Things to do in Guatemala
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Academia de Español Antigueña
A highly recommended school, only hiring experienced teachers. They can arrange volunteer work in hospitals for social workers, lab assistants and child care workers on request. Also supports an educational project in San Antonio Aguas Calientes.
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Volunteering in Quetzaltenango
The Quetzaltenango area has many nonprofit organizations working on social projects with the local K'iche' Maya people and others that need volunteers. Volunteer jobs can range from teaching math to village children, to designing websites for indigenous organizations, to developing sustainable agriculture, to medical work in clinics, to working in orphanages for disabled children. For anyone in a giving frame of mind, the possibilities are endless.
You can volunteer part time for a week or two while also studying Spanish, or you can live and work in a close-knit indigenous village for a year. Obviously, the more Spanish you speak the better, but in a few weeks at one of X…
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Buddha Bar
An excellent place to hang out - downstairs there's a pool table, upstairs a restaurant doing convincing versions of Thai, Indian and other Asian dishes.
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D'Noz
This is upstairs above Nick's and is another popular hangout - it's about as close as San Pedro gets to a cultural center, with a global menu, free movies, a big bar, board games and a lending library.
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Chile's
Chile's deck overlooking the Pana dock and lake will always be a popular option. The party starts later here, too, with free salsa classes and dance music through the week.
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Cooperativa Spanish School
Run as a cooperative (therefore guaranteeing fair wages for teachers), Cooperativa Spanish School comes highly recommended. A percentage of profits goes to needy families around the lake. After-school activities include videos, conferences, salsa classes, volunteer work, kayaking and hiking. The office is halfway along the path between the two docks.
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Chichi Market
Guatemala's largest and most colorful indigenous market, the twice-weekly Chichi market attracts traders from highland villages for miles around. Stalls and blankets are set up on the plaza and the streets around it. As well as essentials like fruit, vegetables, clothing and spices, you can search for handicrafts such as textiles, masks and carvings.
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Mesón Panza Verde
This guesthouse restaurant provides divine continental cuisine in an appealing Antiguan atmosphere. If you don't have the budget for a full meal but want to check out the great ambience and gorgeous patio, have a drink or snack at the Panza Verde's Café Terraza.
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Restaurante Doña Luisa Xicotencatl
Probably Antigua's best-known restaurant, this is a place to enjoy the colonial patio ambience over breakfast or a light meal. The bakery here sells many kinds of breads, including whole grain. Check out the hot-from-the-oven banana bread daily at around 14:00.
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Rainbow Café
Fill up from an eclectic range of all-day breakfasts, curries, stir-fries, Cajun chicken, guacamole and more, and enjoy the relaxed patio atmosphere. The Rainbow has a bookshop and travel agency on the premises.
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Traveler Menu
Not nearly as unimaginative as the name would imply, this little bar-restaurant serves up big portions of food that you may have been craving (chow mein, curry etc) in an intimate candlelit environment.
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Fata Morgana
Really good coffee has finally made it to San Pedro thanks to this little Italian restaurant/café/bakery. Also on offer are some good basic pastas and excellent homemade breads and pastries.
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Monoloco
An old-time tourist hangout (take that as a recommendation or a warning), this place serves up a good blend of comfort foods and local dishes, as well as ice-cold beers in a relaxed environment.
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Kaqchikel Tours
Kaqchikel Tours is a well-run, locally owned outfit specializing in volcano ascents and other great-value hikes, with camping along the way on some trips. Two-day Tajumulco trips cost around US$40. Kaqchikel also offers full-moon ascents of Santa María (around US$15) and challenging two-day Santiaguito trips (around US$66 with a minimum group size of four), camping on a small hill as close as is safely possible to the active crater.
A three-day Quetzaltenango-Lago de Atitlán trek is around US$70, and a five-day Nebaj-Todos Santos jaunt across the Cuchumatanes mountains is around US$130. Prices include transportation, food, equipment and a guide.
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Lago de Atitlán
This dramatic crater lake is surrounded by looming volcanoes and its shoreline is dotted with traditional Mayan villages. For travelers, this is the beautiful heart of the Guatemala highlands, a place to kick back, relax and soak up the cultural scene.
Panajachel is the main lakeside town and where most foreigners stay. On the southern shore, Santiago Atitlán is a Tz'utujil Mayan market town with strong traditions, and a large arts and crafts scene. San Pedro Laguna is another village popular with backpackers for its language schools and proximity to San Pedro volcano. Boats run frequently across the lake, connecting villages.
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Volcán Santa María & Santiaguito
With early starts, Volcán Santa María (3772m), towering to the south of the city, and the active volcano Santiaguito (2488m), on Santa María's southwest flank, can both be done in long morning hikes from Xela.
You start walking at the village of Llanos del Pinal, 5km south of Xela, from which it's about four hours up to the summit of Santa María (then three hours down). Getting too close to Santiaguito is dangerous, so people usually just look at it from a mirador about 1½ hours' walk from Llanos del Pinal.
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La Fonda de la Calle Real
This restaurant with three spacious branches, all in appealing colonial style, has a good, varied menu ranging from generous salads and sandwiches to grilled meats. The specialty caldo real, a hearty chicken soup, makes a good meal. This branch is the most attractive of the three, with several rooms and patios. Other branches are located at 5a Av Norte 5 and 5a Av Norte 12. The 5a Av Norte 12 branch is a little cheaper than the others.
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Antigua Market
Antigua Market - chaotic, colorful and always busy - sprawls north of 4a Calle. Morning, when villagers from the Antigua vicinity are actively buying and selling, is the best time to come. On the official market days Mayan women spread their wares over open-air areas north and west of the covered market area. Like many Guatemalan markets, Antigua market is cheek-by-jowl with the bus terminal, adding to the crowds, noise and dirt.
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Ravenscroft Riding Stables
Ravenscroft Riding Stables, 3km south of Antigua on the road to Santa María de Jesús, offers English-style riding, with scenic rides of three, four or five hours in the valleys and hills around Antigua. You need to be fairly fit. Reservations and information are available through the Hotel San Jorge. You can reach the stables on a bus bound for Santa María de Jesús.
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Parque Central
This broad and beautiful plaza, easily the loveliest in the country, is the gathering place for Antigüeños and visitors alike - a fine, verdant place to sit or stroll and observe Antigua happening around you, from hawkers and shoe shiners to school kids and groups of tourists. The famous central fountain is a 1936 reconstruction of the original 1738 version.
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Café No Sé
Advertising uncomfortable seats, confused staff and battered books, this is a pleasantly downbeat option among all of Antigua's finery. There's a little bit of everything here - breakfast (including one option of a shot of mescal and two boiled eggs), burritos, fried chicken, sandwiches, movies, a tequila bar and live music.
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El Portal
This atmospheric old drinking den serves fine draft beer and free tapas. Che Guevara was once a patron. Sit at the long wooden bar or one of the wooden tables. Clients are mostly, but not exclusively, men. To find it, enter the Portal del Comercio arcade from 6a Av a few steps south of the Parque Central.
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Fernando's Kaffe
Ignore the shopfront-look from the street and head for the back patio. Antigua has no shortage of coffee or cafés, but Fernando's is the sort of place where you could end up hanging out all day, munching your way through the menu of salads and empanadas and sipping some of the best coffee in town.
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Casa Rosario
Run by respected brothers and teachers Samuel and Vicente Cumes, Casa Rosario holds classes in gardens near the lake. The office is along first street to the left as you walk up from Santiago dock. Volunteer projects include reforestation, teachers' assistants and environmental awareness campaigns.
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Proyecto Lingüístico Quetzalteco de Español
This very professional and politically minded school also runs the Escuela de la Montaña, a language school with a maximum enrollment of eight on an organic coffee finca in the mountains near Xela, where participation in local culture and volunteering are strongly encouraged.
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