Peten Guatemala Map Map extracted from Google Images

Text Source: WikiPedia.com
Petén is a department of the nation of Guatemala. It is geographically the northernmost department of Guatemala, as well as the largest in size — at 12,960 square miles (33,566 km²) it accounts for about one third of Guatemala's area. The capital is Flores. The population in 2005 was estimated at 450,000.

History

By the first half of the 1st millennium BCE the Petén and Mirador Basin of this region were already well-established with a number of monumental sites and cities of the Maya civilization. Significant Maya sites of this Preclassic era of Mesoamerican chronology include Nakbé,El Mirador, Naachtun, San Bartolo and Cival.

Later Petén became the heartland of the Maya Classic Period (c. 200 – 900). At its height around 750 it is estimated that Petén was home to several million people, being one of the most densely populated regions of the world at the time. Some areas are estimated to have had 1,000 people/km². Agriculture was very extensive, and there is some evidence suggesting that the land was depleted by unsustainable over-farming, resulting in a famine which was an important factor in the collapse of the Classic Maya states of this area. The population is estimated to have dropped by two-thirds between the mid 9th century and the mid 10th century.

Ruins such as Tikal, Holmul, Machaquilá, Naranjo, Nakum, Piedras Negras, Ceibal, Aguateca, Uaxactún,Topoxté and Yaxhá preserve important remnants of the Classic Maya in Petén. The firts UNESCO World Heritage Site in the world was Tikal, and later Tikal National Park, was the first Mix (Archeologic and Natural World Heritage Site in the World

After the Classic collapse the population of the area continued to drop dramatically, especially after the introduction of smallpox along with European explorers. The smallpox plague arrived around 1519 or 1520, preceding by several years the first Europeans to visit the region. Hernán Cortés led the first expedition to pass through Petén, in 1524 to 1525, and reported that the region mostly had small hamlets separated by thick forest, with Tayasal being the only sizable inhabited city they observed.

After Cortés' expedition, the Spanish largely left Petén alone for generations until an expedition from Yucatán succeeded in conquering the last independent Maya-Itzá state there, in 1697. (see: Spanish conquest of Yucatán).

The Spanish town of Flores was established atop the site of Tayasal, but this remained an isolated backwater through the colonial era and after the independence of Mexico and Central America. When Guatemalan President Rafael Carrera sent a small force to Flores to claim the region for Guatemala in the 1840s, the governments of Mexico and Yucatán decided the region was not worth the trouble of contesting.

Starting in the 1960s the Guatemalan government offered land in Petén to any citizen willing to settle on it and pay a fee of $25. A road was opened up to Flores, although it was unpaved, and the notorious bus trip to Flores was known to take up to 24 hours to travel the 300 miles (500 km). Small airports were built at Flores and Tikal, bringing tourists to the region. In the early 1970s a road was opened from Tikal to Belize.

The first paved road in Petén was built in 1982. The second International Airport of the country is the Flores airport Since the 1990s many new settlers have come to Petén and it is experiencing severe deforestation, in its south half, but in the nort half is the largest unspoil Tropical rain Forest left outside of the Amazonas.
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Flores

Flores is the capital city of Petén department of Guatemala. It is located at 16°54′N 89°54′W. The population is 13,700 (2003).

Flores serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality, with which it shares a name (population 22,600).

The old part of the city is located on an island on Lake Peten Itza, connected to the mainland by a short causeway. On the mainland are the suburb towns of Santa Elena and San Benito.

In Pre-Columbian times, Flores was the Maya city of Tayasal. The Itza, left the Yucatán region in the 13th century and built the city later known as Tayasal as their capital. They called it Noh Petén, or literally "City Island". It was also called Tah Itzá, or Place of the Itzá.

It was here on the island of Flores on the shore of Lake Petén Itzá that the last independent state of the Maya civilization held out against the onslaught of the Spanish conquerors. In 1541, Hernán Cortés came to the island, on route to Honduras, but needed to move on and did not try to conquer it.

The Spanish did not manage to conquer the island until 1697 when they marched in, attacked via boats and destroyed it. Those who could do so fled and many Itzá people hid in the jungle for years. From the ruins of Noh Petén arose the modern city of Flores.

Poptun

Poptún is a municipality in the El Petén department of Guatemala. It contains 30,386 people. It is some 385 km from Guatemala City.

Travel to Poptún will be by public bus. Avoid the Fuente del Norte line. It has had many accidents and many fatalities. The ADN line is a luxury line that travels between Guatemala City and Santa Elena (Flores), passing through Poptún. The Linea Dorada is a very good choice on the same route and a bit cheaper. On the economy side is the Rosita bus company. All three of these bus lines are fairly close together in zone 1 of Guatemala City. The one-way prices range from about $8.00 US to about $32.00 US at the writing of this commentary (10-20-06). Poptún is about an hour from Santa Elena and two hours from Tikal, the popular restored Mayan archeological site. The airport is in Santa Elena. There are many local hotels starting at about $7.00 US. There is a tourist hotel that´s nice but more expensive, Finca Ixobel, pronounced Finka Ishobell. Transportation in town is your choice of car taxi ($2 US) or moto-taxi ($.70 US). It´s a cross between a rickshaw and a three-wheeled motor scooter. You can rent a room or an apartment for $25 to $50 US. A maid might be hired for $50 to $75 dollars a month. Not a bad place to retire. The cost of living is less here than Mexico or Belize. The local people are generally very friendly with Americans, Europeans, and Asians. Since few of them speak English, a working knowledge of Spanish is very helpful. There is a mix of local indigenous people who live in or around Poptún. They speak Mam, Mayan, or Kekchi usually. They also have there own distinctive tribal clothing. The weather is mild year round. On a very cold morning it might be in the mid-40´s, and on a hot day it could get to the 90´s. While most of the year is rainy, they tend to be short rains that come and go and come again. February, March, and April are typically the dry months. The local flowers and fruits are beautiful and plentiful. In addition to the common tropical fruits, there are many exotic fruits that are well worth sampling. While parrots and tucans are native to this area, you may or may not see some. The monkey population has moved to more remote areas along with the jaguars and other jungle beasts. As far as modern conveniences are concerned, most everything is available: electricity, running water, (There may not be hot water in the hotels.), telephones, cell phones, internet, cable TV, satellite TV, and even garbage collection.
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Tikal

Tikal (or Tik’al, according to the more current orthography) is the largest of the ancient ruined cities of the Maya civilization. It is located in the El Petén department of Guatemala at 17°13′19″N, 89°37′22″W. Now part of Guatemala's Tikal National Park, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a popular tourist spot.

The closest large towns are Flores and Santa Elena, about 30 kilometers away.

The ruins lay on lowland rainforest. Conspicuous trees at the Tikal park include gigantic ceiba (Ceiba pentandra) the sacred tree of the Maya; tropical cedar (Cedrela odorata), and mahogany (Swietenia). Regarding the fauna, agouti, spider monkeys, howler monkeys, ocellated turkeys, guans, toucans, green parrots and leaf-cutting ants can be seen there regularly. Jaguars and coatis are said to roam in the park.
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