Messages to my Mother from Guatemala

My trip to Antigua was more of a holiday than an adventure: I went somewhere hotter and prettier than home; I put on suncream every morning and carried my sunglasses everywhere without ever remembering to put them on; I abided by the icecream-a-day rule; I took a ridiculous number of photos and the time I spent in churches and art galleries increased exponentially. La Antigua Guatemala was the capital built by the Spanish after the conquest (one of them - they had some trouble with earthquakes, volcanoes and landslides before winding up in modern Guatemala La Capital). It's certainly a pretty place. Catherine Morland would simply swoon at the sight of all these picturesque ruins, particularly as they are backed by dramatic forested mountains. Notwithstanding the cobbled streets and graceful arches, though, I have to say ... read more

Easter (or Semana Santa) is no small thing here and this week has been a lively one. After various events for Cuarismo (Lent), the Semana Santa celebrations began last Thursday with a small children's parade which I saw in passing in the Parque Central. Things got more lively on Thursday with the Huelga de Dolores. This 115-year-old event is organised by the politically minded students at San Carlos, Guatemala's public university, which has an arm in Quetzaltenango. During the many years of conflict, the students adopted full body masks to avoid repercussions (though the death toll on university students was still high), although now in Xela at least things are taken less seriously. However, the politics was not completely forgotten, as they were dancing and skipping around floats bearing megaphones and posters with many slogans, such ... read more

Having been in Quetzaltenango over three weeks without managing to get to a museum, I eventually spared an afternoon to pay a visit to the Casa de la Cultura which sits at one end of the Parque Central. This now ranks amongst my Bizarrest Museum Experiences Ever (Right up there with the Lake District Pencil Museum). The first room I entered featured details on industrial uses of various chemical elements beside a display of old money, a fossil of something called a Gliptodonte and information on how to make chewing gum. The next room, the Natural History room, was both lined and filled with stuffed animals, with a few painted sea shells and human fetuses thrown in for good measure. Just when I thought I'd seen everything, I noticed that above my head, balanced precariously atop ... read more

After a week in Xela, I decided that I needed to do something a little different for the weekend before starting Spanish classes. And where better to begin my Guatemalan travels than Lago de Atitlan, which everybody here has been raving about since I arrived? I got up early and caught the microbus to Minerva terminal, where various helpful drivers directed me to the bus to Panajachel. It was a forty minute wait on the bus, during which time vendors scrambled on and off, pushing up and down selling ice creams, sweets, tortillas, newspapers, drinks and essentially anything else portable. The journey took a few hours, then from Panajachel I caught a tuk-tuk to La Reserva Natural Atitlan. This is a privately owned park set in secondary forest over a coffee plantation. Trails across the hillside ... read more

Directly up 15a Avenida from the Hostal (and not at all in the place given by Rough Guide), La Dispensa Familiar sits hidden behind the busy market of La Democracia. Since I gather Steve is interested, I thought I´d give a little description. There are two guards and a row of lockers just inside the wide door, but inside things are much like a normal small supermarket, except a lot dirtier and more chaotic. I was somewhat surprised to see a man´s full torso sticking out from one of the top shelves - turns out he had climbed up to do the stacking. There´s not much fruit and veg inside, as why would you buy it from a supermarket when you could barter for it in the market? (This is something I´ve not quite had the ... read more