After celebrating a beautiful New Year’s Eve in Antigua and having explored the North of the country, we finally end up in the capital of Guatemala. The choice of leaving it last on our trip was due to the fact that all buses headed to El Salvador could only be taken there and hence why not spend a couple of days exploring the city before leaving the country. Guatemala City is divided into 25 zones and thanks to the several travellers we met, we’ve been suggested to stay in either Zone 1 or 10 which apparently are the safest ones.
Our hostel, Hostal El Poeta, is clean, cheap and right in the middle of Zone 1 , the perfect spot to leave everything down and start exploring.
Just a couple of blocks from the hostel, there’s the immense Plaza de la Constitución which these days have been set up to host an entertaining Festival Navideño featuring snow games, people with masks and loads of small vendors selling typical world “winter” food. With us going around in shorts and t-shirt, celebrating Xmas felt a bit weird! Imagine that just in front of the Catedral Metropolitana they also put up an ice-skating track!
Following the road close to the Cathedral, the 8a calle, we reach the Mercado Central… and it’s simply marvellous. Whether you wanna swing by to have a bit at one of several comedores (super tasty food), shop for some fresh fruit & homemade sweets or just have a stroll through the tiendas selling handmade souvenirs, this place will meet your expectation.
Back to the central plaza, we find the 6a Avenida, another important landmark of Zona 1. This is like the main boulevard where most of the shops and restaurants are; you can find street artists, people walking around and even a cinema! And its right at the end of this street that you can find the metro-station Calvario (a cheap and easy way to move around the city). Last but not least, for the Xmas Festival the city has organized a book fair on the same boulevard for just a few days. What a treat!
César, the funny concierge of the Hostel El Poeta, recommend us to check out the Resturant Rayuela, a great spot to have a tasty dinner not so far from the hostel (just four blocks from Plaza Constitución). We follow the advice and we’ve gotta say… what an amazing place! Something like a small bohemian bistro settled hidden away in the heart of Guatemala City. The inside decorated with books, photos and quotes of famous writes to bring you back to the past. At some point a guy even started play the accordion right in the middle of the tables! Make sure to taste the hamburgers (and the one with the pink bread) for something unreal!
After having visited the Museo Nacional de Historia, close to the North hippodrome & Minerva Park (Zone 2) you can also visit a relief map of Guatemala, from the highest volcanoes to the ocean. It is quite a nice visit seeing a topographic view of the country and the fact that the map is over 100 years old (was built in 1905 by Francisco Vela) makes it even more interesting. The entrance fee for non-nationals is 25QZ.
Although all the people we met always depicted G. City as scary, dangerous and with nothing to see, we can’t say we haven’t enjoyed the small part we visited! Having a stroll in the center, watching a movie at the cinema, passing from bookshop to bookshop has given a us a much needed city life for a short while. If you do your best to avoid dangerous situations (aka not going around at night) and just bring with you only the necessary, trust us that security won’t be an issue whatsoever!
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