Air-con in Guatemala

bcmum, thanks for the suggestions. I have done my share of chicken buses. In particular, one in Oaxaca driven by a 13 year old. However, that was when I was much younger and now in my 60s, I find those kind of buses too uncomfortable for my injured lower back to stand more than a couple hours. Just 2 years ago I tried to brave a similar style of bus in Cambodia for a supposed 2.5 hour trip that turned into a nightmare 5 hour trip and it took me 2 days to recover enough to walk around. So we will have to be careful where, when and for how long we take any on this trip.

I am sure we will love Chiapas. In all my many trips to Mexico and living there for 2 years, I have yet to get to that state. So we plan to cross the border and spend awhile traveling there. Given the logistics we will probably be exiting near Comitan and spend a few days there. After Chiapas we will head to Oaxaca. My partner has never been there and I haven't since 1986. Was hoping to travel a bit in Michoacan too an the way up to Puerto Vallarta. We have to be up in Puerto Vallarta by the end of March for our flight back home. However, I think we may not have enough time for Michoacan. We will see.

aslukas, I can enjoy both tourist and non-tourist towns. Some of my favorite places are fairly to rather touristy (i.e. Luang Prabang, Laos) and I agree that authenticity has little to do with how many tourists are around. Yet, like you, I can also rally enjoy getting out and away from the usual tourist trails. Antigua may be a good fit for us.

Antigua may be a good fit for us.
I bet it will be. If not, at least it's a major transit hub and thus easy to get out of!

I never once stood on a chicken bus and we took quite a few in Guatemala. The tourist shuttles can be a problem, I only took two of those and one time I had the jump seat which was not nice at all. However, despite being three decades older than most of the others on the shuttle, I wasn't complaining, as some were and they weren't in the jump seat....

Some of the collectivo vans (in the Coban and Peten areas) can get incredibly crowded.....so many people we couldn't count them all! These trips were only a couple of hours though.

When doing the Sumidero Canyon boat ride in Chiapas, the young lady next to me was from Mazatlan. She had never been to Chiapas before and was absolutely ecstatic about it, her own country. I LOVE Michoacan, my daughter and I went for several weeks in May this year. Can't decide which state I like better, Chiapas or Michoacan, they are both fantastic. I haven't been to Oaxaca since 1984...it seems so much more touristy now, I am worried that I won't like it if I return. You'll have to report back and tell me what you think of it now.

Aslukas, it wasn't because Antigua was too touristy that I was disappointed, although in one way that was part of it. It just didn't have the right feel to it, I felt a great sense of foreboding there. The main square was not alive with people in the evenings--so dark and quiet. Once home, I much more enjoyed looking back at our photos, and seeing how pretty it was, without the ominous feeling. We also had a problem as so many restaurants were just tourist places filled with wheat....having celiac, we needed traditional food and it was very difficult to find in Antigua, the only place in a 13 week trip that I was handed an english language menu!

I did quite like Panajachel, a place that some describe as too touristy.

Bcmum, that's interesting about Antigua giving you the willies. I lived there for a while and never experienced that, though I've definitely gotten that same vibe from different places (including some that I went back to later and loved). I can see how being in a touristy-but-deserted place could give one a sense of forboding--I wonder when you were there, because I've generally found the plaza to be quite lively.

Yeah, who knows, I could go back and maybe feel completely different. Its not always something that I can explain. We stayed in a motel room in Comitan that was the most basic of our 63 night trip that year--the walls were really dirty and the sheets were thread bare, although the bed was comfy and we had hot water. Yet I really felt comfortable there and liked that motel, not really explainable on the surface.

Sometimes my mind changes mid-visit. I remember arriving in a small town in Myanmar and not feeling at all like it was a place I was going to like much. Yet after a day and night there I ended up really enjoying it. We had one more day and night after that and instead of wanting to get out of there, I felt I could have stayed longer.

That's actually a pretty good description of my one and only trip to Xela. Wasn't hugely taken with it at first, but it grew on me quickly.

Yea we rolled into Xela as night fell and was a tad concerned it was city we would not adapt to, our hotel did not answer the door, so we had the shuttle driver drop us off at the main plaza and we got a hotel there for the night. The next day we moved to Hotel Modelo. The first 24 hours in Xela we were not really impressed and thought it was tad gritty, especially compared to Antigua and even Guatemala City tourist areas...

But Xela grew on us quickly, between the dining scene and just exploring the area on foot. We stayed there 4 nights before pushing off to Pana and Santiago, I had planned to hike from Xela to San Pedro, but late December weather up there is cold, and my wife was in no mood for cold showers and 20 blankets to stay warm, and I could not blame her, not to mention Quetzal Trekkers has a group of over 20 going, and we prefer to do hikes with under 6 people, so that was another turn off.

But we had no problem finding plenty to do and enjoy on the area, and the cultural angle is here is rich and worth your time for sure.

In regards to Antigua, yes its is touristy, but so is Rome, Paris and Madrid. And its is a very small town, not even a city, it is very quaint and a great place to stroll and just bounce about at your own pace. The cuisine scene was probably the best I had encountered in a developing country for a small venue, outside of Luang Prabang Laos, another UNESCO WHS.

Antigua is well worth 2 nights, and I look forward to returning and taking in more. Being there at Xmas we really special, and the place was a abuzz, but not nuts. Pana is touristy too, and even smaller...as is Granada Nicaragua, so don't let TOURISTY deter your enjoyment of a venue, its all relative...

Tim