Mayan Ruins of Iximche

Today was our first full day in the Guatemala. We started out our day by travelling an hour to the Mayan Ruins of Iximche. Our tour guide, Luis Lee, was an amazing source of knowledge on the journey. He gave us knowledge of Guatemala as a country as well as the villages and cities we travelled through. It was very exciting to travel on the Pan-American Highway. Luis explained to us the on that particular highway we could travel from Alaska all the way down to South America.

When we arrived at the ruins, we were quickly brought up to speed about the Mayan families who resided at Iximche at the onsite museum. The ruins at Iximche were built in 1472 and were once occupied by four families. The ruins we walked through were separated into four sections separating by temples for worshiping certain gods, playing sports and ritualistic activities. Our group posed before the temple meant to honor the Mayan sun god. We even had the opportunity to watch a traditional Mayan ceremony at an actual temple ruin!

After visiting the ruins, we traveled back into Antigua to spend the day at the plethora of markets and amazing sights. Along the way, we were able to see the ruins of Santa Clara and Tanque de la Union as well as other buildings affected by the devastating earthquake so many years ago. Our group was able to pose for a photograph with El Arco de Santa Catalina as well.

We were blown away with opportunity to immerse ourselves immediately into the Guatemalan culture while feeling extremely welcomed by the Guatemalan people we had the pleasure to interact with. We all felt that walking around this culture-rich city was an opportunity we will soon not forget. Seeing people live a different life style, with different means, was an eye-opening and exciting start to what we know will be an amazing week!