Central Highlands People & Culture

If you want to return by yourself to Antigua there is a direct bus everyday at 13.00 at the bus station (in front of the police station). Though, from about 20 people we asked (even the police) only one knew about this and could help us to get it! All the others denied there was such a bus!
We payed 15 Quetzales for oneway in 2007.

Make sure you check out the natural hot springs! It's a great piece of local fun :) Women should be pretty well covered up though. It's not unusual to see people swimming in shorts and t-shirts, especially if you're female.

careful of the atm off the main square, have heard from different people that the machine occasionaly steals cards

Chicicastenango is famos for it's market, which is indeed worth the trip to the remoted mountain village. There's still not many tourists around, it's quite an adventure to go there with the local bus and it can get quite difficult to find food. I have to admit that it was in the year 2000 when I've seen this place, so maybe you can find a restaurent there now. The market is huge and you can find anything here, from beautiful handcrafts to fabrics, to tribal clothes and instruments. There's also a food area (well.... for people who've got a strong stomach..) and a section where you can buy chicken, pigs and who knows what else there is still alive. Worth visiting is especially the church. Christian missionaries tried to bring their religion to the tribal people who are living here. When you enter the church you will see and feel that it is still the Gods of nature they're worshipping here. The statues of christian saints have been decorated with clothes, feathers and ornatments. Local people are kneeling and praying in front of them and there's always a fire for sacrifice buring in front of the church entrance. It's an amazing place to visit!

Photographers take note!!! Guatemalans are very colorful people and they do not mind posing for pictures, but expect to give them a dollar or so for doing so. Also, be aware that someone started a rumor that is making it very difficult to take pictures of kids whose parents are not around. Just as we tell our kids not to get in cars with strangers, many Guatemalans tell their children not to pose for pictures because, so the rumor goes, the pictures are used to "market" kids to foreign parents and once a "sale" is made, the photographer comes back and abducts the child. It sounds pretty ridiculous, but apparently it strikes enough of a chord with Guatemalan families to cause alarm. Considering how many abducted children in the US disappear without a trace (should we do a TV show about this? Just kidding!), the Guatemalan parents precautions might not be entirely out of place. So, if you want to take pictures of kids, ask where their parents are and if they are anywhere close by, ask the parents. Otherwise, it is perhaps better to just let the moment go. I did however, convince two girls in very colorful costume to pose, but only after I gave them some money. One looked straight at the camera but she did not smile (perhaps because she did not want to look too cute and abductable. The second one kept her face in profile and she also did not smile while I took the picture. However, when I was done, they smiled and waved goodbye. They had been sent to the local market to sell some fresh produce from their land and they went back to tending business. A couple of days later I saw a mother with two daughters,a truly colorful picture opportunity. I asked the mother and she agreed. I took some superb pictures of the two girls and then of the girls with their mother. She was selling home-woven shawls and I bought some as souvenirs. It was a good transaction and a good memory.

A bit of historic Guatemalan culture, architecture, good restaurants, expensive hotels, bank machines, mountains, and local artisans offering wood work, textiles, crafts, and jewellery. Its a short drive from Guatemala City too - an easy day trip by bus or car.

Happy Pecados!!! Learn Salsa or go just for a drink with every night live music!

Antigua is without doubt one of Guatemala's star attractions... pleasant, relatively safe (certainly compared to Guatemala City), alive with good food, music and walks, and blessed with a good number of hotels, restaurants and sights for the tourist... make this one of your destinations in Guatemala... other than Tikal of course, if you have limited time....

Driving is an extreme sport in the city. If possible hire locals to drive. If attempting to drive keep stay focused as traffic laws are rarely if ever followed.

If you for some reason ever should need to have some work done on your motorcycle in the area, stop at local gas station and ask for Manuel. He has bike repair shop and seems to now what he's doing. Charged me 40 quetzal for 2 hours work, after paying for parts of course.

When climbing the Pacaya Volcano outside Antigua, Guatemala, make sure you hire a walking stick. Not only will this help you with the hike up to the base of the volcano, but it will stop you from falling over on the crumbly lava and scratching your hands and legs up (the hardened lava is really sharp like coral).

Climbing Pacaya Volcano

This popular guided adventure will surely make your day. However, here are a few tips from someone who has done it.

Make sure you wear sturdy hiking boots. Sneakers, sandals and the like will make you suffer and possibly cut the adventure short.

At the start of the ascent, young (very young) local boys and girls will offer you rustic walking sticks*. It might actually be a good idea to buy one or two from these enterprising youngsters. 15-20 minutes later you will praise yourself for that decision. By the way, the walking stick market will move upwards with the group. Be forewarned that the price of the sticks (and donkey "taxis") rises much steeper than the volcano slope.

The most beautiful time of the day to be on the top is the sunset. Pack a flashlight in anticipation of a descent in darkness. Use your sane judgment about your capabilities. The hardened lava bits turn into a fast, downward speeding escalator, which becomes especially dangerous during the dusk hours.

The guides let the tourists approach the very edges of boiling lava pits. Those edges, at times, are just thin layers of hardened crust, ready to break off, sending the viewer into lava. So, again, use your own judgment.

* The same boys and girls will await your descent and persuasively beg you to donate the walking sticks back to them. So, you can regard this as "sort of a rental".

Plan ahead, but don't stress out. The hotel I was planning to stay at was closed and, thanks to a friend's recommendation, I had The Black Cat hostel as a back up plan. We showed up 10 minutes before the office closed (9pm), so we got very lucky.

Looking back, we probably had more fun and made more friends by staying at the hostel anyway. So again, we were very lucky.

For all traveling to Antigua, I recommend the Pacaya Volcano tour. It's a rigorous hike, but worth it. Take the tour later in the day. The lava flow looks great at sundown. Remember to take a head lamp or flash light. Pants are also recommended. I wore shorts and my shoes kept filling up with rocks and sand.

If you are interested in taking a look around a coffee farm on a horseback, you should go to Parramos. Type in Posada de me abuelito, Guatemala on Google. You will find some information about this german country farmhouse converted to a BB. Get a weekend package that includes bed, brekky and horse riding for Q.300 or something(apprx. $40) Take a chicken bus to Chichicastenango at Antigua bus terminal and get off in Parramos it cost like 3 Q's p/p. Then get a local taxi to the hotel...it takes around 5 minutes from town center. I loved everything about this place - its coffee(fresh coffee from the owner's finca), its food(authentic guatemalan), its atmosphere(green, fresh, cool and quiet), unforgettable horse riding(though it hurt my unprepared arse bit too much) and the hospitality of the hotel owner couple! Bet you'll have a great time.

se llama chichicastenango, no chicastellanos!!!!!!

Market days are Thursdays and Sundays. If you are pressed for time a good way to visit the markets is via a tourist mini bus from Panajachel or Antigua. They cost between $10 and $15, pick you up, drop you for a couple hours at the markets, (you can leave your bags on the bus) and then drop you at the next city. Really worked well for us as that time, we only had a week in Guatemala and being able to leave our bags was huge because otherwise we would have had to have lugged them around the markets.

Don't stay in Guatemala city. Catch a taxi between the bus stops, and head straight to your next destination.

Don't arrive very early in the morning because everything is closed - even the hostels!
They start to open their doors around 9 or 10 am.