Another Trip Report

First, my apologies to all you Guatemala regulars for this is going to be yet ANOTHER positive trip report. We were 3 weeks in Guatemala going from GC-Xela-Monterrico-Pana-Antigua-Tikal-Antigua.

Safety- Traveled with my 10 yr. old daughter and felt perfectly safe in all our travels. The only time I felt in danger was in GC when 4 tough looking teenagers crossed the street and headed right toward us. I was sure we were going to be mugged but they headed into what looked like a youth center...

Travelers' Checks- easily cashed at Banco Agromercantil if they are American Express. The only time I had a problem was in GC. They took forever and kept staring at me and making phone calls.

Stayed 2 nights in GC at the Posada Belen. It's a lovely place but the neighborhood is dicey- took taxis to restaurants and museums but did walk around one afternoon. Not sure yet if that was a good idea, but we were OK. Took the Alamos bus to Xela. It stopped a lot for passengers and took forever to get to Xela. Xela isn't the most beautiful of cities but the people are friendly and it's easy to get around. We went to the Teatro Municipal to see a show; the theater has been nicely restored. Stayed 1 night at Casa Argentina as our langauge school suggested...if you need a place to stay for 20Q dorm or 60Q private room/shared bath I guess it will do. I'm fond of running water and not being near giant piles of reeking garbage bags, so we moved over to Casa Kaehler- 160Q for a private room/bath and the biggest and best breakfast imaginable. We spent 1 week at the ICA school, both of us had great teachers (Cuqui and Stefanie) who tailored their lessons to what we wanted to get out of the class. There's a great museum in Xela that displays the traditional dress of the women in Guatemala. It was very interesting to learn what all the patterns mean.

Weekend at Monterrico- the beach isn't for swimming. We hoped to see turtles but they had better things to do than to entertain us. We stayed at Las Brisas which had a great swimming pool. It is HOT in Monterrico.

From Xela we took a shuttle to Pana through the Highland Tour Agency. William was our driver and spoke perfect English which was great for Spanish challenged me. I would definitely recommend him as a driver. There is a lot of construction work still going on and we had a few delays. The road is going to be fantastic once it is finished. Pana was crowded but we did get a room at Utz Jay's annex and took a launcha to Santiago. We also went to Solala by local bus and to Chichi for the market. I found out I'm not good at that bargaining thing and prefer to do my shopping at N'imPot in Antigua.

Antigua is gorgeous. We took the walking tour with Eliz. Bell which was OK. I had hoped to see more of the colonial part of the city than we did. I didn't make reservations anywhere and the only time I ran into a problem was in Antigua, with difficulty finding a place that had an open room for this past Monday. Everyone told me that the Europeans were traveling a lot this year in Guatemala. Most of the tourists I met in every city were either from Germany or Holland. So we stayed 1 night at Posada La Merced and 3 nights in Santa Lucia #2. We almost didn't get to Tikal as the planes were booked up. At the last minute we were able to get a 1 day trip which was better than missing out. Tikal was just as amazing as I thought it would be.

Planning my next trip to Guatemala, hopefully this coming February, so we can see more of Antigua and the Rio Dulce and Copan. Thanks to all the good advice given on this forum.

Joan