Guatemala
Guatemala is a small Central American country that you really don’t hear a lot about in the US outside of immigration topics and cartels. It’s a shame because the country is filled with beautiful places to visit and equally kind hearted people. Latin Americans are some of the most friendly people in the world and Guatemala is not an exception. While many in Guatemala live in poverty they will greet you with a smile and work tremendously hard. Guatemala is considered the heart of the Mayan World and even today people speak Mayan languages and keep Mayan traditions. We spent a week in Guatemala visiting Guatemala City, the UNESCO World Heritage city of Antigua, Lake Atitlan, and the King of Mayan cities, Tikal. Here is what our adventures were like in Guatemala.
Getting to Guatemala and Transportation
There are only two international airports in Guatemala with one being the La Aurora International Airport in Guatemala City and the other the small Mundo Maya (Mayan World) International Airport in Flores. Guatemala City is serviced by most major US airlines such as United, Delta, American, Jetblue, Spirit and some others. International airlines like Avianca and Iberia also serve the airport. The National Airline TAG provides short flights domestically and to close by Central American countries. La Aurora Airport is a modern and nice airport but can be crowded outside with people selling different things. The airport in Flores is very small with mainly domestic flights. There are cruise lines that visit ports in Guatemala, but they are mostly smaller luxury cruise lines. Another way to enter the country that many do is from nearby Belize on a guided tour of Belize and Guatemala. We flew into La Aurora Airport direct from Houston and into Flores to visit Tikal. We then took a guided tour throughout the country with Gate 1.
As for transportation, I do not recommend renting a car and driving yourself. Especially in Guatemala City the traffic is heavy, and the drivers can be unpredictable. There are public buses and heavily decorated former school busses that English speaking tourists have nicknamed “Chicken Buses” that can sometimes have cargo like Chickens on the bus roof. You will see Chicken Buses everywhere honking their horns trying to pick up riders. We did not ride any of the public buses due to safety concerns and the fact that the US State Department does not recommend it. I heavily recommend going with a guided tour company who will take care of your transportation for you. We used Uber for some museum visits while there and we found it just as safe as in the US.
Country Information
Guatemala is one of the larger Central American countries and is by far the most populated country in the region with nearly 18 million people. Guatemala City is the capital and largest city in Central America with over 3 million people in the metro area. The largest industry is agriculture, with it being a great country for all kinds of produce, chocolate and coffee. The country in general has issues with income inequality, crime and corruption, you will see both shanty type areas and beautiful modern malls in places like Guatemala City. It’s an unfortunate reality in developing nations. The language spoke is Spanish and while some in hotels and tours catering to English speaking tourists will know English its wise to learn at least some basic Spanish. The currency is the Guatemalan Quetzal which is named after the beautiful and rare national bird of Guatemala. As of right now one Quetzal is worth .13 USD.
Safety Details (our experiences)
While we felt safe while in Guatemala while with our tour and while in the tourist areas of the cities, the US State Department at the time of this writing rates it as a Level 3: Reconsider Travel due to crime. There are zones (what neighborhoods/areas are called in Guatemala City) that no tourist could go to due to the danger. They are not where any of the tourist areas are. Like in some US Cities, you will need to keep your wits about you and not wander out at night. Anything can happen anywhere, but we had no issues on our Gate 1 Tour, our Viator Tours, and going out on our own with Uber. With that said do research on the country and decide for yourself you risk tolerance. We did in crowded marketplaces have many different vendor come to us and follow us trying to get a sale. I keep in mind that they are desperate for a sale to help their families and bought many more items than I really needed to help at least a little bit. It’s a way to make our travel matter.
Guatemala City
Guatemala City is a large metropolis that is full of contrasts. Large buildings, modern malls, American Chain Restaurants and very humble homes and businesses all mixed in. Many vehicles (especially the chicken busses) use low quality fuel, so the smog is fairly thick in the city. The city is full of great places to see and has many museums. The main focus of many of the museums is the Mayan world that covered the entire country many years ago. It’s the starting point of most people’s journey in Guatemala and it was ours as well. We spent the beginning and the end of our trip in Guatemala City where we saw multiple museums and the capital.
Where we stayed
Hilton Guatemala City
On our first night we stayed at the Hilton Guatemala City. It’s not too far from the airport and has Beautiful Colonial Spanish Architecture. It’s a fairly large hotel with multiple wings and amenities like a nice pool and plenty of greenspace. They have a nice garden area with a tranquil waterfall and stream running through. They have a great restaurant that served a wide variety of international and Guatemalan food. In Guatemala soups are a very important and we had different soups at the restaurant and during the trip. They have a couple shops as well on the property. Our room was a very large room with a king bed, and we had an a large patio area with seats to enjoy. The staff were great at the hotel and it’s an excellent place to stay while in Guatemala City!
Barcelo Guatemala City
On our last two nights in Guatemala, we stayed at the Barcelo Guatemala City that is close to the National Museum and the airport. It’s a tall hotel in a city that does not have too many tall buildings, so they do not impede the landing of planes at the only airport in the valley. Barcelo is a Spanish company That has hotels throughout Europe (it’s home country of Spain has the most), the Americas and North Africa. They have many all-inclusive resorts in the Cancun area. We had never stayed at a Barcelo Hotel before this stay. The hotel has a very large lobby area with multiple restaurants and bars including a sports bar, Japanese Food, and others. Multiple Airlines like United and American have offices at the hotel so it’s easier to handle flight issues. There is a staffed business center and concierge, at the lobby bar there was a pianist playing relaxing music and plenty of seating. There was a small display about Guatemalan Jade and shops in the lobby area. The hotel has a full spa, gym, meeting areas and a pool. Our room had two beds with the longest pillows we have seen at a hotel. The room had plenty of space and amenities. We had a nice balcony, and the hotel had good air conditioning similar to the Hilton which sometimes is hard to find in regions like Central America and the Carribean. We ate at a catered meal with our tour group one night where they brought me a birthday cake. We also tried the Sport Bar that had very tasty food. We were very happy with this premium level Barcelo (there are different categories) and will stay at more someday!
Museo Ixchel del Traje Indigena (The Ixchel Indigenous Costume Museum)
On our first full day in Guatemala, we decided to take a city and museum tour of Guatemala City with an English-Speaking Guide. Our guide picked us up from the Hilton and we headed first to the Universidad Francisco Marroquin (Francisco Marroquin University) that has two wonderful museums. The first we visited was dedicated to the clothing of the Mayan people. There we toured and saw so many colorful ancient hats, dresses, blankets and so many other tapestries. In Mayan culture and current Guatemalan Culture weaving was and is very important. You can buy so many different woven items with vibrant colors and designs throughout Guatemala. The Ixchel museum also showed the ways these weavings are made by a couple interesting ways. There is a standalone loom and then a backstrap loom. The backstrap weaving technique has been around for many centuries and involves one end of the loom being attached to a sturdy pole and the other end going around the back of the weaver. It’s definitely not a comfortable technique for the weaver. We saw people still using this technique in rural communities. At the gift shop you can buy certified Guatemalan handmade weavings and other items like wood carved Nativity scenes. We enjoyed our first museum in Guatemala and spent around an hour there before heading to the museum next door still on the University grounds.
Museo Popol Vuh
Next door to the Ixchel Museum is the Popol Vuh Museum that is a display of ancient Mayan Culture and art. It’s a pretty large private collection that includes carved masks, Stellas (monuments with Mayan writing) bowls, and so much more. It gives really good information about Mayan culture and history that explained about the different time periods of the Mayan Civilization, Mayan writing and where the major city states of the Mayan World were located. They also had painted models of great cities like Tikal in Northern Guatemala. Our guide helped explain the different artifacts as we went through learning about the culture and history of the Mayan world before we toured many places of Mayan History and see Mayan Culture alive in Guatemala today. We spent around an hour at this museum and there is a small charge to enter as well as a charge to take pictures inside that we paid. These museums are open on Mondays which is not the norm in Guatemala and elsewhere in the world. It was great as we were touring on a Monday ourselves.
Historical Center of Guatemala City (Zone 1)
We visited the historical center and the main square twice when we were in Guatemala City. The first time was on our museum tour where we drove past the many historic buildings in the area. Some did not survive earthquakes, but many have. Building owners are no longer able to change the outside of the building to keep the history of the area alive. There were buildings that were not in great shape mixed in with well-kept buildings. The main square is called Plaza de la Constitucion (Constitution Square). Around the square is the National Palace, the main Cathedral of Guatemala City and other government buildings in the area. There is a huge Guatemalan flag in the center of the square and plenty of people feeding the pigeons or selling items. The National Palace is a huge and beautiful Baroque style building. It was once the Presidents home but not is a museum and still an important place for Guatemalan Government. There is a plaque at the front door showcasing it is the center of Guatemala and mile marker 0 of the country. The building has a very unique green color to it like a light jade. It’s the stone it’s built with that gives it this color. We just drove through on our first day but on our last full day with Gate 1 we got out of the bus and walked the square and visited the large Cathedral. You have to have a tour reservation to enter the National Palace, so we were only able to look inside through doors and windows. We also drove past the Presidential Home as well.
Miraflores Museum and The Miraflores Mall
After we drove through the center of the city, at the university we headed to the West side of Guatemala City to the wealthy area of Miraflores. There is a very large and modern Museum attached to the mall that is dedicated to Mayan history. There are two Mayan temples still covered with dirt and grass that are right outside of the museum. They are left covered to preserve them from the elements. Being a Monday, we found out the museum was closed even though online it said it was open. While we missed out on the museum, we did get to see a mall in Guatemala City that is no different from multilevel malls in the US with many of the same stores and restaurants you would find back home. For example, there is a nice Chili’s in the mall and plenty of other American brands. Miraflores is a pretty busy area with plenty of stores, a movie theater and restaurants around the mall. It reminded me of many different middle-class areas in US cities which shows the contrasts in developing nations. Our guide wanted to try to take us to other museums since it was closed so we headed off to hunt an open museum.
National Museum of Archeology and Ethnology
The National Museum of Archeology and Ethnology has the task of sharing the rich history of Guatemala. Guatemalan history goes back thousands of years with the Mayans being the center of Guatemala’s Ancient History. The museum is very close to the La Aurora International Airport and is closed on Monday’s as we tried to visit with our tour. It’s in a complex of museums that includes the National Modern Art Museum and the National Museum of Natural History. The museum has many pieces from the major Mayan city states in Guatemala such as Tikal. The pieces are well preserved and it really helps to tie together the Mayan History you see in the cities themselves with the art and writings you see in the museum. They have Stellas, carvings, a painted model and other artifacts from Tikal that really helped us picture what the city was like after visiting there the day before. The museum is very well done and while we were there a very nice lady was giving demos on the music of the Maya and their instruments. We got the chance to play some of the replicas to hear some of the sounds of the Maya. Next to the demo area there were the real artifacts that we had played in the demo area. We could have spent much longer but we only spent around an hour since we had a plane to catch that afternoon. There is a small fee to enter the museum.
The Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum is a somewhat small museum a short walk from the Archeology Museum. Like the name suggests, it goes over Guatemala’s vast natural history and the animal life of today. You can visit an area that goes over the different habitats they have and the kind of animals you might find there (the animals are real and stuffed). You can see animal bones and one of the most interesting things is the national bird the Quetzal they have stuffed and on display. It’s the only one we have seen with its brilliant green feathers. They also go over the volcanos and earthquakes Guatemala has due to it being on the Ring of Fire. We didn’t have too much time to visit the museum but it’s a nice and small look into the wildlife and volcanic landscape that Guatemala has. There is a small fee to visit this museum, and we did not have time to visit the nearby National Museum of Modern Art. This was all done very quickly on the morning of our departure and was the last place we visited in Guatemala City.
Guatemala City Tours (Click below):
Antigua
Antigua is a UNSECO world heritage site and the former capital for a former much larger Guatemala. It is a historic city that began in the 1500s with the Spanish. Much of the architecture and historic building survive after natural disasters over the many years. There is an extinct, Dormant and highly active volcanoes within 10 miles of the city. Volcan de Fuego (The Volcano of Fire) is one of the world’s most active volcanos and has eruptions multiple times per hour that are thankfully small and amazing to watch. There is a lot to see and do in the relatively small city that is about an hour drive depending on traffic from Guatemala City. We spend a couple nights doing a wide variety of activities.
Where We Stayed
Porta Hotel Antigua
We stayed at a great hotel in the perfect location in Antigua. The Porta Hotel Antigua is a chain of hotels in Guatemala that is owned by a Guatemalan Family. The hotel is only a couple blocks from the main square in the historic city. It’s a 4-star hotel in historic buildings surrounded by Spanish missions and homes. The hotel rooms themselves were fancy but also gave you the feeling you had gone back in time to the 1500 or 1600s. We had plenty of space in the airconditioned room. The hotel had nice pool, a lap pool and a kids play area. They had local vendors selling Guatemalan crafts and beautiful art, fountains and gardens throughout. They even have a tunnel to go between buildings. They have a good restaurant that we had dinner and breakfast at that served a lot of local Guatemalan dishes. The staff is excellent, and the hotel had plenty of security (we never felt unsafe including walking in the city by ourselves. From not too far from the hotel you can see Volcan de Fuego and watch it erupt. It’s a great option when visiting Antigua!
Casa Del Jade
Very close to the main plaza of the historic city of Antigua is the Casa Del Jade. Jade was a very important stone for the Mayan Civilization and was used in all kinds of different art pieces. From funeral masks to necklaces the Mayans carved jade to make amazing pieces of art. Jade was also traded to other areas of Meso-America from Guatemala as it’s a major source of Jade similar to Colombia being a major source of emeralds. So, visiting a Jade Museum or shop is very fitting if you are looking to learn about the Maya. We booked a guided tour of the museum and a carving experience. Our guide walked us through the museum showing us brilliant replicas and some original Mayan pieces. There are multiple types of jade such as Imperial being the highest quality. Today in the Western Hemisphere only Guatemala and Canada produce jade. After our museum tour we headed to the carving room where we both picked out a piece of jade to carve and a shape. We both picked an oval shape since we are novices in this area. It is a very involved process with cutting and sanding the jade. The sanding machines also use water to keep the jade cool as it heats up quickly. After sanding down the jade with around 5 different types of sandpaper, we used leather, and a powder and water mix to shine the jade. It took us around an hour to hour and a half to carve our jade. I kept mine whole and Donna made a bracelet out of hers. It was a really interesting and enjoyable experience. It gave us a new appreciation for the masterpieces carved by the Maya many centuries before machine carving existed. We have our hand carved pieces, and we bought a couple professional carved Mayan Replicas.
Casa Del Jade Tour (Click Below):
Choco Museum (ChocoMuseo)
Also on our day before our tour officially started, we headed to another unique experience at the Chocolate Museum right on the main plaza of Antigua. They have a nice gift shop selling a variety of unique chocolate candies and sauces like a habanero chocolate sauce. We booked a chocolate class where we got the chance to make our own chocolate bar with whatever spices or mix-ins we could want that was ready (cooled) by the time we left. There we had an interactive experience while learning about each step in the chocolate making process. We started with a Cacao Fruit and cutting it open and trying a raw bean (slimy coating that tastes like skittles and the bean itself is very bitter). We then pealed the beans and the shells are called Chocolate Nibs that can be used to make a chocolate tasting tea. We roasted the beans and crushed it into a paste. Our teacher then made several different chocolate drinks. The Nibs tea, a more ancient chocolate drink with a bit of spice and then a more traditional Hot Chocolate. It was a great class where we learned about the Mayan use of chocolate and Guatemalan chocolate production. We went to the cafe and got a great Guatemalan Chocolate cold coffee drink that was great! The class is a couple hours long and was full the day we did it.
Chocolate Experience Tour (Click Below):
Volcan de Fuego (Volcano of Fire) and the Nearby Volcanos
The Volcano of Fire is located around 10 miles from Antigua and erupts around every 20 minutes. It’s one of the most active volcanoes in the world, and is in a country with many active, dormant and extinct volcanoes. The volcano is connected to the nearby dormant Acatenango Volcano. El Fuego is over is over 12,000 feet tall and Acatenango is even higher. The closest volcano to Antigua is the Agua Volcano (Volcano of Water) that is extinct. It towers over Antigua and now has cities and coffee farms along its slopes. There are tours where you can hike up to the top of Acatenango and get a better view of El Fuego. We stayed in Antigua and were able to watch El Fuego erupt many times while we were there. When flying back from Tikal and flying back home I got to witness eruption from the air as well. At night from the air, you could see fire and lava blow out from the crater. It’s an amazing site to see and one of the unforgettable sites to see in Guatemala.
The Churches, Convents, Monasteries and Cathedral of Antigua
With Antigua being the former Spanish capital of Guatemala and a city from the 1500s there are many beautiful churches to visit full of art and different designs. On the main square there is the remains of the Cathedral of Antigua that was heavily damaged by major earthquakes. Part of it is re-built and a large part of it only has the skeleton left with impressively built archways. Nativity Scenes are very important in Guatemala and even the ruins of the Cathedral had a large and elaborate nativity scene that stays up past Christmas into January.
The Church of Merced (Iglesia De La Merced) is an absolutely stunning Baroque style Catholic Church in Antiqua built in the 1700s. Different orders and sects of the Catholic Church had different facilities in Antigua and this church is no different. The outside of the church is yellow with intricate white floral designs throughout. It is an important church for Guatemalans during Holy week as well.
The San Francisco church, the Great Sanctuary is an amazing, restored Franciscan that was also damaged and abandoned for a time after earthquake damage. The Franciscans have since taken the church back and inside you see beautiful woodworking at the alter and a unique cornhusk crucifix. It is considered another highlight of Antigua
We didn’t get to go inside the Church of Santo Hermano Pedro de San José Betancur as it’s part of a hospital that is named Pedro de San Jose Betancur for his dedication to the poor, sick and homeless. It once again is yellow and has a baroque design.
We also visited a museum that is in the former home of a capuchin convent. It is mostly ruins of the once large and I can imagine decorative space. The museum tells the story of the Capuchin’s in Antigua and has a very nice garden space as well.
There are plenty of other historic churches throughout Antigua that we did not get to visit including one that was near our hotel that reminded me so much of The Alamo in San Antonio, Texas.
The Walking Tour
With our tour guide we took a very nice walking tour that I highly recommend doing while in Antigua. The tour took us to some of the churches above and walked us through the historical streets. We started in the main plaza with a very unique fountain in the middle (see the pictures below). There were plenty of people selling things and we did buy a decent amount as a way to support the locals trying to make a living in a somewhat tough environment. The cobblestone streets and the mountains and volcanos around the city it’s very unique. We headed to the Santa Catalina Arch that is a famous landmark for Antigua. It’s a yellow and white arch that has a nice clock on the top. It was once a walkway for Nuns in a convent to walk to school across the street without being seen. We also passed by other plazas including one that had an old but still used public clothing washing area that I have never seen anywhere else around the world. It was a great couple hour walk that allowed us to see even more of Antigua.
The Captain General's Palace (National Museum of Art)
The very last thing we did in Antigua during a bit of free time before we headed to Lake Atitlan was to visit the National Art Museum at the former Spanish capital of the region. It was the palace that was home to the Captain General of Guatemala which was a much larger region within the Spanish Americas than the country size today. Today inside the palace is a large Guatemalan National Art Museum. There you can find contemporary art and a great history of Guatemala including early paintings of the national seal. It’s a pretty large museum that fills the two stories of the palace. At the end of the museum tour there are multiple Mayan Stellas and sculptures to view. You also get a great view of the main plaza from the second-floor balcony of the museum. It was time to leave Antigua after a quick visit to get some coffee and another chocolate smoothy from the chocolate museum!
Antigua Tours (Click Below)
Lake Atitlan
Lake Atitlan is one of the most beautiful lakes in the world and a very unique place. It’s a very deep lake with the average depth being over 1,000 feet deep! There are three dormant volcanoes that rise out of the banks of the lake that make for a beautiful site especially during sunrise and sunset. The lake itself is an ancient super volcano caldera that erupted thousands of years ago. It would have been a massive eruption with the huge size of the lake. We spent two nights on the lake and has plenty of unique experiences there.
Where we stayed
Porta Hotel del Lago
We stayed at another great Porta property called the Porta Hotel del Lago. It’s a once of the nicest hotels in the relatively small city of Panajachel. There are a few ultra luxury resorts around the lake, but this hotel was great for our needs. It’s been around a little while and most hotel rooms do not have air conditioning. They are working on adding more air-conditioned rooms, but it is a difficult and time-consuming task with the fact that in Latin America most buildings have solid concrete walls versus sheetrock. Our room had a great bed, a balcony that gave us great views of the lake and volcanos at night, and a nice bathroom. Our room did not have a safe in the room, but that was ok. Being in the mountains the room never got overly hot with windows open and they provide a fan. There is a nice swimming pool, and we ate our breakfast and dinner at the hotel. For both breakfast and dinner there was a large and very good buffet featuring Guatemalan and international foods. For breakfast there was a short order cook for omelets. The hotel is right in downtown so other restaurants, the ferry terminal, lake shore and plenty of shops. It’s a great place to stay in the area.
Panajachel
The small city of Panajachel has around 12,000 people and is about as tall as Denver in elevation. It is the city we stayed in at the Porta Hotel Del Lago. To get there from Antigua is a around 2.5 to 3 hour drive with some winding roads in the mountains so if you get motion sick take some medication before the drive. We walked through the city when we first arrived and saw a bustling main street with a wide variety of restaurants and shops. We passed by a nice Catholic Church and headed to the lake side only 5 minutes from the hotel to watch sunset. We did not see a lot in the city, and they have museums there but we used it as our base of operations in the area.
Lake Atitlan Cruise and San Antonio Palopo
On our second day in the area, we took a private cruise with just our tour group on scenic Lake Atitlan. It’s a huge lake but the water was nice and calm as we sailed. We could see the tall mountains and small villages along the seashore. We passed by some very large homes and luxury resorts including one that had a funicular from the shore up to the hotel, so you do not have to walk up the steep hills. We headed over to the very small town of San Antonio Palopo. In Guatemala and especially is the general Western area we found the Mayan culture and language is still alive. The town has pretty steep walkways as you head up towards the main church. We visited a small clinic in the village where locals are given free healthcare as is in most of the country. In the town we visited a family whose business was weaving Guatemalan textiles using traditional manual looms. They welcomed us in their humble shop and home next door that had a curtain for a door. They were incredibly friendly and even though they did not have a lot they were not pushy in trying to sell us anything. I bought two pieces from them that were only $7 a piece. They were beautiful and colorful. They were very grateful for the purchase. I know a decent amount of Spanish but could not understand what they were trying to tell me. One man who knew a bit of English told me we are saying thank you in our Mayan language that we speak. A language I had not heard spoken before until our visit to Guatemala. We passed by many locals making weavings. The main church was up at the top of the small town and started playing music for the city for entertainment. As we looked at the town, they lived in truly humble conditions but were very friendly and helpful. We stopped at a local coffee shop to enjoy the views and a great coffee. As we left, we bought a few more things from locals at the dock to help them out more so than we really needed a new handmade bag. On the boat, we headed back and had the chance to see a wonderful sunset over the volcanos on the water.
Chichicastenango
We went on a half day trip to the town of Chichicastenango. On the drive we saw many very humble homes and could see some of the poverty in the country. Chichicastenango is a very interesting town where Mayan culture is still alive. We started off at a nice hotel and then took our first tuk tuk ride we had ever done to the center of the town to visit the sprawling marketplace there. It was a bumpy ride on the cobble stone streets but was very unique. The center of the market was in a recreation center (basketball court) where people were selling all kinds of fruit, meat and vegetables. It was very crowded and hard to move around in some areas. We went to the second floor to get a better look where a few ladies were selling small (like a pill box) boxes with small painted wooden people inside. Our guide let us know that it was a tradition where if someone is very stressed and worried they put one of the little people under their pillow and tell them their worries. After you wake up the worries should be gone. The people there were fairly desperate for a sale. I was buying one for $2 from a younger girl and an older lady grabbed the money and gave me one of hers. I bought one from the disappointed young girl as well and she left happy. We walked to two Catholic Churches where inside there are Mayan Shaman that share the church with the Catholics in harmony. There were several large stones in both churches with candles and the shamans’ doing rituals. Outside of one church there were shaman with incense purifying people. Outside of the church was an intense selling frenzy with people surrounding us trying to sell different handmade crafts. We used up the cash we had with us just trying to help the people there. While the selling frenzy is not overly comfortable, I look at it as people desperate for money in an area that doesn’t have as much opportunity. The little bit of money we spent hopefully helped them support their families. We had some follow us out of the marketplace still trying to sell but we were out of cash. We headed back once again by tuk tuk with a semi wild ride with honking and traffic. It was a unique experience but not a bad one. At the hotel we got a great soup as a light lunch and visited with the tropical birds in the atrium before we headed back to Lake Atitlan.
Lake Atitlan Tours (Click Below):
Heading Back to Guatemala City
After our time in Lake Atitlan, we headed back to Guatemala City, but not before visiting some more places along the way including getting a great meal at a local restaurant along the highway. We continued our journey into the long Mayan history of Guatemala. We visited our first large Mayan city that had been excavated while on our trip.
Iximche Archeological Site
We headed to the Guatemalan city of Tecpan to visit the Late Post-Classical Mayan City of Iximche. It was a city that was inhabited late in Mayan history and were visited by Spanish conquistadors in the 1500s. The city was later abandoned by the Maya after clashes with the Spanish and the Spanish later burned the city. It’s a Mayan city that has been visited by President George W. Bush and is still today a place where Mayan rituals are performed by locals. We visited the nice museum they had there about the history of the city and we learned that the Mayans believed all the peoples of the Earth came from corn (Black, White, Red and Yellow Corn). The museum had a really good model of the city perched high above cliffs on three sides (like a peninsula without the ocean around it). When we walked through the city we saw a small ball court, many temples and areas for warriors and commerce. At the back on the Mayan city were temples where locals were burning incense. Out of respect I did not take pictures and when one of our group members did take a picture, they did not care for it and asked the group to stop. The man was smoking a large cigar that our guide let us know was traditional in the area. After enjoying a quiet walk through this somewhat small but still impressive city we headed along our way back to Guatemala City.
Katok Guatemalan Restaurant and Guatemalan Cuisine
On our way to Guatemala City, we headed to a great restaurant along the main freeway to the city. There they had a wide variety of traditional Guatemalan cuisine. I am a big fan of soup and Guatemalan food is full of different soups. We got at other restaurants Chicken and Rice soups with a bit of lime juice and vegetable soups. At Katok we got a Calido de Huevos (Egg Broth Soup) that had an egg inside, chicken, avocado, tortilla chips, cilantro and rice. The seasoning in the soup was amazing and very flavorful but not spicy. It was a traditional soup in Tecpan area. We also got Guatemalan Tacos and Guacamole. The tortillas were made from scratch with different corn which made the colors different. The tacos were brought out on a small wood burning grill to keep them warm. The Guacamole was great with good seasoning and different chips than we were used to in the US. Katok is also where I discovered one of my new favorite refreshing drinks that I had not had before then. The Cimarrona (called a Suero in Mexico I later found out) is a local drink that contains fresh lime juice, seltzer water, and a bit of salt in the drink and around the glass like a Magarita. It is such a refreshing drink and is actually a natural Sports Drink. It is used to cool down and rehydrate fast. It is also used as a hangover cure. The restaurant looked like a Mayan or indigenous building that gave it a great atmosphere. The manager showed me around including an upstairs area where they have traditional Guatemalan dances and performances. I highly recommend stopping by if in the area as there many more great items on the menu. As for other Guatemalan dishes we had while there, we had multiple chicken and rice dishes that were delicious and relatively common in Latin America. We love the food in Latin America and Guatemala was not any different!
Journey to Tikal and Flores, Guatemala
On our last full day in Guatemala, we embarked on what was the highlight and most intense day of touring. It is only the second time we have gone on a roundtrip flight – day trip (the other being to Iguazu Falls in Argentina). We got up around 3am to head to La Aurora International Airport to head to “The Heart of the Mayan World” in Northern Guatemala. The airport is in the interesting city of Flores. We flew the Guatemalan National Airline called TAG which uses ATR-72 turboprop (propeller) aircraft that we found to be nice. It was an easy process and they were right on time and very professional. We would fly them again if we were in the area and looking to go somewhere in Central America. The Mundo Maya Airport is pretty small with no jetways but was very nice inside.
In the rainforest around Flores, you can find some of the most massive and remote Mayan cities ever built. There is a point when the roads heading North end and some of these cities are a multi-day hike through dense jungle. Our guide let us know he has tried to visit the largest known Mayan City of El Mirador but has not made it due to the difficulty of the trek. You can go by helicopter. We thankfully were headed to the famous and also huge Mayan city of Tikal. From the Flores, Guatemala Airport “Mundo Maya International Airport” it’s a little over an hour drive through the rainforest to get to Tikal. Tikal has been in multiple movies such as Star Wars: A New Hope and Moonraker (James Bond). It is a city I have wanted to explore for a long time! Many people visit from Belize by land, but we added it on to our Guatemala tour.
Tikal
Tikal is a very old and very large Mayan City that was one of the most powerful in the world at the time. There are over 3,000 buildings found, and the city was already being constructed in the late BC timeframe. The city was in battle with it’s neighbors often and also had alliances with far away kingdoms like the city of Teotihuacan near Mexico City that is home to large pyramids. We toured only a small portion of the ancient city but still took a 6 mile walk into the jungle to visit the site. There is a nice museum, and visitors center with a city map, shops and restaurants. Be sure to stock up on water as it’s quite a way before the next spot to buy any. The area does not have electricity so locals haul ice chests with drinks and snacks into the park. We walked quite a ways before we got to our first area of temples that included original Stellas with Mayan carvings and writing. We saw plenty of wildlife as we walked. Later in our hike we saw howler and spider monkeys amongst other animals. We headed to the main plaza where we got a Gatorade due to the super humid rainforest. It was actually a relatively cool day for the area due to a cold front that helped make things a bit more tolerable. At the main plaza with viewed the palace and multiple huge temples with still intact writing. It’s a giant complex and the largest area of Mayan temples I have seen. We were able to climb up to the top of one on modern stairs built up on the side. In the distance you could see other temples poking up out of the dense jungle. Many of the temples and structures have not been excavated and you see earthen mounds overgrown with trees and vines with sometimes a few visible stones. This is done as the dirt and trees actually preserves the structures versus leaving them exposed. We continued deeper into the rainforest to visit the tallest temple in Tikal.
The Temple of the Two-Headed Serpent also known as Temple IV is 230 feet tall making it one of the tallest structures in the Mayan and the Ancient World. It was featured in Star Wars before the Death Star attack. You can also climb to the top of the temple honoring a great King of Tikal, but as we hiked and got tired, we decided to view it from the bottom. On the way out we walked through a section called “The Lost World” which are temples that are different in architecture from the rest of Tikal. They have the architecture of their ally Teotihuacan in Mexico many miles away and truly looked like we were in a Lost World.
After we finished our time hiking in Tikal we headed to a small restaurant where they use generators to cook. The food was great, and we got soup (in a coffee cup) and I got great chicken and rice. After a nice meal we headed out of Tikal for one last quick visit before we flew back to Guatemala City.
Flores
We headed over to Flores as our group had a little time before our flight back. Flores is a relatively small city of less than 50,000 people and is the capital of the Peten department (like a state) and part of the city (the old town) is on a small island in Lake Peten Itza. We didn’t have time to do a walking tour of the island so instead we headed on a group boat ride in the lake around the island. Across the lake in a small town is a statue of “The Horse of Hernan Cortez”. It is said that Hernan Cortez left his horse at the town when heading to Honduras and did not come back. We headed around the island city of Flores and due to increased rain in the area because of odd weather the front street and its buildings are partially underwater. The city looked to be a unique and has really interesting places to visit. You could see the highest building on the island is the church as is customary. The owner of the boat was thrilled to have a group of around 20 on his boat as we circled the island that is popular with tourists and looked to have small hotels and plenty of restaurants. After the 20 minute ride, we headed back to the airport.
Getting through the small airport was very easy and they had a nice waiting area. Our flight was on time, and we headed back to Guatemala City. Once again TAG Airlines was very nice with a friendly crew. While heading into Guatemala City the sun was just setting, and I could see El Fuego in the distance. While I was watching it erupted, and I got a brief look at the flames and hot lava rock shooting into the air. It was another amazing and unique sight to see while in Guatemala. Since we didn’t have any bags due to the day trip we breezed through the airport and headed back to our hotel. The next day we visited the National Museum as I described above and then we headed home.
Tikal and Flores Tours:
Our Departure and Tips
La Aurora International Airport is a nice airport that is pretty easy to get through. It can be a bit chaotic as you are being dropped off due to there being quite a few vendors selling souvenirs, balloons and flowers before you head in the airport building. I bought a couple Guatemalan flags before we showed our boarding passes and headed in. Security was no different than back home outside of you do not have to take off your shoes. Due to US TSA rules, we were searched at the gate as you are not allowed to take any drinks on a flight even after security. We headed off on United where once again I watched El Fuego smoking in the distance as we ended our adventure.
We loved Guatemala and it’s history and beauty. Like in most Latin American countries the people are very friendly and kind. Guatemala is a developing nation, so it’s recommended to not use the tap water for anything other than a shower and to avoid things like Salad or fruit that was washed in the water. We did just that and had no issues in Guatemala but bring medication for digestive issues just in case. While we felt safe in Guatemala generally sticking with our guides other than our Uber ride to the National Museum, Guatemala is rated a Level 3 Country at the time of this writing by the US State Department. If you are adventurous and keep your wits about you, you most likely won’t have any issues but crime is something to keep in mind. Once again, we had no issues and felt safe, but you will need to weigh your risk tolerance when visiting. Be prepared for many people coming up to you to sell you different goods and handicrafts throughout the trip. Keep in mind many in Guatemala are just trying to get by so they feel they need to be aggressive to get a sale. Absolutely go to Tikal as it is an amazing place. This is a bit of an off the beaten path destination so using a travel agent with experience and/or going on a guided tour like we did is recommended but you can go on your own. We do absolutely recommend visiting this land of adventure and history. You will not be disappointed and will have your “Indiana Jones” adventure moment in Guatemala!
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