My friend Jess and I first met when we were both on the same G Adventures tour back in 2014. One of the best things I took away from that trip was the friendships! Jess lives in Canada so we can't see each other often but we stayed in touch and regularly spoke. On one of the phone calls we had I mentioned that I would love to explore Guatemala and she said she did too so that was it.. it was official.. we were going to go!
We went to Guatemala in November and met each other at the Guatemala City Airport. We were very lucky with the weather as it was sunny most of the days apart from the odd shower so I would definitely recommend travelling there then.
I had actually flown out the previous night so I spent my first night staying at Hostal Villa Toscana. The hotel is near to the airport and the staff here are so lovely. Included in the price was breakfast in the morning which was absolutely glorious.
The next day after I met Jess at the airport we hired a car from Hertz rental which is located at the airport. From there we then drove to Los Amates where we had an Airbnb booked.
On the second day, we visited the the ruins of Quirigua then drove to the Rio Dulce river. We took a boat trip there and visited the Castle of San Felipe de Lara. What is so incredible about this place is that they say it is almost part of the Caribbean and you can see this in the setting ! Wow breathtaking! In the afternoon we drove five hours to Flores and stayed the night here. We actually decided to coachsurf here and stayed with a local which was definitely an experience and a great way to meet people. Unfortunately the house was surrounded by loud cockerels so we didn't sleep much that night!
The following day we visited the ruins of Tikal at sunrise. This is a must and if you visit you must make sure you leave yourself plenty of time to visit here as there's so much to see and explore! We then drove to Sayaxche and stayed the evening in a lovely hotel called Hotel Villa Los Maderos.
On day four, we drove to Lanquin however this turned in to a bit of a horror story if I'm honest driving over mountains in the middle of nowhere. This is a long story and maybe a story I will share a different time.But note that if you are driving you NEED to take the longer route through Coban to get to Lanquin otherwise you will get stuck and don't think that you can fool the google maps. Unfortunately the roads were so bad it broke our rental car so we had to abandon our car in a local village and get a tuk tuk to our accomodation for the night. We stayed the night in Lanquin with a couch surfer who was so helpful with helping us to sort the rental car situation. We stayed in a tipi by the river for our accommodation which was a great experience!
On day five we then took an early bus to Semuc Champey. We visited the natural pools and even went on a local chocolate making experience. We stayed at Greengos Hostel whilst here which is beautiful - you can rent private huts and they have a fabulous pool. The next day we then caught a lift to Guatemala City with the couch surfing host from the previous night. In the city we picked up a new car rental and carried on our adventure. we drove to Lake Amatitlan where we stayed with a couchsurfing host. We took a boat ride around the lake and enjoyed buying lots of goodies from the local markets.
On day seven we went to Antigua where we stayed for two nights at Hotel Casa Maria Jose. We explored the local markets and wondered around visiting the amazing architecture. On day eight we took part in a hike up to Pacaya Volcano. This was a once in a time opportunity and I would definitely recommend this! The tour we booked was at 3pm so we went up for sunrise and the pictures showed the beauty of mother nature.
On day nine Jess and I went our separate ways as she was staying a while longer. I took a local bus back to Guatemala City where I stayed with family friends and made the most of relaxing before my flight back home!
I can honestly say that if you are thinking of visiting Guatemala then just DO IT! you will not regret your choice and there is so much to see and do. Enjoy and safe travels!
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