At airport wrapping up a fun 10 days trip across Guatemala. When people first heard about my trip, first word was ‘be careful’, several friends from Latin America especially recommended not to go alone as a woman. It concerned me a bit yet I’ve heard similar comments for many other countries. People mean well yet they either haven’t had solo travel or haven’t been to the country, take their advices with a grain of salt.
I’m glad I went and had a great time visiting Tikal awed by Mayan’s architecture and life skills & round-world view, Semuc Champey & Lanquin enjoyed the beautiful river hike (& nap on a hamlet) and jungle Xmas with GUA traditional tamales, Guatemala City welcomed by lovely Airbnb host sister & their ‘zoo’ (22 dogs, 3 cats), Antigua wondering back in history, and Atitlan lake toured 3 pueblos leaning about artisan cacao (chocolate) and textile making and bought a colorful painting that represents Mayan culture and an young artist’s life expression.
Many roads of Guatemala are not paved (& take great skill to drive), traffic and pollution (by cars and dust) can be crazy, and the hardest thing to find is ‘post office and stamp’ (After asking more than 20 people in 3 cities/ top tourist destinations, I finally found a post office but the postal service is currently on-hold and it sounds like it’s in transition from government to private operation), yet it’s a country with beautiful nature and Mayan heritage, friendly and resilient people, yummy and diverse food/ fruits, even better, all come in great prices and big smiles 🙂