Category / Guatemala

by bepare

The Dangers of Central America

When first planning my trip to Central America, I knew I’d be visiting Guatemala, but that’s it. Clay and I were meeting in Guatemala City, and then traveling the country for 2.5 weeks together. I didn’t know where I was going after that. So most of my research was focused on that country.

One thing that kept coming up from the people I talked to and reading I did was how dangerous Guatemala can be. It made me nervous. This was going to be a new country, a new culture, a new language, and a new part of the world. I didn’t know how much was over exaggerated, under exaggerated, right on target, totally true, totally made up, shared by people with wildly different expectations of safety than me, etc. But I did know I was nervous because no matter what I read or who I talked to, I didn’t actually know what to expect because I had never been there myself.

Guatemala ended up being very safe for me. I did hear stories while down there, and did meet people who shared their own stories first-hand. But I never witnessed or experienced any crime myself, and while I’m not naive enough to think it didn’t exist, I do think taking standard precautions (like considering where, when, and how you travel) mitigates much of the concern.

That said, when this video came across my radar it definitely shook me up a bit. Filmed along the road between San Pedro – where I spent over two weeks of my trip – and Santiago Atitlan along Lake Atitlan, this footage illustrates the crime that I was fortunate enough to avoid while also demonstrating just how close to it I was or could have been.

The couple we see robbed are in no way at fault for what happened to them. But when considering where, when, and how to travel, I think when they traveled is the only one of the three that they did the way I would have. Riding alone on a motorbike along a road known to be dangerous is putting yourself in a risky position. Unfortunately, while I hired tourist shuttles to take me from city to city, which always traveled on major roads in addition to traveling during the day, when traversing Central America by motorcycle there’s at least one of those three precautions (traveling in a group or with a local) that is pretty difficult to take.

Luckily for this couple their attackers were only after valuables, and let them go without any real damage besides a stolen bag and an extremely emotional experience. As the cameraman notes: “We don’t want to in any way put people off from visiting San Pedro La Laguna or Guatemala in general as it’s a beautiful place with generally warm and kind inhabitants. We have felt safe for the majority of our trip.”

I’ve embedded the video below, and while there’s nothing graphic or violent about the imagery, the audio does cut out part way through out of respect for the driver’s girlfriend who was, understandably, distressed.

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by bepare

Catching Up

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Let’s see how caught up we can get before my boat leaves in 45 minutes.

It’s been about a week since my last significant post. Since that time I finished classes in San Pedro, visited some friends across the lake in Panajachel, and took a series of buses through Antigua and Guatemala City to Rio Dulce. I’m currently awaiting a boat that will take me further down the river toward the Caribbean and the town of Livingston.

It’s easier for me to reminisce about what I’ve done when there are pictures involved, so here goes:

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by bepare

San Pedro, in Pictures

I’ve been in San Pedro, Guatemala since Clay left. Last Monday I started Spanish classes ($105 for 20 hours) and have been mostly hanging out and relaxing since.

On New Year’s, I danced at the party at my hostel until 3am, got to sleep at 4, and was up by 10 to move to a new hostel.

Since then it’s been pretty quiet, studying Spanish and exploring town. There are a TON of hippies in town as an after-effect of Cosmic Convergence, but the Guatemalans from Guate City that were here for New Year’s have mostly left.

I have one more week of classes (now for $65 for 20 hours with a private teacher), and then I’ll head northeast to the islands of Honduras or Belize.

Below are some photos from the last week or so. Most are captioned, and if you click on one you can navigate through a slideshow.

A view of the lake, from the lake, when Clay and I went kayaking.
One of the many volcanoes in the local area.
Life on the lake.
And life from the lake.
I never got a backstory for this photo, but they all came out together from the house behind them on New Year’s day.
San Pedro is very religious, and signs like this are all over town (and the cars, and buses, and tuktuks).
This is the main road from “Gringolandia,” where most of the hostels and tourist-centric shops/restaurants are, up to the market.
Another view of the main road. In the distance is a local crew repaving the road – by hand-chiseling every single paving stone.
Taken on January 2nd. The New Year’s benders were still going strong.
This is the unadulterated version of the photo I posted on New Year’s day. Also taken by the market in San Pedro.
San Pedro has a market almost every day. It’s huge on Sundays, but I captured this image on a random morning while in town for breakfast sandwiches.
Around the market are numerous stalls selling licuados – basically fruit blended with either water or milk, and sugar if you want it. I’ve been getting (too) many banano y fresa licuados con agua y un poco de azucar.
A close up of the detailing on one of the chicken buses in town.
My school for the last week was slightly uphill from my hostel. This is the view from the road alongside the school.
And this was our campus. I’m now taking private lessons (for half the price) at a local hostel.
This is Yo Mama’s Casa, the hostel where I’ve been staying since the 1st. A private room is Q30/night, or about $4.
Yo Mama’s painting.
Yo Mama’s mural.
Yo Mama’s Chiquita, the hostel dog. She is also a roving bottle opener.
On Sunday, my day off from classes, I did a 6am hike up Volcan San Pedro. There are lots of rules for park.
This is Lorenzo, my guide. We climbed 4,700ft in 3 hrs to the top.
The start of the hike was through a small coffee plantation.
A view from about 40% up. Ultimately this was the only view because of cloud cover at the top.
This is along the road we walked UP to get to the volcano. They don’t mess around in Guatemala.
And on the way back down, Lorenzo stopped me at this sign and pointed to the chubby gringo hugging the giant tree. “That’s the tree you peed on,” he told me in Spanish.