Guatemala – you stole my heart (ft. Stranger who now has pictures of me)

I honestly don’t know where to start with this post, Guatemala stole my heart for so many reasons. I met the best people, saw some incredible places and felt so safe and at home (most the time – stay tuned for some funny stories). Much like Mexico, I will do this in two parts. This will be full of stories and the other will be more of a guide.

The boarder crossing from Mexico to Guatemala alone was an experience in itself. Being my first land boarder crossing as a solo female, I was petrified. I met some girls from South Africa who were also going to Flores so befriended them in case I needed a familiar face to run to and 13 hours later/4 bus changes later, we arrived in Flores and had a beer together. Before Mexico I would never opt for a beer but for 6 weeks it became part of my staple diet.

And on to the photo…

While we’re on the topic of public transport, it’s safe to say my advise to anyone visiting Guatemala is to keep your expectations low. At least 4 of my buses broke down; from breaks failing on a steep decline to engines exploding and constant punctures, I had it all. In true Lucy style, I just laughed it off as an experience and they’ve given me some great stories looking back. And although I would tell anyone to travel solo, if you’re on any form of public transport alone, please do try and make friends with another backpacker who can be there if you need it. I fell asleep on one of my journey’s and every time I woke up, this guy had moved closer and closer until I woke up and he was sat next to me and wouldn’t drop eye contact. He’d been taking photo’s of me the entire journey and the south African girls called be back to sit with them and stuck with me when we got off the bus so I was less vulnerable and not alone. *God knows why he was taking pictures, hair wash day was well overdue and it was a sticky bus trip with no air con haha. I can’t say anything bad would have happened if they hadn’t been there, but I felt a whole lot less isolated when I was shi*tting myself a little.

Below are some of my highlights from the month spent in Guatemala

• Learning Spanish! I spent a week studying at a Spanish school while living with a local family. Firstly, living with a local family and other students is a massively rewarding experience and also, I think having a week in an actual home is why Antigua felt like home to me. I spent around 9 days in Antigua and I honestly adore it. The amount off coffee shops, back streets, bars, parties etc that I got to know still fills me with happiness.
• Hiking Acetenango volcano to view and hear a Fuego erupt overnight (photo’s below)
• Coffee. Guatemala has lots of coffee plantations and it’s the first place I actually enjoyed drinking coffee
• Zepher Lodge hostel and the tubing that goes with it!
• Tikal – because who doesn’t like being above the trees!
• Lake Atitlan and Free cerveza hostel (although I drink so much ‘cerveza’ I’ve now been permanently put off)

All of the above mentioned activities will be written about with more structure and posted tomorrow😇

If you’re worried about visiting Guatemala for any reason as a solo traveler, don’t be! It was one of the most sociable counties, I made so many friends and traveled with them along the way.

As always, check out lucystraveldiary on Instagram for more👀