Guatemala Travel Guide

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Guatemala Travel Guide, climate:

Best: Nov-May
Worst: June- Oct [rains, though usually just a late afternoon downpour]
n.b. climate here depends very much on your target destinations/altitude. Lowland, jungle [e.g. Tikal] and Caribbean areas will be generally hot and sticky while highlands [e.g. Antigua, Atitlan and Chichicastenango] will tend towards warm days and cool/cold nights.

Length of stay:
Minimum worthwhile stay, not incl. flights:
1 week for a look at Antigua, Panajachel and Chichicastenango.
Better: 2 weeks+, visiting key towns and taking a flight to Flores/ Tikal.

Main festivals in Guatemala:
The week before Easter [Semana Santa], a very lively time with processions, music and dance, especially impressive and colourful in Antigua or Santiago Atitlan.
late July, Rabin Ajau Indian folk festival, music and dance, esp. good in Coban.
Oct 28, San Simon/Maximon's birthday party, near Antigua in San Andres Iztapa. Wild.
Nov 1, Day of the Dead Kite Flying near Antigua, at the cemeteries of Santiago Sacatepequez and Sumpango. Thousands of kites connect the living with the dead.
Dec 7, Quema del Diablo, Burning the Devil, music, mad fireworks and more, especially bizarre in Chichicastenango, followed by...
Dec 14-21, Chichicastenango fiesta, colours in extremis.

For some precise dates, more suggestions and information see: Exotic Festivals

Guatemala Activities Guide:
Cycling and motorcycling: popular and with plenty of local support, though don't forget much of Guatemala is mountainous, roads are in poor shape and many vehicle drivers verge on the lunatic. Bicycles can travel on most bus roofs.
Bikes and motorbikes can be rented in tourist locations like Antigua, Flores, Panajachel.
Hikers can lose themselves in the lowland rainforest of Petén, stumbling over toucans and undiscovered Maya pyramids or head for the highlands around Lake Atitlan for easy, spectacular, less sweaty walks.
Alternatively high altitude freaks will enjoy scrambling up volcanoes such as Pacaya or San Pedro. Guides are useful in low and high cases and can be recruited locally.
Horse riding is available, mostly around Lake Atitlan.
White Water Rafting: one day to one week expeditions. June-Oct on Rivers Esclavos, Motagua and Naranjo and all year travel on Rio Cahabon.
Kayaking: good in Sept/Oct on Lanquin, Sauce, and Esclavos Rivers, and all year on Rio Cahabon.
Caving: in Verapaces area, Lanquin and Poptun have well known cave complexes. Candeleria is the new cave wave, with Gruta Rey Marcos and Chicoy.
Climbing: many good climbs in the Cuchumatanes range or Tajumulco Volcano for a real challenge.
Beach bumming: on the Pacific coast there are a couple of OK beaches, Balneario Chulamar [5km east of Puerto San José] and Balneario Likin [17km east of Puerto San José] or for the Caribbean side see right, Livingston #7.
Fishing: the number one deep sea fishing port is Iztapa on the Pacific coast, and world records have been set here in the hunt for marlin, sharks and other big fry.

Cuisine Guide:
Traditional foods lean towards eggs, beans and tortillas[thin corn pancakes], dull but filling, though long-term tourist hangouts like Antigua and Panajachel have developed a wide range of pricey but interesting international offerings.
Comedors are basic eating places - like cafés - while restaurants are for the posh folk and priced to match.
Lunch is the main meal of the day and 'comidas corridas' [set menus] are bargains.
Beware eating off street stalls, particularly if you are newly arrived and have not yet acquired defensive bacteria. Stay with the cooked or peeled foods for a few days while your body adjusts to the microenvironment.
p.s. Avoid 'exotic' dishes like turtle or monkey unless you really want to contribute to the extinction of a species for a cheap thrill.

Guatemala Star Guide

Shopping Guide:
The favoured local craft is multicoloured, woven or embroidered textiles, along the lines of Maya women's traditional handmade clothing, zinging with flowers and parrots.
Jade is another common souvenir.
Antigua is the most expensive place to acquire such items; Panajachel and Chichicastenango prices will be better. Styles may differ markedly between regions.
Try to buy directly from Maya people in a market to ensure they derive the maximum benefit from your trade.
Bargaining is expected so don't be surprised if the first price you are quoted seems high.

Why Travel to Guatemala?

Not unlike Mexico 30 years ago, Guatemala has to be the most colourful country in Central America and second only to Peru in all the Americas.
It offers superb, jungle encrusted Maya pyramid complexes, gorgeous smoking volcanic landscapes [Guatemala volcanoes], wildlife crammed rainforests, magnificent colonial towns, and colourful ethnic people with curious customs.
It's also good value, relatively undeveloped and - if you go in the right season - has a climate of 'Eternal Spring' in highland areas.
Teaching Spanish language is big business here, with 60 reliable schools, many in Antigua.

Downside:
- Although civil war ceased in 1996 Guatemala still suffers a desperate rich/poor imbalance, with 3% of the population owning 70% of the usable land. The indigenous Maya people are particularly hard up.
- Petty crime is commonplace and violent crime occasional, with Guatemala City being the focus of the country's ills. Spend as little time as possible there.
- Guatemala's infrastructure is stuffed; roads are rough and regular buses uncomfortable and unsafe, though entertaining [Guatemala public transport]. Better 'Pullman' buses run on major routes.
- Local cuisine is dull, as is the beer, though heavily travelled zones have alternatives.

Guatemala main attractions:
***Antigua, the old capital, is just what appalling Guatemala City should be - elegant, peaceful, interesting and scenically situated between three volcanoes. This World Heritage site has cobbled streets, flowers, evocative ruins and fine, varied, drinking and dining establishments [Antigua guide].
It's popular with foreign families and Spanish language students as well as tourists.
Guided tours up smoky Pacaya Volcano are in demand by fit travellers.
***Lake Atitlan, huge, clear and beautifully framed by three volcanoes; this is where Maya traditions are at their ancient best in spite of a river of gringo travellers silting up the neighbourhood over the years.
The bizarre local god, Maximon/Ry Laj Man/San Simon, in all his wooden, smoking, drinking glory can be visited hereabouts.
The largest and most sophisticated of the lake's 13 towns is Panajachel - aka Gringotenango, not a pretty site, but what a location!
Next best stop is Santiago Atitlan, across the lake, a more traditional town with terrific Friday and Sunday markets.
San Pedro la Laguna is a kind of alternative hippie retirement home with plentiful inexpensive accommodation, thermal baths, hikes up the nearby volcano and ganja blowing in the wind.
***Chichicastenango, a lovely town of narrow streets dominated by mountains and famed for two things:
- the huge and technicolour indigenous markets [Chichicastenango] on Sundays and Thursdays.
- the weird and wonderful Pagan/Catholic crossbreed religion exemplified by the peculiar Pagan rites that take place in and around the Santo Tomas church.
If you wish to go for walks outside the town, take a guide - there have been robberies.
***Tikal, one of the most impressive Maya pyramid groups anywhere, tall, magnificent and embedded in 370 sq kms of jungle [Tikal pyramids].
Day trips are possible from quiet Flores but VERY different from the Tikal dusk/dawn experience when you'll be surrounded by few travellers but a forest of roaring monkeys [howlers], screeching parakeets, fluttering bats and all sorts of scary Indiana Jonesness, so stay overnight and go buggy!
*** Petén rainforest, comprising almost one third of Guatemala, is not only alive with wild things - jaguars, tapirs, monkeys, toucans, macaws and a zillion insectoids - but also scattered with creepy, overgrown Maya ruins, including the premier Tikal.
Controversially Petén has also been opened up to settlers who are busy slashing and burning it as fast as they can.
**Quetzaltenango [Xela]. A not very attractive highland city, but surrounded by travel totems - stunning countryside, little traditional villages, volcanoes, hot springs, pagan shrines and activities galore. Good for Spanish language schools too.
*Livingston. On the Caribbean coast, this town is home to black Carib people and has a very different atmosphere to other towns, particularly in the areas of music and cuisine. Nearby beaches are hardly worth the trip though [unless you take a boat ride] and the waterfalls 5km away will need a guide for safety.
Boat trips up the jungle clad gorges of the Rio Dulce, however, are impressive, and include water trails around the wildlife reserve of Biotopo Chocon Machacas where you will see plenty of birds and a manatee if you're lucky.
**Monterrico a Pacific beach village with a fair beach, well battered by surf, a wet nature reserve [Biotopo Monterrico-Hawaii] riddled with turtles, caiman, iguana and all sorts of feathered friends. 2 hour guided tours on offer.
Best of all Sept-January every Saturday at sunset sees baby turtles racing to the sea. Tourists buy a turtle and race it against the others into the surf. Winner gets dinner. And no, not turtle stew.
Guatemala City, yuk, only go when you need transport connections, though there are a couple of OK museums, the Palacio Nacional and the central market is lively. Antigua is only an hour away.

Accommodation Guide:
At the top end Guatemala travellers will find stunning colonial hotels in the $100pn zone while budget travellers will be checking out hospedajes/ pensiones/ posadas/ huespedes for not more than $10 per night, double room.
Camping is possible other than in the biggest cities; tourist zones like Tikal and Panajachel are OK.

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