Blogs from Antigua, Capital Region, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean - page 14

I arrived at my home stay in Antigua, Gautemala late on Saturday evening after 30 + hours of travel time and reliving a total of 12 hours on March 31/12 so that I could return to the same time zone as my family/friends back in Canada. Needless to say, I was exhausted and went straight to bed. I arranged to come to Antigua to take Spanish classes and to live with a host family but I never paid particular attention to what time of year I would be in Antigua and could never have imagined how perfect my timing would be. I had booked my trip to Guatemala on the most popular and celebrated week of the year, arriving just on time for what is called Semana Santa (Holy week). The city was overflowing with thousands ... read more

I spotted him from a distance, hangdog expression, backpack dangling from a shoulder, meandering amongst the throngs of LAX. On spotting me, a surreptitious smile, a handshake and our mate Burch had now morphed our tight group of two into the three amigos with two months ahead galavanting around Central America. A month's gossip was exchanged over a couple of hours prior to the reality that we were still confronted with one of the less glamourous chapters of travel - the red eye flight.The actual flying time from LA to Guatemala isn't overly daunting, but already crusty and in stopover mode, the 11.30pm takeoff and rapid transit in Mexico City prior to the last leg is a recipe for the perfect storm in terms of jet lag. Guatemala City is bipassed by 99% of tourists who ... read more

While walking around Antigua, we kept noticing a wooden statue of a mustached man wearing a black suit, red tie and a wide-brimmed hat and smoking a cigar. We asked who he was and were told he was Maximon or San Simon. While we saw several in town, there were three chapels that were built just for him. The closest was in a town called San Andres Itzapa. We decided to go on a quest to find Maximon. Just who is Maximon and why would we be searching for him? We went online and found that Maximon is a pre-Columbian Mayan god of the underworld formerly known as Maam ("grandfather"); his modern name is a combination of Maam and Simon. He is also seen as an “everyman” saint; one who likes to smoke and drink. People ... read more

Last Wednesday the 8th we packed up the car and headed off to Guatemala. It was cool and drizzly and it matched my mood completely, as I didn’t want to leave San Cristobal de las Casas. I have such fond memories of San Cristobal; the neighbors have been great, the sights have been interesting, and the town itself had a cool, funky, laid-back feel to it. We had an almost uneventful, although long, trip going from San Cristobal to Tapachula, Mexico. As we approached Tapachula, we noticed orchards upon orchards of mango trees. The mangoes were ripe and the people were bringing the mangoes by the truckload to market. There were also stands set on the highway with women selling fresh, vine-ripe mangoes. It was almost enough to make me stop and buy one or two! ... read more

Most of my Central American trip has not been in too much of a hurry. But at this point, time was ticking. I needed to be in Antigua Guatemala by Monday at the latest to meet up with my sister and since Antigua is one of the tourist hotspots it was a perfect setting to get pissed whilst watching a Sunday Super bowl with a bunch of American tourists. I managed to stay on the beach in El Salvador until the maximum time not because it was anything too spectacular but because a beach is better than staying in an old colonial city I figured. My lack of scheduling in advance meant I was too late to book the convenient tourist bus that linked El Tunco and Antigua – a 5 hour bus ride leaving at ... read more