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 TOUR GUIDES
The question is often asked, "do we need a tourguide". It is not a matter of needing a tourguide and if you speak fluent Spanish then getting around can be easier. If you have a tourguide getting around can be a lot easier if you do not speak Spanish and you will learn a lot more than if you were by your selves. You can take a tour charter out of every major city in Chiapas from Palenque to Tapachula. These tours can be anything from a guide, you and a collectivo to an air-conditioned 4x4. Surprisingly many agencies do not have English speaking personal on their staff. Bilingual tourguides generally find more lucrative means with their talents than working for tour operators. In and around Palenque chances are you can find a German speaking tourguide faster than English one. The cost of guides varies. If you are going through an agency you pay for transportation, meals, the guide and any other costs concurred during the trip. If you are traveling around with a guide you pay for his food, lodgings, beer then at the end of the trip you pay him cash or a present. It is usually best to determine the arraignments before hand so there are no surprises for anyone at the end of an expedition. Finding a guide to travel around with you, who is cool, is not exactly easy. You meet these guys around Palenque usually on the Palenque strip near the ruins. Mayabell is the perfect place to start looking. You do not necessarily need to reserve or book weeks ahead for a tour to any established locations. Going into the jungle with guides does however require some planning. Finding tours is as easy as walking to the front desk of your hotel or campsite. You can also take collectivos to every location you wish to journey to however this requires the skills of navigating the back-mountain collectivo system, a guides is suggested. Ruin site guides are a different story. These people have to be certified. They take archeology courses at university and train to become guides. These are professional guides who work at the ruin site for INHA. Most every ruin site will have a guide however beyond Palenque finding an English speaking INHA guide may be a challenge. |
Toucans inhabit rainforests and lowlands in Central America and the tropical South America. To the south their distribution range extends to Northern Argentina. They are at home in the treetops and live solitary or in small groups. The Toucans' legs and feet are quite strong and made for moving on and between the branches. With great skill they hop along the twigs. But on the other hand Toucans are not able to fly very well. Their body is too heavy and ungainly to allow long and elegant flights. It is assumed that there are 37 Toucan species, all of them with more or less oversized beaks. Scientifically the Toucan family is called Rhamphastidae. It's striking that the relation between the size of the Toucan's beak and the size of its body increases with the size of the species. Small Toucan species have rather "normal" beaks, whereas the beaks of large species like the Toco toucan (Ramphastos toco) are huge, even if the size of the body is taken into consideration. Paradoxically the colourful plummage and the even more colourful beak are a perfect camouflage in the treetops, since from a distance they make Toucans rather look like fruits than birds. |
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| Archaeological Sites | Natural Beauties | Cities and Villages | |
  
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| Traveling to the Yuctan Peninsula visit |
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