Guatemala Guide
East to the Caribbean
Punta de Manabique
North of Puerto Barrios, the hooked peninsula that juts into the Bahía de Amatique, the Punta de Manabique, contains most of Guatemala's best Caribbean beaches and offers superb ecotourism opportunities. Most of the area has been designated a nature reserve, the Biotopo Punta de Manabique, which is managed by the conservation group Fundary. It's one of the richest wetland habitats in Central America, and the swamps, mangroves and patches of flooded rainforest are home to caimen, iguana, spider and howler monkeys, peccary, plus a few manatee, some jaguar, tapir and bountiful birdlife, including the extremely rare yellow-headed parrot (Amazona oratrix). The reserve also includes the adjacent coastal water and the only coral-reef outcrops in Guatemalan waters.
About one thousand people, mainly immigrants from western Guatemala, eke out a living in Manabique, surviving by subsistence fishing (mainly for sardines, which are then salted) and hunting (particularly iguana) and cultivating small rice paddies. Their livelihood is increasingly under threat from cattle ranchers who are starting to encroach into the drier lands in the south of the reserve. Most locals are very poor, and Fundary have been busy establishing basic health care measures, setting up schools and providing teachers, and raising environmental awareness. They've also been working to develop ecotourism in the area, an initiative that's included the establishment of a rustic lodge, El Saraguate (reservations through Fundary; US$9 per bed), which offers four clean rooms, each with three or four beds, and a restaurant that serves tasty meals: lobster, grilled fish and chicken dishes. Boat trips also can be arranged along the Canal Inglés ("English Channel") – named after British loggers who dug a ten-kilometre trench between Laguna Santa Isabel and the Río Piteros – which offers superb birdwatching.
Trips to Manabique are best organized with Fundary, 17 Calle between 5 and 6 avenidas ( 
7948 0435), or in Guatemala City, Diagonal 6 17–19, Zona 10 ( 7333 4957, 
www.guate.net/fundarymanabique ). This environmental group can arrange transport and accommodation packages (from US$125 per head) for two nights in the reserve including meals, and has good contacts with local guides.