My Vacation in Guatemala

Xela (other name) is the second bigest city of Guatemala and it's not a very pretty city, but it allows you to dive into deep Guatemala (more than 75% of the population is indigenous) and to observe women almost all dressed in colorful traditional clothes and often braided in their hair.

Even if the city itself is not magnificent (church, market and small dirty streets surrounded by electric wires...), there are many things to do around. You Can go hiking on the Santa Maria volcano, visit the catedral del Espiritu Santo, the museum Ixkik', la laguna Chicabal ...

San Pedro is very colorful, lots of paintings and arts on the walls, small alleys that lead to the lake. most festive village around the lake, therefore a little noisier than its neighboring villages.

I arrived 2 days later in San Lucas (30 minutes by boat from san pedro) just before Semana Santa. This festive period is very important for Guatemalans, and many of them take several days to party at Lake Atitlan. Difficult to find last minute accommodation, but the tent in this hostel was perfect. This hostel was far from the village but by the lake so I walked around a lot and always had a magnificent view. San Lucas is much smaller and far fewer tourists come to visit it, which is all the more pleasant to walk around (even if the locals were surprised to see me traveling alone there).

 Antigua is a particular city, very pretty, with many small craft markets and a little big outside the city.  The city can be visited quickly and has many bars and restaurants.  unfortunately having stayed there for several days, I also realized that the locals no longer lived there, the city is only focused on tourism and trade which takes away a lot of charm...

Antigua is surrounded by 3 volcanoes, the main one being El fuego, an active volcano that can be admired while hiking on its neighbouring volcano, acatenango. It is a hike of about 6 hours, of an intermediate level. 

We were a group of about twenty people, accompanied by 3 guides. The camp at the top (more than 3500 meters) is basic and at night it quickly gets very cold (especially after sweating all day ..) but the show is absolutely breathtaking! El fuego erupts every 10/15 minutes. The ground shakes under our feet, the view is incredible and we even hear the crackling of the lava falling... An experience to do absolutely! The climate can be very bad, very cloudy so Ask before going there if it's a good period or not ...

I Can recommend also to go to Hobbitenango, which is about twenty minutes from Antigua. A village made in the image of the film lord of the rings.