We recently got back from a 2 week trip to Gu...
Guatemala
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Feb 6 - Feb 18, 2024
We recently got back from a 2 week trip to Guatemala. This was my second time using KimKim to help plan a trip and I honestly feel like I will use them for all my future international trips. Eduardo was our Local Expert and he and I chatted on the KimKim platform for months planning the trip. There were several activities and places I wanted to go on the trip and based on what my partner and I like to do and the specifics that I discussed with Eduardo, he recommended several additional activities/tours that we enjoyed immensely. When I wanted to add a trip to Altamira and Hobbitenango he helped figure that out. He was very responsive overall. He also took care of the domestic flight that we took to/from Flores. The hotels he selected (based on our style/preference) were all fine. I enjoyed the Tikal Jungle lodge and both tours we did of ruins (Tikal and Yaxha) were wonderful. We learned a lot from Oliverio, our guide. He was pleasant and knowledgeable. He took us to an animal sanctuary place when we were in Flores and that was unexpected and cool. Overall, I wish we'd stayed one more day at the Tikal Lodge and been able to do another day at Tikal. By far the best place we stayed was Casa Del Mundo at Lake Atitlan. I remain incredibly blown away by that place. We could have spent half a day or more just exploring all the nooks and crannies at that place and it was just incredibly beautiful. I am so glad we stayed there. Unfortunately, my partner got food poisoning at one of the "regular" lunch places in Pana and that had later ramifications for our trip. While he was recovering at Casa Del Mundo (there are far worse places to be sick for sure), I was able to go kayaking and hiking with our guide, Willy. We thoroughly enjoyed Willy. He was with us from our pick up at GC after Flores until we went on the Acatenango Double Fuego trek. We wish Willy had been with us for that too. He was our favorite guide by a long margin; we were also with him the longest so that's not entirely surprising. He was down to earth and humble and very fun to be around. We had a great time with him at the Lake, hiking the Mayan Nose, seeing various villages around the lake etc. We also had a local guide, Joel, for the Mayan Nose hike and village visiting day. Joel was fantastic, a young man with a good heart and really good energy. I ended up hiking with him and my partner with Willy that day. We also made a change to our Lake Atitlan itinerary on short notice, opting to go to La Reserva Natural near Pana rather than go to the big Chichicastenango market. After the long drive from GC to Pana, we just weren't at all interested in another drive, even a shorter one. So we changed that entire day. I'm very glad we did, La Reserva was so fun, we did an awesome "ultra" ziplines which were great (I only wish they had had someone taking photos/videos b/c I would definitely have purchased some). And the butterfly area was for me, totally worth the price of admission. I could have stayed at that place for hours. Loved it. In retrospect, I might have stayed an additional day at the Lake so I could visit more of the villages and also just to stay another day at Casa Del Mundo. Lake Atitlan is definitely one of the most beautiful places i've visited. I would absolutely go back there. Then we headed to Antigua (again, with Willy). With our first day with Willy in Antigua, we did the Valley Ride Biking tour which was totally fun and worth it. We visited a chocolate factory, macademia nut farm and a jade jewelry making place. and we saw a lot of little villages and churches. B/c of the food poisoning, I was worried that my partner wouldn't be recovered enough to do the volcano hiking so I contacted eduardo and he was able to help with all that. B/c we had Eduardo and b/c we had booked a private hiking tour, we were able to change the date we left for the trek. Eduardo make all of those changes for us with the guides and also helped secure our hotel room b/c of the change. Later, we also ended up adding a day to our trip and Eduardo, again, was super helpful in securing our hotel room for that. So before the trek we ended up going up to Altamira and Hobbitenango. I thoroughly enjoyed both of those places. The creative photo ops and surrounding beauty, views of the volcanoes. Just a really fun day overall. We ate lunch at Hobbitenango and it was excellent. We also did the bike zip lines at Altamira which were terrifying but so fun at the same time. The trek itself was amazing. Our guide, David, was good. He was nice, encouraging and attentive but again, he wasn't Willy. We have done a lot of hiking and I rated the Double Fuego trek as maybe a 7 on the difficulty scale. One of the most challenging parts of the hike is the footing. Hiking on a volcano is like hiking up sand/gravel. The traction was nil. it was incredibly slow going. BUT totally worth it. I was pretty tired by the 2nd day on the trek and wasn't sure if I would make the additional trek over to Fuego but I am REALLY glad that I did. the views at the base camp, views at fuego and sunrise on Acatenango were all extraordinary. Just a really cool, but challenging experience for sure. I was very happy when we were off the volcano and headed back to Antigua. On our additional day in Antigua, my partner and I visited a ton of the ruins throughout the city and we got to see an interesting religious procession (the first sunday after Ash Wednesday) throughout the city. Our hotel in Antigua (Meson de Maria) I have somewhat mixed views on. The beds were comfortable and the hotel interior is beautiful. I enjoyed the views from the upper terrace. There was one person there that was particularly friendly and helpful. The others, not so much. They weren't mean or anything, but not particularly welcoming or friendly which is very unlike all the other places I've travelled in S. America. The breakfast was not great either which was disappointing. The rooms were quite small. That said, they helped get our laundry done one day while we were out and about and I loved the location. They also accommodated our schedule changes and we were able to stay at the same place, just in different rooms, which made things easier.
I got interested in Guatemala b/c I wanted to hike volcanoes. But was really happy with the entire trip. It is more Americanized than places we've gone in S. Am (Bolivia, Chile, Peru, Argentina) but that was okay with me. I had no interest in Guatemala City and glad we didn't spend any time there. For me, using KimKim is so worth it; as is booking private tours b/c it allows you to change your schedule with ease which we did twice. I should add that we mostly had one driver, Ivan, and he was SO AWESOME. he was super friendly and a GREAT driver. he ruled. Thank you so much Eduardo for all your help with this trip. You were great to work with.
Hotel Reviews
no complaints about this place at all. Breakfast good. howler monkeys, LOUD :)
breakfast was good, but no included with rate. good location. nothing spectacular but nothing to complain about either
literally one of the best and most beautiful hotels I've stayed at or seen anywhere
Rooms very small, breakfast not great. One very friendly and helpful employee; others weren't unfriendly but did not go out of their way to be helpful/friendly/welcoming. Thank goodness they had a small floor fan or else I would have been very warm at night. Interior is beautiful, upstairs roof terrace very nice. Good location but area was very loud on weekends.
Activity Reviews
Loved this experience! We opted for 2-night in the camp on the volcano, and I would recommend it because you have much more time to enjoy the experience.
Hobbitenango was nice, but Altamira was the highlight of the visit. It was so much fun to be there, and there were plenty of photo spots!
thank you very much Denise for a very detailed review of what you made in Guatemala I'm really happy to hear that this trip that you and I built it was a success and you got great souvenirs and memories from this trip along Guatemala. Since you got the opportunity to immerse and get to know our local guides drivers and partner hotels in the whole country.
And the most important thing, you got to hike the Acatenango volcano which was your goal in this trip.
Saludos de Guatemala