基里瓜考古公园和玛雅文化遗址

This is a spacious park with several Huge Mayan carvings. Our guide was very informative and deciphered the meaning of the symbols - even the position of a hand or foot is significant. The letter X is very prominent because that is the shape the Gods see when they look down on the village - the answer to a trick question that may land you a prize. The Acropolis was my favorite part and worth the climb - there is a back path that will take you there too.

The turn off to arrive to Quirigua is clearly marked and a beautiful drive through a banana plantation. We spent a little over an hour here; we prefer to do self guided tours. I did not expect to see so many stelas! They are really tall and well kept. It left me wondering the man power it took for Mayans to raise such a massive stone slab. We both really enjoy the outdoors so the short nature trails through the cool jungle were a treat. Make sure to wear regular, close-toed shoes because the grass can be on the soggy-side. Outside of the park is a small snack bar with cold drinks; do your part to help keep it clean like we left it. They also have a well kept little museum of the native Mayans and they're work with jade.

We spent a leisurely hour and a half here. We read about the site before we went and did not hire a guide. We had been in Copan the previous day on a three-hour guided tour for just four people, so we elected to skip hiring a guide. It was a good decision for us. The stela are amazing and original, not reproductions. Highly recommend as a side trip if you are traveling from Copan to Tikal with side trip to Rio Dulce.

We spent a few hours at this location, and thoroughly enjoyed the history that our tour guide was able to offer... its hard to stand and view these gigantic stelae and try to imagine a time in the past when these were erected... absolutely amazing!

test enjoyed with a guide who can explain the large stone structures from the Mayans. From The well preserved stone monuments you can gain an excellent insight into the life of the Mayans. Many of the structures require walking over grassy fields. Be prepared with the proper shoes if there has been rain. While the area is not as extensive as Tikal, it is still interesting and worth a visit.

This UNESCO World Heritage Site is considerably smaller than others that we visited. Still, it is well worth a visit. The numerous steles are well preserved, each one depicting a Mayan ruler.

The site is small, which makes is easy to take your time for each of the huge steles. They are magnificent. Each depicts a Maya ruler, adorned with a phantastic headdress, many ornaments which are his robes, highly stylized. In contrast to that are the quite naturalistic heads, which are carved out much deeper than the other parts in order to give them volume. You even can distinguish beards. Whereas the front of the steles present the ruler head on, some backsides give a profile. The sides are mostly filled with glyphs, which are meanwhile deciphered partly. So the exact day of the erection of the stele is given on a small board in front, the date mostly around the 8th century AD. Maybe not as impressive at the first sight are the so called "zoomorphs", huge stones which are carved with animal motives, but also glyphs and ornaments. You can clearly distinguish a jaguars head and paws in one of those. As the mayan artists had to deal with the given shape of the stone, they worked with that shape and their phantasy in a highly artistic way. these zoomorphs are truely artist's work and unique in their way!The acropolis and other ruins give an idea of Maya sites, but if you have seen Tikal or Copan they are not more than just a frame to the exiting sculptural work! A Tuk Tuk from Quiriguá or Los Amates is 10-15 Quetzales, if you take your time and don't want the driver to wait, there are minibuses from the banana plantation to Los Amates. The entrance to this huge plantation is just at the side of the entrance to the site. If you are staying overnight, do so in Quiriguá, not in Los Amates, because the noise from the road is terrible.Do not forget to take a look to the small patch of jungle next to the lawn with the steles. I saw the most beautiful birds, one in radiant blue, might have been a quetzal, the magic bird ( coatl is the snake, so the god Quetzalcoatl was the feathered snake) - only too adequate next to the rulers who wore their feathers and still do on the stone images.

We usually do independent tours. However in Guatemala, due to safety reasons, we booked the tour of the Archaeological Ruins of Quirigua, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, through the Holland American Ryndam ship. The tour was $89.95 per adult (which included the $10 per person entrance fee) and was scheduled for 4.5 hours. They noted that there would be no stops for food and to bring a snack. It was also noted that water would be provided, we were offered 1 bottle of non-chilled water. We left at 7:30 AM and did not get back until 1:10 PM.It was a 1.5 hour ride each way on a fairly smooth main road to get to the archaeological site. The bus was an air-conditioned Mercedes-Benz with cushioned seats and a compact bathroom at the rear of the bus.We arrived at the site and we toured the museum (none of the signs were in English) and then the Jade museum. Our guide Alfredo Juarez noted that we could stay with him or we could venture off by ourselves. He was very much into the fine details of each stalae, and after a few minutes, I decided to go off to take photos. I was able to climb the steps up to the Courtyard, which the rest of our tour group did not get to see. The ground was very muddy, as it had rained for the past several days. Fortunately it was not raining while we were there. Primitive & buggy bathroom facilities with a large roll of toilet paper outside at the entrance. So, be sure to get it before you enter a stall. There was a 15 minute stop to see the banana plants.My problem was I found this 3rd world country to be very depressing. I saw many citizens with cell phone and the tour guide even mentioned that Facebook is very popular. Yet, the houses had no doors or windows and it appears that everyone just throws there garbage out the opened windows into the side yard.I loved the Mayan ruins, but if I am ever on another cruise to Guatemala, I will choose to stay on the ship!

Quiriguá is a very small mayan site. However, the ruins and specially the inscriptions on them are amazing. The totens were well preserved, as well as the whole site.Easy to arrive from the highway.

Great created park, very well preserved stone parts with engravings and sculptures.Take a guide to explain how the counting of the calendar year work.Absolutely interesting.

Maya Ruins of Quirigua, Guatemala; near Lago de Izabal, north of Honduras and south of Belize. It is set in an isolated rainforest pocket, surrounded by banana plantations and home to some of the finest Maya carvings (only Copan in Honduras are better, they say). The sites magnificent stelae, altars and zoomorphs, are covered and well preserved. The stelae were built during the reign of Causac Sky and depict his image. The nine stelae are the tallest in the Maya world. The tallest one is eight meters (26 ft) above ground and weighs 65 tons. This site is small and well maintained with a very small museum (free) which explains the sites history starting from 250BC The price for this site was 80Q ($10US) I found that was too much, but if you plan on staying overnight then it is OK.Camping is available overnight in the parking lot free. After about 5pm you have the place to yourself except the night guard. This spot is quiet and restful, without hookups but bathrooms are available.

We visited this site with a Gate1 tour enroute to Copan, Honduras. The site is relatively small but the impressive stelae (one over 8 meters tall) are well worth the visit. There is also a small but higher end jade shop just at the entrance - a good indicator that this is a cruise ship destination.

We have been to most of the large Mayan Ruin parks...Tikal, Copan, etc and this was very different in that is is relatively small. You can easily tour the entire place in 2 hours or less. That said, it is very interesting. The park is immaculately restored and landscaped. It is certainly worth a visit.

We decided the trek to Tikal was too long and too costly so we opted to visit the ruins at Quirigual during our cruise stop at Santo Tomas. This site is too often overlooked.After an hour or so drive from the ship, we arrived at the Park. Very well set up and maintained trails and exhibits were plentiful. The stele ruins were exceptional. Be sure to stroll to the end and climb the pyramid stairs. You will be rewarded with wide vistas and a better vision of what this place was like when inhabited.

For those who like traveling with a little adventure, try southeastern Guatemala. Four and a half hours by Litegua bus from Guatemala City will get you to QUIRIGUA [kiri-GWAH], a Mayan site often missed because Tikal is the main Mayan pull. It costs Q80 ($10) per person to get in, but it’s worth the fee. Start in the little museum near the entrance. It’s not a huge site, but the Great Plaza with all the super tall stelae covered in hieroglyphs, the magnificent zoomorphic rock carvings, and the acropolis area with its stone structures encompassing a ballcourt is a very worthwhile day trip. You can stay overnight in the small town of Quiriguá (as we did), find a place in Los Amates (a small town nearby), or have the bus let you out on the main road that leads to the site itself (Just tell the driver you want to get out at the site.) We hired a tuk-tuk [three-wheeled motor-vehicle] to take us down the long road past the United Fruit Company’s banana plantations to the actual archaeological site’s entrance.Copan (Honduras) was a powerful Mayan city that ruled over a vast area (including Quiriguá). In AD April 738 the King of Quiriguá - K’ak Tiliw Chan Yopaat (who had been a vassal ruler), captured and decapitated the mighty and powerful King of Copan - “18 Rabbit”. We know this because on the stelae, the story is told in low-relief sculptures, 3D faces, and panels of glyph texts. You can see these and more at the Quiriguá site. The signs are in both English and Spanish. The green-lawned area with all the stelae is like an outdoor museum, and it’s fun to climb the rock structures in the Acropolis area. Your imagination can run wild as you think about Quiriguá as the jade and cacao center of trade, and as a place of ballgames, Mayan rituals, and a ceremonial center.Tell your tuk-tuk driver to return in two and a half or three hours or ask someone at the entrance to call for one to take you back to the main road.