Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ied as the lodging options and include wakeboarding, horseback riding, beach volleyball,
basketball, horseshoes, and Ping Pong. There are trips to the Sierra de las Minas, Finca
Paraíso, Quiriguá, Río Obscuro, Río Dulce canyon, and Lívingston, or you can explore a
nature trail meandering through the surrounding forests.
The easiest way to get here is by taking a daily water taxi leaving from Bruno's in Río
Dulcebetween4and4:30P.M.(callaheadtoconfirm).Bybus,travelalongtheCaribbean-
bound highway (CA-9) and get off at the Las Trincheras Junction (Km. 221), from where
you take a connecting minibus for the remaining 15 kilometers northwest to Mariscos.
Once there, look for the
Ferretería de Doña Judith,
on the road leading out of town to-
ward Playa Dorada. A hotel-owned water taxi can take you from there to the hotel. If
you've driven your own car, you can also leave it here. The lodge can be reached on VHF
channel 63. Many businesses in Mariscos use radios and can contact the lodge for you to
arrange a pickup if you get lost along the way or if the water taxi isn't there.
During your travels, you might be surprised to find the neighboring country
of Belize included as part of Guatemala on many maps produced in-country.
It would seem that Belize is just another Guatemalan
departamento
despite its
status as an independent nation since 1981. Guatemala did not in fact recognize
its neighbor's independence until 10 years later in a highly criticized and uncon-
stitutional move by then-president Jorge Serrano Elías Guatemala's constitution
clearly states that any decision regarding the independence or territorial integrity
of Belize must be submitted to a public referendum. And so the debate contin-
ues over the “Belize question.” It seems to be one of those issues that just won't
go away, with succeeding governments always promising a final solution to this
centuries-old problem.
Several governments have used the issue as a diversionary tactic during times
of civil unrest, particularly during the military regimes of the 1970s. Matters
came to a head in 1977 when Great Britain sent 6,000 troops to the border in
anticipation of an invasion by Guatemalan troops during the presidency of milit-
arystrongmanRomeoLucasGarcía.Today,thereareoccasionalreportsofincid-
ents along the northern Petén region's eastern border with Belize when Guatem-
alanpeasantsareforcefullyevictedfromthe“no-man'sland”alongtheborderin
clasheswithBelizean securityforces.Theborderisoftenreferredtoasa
zona de
adyacencia,
or “imaginary border” area. Guatemalan newspapers love to publi-
cize these incidents of supposed injustice against unarmed peasants, calling for a
final solution to the long-standing problem.
