two nights:

Departure: October 29

An adventure trip enjoying rivers and streams, Mayan cities, steleaes with impressive art, all this surrounded by one of the most beautiful forest of the region.

The river's trip invites us to wake up the adventurous spirit, open your eyes to be able to see the crocodiles and families of turtles taking the sun in an old trunk, variety of aquatic birds waiting secretly for the first fish that can be easy prey, indigenous communities lost in the back of the snake-like rivers, children greeting the travelers, this and many more in three days of adventure in this world of the green mystery.

We Visit: Sayaxche, Ceibal National Park, archaeological site of Aguateca, archaeological site of Dos Pilas.

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El Mirador Helicopter Tour.

In search of the Kan Kingdom

Departures:

October 1st.
November 1st.

An exceptional adventure aboard of bell ranger helicopter that will transport you over the fantastic and millenarian Mayan jungle in search of the lost city of El Mirador, a natural wonder declared cultural heritage by the UNESCO, on basis of its exuberant jungle and the great variety of wild life that inhabit and the archeological value of the biggest city of the Mayan world.

Please feel free to contact us for pricing and trip details....

2011-08-02T11:06:00.000-07:00

Martsam Tour & Travel at The International French Travel Market:

The Mayan World DMC and Tour Operator, Martsam Tour & Travel invites you to visit the Guatemala´s stand and learn about the best destinations in the Mayan World.

Our Representative in Europe Marie-Laure Pluvy will be at our stand and it will be a pleasure for her to meet you there and let you know about our services in Central America, our cultural destinations and opportunities for tour operators, travel agencies, incentive companies and wholesalers that Central America offers as one of the best destinations in Latin America.

Central America is an amazing destinations for Archaeology, Nature, Culture and Adventure, for groups and independent travelers.

See you there

Martsam Tour & Travel
Travel Guatemala
www.martsam.com

2011-07-20T09:25:00.001-07:00

How to know what the Mayas thought about 2012?

The Mayas were a splendid, brilliant and amazing civilization who reigned for over 17 centuries on the Mesoamerican area.

They were an advanced and mysterious civilization compared to now, they dominated and knew perfectly the science world and were great mathematicians, artists, builders and astronomers.

They left very important treasures for us like the calendar that they developed based on observations of space and the positions of certain planets and stars.

They were great gauges of the time and possessed three Mayan calendars, the calendar of 260 days Tzoolkin, the Haab of 365 days, just like our Gregorian calendar and the Mayan long count calendar.

Their mathematical and astronomical advances along with the astronomical observation allowed them to set centuries ago a calendar an almost perfect accuracy.

Through their calendars, the Mayas with an incredible precision set the end of their calendar and their culture and left a date for the end of the world which is on Friday, December 21, 2012.

The Mayan long count calendar establishes as a starting point on August 13, 3114 to. C. and ends on December 21, 2012, a total of 5125 years in which they set a period of one world, after this period our planet Earth and humans will change radically.

They set it as the end of the Fifth Sun or the Fourth World on December 21, 2012. But this date is not the end; this date marks the beginning of the Fifth World.

On one of the most memorable events and known prophecies of these civilization you can´t miss being at the right place, one of the greatest and most known cites, Uaxactun, famous for being the most precise astronomical observatory in the central Maya lowlands.

It will be one of the most spectacular experiences you will have, being in touch with nature and in the middle of a conmemorable and unique architecture.

Martsam Tour & Travel

Allow us to take you through the Maya Cosmovision and receive the knowledge of this fascinating event in a tour through the most impressive cultural destinations of Guatemala.

You can be part on one of the most memorable events and known prophecies of these civilization in an immersion of their sacred rituals and predictions of the shamans of our Mayan culture about this mystic and conmemorable date.

Contact us for more information

2011-01-18T13:15:00.000-08:00

Guatemala Travel Deals

2011-01-03T13:10:00.000-08:00

Cultural Tours Guatemala

2010-08-31T14:12:00.000-07:00

On August 15 the team of Martsam Tour and Travel was present during the celebration of Santa Maria Joyabaj, in Quiche, the main reason for the trip was to update our information about one of the three municipalities of Guatemala where the dance of el Palo Volador is celebrated.

According to Mr. Carlos Rene Garcia Escobar, author of the atlas danzario of Guatemala, El Palo Volador is a ritual that is related to the Popol Vuh or sacred book of the Mayas and the history that relates the death of 400 boys being heroes by Zipacna, the creator of the mountains, the son of Vucub Caquix, brother of Cabracan the mover of the mountains, killed by the vindictive play of the twin brothers Ixbalanque and Hunahpu.

The ritual is performed by four monkeys / apes all major flyings and eight more of them flying called Moors and Christians, and Saint Michael archangel, commanded by the maximum spiritual and administrative leader, the owner and / or representative.

The apes go in black; the others are crowned with colorful feathers, embroidered shirts and trousers and wear Spanish masks.

In front of the church in the middle of the central area is set a huge tree, which is a female pine called by the quichensis ixoc chaj.

The tree has a square frame which rotateswhere the loops are tied, this is where the dancers’ heng and go around rotating until they reach to the ground level mean while a marimba emits musical notes.

The dance is performed in Chichicastenango on December 21^st, Joyabaj on August 15^th both in quiche and Baja Verapaz Cubulco on the26th of July.

Travel with Martsam Tour & Travel

El Mirador Helicopter Tour

2010-08-19T17:18:00.000-07:00

El Mirador Helicopter Adventure Tour...

...In search of the Kan Kingdom

the great variety of wild life that inhabit and the archeological v

alue of the biggest city of the Mayan world.

Our experienced tour guide will take us in an journey through his

tory visiting El Tigre complex, Los Monos Group, The Jaguar's Claw Temple which shows large painted masks of over three meters of height by two in width, where the name of this pyramid, the tiger are derived, then we will visit the great central Acropolis where in the structure 313 will be able to observe five phases of construction and in its rear we will find evidences of the canals that the Mayas of those times where used to transport water.

In this building we can find a carved panel with the shape of twin brothers, Hunahpu and Ixbalanque,

mythological creatures of the sacred book of the Mayas, the Popol Vuh.

For more information please feel free to contact us:

Martsam Tour & Travel

Creating Unique Esperiences

.............................................................................................................................................

San Pedro El Alto, La Antigua Guatemala

Phone: (502) 7832 2742

Mobil: (502) 5705 6904

..............................................................................................................

USA

2222 Bens View

Kingwood Tx 77339

Phone: (305) 395 3935

..............................................................................................................

Call Toll Free

1-866-832-2776

E-Mail : info@martsam.com

www.martsam.com

..............................................................................................................................................

Tikal Travel Specials

2010-07-09T19:50:00.000-07:00

Tikal Travel Specials

Tikal One Day Tour

Price
$65.00 Per Person

Tikal Sunrise and Sunset Tour

For more information please feel free to contact us
www.martsam.com

Up coming birding tour in guatemala

2010-02-22T13:42:00.000-08:00

Up coming birding events

9 Days Birdwatching Tour in Guatemala:

(4 person minimum)

9–day $1,115.00 p/p

Trip cost includes:

Accommodations, ground transportation, all activities as specified in your final itinerary, birdwatching specialist tour guides, entrance fees, permits, meals as specified in your final itinerary.

Scheduled Group Departure: (4 person minimum)

[April 15, 2010]

Visiting:

Cayala Ecological Park
Tarrales Nature Reserve
Ram Tzul Nature Reserve
Hunnal Ye Private Reserve
Tikal National Park

Day 1: Arrival

Meet & greet at the airport and transfer to your hotel

Lodging at Hotel Ciudad Vieja

Day 2: Cayalá - Tarrales

Early morning Birdwatching at Cayalá Ecological Park,

Transfer to Tarrales

Afternoon Birdwatching around the reserve.

Lodging at Los Tarrales

Day 3: Tarrales - Antigua

Breakfast

Azure rumped Tanager's quest

After lunch transfer to Antigua Guatemala

Lodging at Antigua Guatemala

Day 4: Ram Tzul

Breakfast and transfer to Ram Tzul

Afternoon Birdwatching at Ram tzul Ecological Reserve

Lodging at Ram Tzul

Day 5: Hunnalye

Early Birdwatching for Quetzal Quest,

Breakfast and transfer to Hunnalye,

Afternoon to relax or Birdwatching

Lodging at Hunnalye

Day 6: Tikal

Early Birdwatching around Hunnalye and transfer to Tikal

Lunch and afternoon Birdwatching tour

Lodging at Tikal National Park

Day 7: Tikal

Full day Birdwatching tour at Tikal National park

Breakfast

Lodging at Tikal National Park

Day 8: Guatemala City

Breakfast and archaeological tour in Tikal

Lunch and transfer to the airport

Flight to Guatemala City

Lodging in Guatemala City

Day 9: Back Home

Breakfast and transfer to International airport

Please feel free to contact us to:

Guatemala: (502) 7832-2742

USA:(305) 395-3935

Call Toll Free:1-866-832-2776

http://www.birdwatchingguatemala.com/
htt://wwwmartsam.com

info@birdwatchingguatemala.com
info@martsam.com

Haiti Earthquake Disaster Relief

2010-01-25T19:25:00.000-08:00

Haiti Earthquake Disaster Relief

The earthquake in Haiti – a 7.0 on the Richter scale – is a major humanitarian emergency and could be responsible for as many as 100,000 deaths when all the damage is assessed. Tens of thousands have been left homeless by the disaster.

Governments, organizations and nonprofits around the world are mobilizing to provide relief. If you would like to help, the American Red Cross is encouraging donations to its International Response Fund, which provides immediate relief and long-term support through supplies, technical assistance and other support. Also, Doctors Without Borders is in Haiti and is seeking volunteers and donations.
Organizations Helping With Haiti Relief

* American Red Cross
* Doctors Without Borders
* AmeriCares Disaster Relief
* International Medical Corps
* Mercy Corps
* Catholic Relief Services
* World Vision International
* UNICEF
* Oxfam
* Save the Children
* Yele Haiti
* Partners in Health
* The International Rescue Committee
* Samaritan's Purse
* Friends of WFP
* Feed My Starving Children

Birdwatching Tour in Guatemala

2010-01-15T17:22:00.000-08:00

Up coming Birdwatching Tour

Sunday 14th of March 2010

Birdwatching Tour in Guatemala visiting:
(6 days & 5 nights )

Hacienda Rio Escondido
Las Victorias National Park
Semuc Champey
Ram Tzul Natural Reserve
Reserva Bocas del Polochic
Extension to Tikal National Park

Includes:

All ground transportation in A/C, mini van

1 night of Accommodation at hotel Casa Duranta in Coban

1 night of accommodation at hotel El Retiro in Lanquin

1 night at Hotel Ram Tzul, in Purulhá Baja Verapaz

Entrances fees to the sites you will visit

Birdwatching specialist tour guide

Taxes

Guatemala´s Bird Check list

Does not include:

Meals not described

Alcoholic and none alcoholic beverages

Phone calls

Gratitudes to drivers and guides

Not described

Hacienda Rio Escondido:

Located at the beginning of the Cloud Forest Biological Corridor and close to the Sierra de las Minas Biosphere Reserve, the reserve has an extension of nearly 178 acres, where you will find Pine-Oak Forest bordering Las Flautas and San Isidro rivers.

The reserve promotes forest conservation and has realized bird monitoring; due to this monitories, there is now a high probability that you will see the Golden Cheeked Warbler, especially between the months of November and February.

Species in the area:

Northern Flicker (Guatemalan race)

Bushy-crested Jay

Rufous-collared Robin

Black-capped Swallow

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Goldman's race)

Golden-cheeked Warbler

Grace's Warbler

Chipping Sparrow

Semuc champey

Champey is located 11km to the south of Lanquín, in a valley with steep walls, surrounded by tropical humid forest. There is a 300m long limestone bridge, on top of which there are several natural pools of different sizes, filled with crystalline mountain spring water.

Underneath the bridge is the Cahabón River. At the end of the bridge, the water from the pools falls rejoining the river, forming a 40ft waterfall.

The color of the water changes during the year depending on the season, sun and other natural factors, making for unique picture-taking opportunities. It is a beautiful place, often called idyllic.

Semuc Champey has a diversity of flora and fauna, including 90 species of birds, 34 mammals, 25 reptiles and amphibians; and 10 species of fish. There are more than 120 species of trees and shrubs.

Species in the area:

Great tinamou

Muscovy duck

little blue heron

american bittern

swallow-tailed kite

great black hawk

common black hawk

gray hawk

white hawk

red-tailed hawk

hook-billed kite

collared forest falcon

bat falcon

plain chachalaca

crimson-collared tanager

blue-gray tanager

yellow-winged tanager

red-legged honeycreeper

Ram Tzul Private Nature Reserve

Created in 2001 to preserve the Cloud Forest biome, the water resources of the area, and to promote environmental education through ecotourism activities. Ram Tzul is part of the Cloud Forest Biological Corridor; the reserve also promotes productive activities that are friendly to the environment like organic coffee, bamboo, reforestation and ecological farm.

Species in the area:

Green-throated Mountain-gem

Resplendent Quetzal

Blue-throated Motmot

Black-headed Siskin

Bushy-crested Jay

Rufous-collared Robin

Blue-and-white Mockingbird

Bocas del Polochic Wildlife Refuge

With 51,300 acres, Bocas del Polochic is a very important region of international concern recognized by the Ramsar Convention, where you can observe more than 250 bird species.

There is a biological station in the area under Fundación Defensores de la Naturaleza administration, which also has promoted research and conservation of the regional biodiversity.

Bocas del Polochic is where the Polochic River flows into Lake Izabal, and because of its high level of conservation it is an ideal place to observe terrestrial and aquatic birds. If you are lucky enough, you will be able to observe the three Toucan species of Guatemala foraging in one tree!

The Motagua/Polochic System covers an area of more than one million acres (440,000 hectares) and is located in the northeast section of Guatemala.

The topography of the Motagua/Polochic System is defined by the Motagua geological fault to the south, the Polochic fault to the north and the Izabal depression, which have created altitudinal ranges from 0 to 10,000 feet.

Species in the area:

Sunbittern

Black and white Owl

Emerald Toucanet

Keel-billed Toucan

Olivaceus Piculet

Royal Flycatcher

White-collared Manakin

Crimson-collared Tanager

Tikal National Park

This is the best place for birding in Guatemala,More than 400 species of birds have been recorded within Tikal National Park, including 30 birds of prey and 60 migratory species.

The exhuberant forest and the impressive temples present magic and mysticism.

Due to the rarity and number of species of fauna, Tikal is considered an important area in Guatemala. Rare species found nesting in Tikal include the orange-breasted falcon (Falco deiroleucus) and the Guiana crested eagle (Morphus guianensis), which makes Tikal one of the few nesting areas in Central America for this species.

One can easily spot species such as the ocellated turkey.

Martsam Tour & Travel, providing a lifetime birding tours!

Birdwatching Guatemala by Martsam Tour & Travel

For more information please feel free to contact us to:

info@martsam.com
www.martsam.com
Guatemala: (502) 7832-2742
USA:(305) 395-3935
Call Toll Free:1-866-832-2776

Ruins at Copan serve as portal to Mayan world

2009-12-28T09:24:00.000-08:00

Ruins at Copan serve as portal to Mayan world

Copan, once one of the four major capitals of the Mayan world, is Honduras' major tourist attraction.

By Patti Nickell

McClatchy Newspapers

The early-morning sun burnishes the stone temples in Copan to a golden sheen, while on their facades, serpents writhe, jaguars crouch, birds preen and gods grimace in a pantomime that has been going on for nearly 2,000 years. The silence is shattered only by the screech of a howler monkey living in the surrounding jungle of Honduras.

In a few hours, the chiseling of archaeological teams combined with the chattering of tourists will imbue this primeval scene with a sort of 21st-century immediacy, but now, just after dawn, when it's nearly deserted, it's easy to imagine the ghosts of ancient Mayans treading the sacred ground.

Copan, once one of the four major capitals of the Mayan world, is today Honduras' major tourist attraction. Along with its three sister cities — Palenque and Calakmul in Mexico, and Tikal in Guatemala — it gives visitors insight into an empire that stretched from Mexico's Yucatan across Belize, Honduras and Guatemala to El Salvador, encompassing most of Central America.

Although there is archaeological evidence that the Copan Valley was inhabited as early as 1200 B.C., it wasn't until A.D. 426 that it was first ruled by a king (Yax K'uk' Mo', which means Great Sun First Quetzal Macaw; successive monarchs had equally descriptive monikers, including names that translated to Smoke Monkey, Waterlily Jaguar and 18 Rabbit). By A.D. 750, the civilization had reached its zenith.

The 12-square-mile area of Copan includes more than 750 sites and 4,500 structures: temples, tombs, sacrificial altars and courtyards, as well as caves that are considered portals to the Mayan underworld.

Excavations reveal that Copan was a ceremonial center and meeting place for the Maya. From here they predicted solar and lunar eclipses; made calculations on the movements of Jupiter, Mars and, some think, even Mercury; and interwove aspects of nature with a belief in supernatural forces. In the first system of writing in the New World, they carved all their findings on huge stone tablets called stelae.

The most prominent of these monoliths recounts the life and death of the aforementioned 18 Rabbit, an eighth-century king and patron of the arts who was beheaded by a rival tribe.

Modern visitors to Copan enter the ruins from the western Mayan Road, the same route taken by the Maya and later by their Spanish conquerors. A cedar-lined alley leads to the entrance, which, on my visit, was guarded by five colorful macaws.

This is a good spot to pause and reflect on how Copan must have looked when it was discovered in the 16th century after having been swallowed up by the jungle and hidden for several centuries. Or to consider how it must have looked in 1839, when a local farmer sold it to American archaeologist John Stephens for $50, and how it continued to look until the 1930s, when the first excavation began.

Mayan kings might rest uneasily in their graves if they knew that many of Copan's greatest treasures now grace public museums, including the British Museum in London and Harvard's Peabody Museum, and assorted private collections; still, enough remains to titillate the professional and armchair archaeologist.

Travel Guatemala

2009-12-01T14:18:00.001-08:00

Alive Museum in Sololá, Guatemala!!

Last 18th of November, was the inaguration of the “Museo Vivo de Sololá”, the opening was held by a group of artisans of the Region. Solola is a city in Guatemala. It is the capital of the departament of Solola and the administrative seat of Solola municipality.

The name is a hispanicized form of its pre-Columbian name, one spelling variant of which is T'zol'joly'a. The urban center has about 14,000 people, but the municipality also includes 4 village communities -Los Encuentros, El Tablón, San Jorge la Laguna, and Argueta- as well as 59 smaller rural communities.

The presentation, of the museum started with the narration of all the history of Sololá by Abner Chay, who is native of Panajachel, Sololá and studies at the UVG, university. There was a parade of all the indigenous native suits of the región, and each native woman speaker in their native language. The man of solola ususally wear the

The presentation ended with “La Pedida” that is one of the tradition that is being lost by the natives, in this show, they represented how the customs are held in the town, there are three “pedidas” in each one the fiance needs to give a lot of groceries and fruits to the new family he will be part of.

After the three “pedidas” the father decides how many years he needs to work for him………….

Martsam Tour & Travel
Creating Unique Experiences

Tikal
Calle 30 de junio
Ciudad FloresPeten, Guatemala

Antigua Guatemala
San pedro El Alto 3001
PH: (502) 5705 6904
FAX: (502) 7882 4427

USA
2222 Benz View
Kingwood TX 77339
PH: (305) 395 3935

Call Toll Free
1-866-832-2776

http://www.martsam.com/
mailito:info@martsam.com

Travel Guatemala by Martsam Travel

Guatemala Tours

Festival Tours - Travel Guatemala

Tikal Grew and Decline

Travel Guatemala - Upcoming Tours

El Mirador Helicopter Tour.

In search of the Kan Kingdom

Guatemala Travel Deals

Cultural Tours Guatemala

El Mirador Helicopter Tour

Tikal Travel Specials

Tikal Travel Specials

Tikal One Day Tour

Tikal Sunrise and Sunset Tour

Up coming birding tour in guatemala

Up coming birding events

9 Days Birdwatching Tour in Guatemala:

Haiti Earthquake Disaster Relief

Birdwatching Tour in Guatemala

Ruins at Copan serve as portal to Mayan world

Travel Guatemala