Blogs from Guatemala City, Capital Region, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean - page 4

(Day 811 on the road) Should we visit Guatemala City or not, that was the question we were faced with in Ilapa. We were back in Guatemala after our short visit to the ruins of Copan in Honduras and had just climbed a small volcano here, and were now deciding where to go next. On the one hand, Guatemala City was roughly on our route west anyway. On the other hand, the city is notorious for its high crime rate, and most travellers simply avoid it if they can. In the end, we made the decision based on the good old traveller motto - which has become my absolute favourite for reaching any kind of decision on the road: "Why not?" And of course it was a good choice to say it up front. If I ... read more

Flight landed 3 hours late, so I missed the early bus. I have to wait around until 3pm to take the next one to Xela. Should be there around 8pm tonight. Guatemala City driving is very, very scary. Narrow streets, insane drivers...yet no one seems to have wrecks. Yet. I can´t wait to get to Xela. GC is not my sort of town...huge, dirty, and not at all safe.... read more

Well, here we are in Guatemala City. We did not do much yesterday apart from travel. 9.5 hours to Miami, nearly 4 hours lay over, 2.5 hours to Gautemala City. Hotel Posada Belen is lovely - comfortable, friendly, very helpful staff. We had some beers some soup and bed. Up early this morning for an excellent breakfast, eggs, beans, melon and cheese with coffee and toast. Then we searched long, long time for a cash machine. Eventually found one. The search involved a lot of walking round Zona 1 which is atmospheric. There were multiple bands playing in the main square and market stalls everywhere selling pretty well everything. I´ve got a new bag - well it holds my wallet out of the way and ties it to my belt loops. Once we had cash, we ... read more

A long flight...short connections...shorter flights...rubbish American food...yummy sushi...New York skyline sillouetted with dusky pink, linear clouds... ...Guatemala City. Arrived at night to the usual hustle and bustle of airports, people pushing to take your bags...heavy for the Gringo girls! It´s strange arriving at a city at night, no taste of what it´s like, only the smells and lights. Settled or rather flopped into the little single bed twin room with Rosanna, and just as we´re relaxing, a mozy...GRRR...so a few more minutes spent hunting, slapping, cursing, then FINALLY...nod. Guatemala City is violent. With on average 17 murders everyday, it´s not somewhere to walk around at night. The political instability has heightened in the last few months (against the current president) due to the recent assassination of an anti-corruption lawyer (Rosenburg)...search youtube! Th... read more

A wrinkle leaving Honduras. Border Crossings are always fraught with possibilities. (yellow dot) I crossed too many, eight, on this trip. The drill is: everybody out of the bus, unload all your baggage from the roof of the bus, wait in line for emigration, wait in line for immigration visa, go through customs, walk a block to wait for the bus to go through customs, load all the baggage back on the roof, everyone back on the bus—hope you get your seat back. Agents present calm intimidators, knowing that even on this boring day, and they are all boring days, a cheap thrill can be had by an arbitrary unnecessary decision, just to watch us squirm. Our agent wore a crisp uniform, a tight hair bun and hard dark eyes. As we approached her throne ... read more

Roughest day so far, I woke up very sick at 2 in the morning and we had a 8 hour bus ride coming at 9am. I threw up my dinner from the night before. Then I was confined to the bathroom right up until we left not eating all day and at every stop became more dehydrated in the bathrooms. Finally at 1pm I found some peptobismol and drank that. Driving through Guatamala city was an experience, it was so polluted and dirty looking. We made it to the hostel in Antigua at 4:30pm to find that our reservation hadn't been prossessed. If Lauren and Alyse find another hostel then we will all have beds, if not James and Matt volunteered to sleep in hammocks for the night. Being sick they let me have one of ... read more

I went back to Iztapa ( MY HOME TOWN, PLACE OF BIRTH ) for the first time in 20 years. Iztapa still the same town I left back in 1989. some new faces, but the same town. I had fun, and I would recommend you visit this small town in the Pacific coast of Guatemala. Iztapa is a poor town, well all Guatemala is ppor, so dont expect to find a 5 star hotel in Iztapa, but the people in Guatemala is warm, friendly, and welcoming to outsiders ( tourist ) So please visit Iztapa, and see for yourself. Please understand & dont expect high end facilities, becasue you will not find them. If you dont mind roughing it then This is the place for you. Try a trek in the Maria Linda River, try the ... read more

It's three days since we officially made the transition from North to Central America, via Mexico into Guatemala. And what a change. The whole country is going bonkers in the run up to independence day, which is the 15th of September. They managed to kick out the Spanish in 1823, and it was obviously such a big relief that they celebrate it each year with a massive party lasting two days. It's a very poor country (the lowest GDP in all of Central and South America), but the friendliness of the people, the colours, and the subtropical volcanic landscape make it a superb place to ride through. The majority of the population are indigenous, being descendants of the Mayans, whose ruined cities lie engulfed under thick forest. They are a very compact people (PC speak for ... read more