Blogs from Quetzaltenango, Western Highlands, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean

Wed 21-Thur 22 November - Day 26 to 27 - Quetzaltenango At 9.00am we continued our journey towards the town of url=https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Attraction_Review-g292013-d8602661-Reviews-La_Ermita_de_la_Concepcion_La_Conquistadora-Quetzaltenango_Quetzaltenango_Departm.htmlLa Ermita de la Concepcion (La Conquistadora) the oldest church in central America. This church was interesting to visit, both for the architecture and the remnant of the Spanish conquest of Guatemala. It is not as decorated, since it was not designed to teach the Mayans. In fact, it was reserved for the Spanish, who had set up a fort in Salcaja to control two important Mayan cities. The walls are very strong to prevent earthquake damage, so this church had never had to be repaired. We arrived at Quetzaltenango at around 12MD and checked into Hotel Mondelo. It was a beautiful, sp... read more

In Xela (short for Quetzaltenango) I stayed with couchsurfer Irving. The first night we went for a drink with 3 other couchsurfers, that stayed with a friend of his. We drank a Guatemalan sort of aguardiente called "Quezalteca". There are different flavours. I liked the one with tamarinda. The following day, Irving borrowed a pick-up and we went to "las Fuentes Georginas". This is a beautiful place in the mountains, about 45 minutes from Xela. Hot water, coming from the Zunil volcano, flows into the pools. It's cold at that altitude so you can see the steam coming from the pools. Everywhere you look there is green around and it seems like a secret place, although it is frequently visited by touists. It was absolutely beautiful. When we left, we found the car with a flat ... read more

Semuc Champey, Xela and some other nice places The first place I went to in Guatemala was the Maya site Tikal. Tikal is a spectacular place and I have decided to dedicate an entire blog entry to it. I will put that one up later on. Here in this the first blog from Guatemala I have collected photos I have taken in a few other places. First I am going to write a little about a small place called Semuc Champey. Semuc Champey is a popular tourist destination thanks to a series of natural pools located in a former riverbed. At some time the river found its way through cracks in the rock. The cracks grew wider and wider and eventually became a cave. More and more water flowed through the cave which made it grow ... read more

From Lanquin I took a shuttle to Antigua and stopped there for a night before heading to Xela, which I took a chicken bus. Xela is the second biggest city in Guatemala and is famed by tourists for its hiking and Spanish Schools. People usually come here longer term To do Spanish lessons and stay with host families. Xela had really good vibes and felt really safe. It is set in the middle of the western highlands and has the culture of Antigua but the more modern feeling of a Guatemalan city. In other ways, it's just seemed like a more mature, less touristy Antigua and doesn't have some of the colonial feel surrounding it. I stayed in the Black Cat hostel near to the Parque Central for 2 nights. This was a nice hostel which ... read more

While in Quetzaltenango (Xela) we weren't really sure what to do. It seemed like a good place to cross the border to, but we hadn't really done any research; and neither had anyone we traveled with. It was a city: big and busy. We wandered on our first day, as we often do, looking for interesting things: markets, Spanish schools, a hat for Dan. We had good luck on the first two, not so good on the last one. Upon recommendation from another traveler we looked into Celas Maya Spanish school and it seemed really good. Lots of activities in the afternoon to practice Spanish and get a better feel for Xela. They went on excursions to textile cooperatives, coffee plantations, the Fuentes Georginas (more below), and many other things you might not be able to ... read more