Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa is in the Pacific Lowlands of Guatemala.

Understand

Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa (often shortened to just Santa), is a hot, busy town in a sugar-producing region of the Pacific plain - the air smells of burnt sugar from the many refinaries in the area.

Get in

Buses from Mazatenango and Escuintla.

Get around

Walk, taxi or tuk-tuk.

See

One of the sculptures from the El Baul site, displayed in the Cozumalhuapakultur Ethnologisches Museum in Berlin

• El Baúl. Sugar plantation with on-site museum of prehispanic sculpture excavated from the cane-fields, plus a couple of old narrow-guage steam engines once used on the plantations. (updated Feb 2016)
• Bilbao. A couple of prehispanic boulder sculptures among sugar-cane fields. (updated Feb 2016)
• La Democracia. A small town with an impressive array of prehispanic boulder sculptures laid out around the main plaza, brought there from the Monte Alto site. There is also a small regional museum. (updated Feb 2016)

Drink

Don't accept ice in any drink, unless you want a dose of amoebas, not even in chain restaurants like Pollo Campero etc.

Go next

• Escuintla
• Guatemala City
• Lake Atitlán - take a bus to Mazatenango, and get off at Cocales to take transport up to Santiago Atitlán.