“Lake Como, it seems to me, touches on the limit of permissibly picturesque,” he wrote in 1934 in his travel book Beyond the Mexique Bay, “but Atitlán is Como with additional embellishments of several immense volcanoes. It really is too much of a good thing.”
The same could be said About the country itself. Guatemala is about the size of Iceland but it is as crammed with gorgeous and fascinating sites as a fashion model’s suitcase.
It has coastlines on two oceans, volcanos, small Maya villages, gorgeous lakes, the second-largest tropical rainforest in the Americas, after the Amazon, the Maya Biosphere Reserve and the largest and possibly oldest of all the Maya cities known to archeologists, Tikal. It is also the most spectacular.
It’s unfortunate that it is usually seen as an afterthought to Mexico, as a kind of “Well, as long as we’re down here in Palenque, we might as well check out Guatemala.” I spent a lot of time in Mexico, and loved it there, but I always felt that Guatemala was a more concentrated, more intense, experience because it is so much smaller and I was always swiveling my head, trying to keep up with the passing landscape.
Guatemala is also one of the most colorful countries in the world, with its painted houses and buses and the traditional clothing the Maya people wear.
Having said that, I want to get the bad stuff out of the way, starting with the water. Don’t drink it! It’s contaminated. Always have lots of bottled water on hand. Don’t put ice cubes in your drinks unless the person offering them guarantees they are safe. Use bottled water to wash your vegetables and fruits, brush your teeth (and rinse your toothbrush), etc. This is a problem that also affects the Guatemalans.
Just in case, I suggest you get vaccinated for hepatitis before you leave. On one of my trips to the country, my traveling companion came down with hepatitis A and I caught it from her. It wasn’t much fun at all. Hepatitis A, which I had, is more contagious than B and C, which are more dangerous.
But please don’t let the above alarmist advice sway you from traveling there. It’s just something else to add to your usual travel protocols. I would never exchange the trip for the ten days I was ill with hepatitis – and it didn’t prevent me from going back. Know what to expect and prepare. Now you know, so be prepared.
How to Get There
The good news is that you can fly to Guatemala City for about €625, depending on where you’re coming from, with only one stopover. The bad news is that there’ll be two stopovers on the way back. Still, that’s a terrific price and adds only four hours to your flight.
If that’s four hours too long, then pay another €100 or so and you have only one stopover on the return flight. Your call.
The other bad thing about it is that you land at La Aurora International Airport in Guatemala City, a most unpleasant city in my opinion. My suggestion is that you cure your jet lag somewhere else – in nearby Antigua, for example.
The best way to get there is probably a shuttle from the airport, available at the airport taxi booth and costing around €17 per person. But they only leave if they have four passengers, so you may have to wait a bit. And have your room in Antigua reserved well before you leave. Check a site called GuateGo for the van schedule.
You might want to have some dollars on you just for this first use, as I’m not sure that they accept euros as readily as the US currency. Then, in Antigua, exchange the dollars and your euros for quetzales, the local currency. Be careful. Not all banks or ATMs are equal.
Euro exchanges are not as easily available as dollar exchanges and the rates are usually pretty bad. ATMs are a better choice, just make sure to decline the exchange rate offered by the ATM itself and go with the one offered by your card provider, or whichever is better.
It’s also a good idea to ask people you meet en route about the best place to exchange your euros. And keep in mind that small towns won’t have ATMs.
When to Go
I would say that you could travel to Guatemala just about any time of the year, except Holy Week and Easter, the most important holidays for Guatemalans, when prices climb and towns and cities are crowded.
There are basically two seasons, rainy and dry. The dry season stretches from about the Day of the Dead, November 1, to the middle or end of March. This is the best time for hiking through Guatemala’s national parks or up the country’s volcanoes, to see the magnificent Mayan ruins at Tikal or go to the beach. (But you don’t go to Guatemala for the beaches. You go there for Guatemala.)
The dry season is also the more expensive of the two seasons, but so what? Guatemala is one of the least expensive countries to visit in the Americas, so it’s always budget-friendly. In fact, I’d say that you get more for your money in Guatemala than in just about any other country in the world.
If you’re in the highlands, it can get quite cold at night, so either bring a decent jacket or buy a locally made poncho or wool sweater. The dry season can also get quite dusty and smoky because farmers burn off their old vegetation.
The worst aspect, for me, of the rainy season is that it gets muddy, which makes it a drag to hike but also because buses can get stuck or just go too slowly. On the other hand, the rain often lasts no longer than a half-hour and is quickly burned off by the sunshine that follows. I have always loved the way the world sparkles in Central America when the sun comes out again after a downpour.
There are wonderful festivals throughout the year, such as the Rab’in Ajaw in the town of Cobán in July, a festival that celebrates the influence of Maya women in the country’s history and culture. And there’s the Fiesta de Santo Tomás at the end of December in Chichicastenango. (See below.)
How to Get Around
In one word: bus. The so-called “chicken buses,” which make all the local stops are cheap, unreliable, beautifully painted and an indispensable part of any visit to Central America. If you’re interested in the people – for me the most important experience of any journey – take the bus, endure the unreliability and stuff dripping on your head from badly packed or melting produce and watch the landscape and your fellow passengers and listen. The Maya and their infants are very quiet and unobtrusive in public.
Oh yes, most of these buses don’t have toilets, so do your thing before you board. And bring bottled water and snacks. For the longer trips, you could take one of the more comfortable, and more expensive, long-haul buses to avoid the hassle. But they’re really not half as much fun.
On one of my Guatemalan trips, there were soldiers posted at places along the highway because of rebel activity in the area I was traveling through. Those of us standing in the aisles – yes, consider yourself lucky if you get a seat – had to duck down every time we passed a patrol to keep the soldiers from boarding the bus because there might be a rebel on board. But don’t worry, that rebellion ended decades ago. Peace reigns today.
Other travel possibilities include the tuk tuk, a three-wheel vehicle you can use for short trips, especially around Lake Atitlán and Antigua. Or there is the shared van cited in “How to Go” above, the Uber for short trips and, to visit Tikal either a 10-hour bus trip or a flight from Guatemala City. (One advantage of traveling to Guatemala from Mexico is that Tikal is in the north of the country and so on your way.)
I suggest you see Tikal first or last – that is, either catch a flight from Guatemala City to Tikal when you arrive and then cure your jet lag in the most spectacular of all Mayan sites or do it at the end of your stay.
What to See
Tikal, Tikal, Tikal. It is one of the most astounding sites on the planet, not only because of the palaces, pyramids, homes and monuments that have been recovered from the jungle over 60 square kilometers. Yes, the ruins themselves will make your jaws drop, but the setting is also remarkable, right in the middle of a dense rainforest.
Tikal National Park, where the ruins are situated, is part of the above-mentioned Maya Biosphere Reserve, a large region of tropical rainforest stretching across Guatemala, Mexico, and Belize, and the many animal species that live there.
So don’t be surprised if, while sitting atop a pyramid, you hear the chatter of monkeys, see some monkeys swinging through the trees, or hear the growl of a jaguar.
Lake Atitlán is a gorgeous lake surrounded by gorgeous volcanoes. There’s lots to do there, especially if you enjoy hiking. NB: If you hike, be wary because tourists have been robbed on the trails.
If you’re in great shape, try the challenging San Pedro Volcano hike. It’s 7.7km long and takes about five and a half hours to complete. For safety’s sake, do it with a guide, which will only cost you the price of entry to the Parque Ecológico Xe’ Ch’imaay, the equivalent today of €12. The views from the top are worth the effort and the price of admission (but be careful of slipping on dust on the way down).
The small Mayan villages around the lake are very welcoming, but are always crowded with tourists. If you like a lively nightlife, head for San Pedro. For beautiful native textiles and art, check out San Juan. But don’t expect to learn anything about the lifestyle of the Guatemalan Maya.
I have always had a weakness for the city of Chichicastenango, or Chichi in the tourist dialect. When I was there, there were few other tourists in town and my companion and I had the market pretty much to ourselves (except for the locals, of course). And the bus trip to get there, past deep ravines and over winding mountain roads, was breathtaking and beautiful.
The market is open only on Thursdays and Sundays and is a lively and colorful tapestry of Maya culture. People from nearby villages hike for hours or even days to sell their handmade crafts, textiles, produce, flowers and ceremonial items there.
I managed to buy some authentic old ceremonial masks, which I still have, but I wonder how many items on sale there today are made exclusively for sale to tourists. Look carefully at the items before you buy, if you buy.
I had an interesting conversation with an elderly Maya man in Spanish on the steps of the town’s main church, the Iglesia de Santo Tomás. He told me that it was the first time he had ever been in Chichicastenango and that he was surprised at how big it was. I asked him where he lived. The village he named was only 20 kilometers away. He had walked all the way. It had taken him six hours. I asked him if he was going to walk back. “Of course,” he said.
The Iglesia de Santo Tomás is a lovely little church and site of the amazing Fiesta de Santo Tomás, which combines Catholic rituals with ancient Mayan traditions and is held from December 13 to 21. Expect parades, music and dance – and, of course, lots and lots of color.
There is a lot more to see in Guatemala, which resembles, in terms of fascinating sights and sites, a small car that holds 20 basketball players. Here are a few more:
Quetzaltenango (aka Xela): Way up in the Sierra Madre Mountains, Xela is a truly fascinating city and cheaper than most other places in the country. There are great places to eat, friendly locals and nearby volcanoes to explore – e.g., Volcán de Cerro Quemado, Santa Maria, and Santa Aguito. But it gets cold in the city at night, so pack accordingly.
From Xela it’s a two-hour bus trip to the Refugio del Quetzal in San Rafael Pie de la Cuesta, the best place to see the quetzal, the ravishingly beautiful bird that was sacred to the Maya and after which the country’s currency is named. I have seen a few quetzals in my life and have heard them. They’re special.
A 5-hour bus trip from Guatemala City (8 hours from Xela), Semuc Champey is one of the natural wonders of Guatemala.The nature reserve contains a series of brightly colored pools above the Cahabón River in which you can swim – and some are deep enough for a memorable dive. There’s also a cave you can explore by swimming through it.
Finally, if you absolutely want to have a day at the beach, try the black-sand beach of Monterrico on the Pacific, just two hours by bus from Guatemala City.
The Food
Just a word about Guatemalan food, which I love. Expect sumptuous breakfasts of eggs, tortillas, beans and plantains, accompanied by tropical fruits (yummo!) in season and coffee.
NB: When ordering coffee, ask if what you’re getting is actual Guatemalan or if it’s Nescafe or some other instant. Guatemalan beans make great coffee, but most of them are exported. Also, again, don’t drink the water!
And if you’re into street food, as I am, note that it is generally safe to eat it in Guatemala. But try to avoid quiet stalls with prepared food and meat that has been sitting in the sun for a while. Instead, look for popular stands that sell freshly made dishes. And examine the frying oil and avoid it if it is smoky and/or dark. The best vendors will change their oil often.
Finally
Guatemala is not that place on the rear of Mexico that you visit if you have a few days left on your holiday. It is a country in which you can spend weeks and even months without running out of things to do and splendors to admire. Plus which, it is one of the most colorful places on the planet; I consider it the Earth’s eye candy.
The Maya people are friendly, industrious, deeply spiritual and possess a deep sense of community. If you’re lucky enough to see a few Mayan villages, you’ll note that the patterns of the clothes they wear are differ, with each town or village having its own style. It is a manner of identity that I admire. One word of advice: They will often smile at you. Please smile back.