Otelito Season Hotel

Best Restaurants in Guatemala City

by mgraham3 about There are others, but this is a great start!

1. Tamarindos
2. Qui
3. Ambia
4. La Cascadia
5. Otelito
6. Hacienda Real
7. Jakes
8. Mexico Lindo

More from Around the World that I Love:
Including this Country Tamarindos is a must.

Iglesia Yurrita

by thelukey

A plaque outside the “Capilla de Nuestra Señora de las Angustias” (Chapel of Our Lady of the Anguishes) – more commonly known as the Iglesia Yurrita – reads: “Don Felipe Yurrita Castaneda – Esta capilla fue construida en acción de gracias a Nuestra Señora de las Angustias después de la erupción del Volcán Santa María, 1902 – Homenaje conmemorativo al cincuentenario de su construcción – 7 Noviembre 1992.”

(Sir Felipe Yurrita Castaneda – This chapel was built to give thanks to Our Lady of the Anguishes after the eruption of the Santa Maria Volcano in 1902 – Commemorative recognition in honor of the 50th anniversary of its construction – November 7, 1992.)

Visually interesting both inside and out, the Yurrita Church is a rather rare 20th-century construction that actually rivals many a colonial church in terms of its attractiveness.

Guns and Few Roses

by chasdwes

"A Taste of a War Zone"

Guatemala City has the reputation as being the most dangerous city in Central America. I saw nothing there that would tarnish its reputation.

When my driver stopped for gas, a civilian guard with a mighty mean looking shot gun looked over every move that was made around the gas pump. His attention remained with us until the gasoline was paid for. This scrutiny made me feel very uneasy. Thus, just as where there is smoke, there is fire; where there are firearms, there is actual or potential wrong-doings. Get me away from there quickly!

This a not a vacation spot. Be very wary.

franar's new Guatemala City Page

by franar

Full country name: Republic of Guatemala
Area: 109,000 sq km (42,500 sq mi)
Population: 12.6 million (growth rate 2.6%)
Capital city: Guatemala City (pop 2 million)
People: 56% mestizo/ladino descent, 44% Mayan descent
Language: Spanish, Garífuna and 21 Mayan languages
Religion: Roman Catholic, Pentecostal, Mayan-Catholic fusion
Government: Democratic

Guatemala City is the largest urban agglomeration in Central America - it's far from a pretty site. It sprawls across a range of flattened, ravine-scored mountains, covering an entire mountain plain and tumbling into the surrounding valleys. With its rickety chicken buses and chaotic marketplaces, the city's Latin character is over the top to the point of cliché. Like all Guatemalan towns, a strict grid system has been imposed on the city's layout: avenidas run north-south; calles run east-west. The huge city has been divided into 15 zones, each with its own version of this grid system.

Few colonial buildings grace the city, and it is visited more for its role as the nation's administrative and transport hub than as a must-see tourist site. In Zona 1, Plaza Mayor is a classic example of the standard Spanish colonial town-planning scheme, and is the city's ceremonial center, with the retail district nearby. It's best visited on a Sunday, when it's thronged with thousands of locals who come to stroll, eat ice cream, smooch on a bench, listen to boom-box salsa music and ignore the hundreds of trinket vendors. The square is lined by the imposing Palacio Nacional, currently being restored to house a national history museum, and the twin-towered Catedral Metropolitana. An earthquake destroyed the original market building adjacent to the square in 1976, and today the hugely chaotic Mercado Central specializes in tourist-oriented crafts.

North of Zona 1 is the shady and restful Parque Minerva, featuring a quirky relief map of the country. Several important museums can be found in Zona 10, including the Museo Popol Vuh, which is a superb private collection of Mayan and Spanish colonial art, and the Museo Ixchel, which displays the rich traditional arts and costumes of Guatemala's highland towns. Zona 13 houses the Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología, with its prized collection of Mayan artifacts, and the Museo Nacional de Arte Moderno, which has a superb collection of 20th-century Guatemalan art. Several km west of the center lie the extensive ruins of Kaminaljuyú, an important Late Pre-classic/Early Classic Maya site. Unfortunately, the ruins have been largely covered by urban expansion.

Most of the city's cheap and middle-range hotels are in Zona 1, while posh hotels are clustered in Zona 10. Zona Viva is the place to go to eat expensively and dance the night away.