You've Guat the lot

Guatemala is a wild adventure for CHARLES WADE-PALMER who goes from city to rainforest to volcano, finding a breathtaking mix of history, culture, exotic animals and temples

- By CHARLES WADE-PALMER

Pastel prettiness of Antigua

(ENCHANTING CITY)

Terrifying roars echo across the rainforest canopy as though we've just stepped into a Jurassic Park movie. Thankfully these were not dinosaurs making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, but the chilling greeting of howler monkeys as we stepped into an ancient Mayan world reclaimed by nature. Sleeping to the same sound that night was no less frightening.

Guatemala is an adventure. A raw, rough and ready tourism melting pot of exotic animals, landscapes and history. Howler monkeys provided the soundtrack to both our trips into the jungle to marvel at the jaw-dropping remains of an ancient civilisation. But the beauty for those visiting this proud Meso American country isn't in its Unesco World Heritage Sites alone.

In fact, three days and a domestic flight earlier, it was volcanoes stealing the show. Having arrived in the onetime capital of Antigua at night, breakfast some hours later offered views I could not stop snapping.

"It's puffing!" someone cried as I sipped on locally sourced coffee. One of the two volcanoes dominating the landscape was adding to the clouds of sky above with plumes of smoke, a momentary event that never got old.

It was an altogether less active volcano-but no less otherworldly - that we scaled on horseback. Without so much as a single instruction, exploring the steep ashened trail on Tequila was unforgettable, unlike most run-ins I've had with her namesake. Perhaps it's a daily game of hers to test tourists' nerves.

Preparing for our arrival on terrain resembling Tolkien's Mordor were a pair of lads rustling up pizza cooked into the volcano itself.