Guatemala

geoffw

geoffw

I've just spent 2 1/2 weeks in Guatemala. It's the first part of a two month trip in Central America plus a little bit.

I hope people don't mind me posting a few pictures. It's a lovely place. Its not in the usual tourist route so perhaps somebody may be interested.

The first pictures are from Antigua, a world heritage listed city not too far from Guatemala City.
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Cool pics - I'm very jealous. All I have at the moment is a view of the Dickson post office :-(

Enjoy!

Cheers

Jamie
 
All the encouragement I need!

To celebrate the Day of the Dead (November 1) a village about an hour's drive out of Antigua has a gigantic kite festival. Some of them are up to 20m high, but they only attempt to fly the ones up to 8m.

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It looks fascinating. Do they celebrate their Day of the Dead with skulls as the Mexicans do? I think we should celebrate the Day of the Dead here in Australia, but then I suppose we have Halloween.
 
Oh! I loved Guatemala! We spent a few weeks working our way down the coast from Cancun, into Belize, out to one of the islands to do some diving for a few days, then over into Guatemala. Went to Tikal, which was amazing! Quetzaltenango & Antigua. Somewhere in there we climbed a live volcano. Fabulous trip.
 
I went to study Spanish in a small town, San Pedro La Laguna, on the edge of a beautiful lake, Lake Atitlan.

I was studying at the first school established in town, Casa Rosario Spanish School. The setting was spectacular. The lessons are one on one, held outdoors in a garden. I stayed with a local Maya family, so really got to know how people live, and also had to keep talking Spanish at home.

The accommodation was basic, but clean and sufficient. So for 20 hours one on one teaching, accommodation and food cost $US140 for a week.

The town is poor, and at times depressing. But it does have restaurants, bars, coffee shops with good coffee, and WiFi in many of those places.

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property_girl said:
It looks fascinating. Do they celebrate their Day of the Dead with skulls as the Mexicans do? I think we should celebrate the Day of the Dead here in Australia, but then I suppose we have Halloween.
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They don't as far as I know. But then I didn't see many places.

In Antigua they did celebrate Halloween. The town square was packed at night, although not many people had costumes. Until we walked past the night clubs.
 
It looks beautiful!

Weirdest moment. Realising that the things people were dumping into a basket by the door as they entered the bank were guns! They casually picked them up as they left.
 
serendip said:
Oh! I loved Guatemala! We spent a few weeks working our way down the coast from Cancun, into Belize, out to one of the islands to do some diving for a few days, then over into Guatemala. Went to Tikal, which was amazing! Quetzaltenango & Antigua. Somewhere in there we climbed a live volcano. Fabulous trip.
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Sounds great!

I'm doing the other way around. Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Medellin in Colombia, then Belize and the Mexican coast south of Cancun; Christmas with the in-laws in Mexico City, then home.
 
serendip said:
It looks beautiful!

Weirdest moment. Realising that the things people were dumping into a basket by the door as they entered the bank were guns! They casually picked them up as they left.
Click to expand...

In Guatemala City, they had uniformed guards, with big guns, literally riding shotgun in the back of a beer delivery truck.
 
Some thoughts.

Lake Atitlan is superbly beautiful. Aldous Huxley called it the mist beautiful lake in the world. But it is poor, and it's a big adjustment to make.

Where I was, just about all of the women wore traditional Maya dress. Hardly any men did.

The money I spent on the course and accommodation was very little. But people were extremely grateful for that - many earn just $1 per hour. I only met my host "dad" once in two weeks - he worked 16 hours a day, 6 days a week or more. But there's nothing he can do in an area with high unemployment.

The mother in my host family is 28, with a 13yo daughter and a 60yo grandmother. This is not uncommon. She had a graduation while I was there - for her primary school education, after her family had only been able to support her for two years. It can take 5-6 weeks just to earn enough to pay for one year's education.

Public internet WiFi is readily available, often just for the price of a cup of coffee. Private internet is rare.

I lived being there. But people used to a high standard of accommodation may struggle. Meals were provided, but some may not like the small portions and lack of variety (especially at night. Beans, eggs and tortillas). But it's a part of the experience. I loved being a part of the local life. But I couldn't live there.

I didn't see much of the country. There are certainly a lot of places well worth visiting. Next time.
 
Loving the journey with you Geoff ... so happy, sad and colourful. Wow - the markets looked amazing and I think I'd happily spend all day (and a container load later) there
 
More encouragement here Geoff!

I like to see when people get off the tourist track and immerse more in the local culture.

Sounds like a little excerpt from the 4 hr working week philosophy?????

Mini retirements whilst learning a new skill perhaps?
 
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