This is my third trip of 2022, and definitely the least planned.
March 14th 9:21AM: I was sitting at my desk thinking about way too much. It’s so strange to come home after traveling for an extended amount of time because it makes your time away seem like it almost wasn’t real. I had just arrived back to NYC from República Dominicana, where I was not really working, just enjoying barrio life, and to come back “home” to nyc honestly threw me off. As I was sitting there, Yasmeen reached out to me on Instagram. A stranger at the time, she shared with me that my solo travels inspired her and pushed her to want to explore the world more herself. She had traveled a ton so far and wanted to commit to the digital nomadic life. She asked me for recommendations and I gave her 3: Panama, Costa Rica, and Guatemala. She said she was planning to go for the end of March…which was in a few days.
I think sometimes we think that we need so much pre-planning, strategy, and organization to live when we really don’t. Each trip I go on and each new idea/journey I embark on, I learn to trust myself more and more, and it sharpens me. I essentially want to grow closer to myself by learning to trust myself more, which this trip graciously did for me.
I was thinking of Guatemala non stop while I was in DR and thinking of my future travel plans for the rest of the year. In the beginning of 2022, I said that I was selling my car and redesigning my budget to travel every month, but while I was in DR, I was having doubting thoughts. “You need to save more, you need to be more modest, you need to ground yourself.” Imagine a life where you didn’t talk yourself out of doing the things that you want to do. During our conversation about traveling and cultural exploration, I got passionate. Did I act on impulse? Maybe. But Yasmeen really made me feel that my concerns were fabricated and absurd. I looked at my budget, and there was space. I looked at my savings plan and it was on track. Why not? By the end of that same day, I booked my flight and we decided to do a “companion solo trip.”
I am committing to myself. I am committing to the life I say I want to manifest for myself by actually living it.
*companion solo trip: going to the same destination as someone else, each with our own stays and separate itineraries, but overlapping and meeting up occasionally for coffee/dinner/etc. great for new solo travelers who want to go abroad alone, but don’t want to feel completely alone yet.
Pre-Planning a Solo Trip:
For any trip, I start on Pinterest. I looked up itineraries and travel blogs on Lake Atitlan, decided what I thought I had time for and what I was most interested in, opened a google doc, and started adding bullet points for each day. I make skeleton itineraries for when I travel because I often learn a lot when I arrive and ask locals and other travelers for their opinion.
Booking the stay: Guatemala might seem random to some, but Lake Atitlan is actually a popular travel place. Around the lake, there are lake towns and each I would say is uniquely well known for something. Panajachel being the busiest, San Juan being so beautiful and artsy, San Marcos being the “hippie” town, San Pedro being the nightlife town, etc. To get around the towns, you take a small boat (lancha) which are on average Q30 (3USD). I decided to stay in Panajachel area because I wanted to stay somewhere accessible by car. I honestly just didn’t want to take my heavy suit case on the lancha. The towns are also accessible by car, but it makes the ride farther and more expensive. My airbnb total for 6 days in Panajachel was around $350, and it was 100% everything I wanted. The view of the volcanos and the lake gave me so much peace.
For eating/drinking/coffee options, I open google maps, create a list in the app, and start saving/pinning places that I want to visit so that way when I am there, all I have to do is open google maps and show the driver. It’s way easier and more organized than creating a separate running list (also helps you plan each day geographically- choosing where to eat depending on where you’ll be on the map to shorten commuting time in a day). This the link to everything I had saved for Guatemala (Lake + Antigua). The list is different eateries & things to do.
Booking the flight: The flight from NYC-GUA is about 5 hours, and I booked the flight with JetBlue. I’ve learned a lot over the years about the power of credit cards with travel rewards and points, and it’s what is sustaining my traveling for cheap. The RT flight to GUA only costed me $75 dollars. I’m not an expert here, but there are a lot of travel Youtubers who go in depth on what credit cards they use to acquire points for “free flights” but for anyone curious: I have a Chase Sapphire card.
My travel plan:
- Arrive in Guatemala City Airport on Friday March 25th
- Get picked up from airport by a pre-hired taxi who I contacted with the help of my Airbnb host (I always ask my Airbnb host the taxi service they so that I feel safe with who is driving me)
- There are also shuttles that take you from the airport to Pana, one of them being serviced by Atitrans.
- The drive from airport to Panajachel (Pana) is 3.5 hours (costed $20 USD)
- Arrive in Pana, asked the driver to stop at a bank to change money at BAM Panajachel
- He dropped me off at my Airbnb that is a 7 min drive outside the Pana city center (on the way to Santa Catarina if you’re looking on google maps)
- Get ready and go out for dinner ( I always keep my arrival day light because I get travel fatigued)
This is the link to my full itinerary for information on what I did each day, including currency and taxi information too. To be honest, this trip was so laid back compared to Costa Rica and Dominican Republic. So much of time time was spent reading, writing, and taking in the energy of the lake. I worked through so many anxious feelings here that I had with me in NYC and took the opportunity to just exist here. I walked around a lot, got to know locals, explored different businesses, and admired the beauty of the lake. I wanted to come back to NYC relaxed and not exhausted from moving around and exploring TOO much. For a quick view of the itinerary: see image below.
These are the Airbnbs
Airbnb in Panajachel Area with an amazing view of the volcanos, yoga deck, and host living near by.
Airbnb I visited in Santa Cruz with a pool, hot tub, and a 25 min hike from Casa Del Mundo.
Airbnb in Antigua that is a little far from city center (10 min walk) but still great budget option.
Everyday I spent here, I was overwhelmed by the grounding energy of the lake. I took the time to learn more about the indigenous culture in Guatemala and how the lake towns have been impacted by tourism (pre and post COVID) especially being a tourist myself. Because there are so many travelers and tourists here (especially in Panajachel) I felt pretty safe when I was alone, but always be aware of your surroundings of course.
There is sooo much about Guatemala that filled my heart with love. I loved the Reserva Natural in Pana, Casa Del Mundo in Jaibalito/Santa Cruz, the colors and culture in San Juan. I’ll list a few of my other favorites below:
My Favorites
- Favorite coffee shop in Pana: Asawa-ko
- Favorite food in Pana: Rinconcito Salvadoreño and Deli Jasmini
- Favorite coffee shop in San Juan: Cafe San Juan
- Favorite excursion of entire trip: Reserva Natural Ulta Extemos Zip-lining (this was a sickening experience)
- Favorite coffee shop in Antigua: AM BKFST
- Best bar to meet other travelers (at Lake Atitlan AND Antigua): Selina Hostel
- Favorite moment of the trip: morning yoga on the deck of my airbnb on my chill Monday. I wrote, took pictures, read, and processed a lot.
As a traveler, it’s important to be mindful of the impact you have on the space you are traveling to. I took the time to ask locals questions and get to know them, which felt responsible. It’s easy to take advantage of how cheap Central American countries are (I spent right around $1,000 on the entire trip for 8 days), so to balance that out, I spent locally and gave generous tips. As a Dominican-Puerto Rican woman, I built rapport easily, but a lot of people here speak English due to the high travel and tourism. To rate the difficulty of this trip between 1 (very easy to travel) to 5 (very difficult to travel), I would say this is a solid 2. English is widely spoken, you can exchange money easily at the banks (even though they are strict on quality of bank notes), locals understand different parts of the world, and there’s a lot to keep you busy.
The difficult things that I would note are:
1. You can’t drink the water here (I did not find that difficult to manage though)
2. Parasites are common for some people who are eating raw fruits and veggies (but that doesn’t mean YOU will get them, just be mindful if your stomach is sensitive)
3. Guatemala has a rural way of life that is different than American/western way of life. If you are not able to adjust to this and be open minded, you may feel uncomfortable at times
4. To commute around the lake, the public lancha stops running early (at sunset) and the water sometimes is rough (but not super dangerous). There are private boats available if you miss the last one (so no you won’t be stranded anywhere past sunset)
These things are arguably not that difficult to deal with, which is why I rate it a 2. Keep in mind though that I am from a rural town in Dominican Republic and also a NYC native who lives in East NY, Brooklyn.
This was undoubtedly my best trip so far. Guatemala healed me and gave me perspective. My time here posed so many questions and unravelled thoughts because I had so much peace and stillness. I was genuinely surprised by the emotions that came to surface when I removed myself from the city. For the most part, I consider myself to be level headed and aware, but here I grew closer to myself and learned true internal honesty. Feelings and thoughts will never resolve themselves if you never claim them to be true. The more you lie to yourself, the farther you move away from yourself, and I don’t want that. Even though a lot of these feelings were uncomfortable, the discomfort gave me clarity of needs, boundaries, and next steps to move up a level in life. I feel evolved.
Destinations that allow you to rest, think, walk, and explore change you because they are different than going to destinations where you party, drink, and keep yourself occupied. Both are great (because I was very much occupied in Dominican Republic) but stillness is important for internal growth, and I am forever grateful to Guatemala for that.
