what's going on everybody this island hopper tv and today we're going to talk about things
to know when you come to beautiful guatemala let's do it [Music] let's talk about places to go things
to see and do so the big three i would say lake atitlan and when it comes to how much time you
want to spend here and check out all the villages some people would say four days some people would
say a whole week and some people actually end up staying longer for retreats and eco
getaways places like san juan there's also san marcos santa catarina santiago many different
villages all around lake atilan that people like to explore that's probably the main thing because
there's volcanoes and it's a beautiful lake then there's antigua which is a unesco world heritage
site so this is a old spanish city dating all the way back to 1500 before the spanish were here
it was the mayans who were living there so lots of history in antigua another place that people like
to go is to the north to laechua now getting up to lake chua is not easy because it's uh isolated
it's up there towards chiapas mexico then there's uh tikal the ruins the mayan ruins in the north so
plenty of places uh to get to but some of them are harder than others there's sema which is a
beautiful turquoise colored water people like to go there there's also some places on the coast
like livingston on the caribbean side and then there's some places down towards the pacific side
that you'll want to check out you get a chance but most people prefer to go to el salvador for
the beaches but you can do some fishing on the pacific coast of guatemala then there's a few
mayan markets that you'll want to explore if you're really looking for real culture what do
they have in those markets there's the biggest one in central america chichi costanenka so i'm
sorry if i didn't get that right with the spelling or the pronunciation but you guys can look it up
anyways plenty of places to see and do write all those down if you want uh but the big ones uh that
you'll see the big three t call there's antigua and lake atlan those are the big three that most
people come for you guys come over here and look at this actual diagram here you can see some of
the areas you can go visit around here we've got lago at pete long which is where we're at now
you've got uh mayan ruins in honduras antigua right there uh you've got chichi castanenko
rio de la san cristobal de las casas which is right there in chiapas so there's a list of things
let's talk about money and finance here in guatemala they use the currency called quetzales
it's actually the name of the bird but if you look at the money here you can see they've got
the parliament and several mayan uh insignias on this money this is a catalase this is 50.
the one dollar equals seven kate solis so 50 is around 15 that's how much it would be valued at
if i were to spend it now when you go to the atms they're readily available all across the country
they also do take us dollars in tourist areas but if you plan to go outside of tourist areas
into the remote parts of guatemala bring quite solids so i thought i'd put that out there in
terms of cost and price i would say guatemala is a bit cheaper than places like costa rica
and probably about the same as mexico maybe a little bit cheaper like tonight for example
i'm staying in a 45 hotel so two rooms for about ninety dollars that's including tax uh this is in
antigua right now we're at the plaza mayor right here in the heart of antigua guatemala which was
the original capital actually of the empire of guatemala which was all of central america
all right let's talk about transportation in guatemala getting around the only international
airport that most people arrive in is in guatemala city it's pretty much the only one you're going to
have access to so keep that in mind when you want to get around to some of these other places like
guatemala city to the north to lachua or to maybe even to call or some of these other areas
it can take up to 8 to 14 hours in a car even though it looks like a small country it takes
a long time because you're going through these windy roads but that being said those windy roads
lead to not just altitude sickness but also motion sickness when you're on places like lake atitlan
instead of using a car to get around people use a boat but there's also uber here in this country
some people might take an uber from guatemala city till to atitlan although that's not recommended
uh for multiple different reasons one of them being motion sickness you want to get a really
good car for that as you're going through the windy mountains to get out here it takes about
three hours not too far but i would recommend pre-arranging a shuttle when you're in the big
city like guatemala city they have a modern bus system but that's about it no train or tram to
speak of so i would say what you want to do is do a little bit of research pre-planning try and
find somebody to help you with transportation when you get here if you do decide to get a
rental car you're a pretty brave person if you're gonna do that here in guatemala but i think you
could do it the roads are in decent shape in most areas they love their speed bumps i will say that
one more thing tuck tucks are a fun way to get around guatemala and especially many of these
towns in atitlan or even antigua yeah so when you come to guatemala you're definitely going to want
to indulge in some of the variety of the cuisine they have here so let's show you some of the stuff
they've got on the menu across guatemala you can see here's an example of what they've
got so one of the best guatemalan dishes you can get is pepion this is a guatemalan stew
so a typical guatemalan plate i got papas which is potatoes frijoles which is beans guacamole
some carne a little bit of chicken and some looks like a plantain or maybe a sweet potato
and plenty of tortillas look at all the tortillas right here we got some hibiscus juice here they
have a wide variety of nuts but you might notice that i do typically eat my fair share of carne but
they also have a variety of different dishes that you may want to try out like soups as i
already showed you but there's more than just one there's seafood soups also maybe even some insects
in some of these communities but lots and lots of fish is what the mayan diet consists of [Music]
let's talk fun facts so the quetzales the currency that they use it's named after the bird kate
sally's it's a green bird beautiful bird you'll probably want to go bird watching and see it
that's what i found to be interesting is that the currency is named after a bird
the next thing that's interesting is guatemala actually means green land or green
area green place another thing that you'll want to know is that there's over 40 volcanoes
here in guatemala that's a lot of volcanoes this is a very volcanic place another thing to keep
in mind about fun facts is that 22 different languages are spoken across the country most of
them are a variety of different mayan dialects uh with that being said 60 of the country is
of mayan descent you know here's a good opportunity to talk about clothes i got a
authentic guatemalan hat here i also got an authentic shirt made of cotton most of
uh everything they have here is made of cotton not really wool or anything else also their dyes
are organic but you can see just here's an example of some of the guatemalan clothing
uh each mayan village around lake atlanta has different clothing different head dresses for
the women you can really tell a difference if you pay close attention so the clothes
they wear here you might end up wanting to wear some of it like a poncho or something like that
one thing i'll say don't be surprised if you see a lot of stray animals
look at these dogs right here there's strays there's also lots of stray cats
chickens walking around so that's what you're going to get out here
let's talk weather climate and mother nature first thing i want to say is
earthquakes do happen here quite often as i said it's seismic it's volcanic lots of volcanoes
which means there's going to be earthquakes so if you feel the ground shaking that's pretty
common around here if you see a volcano going off puffing in antigua that's common it happens
quite frequently the best time to actually visit guatemala is from november to april
the rainy season is from may to october so uh plan accordingly if you don't mind
the rain they come during that period but for the most part uh all across guatemala
it's a spring climate that means the weather is typically like spring except for when you're
down on the caribbean or on the pacific coast maybe you'll get a little bit different climate
than you get up in the highlands with that being said when you go up into the highlands
expect some altitude sickness or possibly altitude sickness because uh when you're walking
uh hiking at ten thousand feet elevation seven thousand feet elevation if your body's not used
to that you're gonna feel it it's gonna hit you so uh plan accordingly with that kind of information
that i just gave you and we just talked about motion sickness on the road so keep that in mind
all right so something to know about safety in guatemala i've been now to guatemala city antigua
and now lake atlanta as you can see i'm standing on the pier here in santiago and i will tell you
that yes there are dangerous areas in guatemala city but most of guatemala city is really safe
but there are certain areas just like in new york and los angeles that you should not go but
guatemala has a wrap of being unsafe i mean even before i came here i saw all these
travel warnings about crime and everything and so far my experience here in guatemala assuming
you follow basic standard tourist guidelines you know don't go out late at night or get involved in
hard drugs or something like that it's safe i mean it's a really safe place i was actually surprised
at how safe it was compared to what i was reading online so uh if you're worried about safety
obviously follow basic travel guidelines you know that you would follow in europe or follow anywhere
else but don't do anything dumb like getting cars late at night with people on strange taxis and
you'll be totally fine out here i've noticed that the people are actually really friendly
my overall review of guatemala is this i am looking forward to go back there and explore it
the hardest part is the transportation uh probably wanting to get around by puddle
jumpers if you go from guatemala city take a puddle jumper to t call i would not really
recommend doing too much driving and if you do make sure it's on a sleeper bus like i
said guatemala looks small on the map but it's taking time to get around the country
i mean to go 2 to 300 miles can take up to 14 15 hours you'd be surprised but like i
said i definitely look forward to going back to guatemala thanks to everyone who watches these
videos subscribes to this channel and likes them we'll see you on the next one [Music]
you