Guatemala City

I'm slowly making my way from El Salvador to Lake Atitlan in Guatemala where I will spend a month. I don't really like to travel like this - a couple days here and a couple of days there. It feels like I'm just moving to the next place, resting up from moving to the next place, planning my move to the next place. I chose to fly in to San Salvador instead of Guatemala City as I couldn't find any direct flights to Guatemala.

I caught a luxury bus (Pullmantur) on Sunday, leaving from a hotel in San Salvador and arriving at a hotel in Guatemala City. The only stops we made were at the border - once on the El Salvador side where an official came on to the bus and checked all of our travel documents and once on the Guatemala side where those of us travelling with passports had to get off the bus and have our passports stamped. Out of the 30 or so people on the bus, only a handful of us were foreigners. The woman sitting next to me was from El Slavador, frequently travelling to Guatemala for her job.

The bus was a double-decker, typical of the luxury buses that I have ridden in Mexico. All of the passengers are on the top level; the lower level is reserved for luggage, a toilet, and a place for the hostess to sit. Oh! And the driver! The hostess delivered drinks (pop, water, and juice) and a little box that contained a sub-like sandwich and a little bag of chips. She also got off the bus with us for the passport control and, I guess, made sure we all made it back on again.

The bus ride was about 5 1/2 hours, winding through sparsely populated mountains. We did pass through a few small towns, but most of the way was on a freeway winding through tropical forests. They showed movies on little, overhead screens and, fortunately, you only heard the sound if you plugged your headphones in to the jack by your seat. It was distracting enough to see the flickering of the video. There was also a USB charging outlet. It is nice to arrive at one's destination with a charged phone! The trip cost about $60 CAD and I booked it through Get Your Guide, in case any of you are considering taking the trip.

It rained much of the way, arriving at the Holiday Inn in Guatemala about 7 PM. It took me a while to book an Uber to my accommodation as I'm not as fast on the app as those around me doing the same thing.

The place I am staying is rather funky. There are two courtyards with apartments around the sides. Each has their own little kitchen, bathroom and bed. Mine is called a mini loft and I should have paid better attention when I booked it as the bed is up a rather steep ladder in a loft. I considered leaving my phone at the base of the ladder in case I slipped in the night while going down so that I could call an ambulance! Fortunately, that wasn't necessary.

The location is great - just a block from the main market downtown and close to most of the sites that tourists like to visit. Unfortunately, the day that I had to spend in the city was a Monday and most of the museums and galleries are closed on Mondays. I did find some good restaurants nearby and a couple of coffee shops.

The city seems to have a good rapid transit system, which I didn't need to use as I could walk everywhere. The streets are fairly clean and there are no stray dogs or cats roaming around. And that's about it for my brief stop in Guatemala City.