Four Places to Discover the Mayan World in Mexico and Central America

Mexico, Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras are celebrating three decades of founding the Mayan World Organization (Organización Mundo Maya), which focuses on improving the quality of life of the region's inhabitants through sustainable tourism policies with a multi-destination product.

This group of countries seeks to recover the tourist activity that, in 2019, was visited by 50 million tourists. "We are focusing on the new tourist profile, which favors sanitary and security measures in the places they visit; open spaces, in contact with nature; and coexistence with local communities, avoiding overcrowding. All of the above is undoubtedly offered by the multi-destination regional product 'Mundo Maya,'" said Mexico's Secretary of Tourism Miguel Torruco.

To boost the commercialization of the Mayan World, business meetings are held and the air connectivity of airlines such as Aeromar, and TAG Airlines, was expanded to link tourist cities of Mexico and Guatemala.

The Mayan World has very attractive destinations for tourists. Here are a few of the best sites to experience it.

Mexico is home to one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. The main building, known as the Castle, has a north-facing staircase and features a red jaguar-shaped altar and several pieces of turquoise mosaics. In addition, the archeological area has three other important buildings: the temples of the Four Lintels, Three Lintels, and the Lintel, besides the Patio of the Thousand Columns, the Temple of the Warriors, the Ball Game, and the Temple of the Eagles, among others.

This Natural Heritage of Humanity of Honduras is a tropical rainforest with abundant flora and fauna and incredible biodiversity and is considered a HotSpot worldwide. It is located on the banks of the Rio Plátano and is inhabited by indigenous populations living in an area that includes coasts, forests, pine savannas, mangroves, and keys.

This archeological area of Guatemala, also a World Cultural Heritage Site, is considered one of the most important of the Mayan Civilization. Visit places like Plaza de Los Siete Templos (Seven Temples Plaza) where you'll discover the Temple of the Two-headed Serpent located to the west with a height of 213 feet. In addition, nearby is the gigantic pyramid La Danta.

Located in Mexico, Sumidero Canyon National Park is a sanctuary of natural life that began to form 136 million years ago and has a large river in which visitors enjoy rafting on a course of more than 18 miles in an area full of various species of birds. There are also sidewalks to cycle and enjoy the waterfalls of the place.

Ana Beatriz González, Permanent Technical Secretary of the Mundo Maya Organization, said that the mission of this initiative is to stimulate sustainable tourism development so that the heritage of the Mayan Culture is recognized worldwide today and in future generations.

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