Connect to the Source

ORIGINS

A unique travel experience that brings you to the source of cacao.

Some things can only be understood in person. The ORIGINS experience brings you into the food forests of Lanquín, Guatemala, to meet the Q'eqchi families who grow your cacao, walk the land it comes from, and taste it the way it was always meant to be: slow, intimate, and close to the source.

This isn't a typical ‘tourist’ experience. It's a few days inside a living relationship between land, family, and food — what we call a living bridge.

What’s Included

  • Cacao tour — a 2.5 hr tour of the property to see how cacao grows in an agroforestry system, see the entire process from fermentation to drying to toasting and peeling, and make your own stone-ground chocolate

  • Family farm visit — visit with a Q'eqchi family in direct-trade partnership with AWANIMA, visit their cacao parcel, and share lunch in their home

  • Semuc Champey excursion — a day at Lanquin’s most beloved turquoise limestone pools

  • Daily cacao with breakfast — ceremonial cacao to start each morning

  • All meals included — healthy, local, vegetarian, home-cooked meals throughout your stay

  • Accommodations — your choice of private or shared rooms, 3 night stay

  • Cost:

    • Shared Room: $290 USD per person

    • Private Room: $350 USD per person

Not Included:

  • Transportation to and from the center (we can help to coordinate shuttle transport)

  • Entrance ticket to Semuc Champey

  • Traditional Mayan fire ceremony (available upon request)

To book your ORIGINS trip, send us a message on WhatsApp or email us at hey@awanima.com.

Sample Itinerary

Day 1:

  • 5:00pm — Arrival time (if you take the shuttle to Lanquin)

  • 6:00pm — Vegetarian dinner and get a good night’s sleep

Day 2:

  • 8:00am - Start your day with breakfast and cacao

  • 9:00am - Cacao tour and chocolate-making workshop

  • 12:00pm — Family farm visit & homemade lunch

  • 6:00pm — Vegetarian dinner and sleep!

Day 3:

  • 8:00am — Breakfast and cacao

  • 9:00am — Visit Semuc Champey and spend the day relaxing and swimming in the natural pools

  • 12:00pm — Lunch

  • 1:00pm — Explore Lanquin, swim in the river, take a hike

  • 6:00pm — Dinner

Day 4:

  • 7:00am — Breakfast and cacao

  • 8:00am — Leave on the shuttle

A small wooden house with a thatched roof situated in a lush green landscape surrounded by tropical plants and trees, with forested hills in the background under a partly cloudy sky.
A tropical bedroom with bamboo walls, a bed with a burgundy bedspread, a wooden side table with a lamp, white curtains, and a colorful woven rug on the floor. There is a hammock or mosquito net with a decorative mask hanging from the ceiling.
A wooden house with a red roof among lush green trees.
Interior of a bamboo hut with a wooden bunk bed, a window with a colorful curtain, a wall hook, and a woven mat on the floor.
A person holding a ceramic mug filled with hot chocolate, sitting on a colorful woven fabric.
Open-air rustic cafe or restaurant with wooden furniture, surrounded by greenery and plants, with a corrugated metal roof
A group of indigenous women and children sitting in a line in an outdoor setting with a wooden structure and trees in the background, some wearing colorful traditional clothing.
Outdoor rustic-style toilet with wooden walls and floor, a composting toilet with an open lid, a small stool with a colorful woven cloth and a roll of toilet paper, and lush green foliage outside.
Close-up of red new leaf and bud on a tree trunk.
A white plate with Hungarian goulash, dumplings, mashed potatoes with gravy, and a side of red cabbage, garnished with chopped green onions, on a wooden table.
Woman with dark hair in bun, wearing a patterned blouse and a colorful woven shawl, holding a brown ceramic mug, standing in lush green forest.
A rustic outdoor bathroom with a stone wall, a small sink with a wooden countertop, a mirror, and a bottle of hand soap. There are green plants outside and sunlight filtering through. A red towel hangs on a hook alongside a glass with a candle.
Group of people working together to make sugar from sugarcane using traditional wooden tools, outdoors in a lush, green environment.
A dirt path with small wooden steps winding up a lush green hillside, surrounded by various tropical plants and dense trees, with a colorful wooden sign that reads "Plataforma cabañas Chaya & Rosa de Jamaica".
A red hammock tied between trees beneath a shaded structure in a forested area with green leaves and plants in the background.
A cozy bedroom inside a bamboo hut with a bed covered in a colorful striped blanket, white pillows, a towel, and bath amenities, illuminated by sunlight through a window.
Hands holding colorful dried beans over a large bowl filled with more beans, outdoors.
A woman in traditional clothing holding two packages of Awamina cacao products, standing outdoors in a lush, green environment.

AMENITIES

A peek into our eco-hostel and amenities

A plate of breakfast food including scrambled eggs, black beans, slices of fried plantains, a piece of cheese, and some other fried items. There is a coffee mug in the background and a tray with watermelon and carrots on a colorful tablecloth.

Meals in our Café & Filtered Water

A solar panel mounted on a pole on a rooftop with a mountain and trees in the background.

Starlink Wifi

Wooden platform in a lush green jungle with trees and plants, sun shining through the leaves, and distant mountains visible in the background.

Movement Platform

A river flowing through a lush green forest, with trees and plants on the riverbank under a clear blue sky.

Lanquín River Access

A woman with dark hair styled in a bun, wearing earrings and a white lace top, is preparing traditional food at an outdoor setting surrounded by green foliage.

Cacao Tours

A butterfly with black and bright green wings perched on a partially eaten yellow apple on the ground.

Fresh Air, Birdsong & Butterflies

Sunset over lush green hills and mountains.

56-Acres of Mountain Trails

A homemade outdoor laundry station with a wooden sink and a washing machine, with soap containers underneath.

Onsite Laundry Services

An outdoor shower area surrounded by bamboo fencing, located in a lush forest with green foliage. A colorful sign indicates this is a shower for guests, with lines of clothing and a rain shower icon.

Compost Toilets & Solar-Powered Showers

Want to Bring a Group to AWANIMA?

We are now booking 2026 and 2027 groups to come visit AWANIMA and explore Lanquín.

Learn more