We arrived in Guatemala City at about 5pm on Friday 16th December and were picked up from the airport by Ani’s mum Luli and her partner Chino, whereby I was immediately handed a bottle of traditional Guatemalan moonshine called Quetzalteca and commanded by Chino to drink it on the short journey home. 
It was surprisingly lacking in the brutal fuego I was expecting, and was actually quite pleasant. It’s a local favourite, partly due to its cost at 5 Quetzalas (50p!). We had a lovely dinner and drinks with Luli and Chino at their home, with the additional company of their snuffling, gurglingly adorable pet Pug dog, Beto.
Ani and I awoke at 5am, due to the jet-lag, which wasn’t uncomfortable and we got up and went for coffee at about 630am, meaning that we were up with the sun and had the whole day ahead of us. The four of us went to a local market, a touristy one admittedly by Guatemalan standards, but all this meant was that it was in a gated and fenced area that was a bit more expensive and smaller than the main market, which we’ll be heading to later in the holiday. The Guatemalan culture is one of artisans and craft so everything was hand-made and honestly impressive.
There is none of the feeling of tackiness that you get with many of the increasingly commercialised, cheap and schmaltzy European markets these days. We stopped in a restaurant in the market which employed a huge ‘rancho’ design, resembling a massive yurt-like building. It was quite stunning and, of course, the steak we filled our tortillas with (and guacamole, vegetables, onion, etc) was just fantastic.
We were then dropped off at Ani’s dad Wicho’s flat to greet him and his partner Liz before they left for Antigua, where we planned to meet them for brunch the following morning. Ani’s brother Juan and his wife Zabdi were there though and we went out for a bite to eat, disappointingly in a disappointing mall, but this is the way that Guatemala City has been headed over the last decade. The city is home to six million people, out of a country that totals around thirteen million and is massively congested. This is further complicated by the fact that there is little to no pedestrian culture and almost every citizen owns their own car. Having said that, locals can be seen walking, working, selling goods, picnicking, cooking and congregating at the sides of the city’s main streets, motorways and arterial roads alike.
Guatemala City is not a particularly lovely place, more of an urban sprawl with over-development and high-rises building up everywhere, and it suffers from extremely heavy congestion. However, the people are lovely, polite and friendly, and never too busy to smile and greet you. There is a lot of progress going on, with all of the benefits and issues that brings. A year or two ago the country successfully, and democratically, ousted their old, corrupt government and ushered in a new, slightly less corrupt government. My glibness understates how important a step forward this was and it means that there is now a better spirit of possibility at how future elections can bring better candidates and more solutions and freedoms. The issue of gangs, kidnappings and armed robbery is still very much a current concern (there was, apparently, a shootout in a local street just this morning) and this seems so much at odds with the character and culture of the Guatemalan people. However, let’s get back to my holiday, before I digress too far and begin talking about the history of the USA-instigated coups, their destabilisation of… As I say, another blog should be used to address all that political and military guff.
The first thing that struck me when I arrived was the wonder of seeing volcanoes all around the city. The sense of awe that is inspired by such magnificent, and potentially violent topography surrounding you is amazing. Even from the balcony of a flat in a high-rise building, the novelty is hard to overcome. Our journey has already taken us over, around and to the base of a number of these spectacular volcanoes and mountains, and I am happy to be able to count on the fact that I will be climbing at least one volcano before my visit ends.
We have attempted to retain our jet-lag induced early morning routine and enjoy our daytimes fully, over our usual preference of evenings and late nights. Post-dawn coffees and loitering on the balcony sun-bathing from 7am has meant that our days have been long, beginning hours before we have even left the home. Let me merely say that it has been an indulgent pleasure to enjoy a few beers from as early as 9am, long before the typical acceptability of the sun passing over the yard arm has been reached. Oh yes, we are truly living the dream!
Next stop will be a visit to Antigua. Bear with me…