Guatemala
Country: Guatemala
Highlights: Gastronomy ★★, Art / Museums 0, Historical sites ★★★, Natural Beauty ★★★, Shopping 0; Sports/Adventure 0, Geographic extremes 0, Glamour 0
When to go: From November to April
Where to go: Guatemala City, Tikal and Antigua
Downside: Poor country with few tourism structure. Some unsafe places.
Our Experiences: The Capital Guatemala City, doesn´t have much tourist attractions to offer, but this is where the best international hotels are. There are some good barbecue restaurants. The best of Guatemala is history. We rented a car and we drove to the nearby city of Antigua, a well preserved colonial city once destroyed by a volcano eruption and an earthquake. It is a charming untouched Central America colonial city. A beautiful scenery with the Volcán de Agua standing just behind. The Mayan ruins at Copan and Tikal are also a wonderful treasure hidden in the forests.
PS. We´ve had a bad moment when driving our car using the GPS, that once indicated us to make a road shortcut using a secondary road. We ended up in a bad slum houses neighbourhood with some signs of armed militia and some revolutionary words. So scary! This served us as a basic lesson for how to better make a careful use of GPS´s worldwide.
Hotels we love and recommend: Marriot (Guatemala City)
