Guatemala in a nutshell
Trip Start
Sep 17, 2007
1
13
272
Trip End
Oct 08, 2008
Where I stayed
Umma Gumma Hostel
Tikal,
Guatemala
Thursday, October 4, 2007
I believe that certain travel guides are publishing their new Central America guides in the coming year, but if you are not able to get one of these, or if you choose not to use it, be warned. Traveling with a four-year-old book is no picnic. Tons of stuff changes in four years.
I'll start with the transportation:
As our friend Katherine the Australian said, "Driving here is very notional." I think that sums it up in a nutshell.
Buses drive way faster than they should, and in Guatemala the fancy Pullman-type buses pick up random passengers wherever they find them on the road, making your trip just that much longer. But there's really nothing you can do about it.
No matter what vehicle, it will pass in no-passing zones, on tight turns, and passes that make you gasp when you're not passing. Tourist buses are a little better than taxis and chicken buses, but only a very little.
Drivers honk for fun. I'm almost not joking. It's seriously annoying. Taxis honk at each other and to let you know they accept fares. Buses honk at everything that moves. The minute traffic stops, a blare of honks fills the air, regardless of whether or not it's warranted. I could do without the honking.
The bus from the airport to the center of town in Guatemala City is a piece of cake and only costs 1 quetzal. That's about 15 US cents. It is much cheaper and more interesting than a cab. We had a ball on our city bus, number 86 from the airport to the Plaza Mayor.
We used the Let's Go Central America travel guide, and it told us that we could find buses to Antigua near the Plaza Mayor in Guatemala City (commonly called Guate on signs and buses). This is not true. The only way we know how to get the buses to Antigua was shown to us by a resident of the city. Therefore I would recommend that you take a cab from the Plaza to the bus terminal in Zona 4. Chicken buses are inexpensive and, when they are going directly to your destination, very easy to use. I warn you, however, that the people we talked to who did chicken bus hopping to get from one place to another either spent too many hours traveling or spent the same amount of money as a tourist bus would have cost.
Antigua is small and quaint and extremely tourist-friendly. You can walk down two streets and compare 8 prices to wherever you want to go. Generally we found it easier to pay the $8 or however much to take the tourist bus to certain places: Lago Atitlan, Monterrico, and Copan Ruinas. If you're not operating with time restrictions, we recommend taking the chicken bus from Antigua to the bus terminals in Guate in order to get up to Flores and Tikal. If this is too painful, it's probably easier to go it solo from Flores back to Antigua than vice versa. We got tickets on the bus from Flores to Guate from the station rather than from the hotel, and then we caught a chicken bus back to Antigua and it was half the price of booking with the hotel. And it really wasn't painful.
On Lago Atitlan we were told that the boat from Panajachel to San Pedro was leaving imminently. This is never true. They will grab you and then look for any other fares and nothing happens until the boat is reasonably full. Sometimes we waited for an hour. Also, another tourist told us (after we had already paid for our last boat ride) that you should never pay more than 20 quetzales for the boat rides from town to town around the lake. All the drivers ask for 25, so we thought it was a fixed price, but they are rather desperate for your fare, so it will be negotiable. Also, regarding the little Atitlan boats - if you're going fast and there are lots of boats on the water, there are also a lot of waves and you might get soaked by a runaway splash. I did and it was terribly uncomfortable. This can be prevented if you keep the plastic windows down.
Also, San Pedro has two completely separate docks. One runs between San Pedro and Panajachel. The other between San Pedro and Santiago. Find where you want to go before the boats start going at 7 am - they don't necessarily run all day, the morning is best for travel. Also, the secret path along the beach that doesn't require you to walk all the way up the giant hill and then all the way back down is impossible to find on the Panajachel dock side. It's immediately beside the Super Tienda as you walk toward the trees (not the village). On the other side there's a large dirt path just past the public swimming pool.
The majority of taxis in Guatemala are motorized tuk-tuks. They're funny-looking. We went our whole trip in Guatemala without a taxi. Public transportation is sufficient, or the towns you're in are completely walkable. Also, all the bus drivers are really honest and will only take as much money as you need to pay to get where you're going.
On to housing:
Our first stay in Antigua was at Hotel la Casa Don Ismael. We were just glad not to be sleeping in Guatemala City, but this was a rather expensive hotel for our budget. It was a great hotel, clean, free breakfast and internet, and tour booking that was not more expensive than the independent competition. $20 per night for our double during low season.
In Panajachel we stayed in Hospedaje Sanchez. It was very basic, and we had a triple for 75Q, but we liked it fine. The woman who runs it is a glorious old Mayan woman and very friendly. From the roof you can have a view of the lake, but there are no chairs up there.
San Pedro was an adventure. It was the first place that we were harassed about going to a hotel. We ended up following a pair of guys who took us to Valle Azul hotel. The guys may get a commission from the hotel for bringing customers, but their real goal is to get you settled before they try to sell you stuff, like horse rides. Double with private bath for 50Q. They said they didn't have anything else, and that may have been true because the town was flooded with Israelis. They often take long holidays in Sept-Oct because of all the religious holidays they have during that time. I'm always a bit skeptical when they say they don't have anything cheaper, though. Valle Azul had a nice balcony with hammocks looking out to the lake, and it was a great place to chill. There are definitely more upscale places in San Pedro if that's what you want. The guys will take you anywhere the minute you get off the boat. After dinner there was an enormous cockroach above our bed, but we only saw the one and we pulled the bed away from the wall as a precaution.
Santiago we stayed in some hotel with a weird name, like Imo Ito or something. Again, men desperate for business await you to guide you at the dock. 85Q for a double without private bath. Also, the bathrooms had no toilet seats. Charming, but definitely decent for a night's sleep. The only other hotel we saw wanted 50Q per person. It's not as touristy as San Pedro or Panajachel and people often just go for the day.
In Chichicastanango we were accosted by a little boy who took us to Hotel Belen because the hotel we initially wanted had fleas. Who knows if that's true. There are lots of Hotels of different values in Chichi. We were there for one night and our double with shared bath was clean and nice. There was also a balcony. Very nice. 60Q.
Once again in Antigua we found a home. We were searching for something relatively inexpensive like we had found on the lake. No cigar in Antigua. We found Umma Gumma hostel. It's a real hostel with two shared kitchens rooms and dormitories with private and shared bathrooms, free internet, and satellite TV. That meant we could see stuff in English. Glorious English! It's very tidy and friendly and safe. Even the dormitories are limited to 5 beds and there are enough keys for everyone. Usually dorms are open and you have to get a lock box for storage. Our dormitory was 35Q per person, doubles are 100-140Q per person. It fills up even in the off season, so you can also look for the Black Cat, which also has inexpensive rooms and supposedly hot showers. Dorms there are perhaps 25Q per person. We men some Israelis on their honeymoon were staying there and quite satisfied with it. Housing is not hard to find in Antigua, so you can shop around. But we definitely recommend Umma Gumma. It's only a block away from the grocery store and McDonald's (McFlurries are big).
Next we stayed at the Tortugario at Parque Hawaii, and housing is included with your volunteering. It's all co-ed dorms, but you have to want to be there to be there, so housing doesn't matter. If you want to chill in Monterrico there are a zillion hotels along the beach. Go nuts.
In Flores we found an excellent place for us to stay. Youth Hostel Los Amigos is on a side road and a favorite of travelers. Dormitories are 25Q per person, and we did that one night without mishap. Another night we had a double with shared bath for 70Q. The man who runs the hostel also tries to keep everything safe, so he provides lockers and locks at no cost. There are backpack-sized lockers (we could both fit our packs in one), and smaller lockers with outlets for charging electronics. There is also a bar-restaurant that serves huge portions of yummy food for almost no money. Internet is not free, but there are computers for use and a book exchange. There are also two huge dogs, a kitten, and two parrots hanging out in the restaurant lounge area. Those are the amigos. Also a large outdoor courtyard, but that's not such a fun place when it rains. Highly recommended.
Let me just say before I move on that, even if a hotel says they have hot water, there is a very good chance that they don't and the only way to really know is to test the shower. The only place I was really glad to have a cold shower was at Parque Hawaii because we were always so hot on the beach, but inland it's not quite that hot, so a cold shower is a fast experience.
Now for food:
The common fare is a piece of fried chicken with papas fritas (French fries) and some combination of guacamole, rice, and refried beans that come with tortillas. Now I wish I had some, but it gets really old really fast when you are actually in Guatemala. Pizza is not great, but pasta works out pretty well. McDonald's is the same price as it is in the States, that is to say, it is a very expensive option. In Antigua it's very easy to get groceries and make your own food, which is yummy and keeps costs down. Portions are usually enormous. Refried beans are really salty and watery. The more you travel, the more you find different stuff. Los Amigos was mostly vegetarian because the owner was vegetarian, for example.
Our eating experience was thrown off by our week at the Tortugario when we were able to eat normal food (although it was always vegetarian because of the number of vegetarians that live there) that was home-cooked. It was nice to have home-cooked food sometimes. Eating out just gets heavy, particularly because you have to be careful about raw vegetables and fruits because you can't actually see what kind of water they use to wash their food. Don't wanna get the squirts! We found that foods with substantive peels, such as oranges and avocados and pineapples are okay to eat out. But it's actually hard to find oranges. Papaya, guava, bananas, pineapples, mangoes are plentiful. Also, there is tons of chocolate flavored cereal and corn flakes. Those are your main cereal options that we could find.
