Home last updated 05/09/08
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Country Map Yellow Pages (In Spanish) Local Newspapers
See Travmed.com for travel medicine considerations. Thoughts on Food Safety
Airlines Tours Hotels Buses Shuttles Rental Cars Miscellaneous Official Guatemala Tourism Website
Current Weather Museums Petén Info Volunteering Thoughts about trash. Navigating the Guatemala City
and the Flores Airports Is Guatemala City all that bad? Do you need a visa?
Current and Historical Exchange Rate Going to Atitlan and wondering what to donate to?
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If you read old reports that are recycled as if they were brand new and ongoing, you would certainly have some concern about safety aspects of travel in Guatemala, but exercising having an idea of what to watch out for seems to be good preparation. I went back in late February 2007 and had no real problems, except for not finding an umbrella for sale in rainy Cobán. Also, see Goodtime Bob's take on Guatemalan safety there.
Any information given here is as accurate as I can make it, but there are no guarantees. If there have been changes, either good or bad, I welcome new information. If you have a different view, I welcome that as well.
I make no implied claims for any business listed. I show them here because they are on the Internet and sound interesting to me. In some cases, I have been there. Where possible, they are of a budget nature. If I see or experience something that is or seems like a delightful splurge, I will mention them. Use normal caution when dealing with any businesses. Also see the Petén Page.
See the Current Time in Guatemala
Quetzal Exchange Rate to the US dollar
What to do in Guatemala City
Guatemala City Business Directory
INGUAT List of Services. You name it. It is probably there.
Revue Guatemala's English Magazine
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Current flight arrivals and departures in Guatemala City
Local Airline Flights You are usually best off to not pay for local air fare too far before you need it there unless it is a very early connective flight or if you absolutely must have that particular one. Then go ahead and book now. These sources are mostly listed so you can have an idea of schedules, airlines and availability.
Aereo Ruta Maya does charters for those with much more money than time. Mexicana (to Mexican cities from Guate) Grupo TACA. has an afternoon flight to Flores. See ambivalent epinions of them. See TACA Flight Schedules between Guate, Flores and Cancun. TAG flies between Guate and Flores and to Copan. It also does charters. About Sleeping in the Guate Airport
If you can sleep during an overnight bus ride, consider that option for Guate-Flores. There are no cheap airfares. Keep in mind that on holidays such as Good Friday, Easter, Christmas or New Year, don't expect any long distance buses to run. __________
Some thoughts about chicken buses
Autobuses del Norte runs several first class buses
between Guate and Flores day and night and is probably the better
deal in price versus quality than Linea Dorada.
Linea Dorada runs
Tikal Mayan World,
which runs luxury buses to and from Flores to Belize and to Chetumal, Mexico. It looks like you
could book online if you need to.
Take the reference to bar and food with a grain of salt. BYO adult
beverages and food consisted of a sandwich. Don't be surprised if
you get it at 1 AM.
For Guate-Puerto Barrios and for Chiquimula and Río Dulce, see Litegua's schedules. Monja Blanca is offline when last checked, but runs pleasant enough buses between Guate and Cobán. Buses schedules to and from Cobán. Tica Bus International Schedule and prices from Guate
How you can sleep better on an overnight bus or plane, for that matter.
See also expensive Hedman Alas for its bus schedules from Guate to Copan, other places in Honduras and back (and also into and around Honduras), but Monarcas in Antigua is cheaper for Copan and also has shuttles to San Cristobal de las Casas, Panajachel and the airport.
Ticabus goes to Mexico and El Salvador.
Pullmantur is plush and goes from Guate's Zona Viva to Tegucigalpa and San Salvador.
If you need a car there and can book a good price with a local company, go for it. Ahorrent (Guate airport) Tabarini (in Antigua, Guate, Huehue, Coban, Santa Elena, Xela) Company List (includes locations at Flores and Coban) For Petén, see the Petén page.
Rental Bikes Emmanuel's in Panajachel.
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The last regular shuttles between the Guatemala City Airport and Antigua leave at 8 PM, although there may be laggards. Adrenalina Tours runs a large number of high priced shuttles to places including Nebaj, Cobán, Yodos Santos, Tapachula and San Cristobal, Chiapas. Atitran runs regular shuttles to and from Guate, Panajachel, Antigua, Copan and Chichi. Maya Guate has a lot of shuttle runs to and from a lot of locations, including 11 from Pana, 5 from Antigua, including to Copan and Flores, and three from Cobán. Turansa has shuttles between Guate and Antigua, Antigua and Monterrico, Panajachel and Chichicastenango. Servicios Turísticos Atitlán (STA) has a good number of regular shuttles from Guate-Pana and to Antigua. From Pana and Antigua, it also goes many places, including Monterrico, Copan, and connecting with a first class bus to Flores. The Happy Fish Resort advertises boat and van transportation from Livingston to Río Dulce, Copan, Quiriguá and Tikal. See also Hedman Alas for its bus schedules from Guate to Copan and back. A $100 shuttle for groups from the airport to Panajachel. ___________
List and Descriptions of Guatemalan Museums Museo Popol Vuh (English)
Common Hope sounds pretty good. Entremundos deals with Xela
Safe Passage allows you to work with children, either near
Antigua or near the Guate City dump. Inexpensive
volunteer opportunities at Casa
Guatemala in Rio Dulce and with
Animal
Aware somewhat near Antigua. If you speak Spanish and
want to see a list of agencies accepting volunteers, check
Red
del Voluntariado Guatemalteco Volunteer
for a month or more in SacaAntigua at Ixmucane,
a women's health center. Study
abroad options in Guatemala by location.
List of volunteer
opportunities in Guatemala.
Guatemala
Daily is in English and has a lot of news stories gleaned
from various sources, some of which are about Guatemala.
La Hora.
This
one has a search engine that goes back several years if
you are looking for old
stories.
Prensa
Libre. This has a search engine that goes back
a similar range.
Siglo
Veintiuno also has daily news.
Revue Magazine seems mostly
about and for tourism.
Guess
where this is.
Per
Travmed.com "(In
Guatemala) accidents and injuries are the leading cause of death among
travelers under the age of 55 and are most often caused by motor vehicle and
motorcycle crashes; drownings, aircraft crashes, homicides, and burns are
lesser causes." |
Some Mostly Maya Pages about Guatemala What's so bad about Guatemala City? Guatemalan Spanish Language schools Navigating the Guatemala City Airport
Face it, some places are quite difficult and even impossible to get to without a tour or at least a guide. If you do go on a tour, using a local company will help keep more of the tourism money working in the local economy.
I am ambivalent about booking early for tours. Unless it is something you really want to do that is out of the ordinary and the price is right, you might wait until you are there. If the company guarantees certain dates, all the better. Here is a chance to get a feel for what tours are online.
Extensive INGUAT List of Tour Agencies INGUAT List of English Speaking Tour Guides.
All Petén Tours Listed Here
Antigua Don't be too worried about finding a place to arrange a shuttle if you decide that you need one. Agencies are common. Servicios Turísticos Paraiso Maya Mundo Guatemala offers a number of short highlands tours, including Todos Santos and Cobán. Guatemala Reservations does a number of tours and services and gets good marks from customers. Aventuras Vacacionales has some whitewater day trips from Guate and Antigua. Adrenalina Tours offers a good number of tours in the Highlands. Be leery of the Ruta Maya agency, which gets bad reviews on the Thorn Tree. Old Town Outfitters does biking, kayaking and rock climbing trips among its other efforts.
Guatemala City Clark Tours has a lot of experience. Cacaya Birding does bird watching tours of up to six people. Fanny's Tours has offices in Santa Elena, Guate and Chiquimula. Gray Line Guatemala offers a number of tours in the country. Maya Expeditions.com runs a lot of whitewater raft trips, among other things.
Old Town Outfitters does a number of hiking day trips and more by bike and kayaking. Xplorandoguatemala.com in Guate is where to go to learn mountain climbing or to go on a climbing trip.
Quetzaltenango (Xela) Quetzaltrekkers has affordable and well recommended hikes there.
Nebaj Guias Ixiles does some interesting hikes and bike rides.
Río Dulce "That Boat" has what sounds to be a great five day smallish boat cruise to a Belizean Caye.
Aventuras Vacacionales has sailing trips on Río Dulce and Lake Izabal and to Belize
To call Guatemala from the US, dial 011 502 and the local number. To call from another country, 00 502 and local number will work from most, but not from all. Try this link to make sure. Beginning 18 September 2004, all cell phones in Guatemala had 8 digits. To see an explanation in Spanish of how to translate a specific 7 digit one, click here. Skype seems to be a great way to call internationally via Internet, but if you want to look into cards, callingcards.com looks good. __________________ No, you should not have to pay to leave Guatemala by land. If some official tries to charge you for that, ask for a receipt before handing any money over. Really getting away from it all in the little village of Chicacnab. The Guatemalan postal service is run by a Canadian company and seems a lot better now. Itinerary suggestions by someone who doesn't say you need to avoid Guate City Time and mileage chart from Guate, Antigua and Flores Scroll down for Guatemalan news stories A couple of 3-4 week itinerary suggestions Dan Mennill's Bird Songs of the Yucatan Peninsula which includes many birds of Peten. Translating the old 7 digit phone numbers to 8 A discussion of driving in Guatemala Fun Web page for adding Spanish Vocabulary See a lot of photos from all over Guatemala Valhalla Experimental Station, near Antigua, is a macadamia farm using sustainable agriculture and growing trees for reforestation projects. Volunteers need a minimum of a month. Beautiful photos of Guatemala Huipil photos according to village. A Satellite Photo of Guatemala City
You can use
Moneygram.com to
send money from your bank account to Guatemala for reasonable rates.
Panoramic photos of Guatemala, mostly in
the highlands. Fiestas
en Guatemala
Online Business Directory Bird watching check
list for Guatemala See
photos of many Guatemalan
birds Try
an online Spanish Language Proficiency Test
How
to travel on a bus overnight
Cyber
cafes. There are also several in Flores, but unlisted here. Eco-Travel
in Guatemala, a directory of sources and articles. Anything
you need to know about moving
to Guatemala. This mostly geared to the upscale, but it has useful
info. Find the
Current exchange rate
How to
type Spanish accents, etc..
Near
the top of Pacaya,
four
of us have a toast to
a
great trip. |
Need more travel related ideas? Ask questions at Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree. You should first search the site to see if your question was already answered there. If you register, you can ask your questions and the suggestions from readers can come straight to your email address if you request it. Just remember that not all replies are accurate, but a consensus usually is.
Or try Lanic
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Cancuén and how to get there El Baul El Ceibal photos
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See an essay in Spanish about its architecture.
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Piedras Negras See some photos You can get to these ruins as a day trip from Palenque here is how to do it. Tikal/map, and brief history of rediscovery. Also see many photos. More photos. How to see Uaxactún without a tour. Yaxhá in Spanish
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When you enter Guatemala from Belize, if you have time you might want to hike in and see the stelae in the town park. After you cross the bridge, there will be a large road, which you can take to the right. When I went, it seemed to be somewhat under a kilometer until the park appeared on the right. Throughout the small square there are several Maya artifacts, mostly ignored by those people in the area. It is better to visit these stelae if you are there before mid-afternoon. Later in the day, there are fewer combis and other options for going onward to Flores.
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Translate to eight digits from seven.
Directions to hotels near the Guatemala City Airport.
Although they all offer a shuttle, claims of being a minute from the airport should be taken
with a grain of salt, due to traffic patterns around said airport.
Directions as given by "Chinche" at the Lonely Plant Thorn Tree.
Dos Lunas is about a 25 minute walk from the airport. After exiting the airport, take a left (south) and about 300 feet later you'll come to a circle where several streets meet it. Continue past this circle going south (away from where you exited the airport) and follow the main road which then goes left toward the runway (east) about 100 feet. This road then curves to the right (south again). Dos Lunas will be about a mile down (south) this road (the runway will be to the left of this road, separated by a wall). Look for 21 Calle and Dos Lunas will be a block down this road on the left (south) side on the corner of the street. There is a small "Dos Lunas" sign on 21 Calle as well as in front of this residence (hostel).
The web site for the Hotel Aeropuerto has a small and simple map showing how to get there from the airport, although it's not a very good representation. After exiting the airport, go left (south) and following the road to the end. You'll come to a circle where several streets meet it. When you're looking at this circle from the end of this road, you'll see an unusual looking white building (unusual angles) that I think is a day-care run by the Catholic church and not a church, at least not a Catholic church (there are only two Catholic churches in zona 13, and this is not one of them). Hotel Aeropuerto is located on the other side of the street just south of this building. "
Moneygram.com seems to be a good option for sending money to Guatemala for reasonable rates if the provider does not use Paypal, and you arrange the cash to be sent from either your bank account or as a charge to your credit card. The addressee can obtain the money at any Banrural Bank in the country. This could be handy for making deposits with local companies or to send or receive emergency cash.
I sent $200 as a down payment on a trip for $10 for economy service, but could have opted for same day service for a total of $14. Economy service meant that on the fourth business day the money was available. I forwarded the reference number and the agent collected the money after presenting photo identification. It was simple.
I had earlier checked to find that my bank charges nothing for the withdrawal,
but would have charged $40 for initiating it as their service. Using a
credit card would presumably involve paying interest immediately and did not
seem a good option. I made sure that the money would come out of a
savings account that does not have a lot of money in it in case there was a
problem.
Thoughts about Crime in Guatemala
See the web page of the US
embassy in Guatemala for dates and details of recent crimes against foreigners in
order to better figure out a broad picture as to what sort of violent situations to avoid.
Ten of the 47 reported events from January through August involved people
leaving the airport. Fourteen of them involved tourists driving, and were some
leaving the airport, so there is an overlap. I am thinking that the US resident
who was robbed while driving a car saying US Government on it away from the
airport should have figured that there was a bulls eye on the car.
Some robbed while leaving the airport were not
driving. A good acquaintance of mine suggested that there may have been teamwork
using cell phones to pinpoint those leaving the airport, who would be more
lucrative for robbing. Several of those robbed after leaving there had laptops.
Two of the drivers who were robbed elsewhere were taking shortcuts, of which one
had had earlier robberies.
Seven of the victims were residents. Seven were visiting family members. The
only victims reported in Zone 10 were in a Hotel Radisson shuttle on their way
to the airport.
There does seem to be a bit of crime in Antigua,
particularly involving pickpockets around Semana Santa, but none at all
were reported recently against tourists in Petén. Notice that many
of the foreigners who were victims of crimes were either residents or visiting
family members.
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Here is my take on normal precautions to avoid being a victim of a crime anywhere you travel:
Don't seem prosperous. This includes the
proverbial advice to not flash wads of money, but also involves dressing down
and other things as well. Older clothes are better than classy ones here. And
not carrying a laptop around publicly is an obviously good plan. Do try to avoid
being with tour groups that are obviously well to do. Don't stay in ritzy
hotels, especially in a non-tourist area and, if for some reason you must do so,
watch carefully when you leave and enter.
Don't
exchange a lot of money at the airport. If you must take a lot of money out of
an ATM elsewhere, select one that is less visible to passersby.
Be cautious with your room. Don't let someone in
just because they claim to be from the hotel. Don't presume that someone with a
master key won't try to get in late at night either. If you have an en suite
toilet, pile some empty beer cans and bottles next to the door, so that anyone
trying to enter there would make one Hell of a noise.
Also be wary of who approaches you on the street offering to "help". For
example, if you are looking for an ATM, someone may then offer to take you over
to one, but don't go. Be very wary if someone seems to want to go out of
his way for you or if he is extra friendly without being asked. If you are
looking for a hotel, it may be something more or less innocent, such as wanting
a commission from the business, but it might be something more.
