Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
inseveralhomes,wherecaneliquor,alongwithtraditional food,areconsumedandprayers
and chants are offered. At the end, the skull is returned to its glass case in the town church,
where it remains on display throughout the year.
The first of the town's two Spanish schools,
Escuela Bio Itzá
(tel. 7926-1363, bioitza@
guate.net), works with the Bio Itzá's women's cooperative, which runs a botanical garden
for the production of natural products such as soap. San José's other language school is
the more recently established
Mundo Maya Ecological Spanish School
(tel. 7928-8321,
www.mundomayaguatemala.com
)
. For food, there's pleasant
El Búngalo
serving reason-
ably priced Guatemalan fare right by the lakeside.
For accommodations, there's splendid
Bahía Taitzá
(along the road into town, tel.
7928-8125 or 5402-1961,
www.taitza.com
, $47 d), set along the lakeshore on one of Lake
Petén Itzá's prettiest beaches. Its eight comfortable rooms are housed in a large building.
All have high wooden ceilings and come equipped with fan, tiled floors, comfortable beds,
and private hot-water bath. A patio out front offers nice views of the manicured lawns to-
ward the lake. There are lakeside hammocks and a restaurant/ bar serving good food and
wonderful cocktails.
EL REMATE
El Remate starts about one kilometer past the turnoff to Yaxhá and the Belize border on
the road from Santa Elena to Tikal. Once considered a stopping point along this road, El
Remate has come into its own in recent years and has begun to pull its fair share of the
Peténtravelmarket.ItsproximitytoTikal,fabulouslakesidesetting,andvarietyofaccom-
modations makes it a wonderful alternative to staying at Tikal or Flores, or better yet, a
destination unto itself worthy of at least one night's stay.
Sights
The turnoff for the road heading west toward Belize, about two kilometers south of El
Remate, was once knownas “El Cruce,” thoughthe small settlement here is nowknownas
Ixlú.
Just off the road, about 200 meters down a signed path, are the ruins of
Ixlú
on the
shores of
Laguna Salpetén.
There is a basic campsite where you can rent canoes to take
on the lake, but there is otherwise little else to do. A small information center can be found
under a thatched-roof shelter by the road, with toilets and a map of the site.
AlongtheshoresofLakePeténItzá,threekilometersdownadirtroadheadingwestfrom
the main Tikal-bound branch, is the
Biotopo Cerro Cahuí
(7 A.M.-5 P.M. daily, $4). This
650-hectare mountainside park is particularly good for
bird-watching
and was initially set
aside for the protection of Petén's oscillated turkey. It encompasses part of the lake's wa-
tershed and ranges in elevation 100 -360 meters above sea level. You'll find several low-
land rainforest species of birds, including toucans, parrots, and trogons. Two trails (2.75
