One of the countries I was most excited to visit.
Guatemala has been high on my list (among so many other countries) for as long as I can remember. I have heard so many wonderful things about it and couldn’t wait to see it for myself. I planned about four weeks touching on many different areas based on traveler recommendations, blogs, and google. I crossed the border via bus from El Salvador to Guatemala City (always an adventure – but this one was quite uneventful) and to my surprise my hostel was located one block from a CHILI’S. Now if you know me, you know how much I love Chili’s Bar and Grill. Yes, I am talking about the tex mex chain in the US. And yes, I am obsessed. And no, I am not ashamed. I immediately knew I was going to like this country.
On a more serious note, Guatemala is surrounded by volcanos, rainforests, coastal towns, and ancient Mayan ruins. The food is rich, and the people are generous. The colonial architecture and the beautiful lakes and natural pools make it an ideal destination for visitors from all over the world. I was most excited for Lake Atitlan as I have heard amazing stories and booked a five-day yoga retreat in the jungle surrounding the lake. But first, I had a few days in the larger cities.
Capital city.
I started my first day in Guatemala City with my favorite quesadilla explosion salad from Chili’s. It was just as good as I remember, my mouth is watering just thinking about it. Guatemala is broken up by zones which makes it easy to get around and figure out what areas are best for tourists. Guatemala City has a reputation of being a bit more dangerous as it is quite huge. My hostel was in zone 10, with hundreds of hotels and fancy restaurants (AKA Chili’s). I walked up the main street running through the city south to north. I leisurely strolled through zone 4, 9 and ended up in zone 1 which is the historical area surrounded by governmental buildings, churches, and shopping plazas. I took a tour in Spanish and understood about 60% of the facts of the National Palace Museum, walked through the markets (bought myself a new wallet since mine broke) and enjoyed a pastry and juice at Café Leon, an 80-year family-owned business with a familiar charm to it. You really only need one day in the city as it is not very tourist friendly.
Fuego.
One of the most popular volcanoes in Guatemala is Acatenango located right outside of Antigua. I booked a two-day, one-night trekking tour with my hostel in Guatemala City for the next morning. My shuttle bus left the city at 5:30am to head to Antigua where I waited for a few hours for the next bus to head to the volcano. There were 11 of us in the group from all over the world (Guatemala, Spain, France, Canada, and Haiti) and we were all ready for a challenge, or so we thought. The volcano hike is no joke. It is 4,000 meters/13,000 feet of elevation gain. It took us five hours to get up to the camp site. We took our time because the elevation was a bit higher and harder to catch your breath. It rained the majority of our hike up, but we made the most of it. We were given an option to hike another three hours to Volcan Fuego (which means fire in Spanish) and get up close and personal to an active volcano. I obviously took the bait, along with three others. After a delicious hot chocolate we started out in the dark with our rain gear and cell phone flashlights in hand.
We made it up to the viewing point where we were greeted with crazy wind gusts and stunning views of the volcano erupting lava (see above). After about 20 minutes of waiting for more fire, the storm clouds blew over and rain started. We decided not to wait and began the hike back. My legs were shaking, my back was hurting, and I was starving. That hike back was rough. But a warm plate of spaghetti and a fire was waiting for us. By now it was 10pm and it was time to sleep. Our wake-up call was only a few hours later to make it up the peak of Acatenango for sunrise. Who needs sleep when you have volcanoes to hike?
The morning fog scared much of the group so many opted out of hiking up to the peak for sunrise. I have done many a sunrise hikes in my travels and I know that fog dissipates with the heat of the sun coming up. So, three of us and our local guide braved the cold, the fog, and the exhaustion. It took us a little over an hour to get up to the summit. That hike was awful. It was mostly all loose gravel with an even higher elevation. And I hadn’t even had a cup of coffee yet ☹ But it made it all worth it when you saw the stunning views at the top. The sun came up with the Agua Volcano in the distance. To the right, you could see Volcan Fuego that kept loudly erupting creating tons of gray smoke (since you cannot see the lava in the daylight). The sunrise was spectacular and one I will never forget. We snapped our photos for the gram and headed back down for a much-needed coffee and breakfast.
We rested for about a half an hour and began our journey back down. No rest for the weary. We got so lucky with a beautiful sunny day and the views down were much better than the rain on the way up. We took our time to soak it all in but also because everything hurt. Each of us passed out on the bus back to Antigua and for good reason. Acatenango was difficult as everyone had warned us, but a highlight of my journey so far. I think you can understand why after seeing some of the pictures found here. The three French and I immediately showered and met for tasty burgers and a beer. A tradition of mine after a long and difficult hike!
Cobblestones and color.
Antigua means ancient. But it is adorable. The city is lined with beautiful old buildings, churches, and stone streets. Even the newer buildings are built to fit into the esthetic. The Starbucks and McDonalds have lovely with murals, huge open courtyards, and colorful décor. Not your average fast-food look. After the hike, I knew I would need a day or two to recover. I WAS SO SORE. I got a massage when I got back, slept in each morning, and did yoga everyday at a different studio. My favorite was Shakti Shala Yoga Studio. The teacher was challenging in the best way possible. Or maybe it was my soreness that made it feel more difficult. Either way, it was amazing.
My first morning in Antigua I met a lovely American, Briana, from Boston at the hostel and we got to chatting. Turns out she recently got her yoga teacher training certificate and is now traveling while teaching yoga in hostels for a month at a time. We bonded quickly and spent the next five days together. I spent the afternoon walking around, getting lost down the different streets, and stopping to admire the colorful building facades. Antigua is also known for its rich food. They have a plethora of tasty soups, amazing homemade thick tortillas, chile rellenos, tacos and much more. I tried everything and was not disappointed. The most cultural dish is pepian (a rich mole sauce that is served with meat, veggies, and tortillas). Briana and I booked a cooking class with La Tortilla Cooking School to learn how to make the local dish. We were taught by a lovely Guatemalan grandmother. She made it look so easy. I am not sure I will be able to recreate that meal (especially not the homemade tortillas – now that is an art form in and of itself) but we had a wonderful time learning and I have the recipe if anyone is interested!
The city has many fun bars and salsa clubs. We went to the most hipster bar in the city called Café No Se, the first mezcal bar outside of Mexico where the owner created illegal mezcal. We had delicious drinks. We checked out a few Irish pubs and rooftop terraces, but the most memorable night started with a free salsa class at Salsa Y Mas followed by dancing with the locals. Now I learned salsa a long time ago in Costa Rica so I understand the basics and can usually pick up quickly with my dance background. However (maybe because we told the teachers we knew salsa or because I lost a contact during the lesson or I had a few beers before the lesson started), that class was the hardest I have ever taken. After about 30 minutes, a bunch of local guys showed up and we started doing partner work while rotating partners every minute or so. Yikes. After, many of us went to a local salsa club to test out our moves in the wild. I think I just ended up embarrassing myself. The good news is that we had a blast!
Things don’t always go to plan.
I have learned while traveling that things don’t always go according to plan, and that is ok. It does not mean that it isn’t frustrating, or disappointing, or inconvenient. When I landed in Guatemala City my receptionist at the hostel mentioned something about the shuttles leaving earlier in the morning because of protests blocking the street. At the time I didn’t know what that meant. Fast forward a few days later while in Antigua, news broke out around the country that locals were protesting the recent governmental decisions. In short, a candidate that won the popular vote in August was being blocked from office. The indigenous people were blocking the main roads to try to voice their opinion against the government as they voted for that candidate for a reason. Stores ran out of supplies, restaurants ran out of food, electricity was out in many small villages, drinking water was running low, and the tourists were just trying to figure out how to leave the country. Luckily the protests and roadblocks were not dangerous and unsafe throughout the country. The police did have to use some force a few times, but overall, everything was quite peaceful. Read more about the situation here.
After realizing that things might not be changing for a while, I spent most of my afternoons in coffee shops trying to change my plans for the next few weeks. I worked to get refunds on my previously booked lodging, yoga retreat, flights, etc. I spent hours on the phone with Expedia to no avail. I switched my plans to go to El Paredon, a popular surf town on the pacific coast, instead of Lake Atitlan after Antigua. There was no physical way to even get to the lake with the roads blocked, but there was a shuttle that left at 3:30am from Antigua to the quaint beach town. I figured that was a safe place while waiting to see how things would continue to unfold.
Let’s be honest, a beautiful beach on the coast of Guatemala is not the worst place to be stuck. The hostel was right on the water with a volleyball court, hammocks on the beach, and a pool with a swim up bar. I was going to be just fine. I met some lovely Dutch friends. We spent the days hanging on the beach, reading, napping, playing volleyball at dusk. We spent the nights playing card games, playing group trivia (which my team won night and we all got free t-shirts!!!), entering a beer pong tourney, and trying to avoid the mosquitos.
It is currently the season for baby turtle hatching, so every morning at sunrise, the hostel takes travelers to the nearby egg conservatory to help release the hundreds of newborn sea turtles. It is free but you can donate to the cause of preserving eggs (many locals steal them and sell them to eat). The morning I went there were 500 tiny little turtles awaiting their fate in the ocean. Only about 1 in 1,000 make it to adulthood (you heard that right) between the rough waters, seagulls eating them, and just not strong enough to survive. Another animal highlight (I know…rare for me) was the resident pig Tato that lives at the Driftwood Hostel. He was honestly the fattest pig I have ever seen in my life and somehow still made it up the stairs to the dining room. The morning I arrived he was quite active (mostly just trying to steal everyone’s food) and one of the owners gave him an entire beer to get him to relax. I have never witnessed anything like this in my life. Pure entertainment.
We spent one afternoon stand up paddle boarding through the mangroves. It was so peaceful and calming. EXCEPT FOR THE MOSQUITOS. They were out to kill. I had about 100 bites all over my body and spent the next few days applying as much cortisone as humanly possible. But it was worth it. Many people don’t venture away from the ocean to see the other side of El Paredon. The river runs for 20 kilometers long surrounded by hundreds of different bird species, flora, and fauna. We ended our time together enjoying a beer on the beach watching the sunset. We said our goodbyes as I bought a last-minute flight out of Guatemala to Mexico. This was not a part of the plan, but the best thing for the time being.
The jen essentials for guatemala.
- Working seat belts (every car I got in didn’t have one, this is how people die…)
- Chili’s Bar and Grill (you should have seen the shock on my face when I realized there was one a block from my hostel)
- Hiking boots and walking stick (Acantanengo is not for amateurs)
- Fresh tortillas (I have so so much more of an appreciation for how difficult these are to make now that I have attempted and failed)
- New friends (I met so many amazing people in Guatemala, people I know will be in my life for a long time!)
- Flexibility (cannot control what is happening politically and could not have planned ahead for it – so just gotta roll with the punches)
- Patience (most of the locals had no idea what was happening and took it day by day…it was definitely a waiting game)
- Hammock (required for El Paredon, I might as well have slept in it)
- Bug spray (although it didn’t prevent bites, it’s a mental thing)
- Education on current situations (don’t be that tourist)
Wrap it up jen.
Guatemala started off well but didn’t end as well. My three weeks unfortunately turned into two weeks and I had to miss out on many unique places I was really looking forward to. However, I made the most of my time in Guatemala. I still got to see many different beautiful places and now I have an excuse to come back in the future to pick up where I left off.
I saw the good as well as the MALA (bad in Spanish) but that is not to diminish what Guatemala has to offer. It was all about timing. I support what the locals were fighting for, democracy and a voice. I hope in the end they win back their voice, and the government backs down. We will have to wait and see what happens in January when the president is set to take office. I am grateful I was a part of their history and know they are a part of mine.
Up next: Mexico…a place I have been to over a dozen times but never gets old. But now It’s time to explore the inner parts of Mexico.
Signing off for now,
Jennifer