Last Days in Guatemala

Guatemala is now several months in the rearview mirror, which has given us plenty of time to reflect and reminisce.  Our tour ended up being shortened by over seven months of cancer treatment to start and an early departure of ten weeks to accommodate Vietnamese language training and home leave.  By the end, we spent only 14 of the 24 months we were originally assigned to the country physically in Guatemala.  That left us with plenty of missed tourism opportunities, but we feel like we saw enough of the country to say that we got a full Guatemalan experience. 

I’ll start with where I would go given more time in the country.  The first trip would be a drive down to El Paredon, a black sand beach on the Pacific coast of the country.  It’s a growing waterfront community that attracts surfers and those looking to escape the traffic of Guatemala’s bigger cities.  While at it, I’d keep driving south to El Salvador for more beaches and a look around the capital.  While I visited Mexico twice, we never made it to other Central American countries.  Costa Rica, though more expensive than its neighbors, would be at the top of the list due to its rainforest tours and beach life (seeing a theme?).  

Next, there’s a few things I wish I knew about sooner.  I would recommend that everybody spending extended amounts of time in the country start their trip at el Mapa en Relieve (Relief Map) in Zona 2.  The map, impressively constructed 120 years ago, is an incredible 3D map of the country that puts into perspective just how mountainous the southern part of the country is and how flat Peten is.  It really helps explain why it takes so long to get anywhere!  Also, while living in the city, I also wish we did more dental work here.  There are a lot of English-speaking dentists who do great work at a much cheaper price than in the US.  Lastly, oh how we wish we made more trips to Pastores just outside of Antigua.  Pastores is a little town known for their leather shops, where you can buy absolutely stunning cowboy boots, men’s and women’s shoes, belts, purses, you name it, all for a fraction of what these items would cost in the US.  I bought a beautiful pair of coffee-colored dress shoes, custom fitted, for only $40.  They would easily go for $150 north of the border. 

To wrap things up, here are a few lists of our favorite things, as well as what we won’t miss:

Favorites:
-Food- refried beans (seriously!), tortillas
-Restaurants- Sublime in Guatemala City; Tartine, El Local, and Caoba Farms in Antigua; and Circus Bar in Panajachel
-Relaxing Vacation Destination- Porta Hotel in Antigua or Finca San Cayetano
-Tourist Activity- eating and drinking around the country, or Semuc Champey
-Brewery- Cerveceria 14 and Cerveza Antigua
-Bar- Ulew cocktail bar in Antigua
-Alcohol- Dale Pale Ale and Gallo beer, Zacapa rum
-Random Tourist Destination- Hobbitenango
-National Park- Tikal

Things We’ll Miss:
-Our apartment and neighborhood
-The cost of services- tennis and boxing classes, household help chief among them
-The weather – this is The Land of Eternal Spring after all
-The people- this one I cannot stress enough. Guatemalans are some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet.  We already miss many of our Guatemalan and American friends from the Embassy…till the next time!
-The time zone- waking up at 11am for football is great, and I’ll miss it even more when I can only watch primetime games at 7am Monday morning in Vietnam.

Things We Won’t Miss:
-The traffic
-The embassy work– maybe this will change one day, but it always felt like we were playing from behind

There’s a lot we’ll miss about Guatemala, and as I’ve laid out here, and plenty I wish we had more time to see and do.  However, we are excited for our next chapter and have been enjoying our time back in the States.  We love our new house in New Hampshire, and I had a fantastic time touring the midwestern baseball circuit.  My next two blogs will cover the ballparks and cities visited on my six-stadium baseball tour.  While I’ve been off having fun, Misha continues to study hard to perfect her Vietnamese.