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A chicken bus in Guatemala City
Santa Semana
Politecnica
Torre Del Reformador
Hi there,
I may be offered a job in Guatemala City for a year and I'd like to get a sense of how much it costs for a single person with a "middle class" lifestyle to live there (eg. rent - perhaps a shared apartment with one other person or to live alone, food expenses for cooking & restaurants, going out, public transportation, gym, etc)? Also, I would move there with my cat (anybody with experience bringing an animal?) Any information would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Karen
You likely should check some expat websites. Always good to talk to people that have already done what you are about to do. There are several of those, that you can log in and ask some questions. Check it out. Here is a start.
http://www.alloexpat.com/guatemala_expat_forum/
http://www.expatexchange.com/expat/index.cfm?frmid=217&forumid=0&dbname=ee&shared=N
http://www.theguatemalagringo.com/
http://www.expat-blog.com/en/directory/central-america/guatemala/
There are more. Just Google Guatemala Expats, - and start planning.....d:o)
Hi
Your costs will mainly depends on where you plan to be living. Some safe and rich areas are located quite out of town (Carretera a El Salvador is a fashionable area for wealthy people, but is away from bars, restaurants and other night activities).... So first of all do you know where your will be (which Zona?). According to that you may be able to seek around for accomodation, and calculate how much you could spend in gym/restaurants/transportation, etc.
I used to live normally with 5500 Quetzales (quite a good income regarding Guatemalan standards), living in Zona 15; I was sharing an appartment, we payed 1.400 Quetzales each one.
Good luck!
Millimetre.
Crazy travellers, awesome project! HAve a look: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pampa-Julio-go-to-Europe-The-90-Days-Project/369971831995?ref=nf
There is a certain something, a very particular flavour that evoques a small restaurante in Italy... the toasted bottom of the dough on their pizzas... I don't know what it is! but it's the best pizza I've ever ever had!!!!!!!
This huge Neo Classical building housed the best and most famous hotel of the city. Everybody tells stories of the golden days when the hotel was visited by singers, actors and presidents, now is a school.
I spent two weeks in Guatemala City over the 2003-2004 Christmas break from college. I volunteered in an orphanage for children with disabilities. During the free time I had I was able to visit Antigua (where I actually got sick and stayed in the hotel the entire time :( , Lake Atitlan, and the ancient Mayan pyramids in Tikal. Since I am re-doing my travel pages, these photos are not accessible for sharing at the present moment, which is a bummer because the pyramid shots are very cool. If traveling in the vicinity of Guatemala, I highly reccomend spending most of your time outside of the city. The villages are wonderful places to shop, you feel good about supporting such a burdened economy. In the city, many things are "Americanized" . For the most part ,villagers are very excited to see tourists who are potential customers, but I did experience one very angry little boy getting very upset when I did not purchase a necklace from him. I do not reccomend traving alone in these areas as Guatemala still struggles with a lot of corruption in many sectors of its society. Safety in groups is a working mantra here.
During my brief stint in Guatemala I did have an opportunity to leave the city and visit the villages beyond. People living in poverty depend upon their artistic skill for economic survival. This picture represents a classic sight to be seen upon arrival at each new village. I bought many things in Guatemala, for dirt cheap. They expect you to bargain with them, it is their way, this took some getting used to, considering things were so inexpensive to begin with.
Another great opportunity during my short volunteer mission in Guatemala was to visit these magnificant ancient ruins. Stepping back in time is one way to describe being here. The architecture is amazing, considering the primitivity of the era of construction. Picturing short, dark complected, elaborately dressed humans moving about the plaza was one way to daydream yourself back in time...
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