Guatemalans love children and traveling with them will often be all that you need to break the ice with locals. Guatemala’s cultural and natural wealth can also form the basis for a very educational trip allowing children to see and experience what they might only read about in textbooks and classrooms.

Check out our suggestions for a kid-friendly Guatemala vacation.

Guatemala is also a popular place for adoptions and on almost any given flight leaving Guatemala City you’ll see at least one couple bringing home an adopted baby. Several Guatemala City hotels, particularly the Radisson, have special accommodations for travelers visiting Guatemala to adopt a child, including rooms with stuffed animals and cribs, among other amenities.

The U.S. government was discouraging adoptions from Guatemala because of deficient legal parameters ensuring the protection of adopting parents and adopted children in line with international standards. Guatemala had not (at last check) ratified the international Treaty of The Hague, which governs intercountry adoptions.