First Impressions of Guatemala City

Misha, Mochi, and I have now been in Guatemala City for three weeks. Keeping with the formula I started in Israel, I’d like to start my Guatemala series with my first impressions of our new post here and then write several follow up pieces once I’ve gotten more chances to explore the city. We live in a bubble in Ciudad Cayalá (pictured below), a small, newly built gated community that feels a lot like a country club sans golf course. We have a pool, tennis courts, a gym, weekly water and produce deliveries, and plenty of security guards. Our apartment even comes with maid quarters. It’s very comfortable, but it’s also a bit isolated. The current embassy, set to move within walking distance in February 2023, can be up to an hour away with traffic. A big portion of the current housing pool is near the current embassy, but more Americans are moving to Cayalá as more housing comes available.

The only times we’ve left our bubble so far have been to go to the embassy, a Halloween party, and a brewery. That having been said, my first impressions will be less influenced by the city as a whole and more by Cayalá. Here are my observations thus far:

1. It’s cheaper than the U.S., but not as much as you might think. Services and produce from local farmers are where you can really save money, but most products at the grocery store, electronics, and restaurants are only about 20-25% cheaper (part of this is because we live in an upscale, touristy area). Gas is roughly the same price as it is Massachusetts. Our local produce delivery is $20, while a similar in DC would cost close to twice that. Additionally, I just started taking tennis lessons, which cost $16 per hour-long lesson.
2. The embassy’s work schedule is awful. It sounds great on the surface. They work an extra hour Monday-Thursday to get a half day on Friday. Can’t beat that right? Wrong. In order to beat rush hour traffic, the shuttle picks Misha up at 6:19am to arrive at the embassy at 7am. This means she’s up at 5:30am. They then works until 4:30pm, and get home between 5:15-5:30pm. On Fridays, they leave and start work at the same time, but don’t end up leaving until noon. This not only adds up to more than 40 hours a week, but also means it’s impossible to do anything aside from eat dinner and sleep after hours Monday-Thursday. We’re hoping the embassy’s move to within walking distance improves this a bit.
3. Fireworks are way too popular. At any time of day, any day of the week, you will hear fireworks. We were even told that it’s customary to wake a person up on their birthday with fireworks. It’s distressing for dogs and makes it hard on our early schedules. The last two nights, rapper Daddy Yankee had concerts nearby, and they shot off fireworks at 11:40pm. Not cool, guys.
4. When it rains, it pours. We arrived at the end of the rainy season, so we haven’t even experienced the full force of the storms yet. It’s rained more days than it hasn’t in our limited time here. The rain comes in relatively short bursts, but those bursts are intense. Otherwise, it’s been partly cloudy and 70-80 degrees.

In addition to these observations, we’ve also come across some pretty stark contrasts to our two years in Israel. The biggest differences we’ve noticed are:

1. The people are much friendlier. Not that Israeli’s aren’t nice, but it’s been over three weeks and I have yet to hear an argument. Drivers seem to be almost as crazy, but don’t honk as much.
2. Guatemalans make better beer. So far, I haven’t noticed as many local breweries as there were in Israel, but the quality is much higher. There’s also a better selection of imports. However, unless I just haven’t figured out where to shop (certainly a possibility), the selection of local and imported wine in Israel is much better.
3. Ironically, security is a bigger concern here than in Israel. Despite the threat of rocket attacks, Tel Aviv was never seriously threatened. Petty crimes occurred, but were not common. We don’t seem to worry about petty crime in our neighborhood, we need to be much more careful when traveling of the rest of the city and country. There are two zones within the city we are not allowed to visit. Additionally, if we’re driving outside of the city, it has to happen between 6:00am and 6:00pm. This is due to poorly lit and maintained roads that lead to a higher risk of accidents, as well as an increased risk of violence.
4. There are a lot more American companies here. Within walking distance, there is a Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, New Era store, Nike store, Taco Bell, Claire’s, and (distastefully in my opinion) Banana Republic.
5. The view from our apartment could not be more different in terms of geography, but is nearly as stunning. In Israel, we had the sunsetting over the Mediterranean, while here we have a beautiful neighborhood, dense green forest, and a giant volcano.

We hope to make our first trip out of the city this weekend and visit Antigua, a Spanish colonial city that is the most frequent getaway of embassy workers here due to its proximity to Guatemala City. I briefly mentioned Antigua in this post from when we first found out we’d been assigned here.