Category Archives: Guatemala

Wet and Wild

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The water park, about an hour and a half down through the mountains towards the Pacific coast west of Xela, was great fun. With lush tropical landscaping and lots of good water slides, it very well done (a descriptor that is seldom applicable to things here). In fact, it was as good as any water park I’ve been to in the U.S., and maybe even more fun since safety seemed to be less of a concern. This is Guatemala, after all. It ended up being an outing for quite a few of us–my godchildren and their parents, and a couple … Continue reading →

City Life

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Where tourism is the life blood of Panajachel, in Quetzaltenango foreign visitors are largely ignored. That is not to say that foreigners, whether upscale tourists or budget travelers, can’t find places to stay and eat and plenty to do. It is just that Qutezaltenango is a city with other things to focus on. Away from certain cafes, the cheap hostels which cater to budget travelers, and the language schools where travelers learn survival Spanish, it is not difficult to find yourself just about the only foreigner in sight. That is something you could never say in Pana. Quetzaltenango, usually called … Continue reading →

The Big Bang

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New Year’s Day Well, I guess it is safe to say, New Year’s Eve was a blast. My ears are still ringing. Mike’s extravaganza went off well before midnight, so I was back at my little hotel, up on the rooftop patio when all hell broke loose in town. I was in bed by ten past midnight, and fell asleep to the sounds of fireworks, and someone throwing up in the communal bathroom downstairs. Mike’s coffee shop was closed, but I stopped by in the afternoon to check out the pile of pyrotechnics he had assembled for last night’s show. … Continue reading →

That Ringing Sound

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I don’t like alarm clocks, never have. Whether early or late, I prefer waking up naturally. Less than a hundred yards from my room is the mother of all alarm clocks, dual church bells, tuned to a particularly annoying dissonant interval. At 6:30 every morning the bells are rung, at first slowly–one then the other–gradually picking up speed over the course of a few minutes to a frenzied finale. For good measure the ringing is repeated at 6:45 and 7:00. I usually go back to sleep, which just means I have to endure a rude awakening three times a morning, … Continue reading →

Coffee Farm

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When I am in Panajachel I usually start my mornings at the Crossroads Cafe, where my friend Mike Roberts offers up what may be the best coffee in Central America (not to mention excellent pastries made by his wife, Adele). This morning I hadn’t even gotten started on my first cup when Mike said, “Hey Jim, want to go to a coffee finca? We leave in twenty minutes.” What few plans I have here are flexible, and a trip to a coffee farm sounded like fun. So I gulped my coffee and ran back to my room to get my … Continue reading →