Charlie’s favourite country so far is Guatemala. This unassuming and lesser known Central American country is home to stunning volcanoes and lakes as far as the eye can see. Converted USA school buses (‘chicken buses’) connect towns together, blasting Latino music. Expect colourful textiles in the markets and traditional clothing worn by locals.
Lake Atitlan with its lakeside villages and the colonial town of Antigua are the two main traveller and wow are they wonderful. Learn Spanish, hike to your heart’s content and stock up on freshly made tortillas in the markets.
Community-based tourism and sustainable travel are growing a lot in Guatemala.
Small Change 4 Big Change is a charity dedicated to helping the indigenous families of Santa Catarina Barahona help themselves through education and sustainable farming. Lisa Mitchell de Mena founded the not-for-profit organisation in 2012 and set up projects in…
Ecofiltro is a social enterprise who provide clean drinking water for rural communities in Guatemala. Their water filters can be seen across Guatemala. We had the chance to visit the factory where their water filters are produced. As anyone who’s spent time…
Ever wanted to learn to make your own peanut butter? If you really want to see how to make natural, organic peanut butter in Guatemala, then you’re in luck. We met Lidia, a local Guatemalan who makes her own peanut butter…
There are so many things to do in Antigua that you won’t know what to do first! I’d only heard incredible stories about Antigua’s colonial buildings all painted in a light shade of yellow. The misty blue-grey backdrop of volcanoes surrounding the…
I’d been dreaming of Semuc Champey for a long time. The rough mountain hike that overlooks those magical turquoise limestone pools and the final, satisfying plunge into the cool sparkling waters at the end of the sweaty path. If you’ve…
Lake Atitlan is a bit of a mecca for vegans and vegetarians travelling in Guatemala. I’m a self-confessed healthy eater. It doesn’t matter where I am in the world, I want to eat fresh veggies and good grains all the time.…
Out of all the places that we travelled in Central America, Guatemala stole my heart. Though admittedly Nicaragua was a close second. This vibrant country hasn’t let anything get it down. Despite being notorious for gang activity, bus drivers being…
You know when I was a kid, I never ate peanut butter. Not because I thought there was anything wrong with it, actually I don’t even recall knowing it existed until the age of thirteen. That seems pretty crazy to…
I learned two things from our Guatemalan cooking class: number one is that making tortillas isn’t as easy as it looks and I suck at it, and number two is that the traditional Guatemalan dish of Pepian can be made…
When I found myself with free time on my hands during our house sit in Guatemala, I decided it was time to enrol for classes at a Spanish school in Antigua. A quick Google search for “Spanish school Antigua Guatemala”…