Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
scaped, flower-filled gardens around its swimming pool, spotless rooms, and an excellent
restaurant serving (you guessed it) international dishes.
Valle Dorado Water Park
Another 23 kilometers east from Río Hondo along highway CA-9 is Valle Dorado Water
Park (Km. 149, tel. 7943-6666,
www.hotelvalledorado.com
,
6 A.M.-6 P.M. Tues.-Sun., $7
adults,$5children),wellworththewaitifyoucancurbyourappetite,asthereareavariety
of food options inside the park and tons of fun stuff for the kids (or the kid in you). The
large theme park has a variety of pools and water slides as well as a very comfortable hotel
with room rates starting at $70 d.
Continuing southeast about six kilometers from Río Hondo along Highway CA-10 (the
junction is at Km. 135), the first town you'll come across is Estanzuela. The terrain here
is decidedly dry, resembling parts of Arizona, making for an excellent environment for the
preservation of fossils. Sure enough, you can see some dinosaur bones, including the skel-
eton of a 50,000-year-old mastodon and that of a prehistoric whale at
Museo de Paleonto-
logía Bryan Patterson
(tel. 7941-4981, 9 A.M.-5 P.M. daily, free admission). To get here,
go through the town and follow the blue signs to the
museo.
The next stop along Highway CA-10 is the departmental capital of Zacapa. Its redeeming
qualityistheaward-winning
Ron Zacapa Centenario,
soldinafestivewoven-strawbottle
holder.Youdon'thavetogoallthewaytoZacapa topickupabottle,asit'savailable from
its own duty-free shop at Guatemala City's international airport. You can pick up a bottle
before your flight home.
Chiquimula is a hot, dry town and also a departmental capital. Like Zacapa, there is very
little here for the international traveler. It does, however, serve as a transit point for south-
west travel to the Ipala Lagoon or east to Copán, Honduras.
Accommodations and Food
Shouldyouneedtostayhere,yourbestbetis
Hotel Hernandez
(3aCalle7-41Zona1,tel.
7942-0708),withvarioustypesofroomsrangingfrom$6-20d.Themostexpensive rooms
overlook the swimming pool and have air-conditioning. A backup plan is
Hotel Posada
Perla de Oriente
(2a Calle and 12 Avenida, tel. 7942-0014, $25-45 d), with tropical gar-
