El Perú-Waka' Ruins, Laguna del Tigre: Getting There via Las Guacamayas, the 2022 Royal Tomb, Stelae, History

El Perú-Waka’ is a Maya city in Laguna del Tigre National Park, in San Andrés, Petén, known for its large carved stelae and a 5th-century royal tomb found in 2022. The Ministry of Culture’s 2022 list of sites to visit gives no entry fee or hours for it. An INGUAT trip in August 2023 visited the ruins from Las Guacamayas Biological Station, the government news agency AGN reported.

In short: The 2023 INGUAT trip reached Waka’ from Las Guacamayas station. Neither AGN’s report nor CONAP’s station page gives the final leg, a distance or a ticket price, so ask the station about all three.

Quick summary

Where it is and who is responsible

The Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes places the archaeological site of El Perú-Waka’ in Laguna del Tigre National Park, in Petén. Decreto 5-90 of the Congress, dated 30 January 1990, created the park as one of the new core areas of the Reserva Maya. The park’s boundary starts where the Laguna Real flows into the Río San Pedro.

CONAP’s tourism page for the park lists it in the municipality of San Andrés, at 289,912 hectares, declared in 1990. CONAP’s protected-area registry lists CONAP as the park’s administrator (read 9 November 2026). Neither source gives a separate decree or area for the ruins.

The Proyecto Arqueológico Waka’, a joint Guatemalan and US research project, says it has collected data on the site over 20 years. It names its conservation partners as the communities around the park, CONAP, IDAEH (the Institute of Anthropology and History), the Guatemalan Army, WCS and Asociación Balam. Among the communities it singles out Paso Caballos.

Getting there: through Las Guacamayas

The government news agency AGN reported on 23 August 2023 that INGUAT took 16 Guatemalan businesspeople to Las Guacamayas Biological Station for three days. The activities included a visit to the archaeological zone of Waká-Perú, among its stelae and altars, along with sunsets over the Río San Pedro wetlands and a boat trip on the Río Sacluk. CONAP’s tourism page for the station (archived 21 January 2026) also lists a visit to El Perú. See Las Guacamayas and ask about the ruins when you plan your stay.

• The station first. How to reach and book the station itself is covered on the Las Guacamayas page.
• The last leg. Neither AGN’s report nor CONAP’s station page gives a distance, trail or time from the station to the ruins. Ask when you arrange the trip, and confirm in writing that the site visit is included.
• The community. The Waka’ project singles out Paso Caballos among the communities it works with around the park.

Fees and opening

• Entry fee for the ruins: the Ministry of Culture’s 2022 list gives none and has no El Perú-Waka’ entry (read 9 November 2026). AGN’s 2023 report and CONAP’s station page give no price for the ruins visit either; ask the station what it charges and what that covers.
• Opening status: neither the Ministry’s 2022 list nor CONAP’s station page gives opening hours for the ruins. Being booked at the station is not by itself confirmation that the ruins can be visited, so ask.

A city between Tikal and Calakmul

The name. The project says the city’s ancient name, Waka’, is known from its hieroglyphic texts. El Perú is the modern name.

The river trade. CONAP says Waka’ controlled the important cacao and textile trade route on the Río San Pedro for a long period.

The superpowers. Both CONAP and the project tie Waka’ to the struggle between Tikal and Calakmul:

The two dates are for different events: CONAP dates Tikal’s conquest of Waka’ to 742 AD, while the project dates Bahlam Tzam’s fate at the hands of Tikal’s king to 743 AD.

The stelae

The project’s conservation page says El Perú-Waka’ has 65 limestone monuments, most carved with portraits of kings and queens. Their texts have allowed archaeologists to reconstruct the city’s dynastic history. Its epigraphy page, citing an inventory of more than 60 carved monuments, adds:

• the stelae were destroyed in pre-Hispanic times, then mutilated by looters around the 1970s;
• they are large, with carved surfaces about 3.50 m high and 2.50 m wide;
• their quality has made them regarded as masterpieces of the Maya world;
• their texts and images shed light on Waka’s political position in relation to Teotihuacan, Tikal and Calakmul.

Many of the monuments are in a poor state of conservation, the project says. Since 2017 women from Petén communities have been surveying damage for conservation purposes, and protective covers have been built for some monuments.

The 2022 royal tomb

On 20 May 2022 the Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes and the Proyecto Arqueológico Waka’ announced the discovery of a royal tomb of a 5th-century AD Maya ruler:

• Burial 110 was found on 2 May 2022 by Dr. Olivia Navarro-Farr, Griselda Pérez Robles and Juan Carlos Pérez Calderón, while exploring Structure M13-1.
• The ruler was about 30 to 35 years old at death. He lay in a funerary chamber 2.30 m long, 1 m wide and 1.35 m high, built of cut stone and mud.
• The bones had been moved from their anatomical position by repeated visits. The archaeologists concluded that the tomb was re-entered in ancient times in acts of veneration by later rulers, so the person may have been a very important member of the dynasty.
• The offerings included seven ceramic vessels in Maya and Teotihuacan styles, shell and bone pieces, beads, jade ear ornaments and a jade plaque with an Olmec-style effigy.

Safety

• United States. The State Department’s Guatemala advisory (issued 12 March 2026) is Level 3, Reconsider travel, for the country as a whole. Its do-not-travel areas are San Marcos, Huehuetenango, Zone 18 of Guatemala City and Villa Nueva; Laguna del Tigre and the rest of Petén are not on that list.
• Canada. Canada’s advice, last updated 13 October 2026, tells travellers to get advice from a registered travel agency before off-road travel in remote Petén. Separately, it advises avoiding non-essential travel to the PET-13 El Ceibo border crossing with Mexico. That warning covers the crossing, not the park.

In line with Canada’s advice, plan the trip in advance with the station or a registered agency rather than going on your own.

More in Petén

• Las Guacamayas Biological Station, where INGUAT’s 2023 trip to Waka’ was based.
• Uaxactún ruins and Yaxhá, two more Petén sites.
• Guatemala’s archaeological sites compared.

Sources

• Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes (CulturaGuate), Descubren sepultura real de un gobernante Maya del siglo V d. C., 20 May 2022, read 9 November 2026.
• Proyecto Arqueológico Waka’: home page, Conservación de monumentos, Investigaciones iconográficas y epigráficas, read 9 November 2026. Research project.
• Decreto 5-90 of the Congress (Reserva Maya), on FAO FAOLEX: gua201211.pdf, read 9 November 2026.
• Agencia Guatemalteca de Noticias (AGN), Destacan diversidad de la estación biológica Las Guacamayas, 23 August 2023, read 1 November 2026.
• CONAP tourism portal, Parque Nacional Laguna del Tigre, Estación Biológica Las Guacamayas, Wayback Machine copy of 21 January 2026, read 1 November 2026.
• CONAP, protected-area registry entry, Parque Nacional Laguna del Tigre, read 9 November 2026.
• Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes, Sitios arqueológicos para visitar en Guatemala, 20 January 2022, read 9 November 2026.
• US Department of State, Guatemala Travel Advisory, issued 12 March 2026, read 9 November 2026.
• Government of Canada, Travel advice: Guatemala, last updated 13 October 2026, read 9 November 2026.