More on Guatemala

As I mentioned in my other post, I really loved my time in Guatemala.  Hunter and I both agree that we liked it more than Costa Rica or Puerto Rico, and possibly even more than our honeymoon in Mexico.  Why?  I'm not totally sure.  Maybe it's because it was less commercialized, or maybe it's because this was our first trip without Eleanor since she was born and we were just excited to have so much freedom!

Guatemala is DEFINITELY a third world country.  There were quite a few times that we were out and couldn't find a bathroom that had running water so you could flush.  You have to throw your used toilet paper in a trash can instead of the toilet.  You can't drink the water anywhere.  (Our hotel did have filtered water available.)  There were mudslides in the country recently that took out huge portions of major roads, so we ended up having to drive on side dirt roads for short stretches and we even drove through a creek once.  This was definitely the poorest place we have visited.  BUT!  The people were so amazingly nice.  They were incredibly hard working.  In Costa Rica we got frustrated several times because everything was running so late, but that never happened at all in Guatemala.  I can't really describe it, but we just felt so much more comfortable in Guatemala.  It's not nearly as "American-ized" as other places we've visited, although we did see several American stores and fast food places around Guatemala City.

Here are some of the interesting things that I learned during our time there:

• Somewhere between 2/3 and 3/4 of the population is Mayan.  I had no idea it was that high!  This means that for the majority of the population, Spanish is their second language.  Very few people spoke English and I would not recommend traveling here if you don't have at least a basic command of Spanish.
• The literacy rate is only around 72%, and it can be as low as 8% in some Mayan villages.  Part of the reason it's so low is that, until recently, Guatemala's top two money makers were coffee and sugarcane.  Their school calendar is set up around harvest season for their former top money makers, two kinds of dye.  The school year starts in January, but January - March is harvest season for coffee, so parents kept their kids out of school for those months of the year...meaning the kids didn't learn to read.  There was an older lady sitting on the plane next to me on the flight down, and during the flight when we got our immigration forms to fill out, she passed her form and her passport off to a stranger so he could fill it out for her.  On the flight back, I noticed that the people in front of us took about 30 minutes to fill out the form that took me under a minute to complete.  Illiteracy and lack of education are real issues, even with people who have visas and can afford plane tickets.
• What are the top two sources of income in Guatemala today?  Number 1 is remittances from Guatemalans who now live in the US, legally or illegally, and send money back to their family.  One tour guide told us that if you go up in the mountains, you might see a really nice house in the middle of nowhere with the US flag painted on it because the money to build the house came from relatives in the US.  Or, you might see a really nice van with "Regalo de Dios" (gift from God) painted on it, but "Really it's a gift from his second cousin working in the US."  
• Source of income number 2 is tourism.  By the way, being a tourist in Guatemala is CHEAP!  We stayed in a nicer hotel that cost less than my recent stay at a Comfort Inn & Suites in the US, and we saw some basic places that offered hot water, cable, etc. for under $5/night per person.  I might be concerned about noise at some of those places, but I think they would definitely be safe and clean.  Our tour to the volcano was $8/person and that included a nice shuttle that was 2 hours each way and a 3 hour guided tour up the volcano and back.  A nice meal for both of us, including non-alcoholic drinks, was anywhere from $8-$30, depending on how fancy the restaurant was.  (You can't just order water for free since you can't drink the water.)
• Antigua, where we stayed, is the biggest tourist attraction in Guatemala.  Some tourists don't like it because it is "too touristy", but I didn't think it was nearly as bad as Costa Rica.  I actually felt like it was just right.  It was definitely the cleanest place I have been to in Latin America.  The city actually pays people to sweep the streets and clean up trash, and there's an expat who has a farm up in the mountains and she takes in all of the stray dogs from Antigua.  She has over 200 dogs!  
• Antigua is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It's cool because they have to keep all of the colonial charm in the city and they can't modernize it, but the rules are kind of extreme and don't allow for common sense.  Everything in the city has to be built in the same style they used in the 1700's.  Well, now they know that walls need to be really thick to withstand earthquakes, but they didn't build them thick enough in the 1700's.  Are they allowed to build the walls thicker today?  Nope, they have to be like they were in the 1700's, meaning that if there's another earthquake...  Well, it would not be good.  Still, I really appreciated how everything in the city looked.  It's so beautiful!