Semuc Champey is a natural monument in the department of Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, near the Q'eqchi' Maya town of Lanquín. It consists of a natural 300m limestone bridge, under which passes the Cahabòn River. Atop the bridge is a series of stepped, turquoise pools, a popular swimming attraction.*

*(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semuc_Champey)

The city of Cobán is the capital of the department of Alta Verapaz in central Guatemala. It also serves as the administrative center for the surrounding Cobán municipality. It is located 219 km from Guatemala City.

In 2005 the city's estimated population was 86,202. The population of the municipality, which covers a total terrain of 1312 km², was 94,000 people. Cobán, at a height of 1320 m above sea level, is located at the center of a major coffee-growing area.*

Río Dulce ("Sweet River") is a river in Guatemala. It is part of a lake and river system that has become a very popular cruising sailboat destination. It is entered at the town of Livingston. The river meanders for six miles (10 km) in a spectacular gorge. The sides of the gorge rise up to 300 feet (91 m) on either side and are covered with teak, mahogany and palms. Wild flowers bloom throughout the foliage and howler monkeys and toucans can be seen. Waterfalls flow over the lip of the gorge after rainfalls.

The river opens into a long narrow lake called El Golfete. To starboard is an island and a large natural anchorage. A few houses and a couple of small businesses are on shore. El Golfete is about 10 miles (16 km) long and a couple of miles wide. At its farthest end it becomes river again for a couple of miles. It is this area that several marinas and resorts are to be found.

The Pre-Columbian city today known as Copán is a locale in extreme western Honduras, in the Copán Department, near to the Guatemalan border. It is the site of a major Maya kingdom of the Classic era (5th through 9th Centuries).

The kingdom, anciently named Xukpi (Corner-Bundle), flourished from the 5th century AD to the early 9th century, with antecedents going back to at least the 2nd century AD. Its name is an apparent reference to the fact that it was situated at the far southern and eastern end of Maya territory. The nearby modern village of Copán Ruinas itself may have anciently been known as Oxwitik.*

*(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copan)

(2 days/1 night)

As is often the case with huge ancient ruins, knowledge of the site was never completely lost in the region. Some second- or third-hand accounts of Tikal appeared in print starting in the 17th century, continuing through the writings of John Lloyd Stephens in the early 19th century (Stephens and his illustrator Frederick Catherwood heard rumors of a lost city, with white building tops towering above the jungle, during their 1839-40 travels in the region). Due to the site's remoteness from modern towns, however, no explorers visited Tikal until Modesto Méndez and Ambrosio Tut visited it in 1848. Several other expeditions came to further investigate, map, and photograph Tikal in the 19th century (including Alfred P. Maudslay in 1881-82) and the early 20th century.