Guatemala 18-Day Trip Report
Vacation in Guatemala
*Budget:* Flights $775, lodging $490, food $1040, activities $155, transportation $85, phone $20, other $30, total $2,595
*Trip Length:* 18 days
*Destination(s):* Guatemala City, Antigua, Lake Atitlan, Flores
*Accommodation:* hostels, hotels, and homestays (including socialtel atitlan, la iguana perdida, casa ahau, los amigos hostel, hotel tikal inn, sun breeze hotel, mariana's petit hotel, and the purpose hostel)
*Activities:* Acatenango, Maximon, Tikal, Yaxha, Uaxactun, MMA classes, Eagle's Nest, Mayan Art Gallery
*What Went Right:* There's infrastructure for tourists, so there are shuttles everywhere. I heard a story about someone getting robbed from the driver's seat of their car while in traffic, but I didn't encounter any crime myself. For tours, there are tons of operators in each city, so I always found a guide (do book early though.) Overall, I met amazing people. Guatemala is pretty modernized.
*What Went Wrong:* Tikal is insanely hot. The buildings aren't connected to the power grid, so they use generators (I believe). There's electricity only certain times of the day. Not at night. No cell phone towers. So even though I stayed at a nice lodge, I was sweating all night, because it's the jungle. For shuttles, I don't recommend the company Guatego; instead, book directly with the shuttle company, in-person if possible. Also, Avianca is not the best, but not horrible. Finally, there's a lot of traffic in GC. Oh, and Flores's electrical grid is notoriously unstable.
*Recommendations:* Go to Uaxactun. It will be difficult, but ways less trafficked than Tikal. Another rec, Guatemala as a whole relies more on cash than credit card than I expected. The majority of businesses are cash only, but ATMs are fairly abundant. Recommended reading: The Maya by Michael D. Coe and A Mayan Life by Gaspar Pedro Gonzalez. Watching: Apocalypto, Legends of the Hidden Temple, Ed Barnhart's podcast.
*Final Verdict:* Tourism relies heavily on sunset tours. I felt like it was "go see a sunset in Tikal, see a sunset at the Indian Nose, sunset at Acatenango.... For someone allergic to waking up early, this was not appealing. As for safety, besides an incident with a guy at my hostel getting his phone stolen by a machete-wielding drunk local (the gringo ultimately tracked it down using Find My app and got it back), no issues at all. Lastly, sometimes I was paying tourist prices and everything felt like it was about money, but the Guatemalans are trying to get theirs too, so can't blame them. Oh, and GC is hard to navigate because every street is gated.
Hope this helps.
*Video!:* https://youtu.be/jc5ZYNawsUk
P.S. this is the site to book tikets to tikal: https://boletos.culturaguate.gob.gt/en/foreign-visitors-tickets/