Getaway to Guatemala

One of the main things I learned by travelling the States alone was that it is VERY expensive. At least I came to the States from Mexico and Belize, and that may have made the prices feel even higher, but I can certainly recommend to go two or more people together if your travelling the States. It simply makes things easier and cheaper.

I was travelling the States alone, and because of the expensive prices I decided to book a plane to Guatemala to live cheaper for a few weeks before returning to the States.

I therefore flew from Dallas to Guatemala City where I caught a bus towards San Pedro La Laguna, which is located at the shore of Lake Atitlan.

My first impressions of Guatemala was two things: Oh my god it's cheap and oh my even god'er it's beautiful. The nature with volcanos, lakes, mountains, trees and the often-present sun was stunning, and I saw a lot of it in my first day in a shuttle bus from Guatemala City through Antigua to San Pedro La Laguna.

I had a few hours in Antigua, and it was a very nice little town. It is surrounded by volcanos which give an amazing view no matter where and when you look towards the horizont, and furthermore the town feels very local and authentic. There's a big market too in Antigua, and it was a nice experience to go there and feel the lively vibe and atmosphere.

After Antigua the bus drove on towards San Pedro La Laguna, and that was a perfect little town too. Nice houses, beautiful mountainviews and then the bonus with the nice lake too.

In San Pedro La Laguna I stayed in a hostel called Zoola, and that's a place I would like to recommend though there is a little but.

It is the most beautiful hostel I've seen so far during my travelling, and it has nice rooms, a nice pool and just a perfect location at the shore of the lake. The common areas are more than perfect for relaxing, and so is the poolbar, and the food you can buy at Zoola is topquality.

So that's all good. But the staff there is the but. Zoola is run by israelians, and I don't know if they had visitors from home or if they were just a big group of israelians living there, but they didn't really seem to have the extra energy to take care of their guests.

They were taking good care of themselves with alcohol, food and more, but as a guest you sometimes felt that they were not really noticing you were there. In the bar you had to wait til they had served themselves, and they were not too helpful and welcoming to the guests i general.

Furthermore the wifi was down for almost all the 5-6 days I stayed there, but as a total I recommend Zoola for the nice areas, nice rooms and stunning locations.