Tag: Guatemala
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First the ashes, then Agatha – then the gifts from heaven
PANAJACHEL, Guatemala – For three days I’ve been traveling the villages of Lake Atitlan, watching the slow shift from disaster to windfall. On Saturday, we stood together in Marvilla’s kitchen at Posada Dos Volcanes in San Lucas Toliman, one of the mostly Mayan villages that ring this lake, watching in disbelief as the mountain began…
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Xela, Guatemala: Where the Maya meet the world
QUETZALTENANGO/XELA – It’s 7:30 a.m. at Parque Central and the city is beginning to stretch and come to life. The plaza hums with the voices of students in their crisp navy uniforms and white knee socks, boys with gelled hair combed carefully into a peak, ladies in their cortes tipicas, their brightly woven traditional skirts,…
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Conquering Tajumulco: Me and the volcano
XELA, Guatemala – At 4:45 a.m. on Saturday, eight sleepy people from five different countries showed up at Casa Argentina, bracing themselves for the adventure ahead: a two-day trek up Volcan Tajumulco, the highest point in Central America. I was among them. The three volunteer guides from Quetzaltrekkers were going over the final details. Yesterday…
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A Mother's Day greeting from the Racoons
Mother’s Day is celebrated here in Guatemala on the 10th of May, regardless of what day of the week it falls on. project management assignment So today was the big day – and I do mean big. It began at 6:30 am with a mobile loudspeaker blasting an upbeat blessing from the streets, mañanitas-style. That…
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A Mother’s Day thanks to Guatemalan world changers
QUETZALTENANGO, Guatemala – I awoke this sparkling Mother’s Day to the sight of the Santa Maria volcano from my rooftop, rising green and conical over the mountains that surround this charming city in the highlands. Quetzaltenango, known to Guatemalans by its indigenous name, Xela, is quite literally a breath of fresh air. The slap-slap-slap of…
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Hotel Ajau: A green deal in Guatemala City
GUATEMALA CITY – I have spent the past week making contacts, getting the lay of the land and working on freelance stories, and I couldn’t have found a better home-away-from-home here in the capital city than Hotel Ajau. I’ll admit I chose it because I read in Rough Guides that it offered a good price,…
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Masa Critica takes to the streets in Guatemala City
GUATEMALA CITY – Between the black smoke-belching chicken buses and the mass of cars that congest the streets of Central America’s largest capital, it’s hard to imagine a bicycle, much less a mass of them. With one of the highest crime rates in Latin America, it’s not a place I was planning to explore on…
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A day of cultura in Guatemala City
GUATEMALA CITY – My first day in the city, my couchsurfing host Cristina whisked me off to a day of culture, beginning with the beautiful Popol Vuh and Ixchel museums on the beautiful and modern Francisco Marroquin University and ending with a night of dance at the National Theater and lively conversation in an all-night…
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Surfing the couches in Guatemala City
GUATEMALA CITY – The city sparkled below me like a carpet of diamonds, flung carelessly over the valley and clinging to the surrounding mountains. This is probably as beautiful as Guatemala’s capital city gets, I thought, then scolded myself for the unwelcome thought. I only know the city from reading about it, and from a…
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Holy Week Garífuna style: Where Jesus is Black
LIVINGSTON, Guatemala – I knew I had finally found the place when I heard the music. Completely unlike the punta drums and reggae blaring from the bars and restaurants a few blocks away, a dramatic instrumental selection drifted through the dusty streets. A crowd had begun to gather around the place they call The Minerva…