3 night Maya of the Guatemala Highlands March 7-10, 2012

March 7: The journey begins with your flight into Guatemala City. As participants will be arriving at various times we'll have an airport shuttle available throughout the day. You'll be met and warmly received by your driver at the airport and then a 45 minute drive brings you to Antigua, Latin America s premier colonial city where your guide for the tour will greet you and assist you with hotel check-in. Then you have free time to explore Antigua on your own. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is a strikingly beautiful city rich in history with spectacular views of the three volcanoes that surround it. Visitors and locals alike casually congregate in the central plaza, sitting and strolling, watching the world go by. This is one of the best and most atmospheric plazas in all of Central America. Overnight at the centrally located Posada de Don Rodrigo Hotel in Antigua.

March 8: Today we visit the market at Chichicastenango, an important ritual center of the modern day Mayan . We'll witness Maya religious practices firsthand at the 400 year old Church of Santo Thom s and visit the most colorful native market in all the Americas. K'iche' Maya of the surrounding region and vendors from all over Guatemala gather in Chichi , one of the largest trading centers in the Maya world, to buy sell and trade their wares. A wonderful mix of richly colored textiles and meticulously carved wooden ceremonial masks, the scent of copal incense and candles, the sounds of prayers and singing -- a truly unique experience.

Then we travel to Lake Atitlan. Atitlán is a Nahuatl word meaning "place of water". At an altitude of 1562 meters (4,265 feet) the shores of the lake are home to a multitude of Maya communities. Formed by water built up in a volcanic crater, its deep, crystal blue waters are contrasted by a verdant ridgeline punctuated by three spectacular volcanoes. Novelist Aldous Huxley called Lake Atitlán "the most beautiful lake in the world". Overnight Posada don Rodrigo located in Panajachel on Lake Atitlán.

March 9: Following breakfast, we embark on a boat ride across the lake to Santiago de Atitlán. Take in expansive views of the San Pedro volcano and watch the Atitlan volcano peek out from behind its shorter neighbor Toliman. Santiago Atitlan is the capital of the Tzutujil Maya nation, who consider it to be the navel of the Universe. It has the largest population of indigenous people of any town in Central America. Renowned weavers, the women wear traditional headdresses made from long lengths of cloth wound repeatedly around the head, after the manner of some of the figures in Classic Maya art. Winding through the narrow streets we'll visit the parish church founded over four centuries ago where there is a remarkable combination of traditional Maya and Catholic religious practices. In the afternoon we go to historic UNESCO World Heritage City Antigua with a stop at Ixmiche archaeological site on the way. Ixmiche was the capital of a Late Postclassic Kaqchikel Maya kingdom from 1470-1524 AD. When the Spanish arrived in 1524 it was the 2nd most powerful city in the Guatemala Highlands. Overnight Posada de Rodrigo Antigua.