Central America has its fair share of spectacular parks but two main highlights reside in both Guetemala and Costa Rica.
 
When you have free time from being a volunteer in Guatemala, the Parque Arqueológico Kaminaljuyú is a very important historical Mayan city. Located 4km from the central city centre, the area used to be home to thousands of people with many temples built on the surrounding mounds. The carving that still exists today reveal an elite of literature that had not existed anywhere else in the world at the time. When invaders from Teotihuacán came in at 400AD, the city fell and since has fell victim to urban development. The park now really just consists of mounds with only a part of the ancient city still remaining. However, this stunning area will give you a glimpse of a Mayan past too remarkable to merely imagine. To get to the park, the bus 35 will go from ‘Zona 1’.
 
In Costa Rica, the Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio is now currently protected as a national park since 1972. In 2000, the park was expanded to 16 square kilometres, but it still only stands as the second smallest park in the whole of the country, even if it is probably the most impressive. It is a major tourist hub here and you may find it hard, especially in the summer, to find a quiet grassy patch to lay back and relax on. With beachy lanes and coconut-lined palm trees, you can experience the wind rushing from the tropical rainforest behind you and spectacular images of the bay, out to the outer islands. Look out for the howlers, sloths, iguanas, capuchins and squirrel monkeys which will scurry along in the area. As a volunteer in Costa Rica, this is probably where you will have your well-earned rest.
 
Either park is an ideal day out for the family or solo trips. Whether you are an avid historian or the kind to just lay back and do nothing, these parks are just the tip of the iceberg in regards to what Central America has to offer.