This is part 1 of my summer travels this year, which if you know me, you know don’t happen that often because I hate the heat and I especially hate traveling in it. But there are some places that would be hot for me no matter what, so when the opportunity arrives, I’ll take it. And that being said, Guatemala was 100% the coolest of the three countries I went to, so I tried to appreciate that while it lasted!
I started out in the capital city, Ciudad de Guatemala, and had approximately two full days there, one at the beginning and one at the end of my trip. People supposedly prefer other places to the capital, but like most places, I liked it just fine.
I visited:
–Casa de la Memoria: a museum dedicated to the Civil War and subsequent genocide of the Indigenous Maya people, with a dash of events more current as well.
–National Palace of Culture: located in the Plaza de la Constitución, you can only visit with a guided tour, which takes you to three different floors of the building. There are beautiful murals, done by one of Rivera’s students, as well as elegant furniture and a cool inner patio.
-Metropolitan Cathedral
–Plaza España: with benches inspired by the Plaza España in Sevilla, it is honestly a little worse for wear, but I still managed to take some nice photos because of all the flowers!
–Torre del reformador: only spotted it from the windows of Ubers; it was made to look like a (scrappy) version of the Eiffel Tower.
–Central Market: of course I bought many things…
–Plaza Berlín: one of the many places to get amazing views of the volcanoes surrounding the city (volcanoes were a persistent theme on this trip).
At the end of my trip I spent the day museum hopping:
–Museo Ixchel: perhaps the city’s best museum, it features a collection of Indigenous Maya clothing, mainly worn by women nowadays. It was all very beautiful and very intricately designed.
–Museo Popol Vuh: has one of the only surviving copies of the most important documents of the Maya peoples; the Spanish destroyed the original.
–Miraflores Museum: contains the archeological finds from the Kaminalijuyu Area, which can also be visited (I ran out of time, and energy as well).
I also spent 2 days in Antigua, which I have to admit, along with the rest of the internet (lol), might just be my favorite. For one, it is extremely walkable. I spent loads on Ubers in the capital, so being able to walk around was a relief. For another, the houses are mostly one or two stories (lots of earthquakes in the past), leading to amazing view of… you guessed it… volcanoes, from just about anywhere you were.
I visited:
–Ruinas de Santa Clara & Santuario de San Francisco el Grande: I started out by visiting two of the better-known ruins of the city, both destroyed by past earthquakes.
-Tanque de la Unión: I sheltered here from a torrential downpour (rainy season!) and then marveled at the sun on the water when the rain finally stopped.
–Parque Central, Catedral de San José
-Real Palacio de los Capitanes Generales: this building houses the MUNAG, the art museum of Antigua, which was free (!) and very nice. From the second floor patio there were lovely views of the volcano as an added bonus.
-I made a quick stop at Convento capuchinas, before heading to the Mercado de Atresanías to buy jade earrings (among other things, of courseee).
-There are 3 main places to see the volcano views, and my second day there I started early to take advantage of the clear weather, first going to Cerro de la Cruz, a hill from which you can see the volcanoes and the whole city, then heading to the Iglesia de la Merced, which has views from their roof, and finally, to the famous Arco de Santa Catalina. From when I took pictures on the rooftop of the church to when I arrived at the Arco, there was a difference of only 15 minutes, but look at the difference in views:
Damn!
The next 2 days were spent at Lago Atitlán, arriving at Panajachel and spending a few hours eating lunch and visiting the Museo Lacustre before continuing on to Santa Catarina Palopó, where I stayed both nights. I chose this village because the hotel had stunning views of the volcanoes surrounding the lake. The thing to do here is visit the surrounding villages, of which there are many. Sooo many. I would really recommend a few more days here, but there’s never enough time, is there?
The next day, I took a day trip to three different islands: San Pedro la Laguna, San Juan la Laguna, and Santiago Atitlán. Normally this is something I would have done on my own, but with so many lancha (boat) schedules and only one day, I decided to book a guided tour to make sure I saw the most I could.
At San Pedro we visited a coffee and chocolate collective and saw the port. It was a quick trip but yielded some beautiful pictures:
At San Juan we spent a bit more time, visiting both a honey and a weaving collective, then spent some time wandering the charming streets. I also tried this yummy snack – a chocolate and sprinkle covered banana – while appreciating the street art.
By the time we got to Santiago, the weather had completely changed from sunny and hot to foggy and chilly, but we were still able to see the main square, the church, and a lot of street art!
Finally, I spent another 2 days in the north of Guatemala, in the city of Flores and at the Tikal ruins. Flores is mainly a stopover for people going to Tikal, as it is the closest big city nearby (still a 1.5 hour drive though), so the main thing to do there is to swim, as the part of the city I stayed in is actually on a little island in the middle of Lake Petén Itzá. I went to the city docks, where you can jump off right into the water, one of my favorite swimming pastimes.
The second day was spent on a guided day trip in Tikal, a huge site made up of various structures that all resembled each other more or less. Some are able to be climbed, offering views of the lush surrounding jungle. We also saw my new favorite animal, the pizote, which is related to the anteater. They are unafraid of humans, so we could get really close and even saw lots of babies!
Well, that’s it for part 1, in the next couple of weeks I will be sharing parts 2 and 3, featuring Nicaragua and Belize!
