One of the best ways to get to know Guatemala when walking around small towns, is by dining on Guatemala's street food. Though most street food vendors do not operate with a permit, it is traditionally known that just about anyone can set up a food stand right outside their small home or down a busy street, and sell home made food- from tortillas, tostadas, grilled chicken, steak, sausages, sandwiches, to atoles.
Unlike the states where you can walk into most restaurants and will be able to order a breakfast item for dinner, Guatemala's menus change 3 times a day to offer breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Now let me explain the 3 different types of dining that exist in Guatemala.
First, we have restaurants. Some are American such as IHop, McDonald's, Wendy's, Las Cebollines, etc, which consist of either fast food with an indoor restaurant to luxurious steak houses with excellent service. But these restaurants are only found in highly populated towns like Guatemala City, Antigua, Villa Nueva, San Lucas, Panajachel, Quetzaltenango, & Chimaltenango. Once you're out of those areas then your other options for dining are comedores and street food.
Comedor. A comedor is like a mom and pop diner where the owners actually own or rent a building with a kitchen, a counter to order food, and have tables and chairs for customers. As you drive you can see their signs above their doors saying, "Comedor" or a Fanta, Gallo (the beer), or Coke-a-cola signs will be displayed usually gesturing that there is a comedor at that location. When you stop in, usually there are no menus. The food they offer may be written on a wall somewhere or a board and in some places like Zacapa, you just order whatever it is they are making like pupusa also known as empanadas in Guatemala (a tortilla stuffed with melted cheese, beans, chicharron, or loroco).
Then you have street food, which consists of families standing outside their homes or on street corners grilling away.
Dobladas
Empanadas/Pupusas
On the left are Rellenitos, the middle Panes or sandwiches
For breakfast you can find Atoles to drink of several different flavors like manjar, arroz con leche (rice pudding except hot & liquidy), and corn. In Antigua one early morning, a lady had a huge trash bag filled with already cooked scrambled eggs. On the grill was some vegetables and big loafs of french bread that she used to make a delicious breakfast sandwich. Wish I had taken a photo of that!
Atole de Manjar, a morning beverage with cinnamon
Throughout the day you will notice that breakfast items are no longer sold on the streets. You start to see colorful stands selling sliced up fruit in bags or ladies standing under umbrellas selling tostadas with a guacamole or refried bean spread. All this food is very cheap and surprisingly fills you up quickly. As a tourist, one can walk through a mercado and try some new fruits.
Tourist couple trying out street food in Antigua's Mercado
Fruit stand in Guatemala City
Tourists being silly with some new exotic fruit they purchased to try
Drink some fresh coconut juice & then eat the flesh, she chops it up for you
One of my favorite things to do with my husband, is walk around the town of Ciudad Vieja, where we live, and grab some street food for dinner. Since my husband is a meat and potatoes kind of guy, we learned that street vendors generally don't begin to grill meat until 7pm- or when it starts to get dark. One time we walked around Ciudad Vieja around 4pm asking each vendor and comedor if they had Carne Asada and they all told us that the time to find it is later on at night. The hot dog stands also known as Cheveres, taco stands (known as Gringas instead of tacos), & women grilling corn on the cob all come out earlier than 'cena' (dinner time).
Street Food at Lake Atitlan
Longonizas, Chorizos, Carne Asada, Chicken, & Tortillas all street food
This woman doesn't have walls in her 'comedor' but she serves a decent plate for street food
Street Food at Panajachel- at a Salvadorean Comedor
But the one thing that I really appreciate about Guatemalan street food, is the families. Young parents trying to make a living by selling what they know they can make. Some ladies only sell tortillas and that's it. Other families were able to earn enough to buy an actual cart.
I can understand someone hesitant to eat street food because there are no sanitary regulations, but that choice is yours. You can see them grilling and cooking. When I've ordered a 'licuado' (a fruit smoothie made of the fruit & milk or water), many vendors use purified water as you can see them take water from the big blue jugs. Others, just have soda to offer.
One night as my husband and I were walking around Ciudad Vieja, we stopped at a hot dog stand. While we waited for our food, out popped these two precious girls who didn't say a word to us but just kept staring at us.
They youngest one would get a little restless because since both their parents were busy working, they had to stay behind the small hot dog cart and behave. Their parents work daily on the same corner selling hot dogs & 'gaseosas' (sodas).
So when I buy street food I am mindful that with the few Quetzales I have, I make a decision to help poor families provide for their children such as the two girls above, who will end up working for their parents as soon as they are tall enough or able enough to help. So I encourage our readers to not be afraid of home made food being sold on the streets but do exercise discernment, because Guatemala street food helps provide an income for poor families.
"Much more than a fun hobby, cycling is our passion. In that way, we decided to specialize in handmade bamboo bicycles, made one by one and designed to enjoy leisurely rides through urban parks, boulevards and gardens. Something different, for those who are different. Something like ... the music of the earth on two wheels. Yes, and it is that bamboo which envelops us in its natural environment while riding, because its soft texture, high strength and its flexibility provide unparalleled pleasure.
Bici-Bambú are bicycles made by hand in Guatemala from various pieces of bamboo created by José Luis Elgueta from El Tumbador, San Marcos. The design and construction of bamboo bikes has been a lot of work but innovative with techniques developed over time. It took several prototypes to finally have the perfect design that was both strong & functional since the previous prototypes did not exceed 200km without experiencing a malfunction.
The vision for Bici-Bambú is to teach Guatemalan artisans how to re-create this bicycle in hopes of it becoming popular and part of the community, which could bring economic benefits to the local economy.
According to Mundo Chapin, Bici-Bambú is in talks with universities and colleges for training to develop and manufacture these bikes in different areas of the country.
Mr. Elgueta hopes that there may someday be national association of Bamboo artwork in Guatemala so that all artisans who work with bamboo can work together for other innovative inventions. As such, he participates in annual events such as this year's expo "Industria Del Bambú En Guatemala" which was held May 4, 2012 at hotel Grand Tikal Futura.
Bamboo is a great business opportunity. Asia wants more bamboo. As a result, the Embassy of Taiwan in Guatemala held a seminar on July 4, 2012 with the premise expressed by Adolfo Sun, ambassador, who said "Asian countries have a bamboo demand and Guatemala has a great climate to plant it." Due to phenomena like deforestation and consequent awareness on environmental protection, it has been concluded that bamboo is one of the most important natural resources of the 21st century. According to various reports, the exploitation of bamboo forests can help conserve water and soil, to maintain and protect groundwater riverbeds. In addition, these holdings require minimal care and report big profits.
The price of bamboo is lower than many other materials used in construction, so their use may promote the cost reduction and promote environmental protection.
Ambassador Sun believes the weather conditions, water, and soil of Guatemala are much better than those of other Central American countries to produce bamboo, not to mention the existing development of the bamboo industry already in Guatemala.
Guatemala is a fantastic country with extremely creative artisans such as José Luis Elgueta, who created the wonderful bamboo bicycles. But Guatemala is also an underestimated country with lots of natural resources and temperatures that make it ideal to grow many things, such as bamboo. How fascinating it is that other countries see the richness of Guatemala more so than the inhabitants.
Guatemala celebrated 191 years of freedom from Spanish rule. The ways they celebrate are loud, meaningful, and much fun. As an American, I imagined celebrating Independence Day as a 1 day event. But not in Guatemala. It is a 3 day celebration! As we were driving from Escuintla back to Antigua, there were so many groups of kids jogging while blowing whistles. One or two people would be holding a torch and chicken buses with blue and white balloons were honking their horns. Although it slowed traffic down because the kids were jogging on main streets, it was really fun to watch and I wondered what the meaning of the torch was. On the night of September 14, 1821, Maria Dolores Bedoya became a national hero by participating in the independence movement. She ran around Guatemala City carrying a torch urging Guatemalans to support the independence of their country. The next day, September 15, she was among the people waiting outside the National Palace of Guatemala for the decision, which culminated in the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.
In memory of this historic performance, children celebrate the patriotic actions of this hero on the eve of September 14 by forming groups who run carrying torches in a victory celebration of independence. But in Guatemala, as the kids would run with chicken buses following behind, there was an unusual sight of hundreds of people standing on the side streets from their villages, throwing what looked like water balloons at buses. If they didn't have water balloons, they would hurl water from buckets onto trucks or use a garden hose to spray vehicles who would honk and join in the celebration. Throughout our drive from Sipacate Beach to Antigua, everyone was throwing water balloons along the way.
On the 15th of September, all the school's marching bands would parade around towns. Families would relax together on the grass. Street food looked prettier. In Antigua, Central Park was flooded with people and marching bands. There were speeches and an amazing moment of a country united singing their national anthem. This year, Guatemala has an extra reason to feel patriotic as well. Guatemalteco Erick Barrondo was the first Guatemalan to ever win an olympic medal! He won the Silver Medal in the 20-km race walk.
It was very special to be a witness to the patriotic celebrations, that at times did get quite annoying because of all the noise from fireworks, whistles, and car honks. But that is the beauty of it. Happy Independence Day Guatemala!
Tuesday September 11th I witnessed Volcán Fuego, an active volcano roughly 10 miles from Antigua, begin spewing dark smoke in the early morning. It is usually no surprise since smoke is frequently released, but the dark grey color was ominous of a much bigger eruption.
Fuego Volcano, view from Ciudad Vieja, September 13, 2012
Thursday morning September 13, 2012 social media is in a frenzy with photos of a huge eruption caused by the Fire Volcano in Guatemala. It was a beautiful sight from Antigua, Ciudad Vieja, and Escuintla but a frightening reality for the villages closest to the volcano. CONRED, known as Coordinadora Nacional para la Reducción de Desastres (the National Coordinator for the Reduction of Disasters) had declared an orange alert, which means dangerous conditions. According to the Prensa Libre, roughly 33,000 residents were evacuated from the following villages:
Sangre de Cristo, Panimaché
Morelia, Panimaché
El Porvenir, Escuintla
San Juan Alotenango, Sacatepéquez
San Pedro Yepocapa, Chimaltenango
The volcano ejected ash 3,000 meters from the crater with ash and lava that flowed southwest and east, covering about 500 meters.
Social network users indicated that the ash had reached Santiago Atitlan and San Lucas Toliman, Solola, Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa, Escuintla, Mazatenango, Suchitepéquez, Retalhuleu and Quetzaltenango.
According to CNN, the Red Cross set up ten shelters each able to house some 200 people which were opened in the affected villages. CONRED prepared shelters in Escuintla, Santa Lucia and San Pedro Yepocapa Cotzumalguapa, Chimaltenango. The evacuees also received aide from the Red Cross.
Right out of my front door was the Fuego Volcano. The only difference between me and the 33,000 who were evacuated was the direction of the wind. It blew away from me even though there was a faint smell of smoke. Each time I drove through San Juan Alotenango to go through Escuintla, I passed the small villages nestled at the foot of the Fuego Volcano. Homes with tin roofs and peasant families. I wondered to myself, if I had to be evacuated, where would I go? And what would life be like if my humble home was damaged by fiery rocks? Then came to mind all the people who had to evacuate in a rush. Families with small children, the elderly, pregnant women. Would the eruption affect their farms, hurting them financially? The health of their animals which they use to feed themselves with? Some of the men stayed behind in the villages to make sure their properties were not damaged. Did they inhale any ash or toxic gases?
According to http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/ash/health/ there are serious side effects from a volcanic eruption. Heavy ash fall may result in the collapse of roofs under the weight of ash and high levels of respirable ash in the air (ash particles less than 10 microns in diameter). The collapse of roofs can be deadly for people within buildings. Ash and coarser particles inhaled from within a hot, dense pyroclastic flow or surge almost always results in death from burns or asphyxiation. People exposed to ash fall and subsequent ash-filled air commonly experience various eye, nose, and throat symptoms.
Due to 54% of the population being below the poverty line according to the CIA Factbook, many families cannot afford to see a doctor or pay for medical treatments.
The following photos are courtesy of CONRED and feature the evacuated at shelters & humanitarian aide that was provided:
Parque Ecologico Senderos de Alux is an ecological park deep in the forest near San Lucas Sacatepequez on Km. 26.2 that brings many different activities for families, athletes, national and international tourists such as retreats, camping, religious activities, special events, seminars, conferences, birthday parties, weddings, advanced hiking trails, mountain biking, and famously is known for bird watching.
Not far from Antigua, this park contains several different levels of trails from leisurely walking to trails that promote cardiovascular endurance for athletes. There are several fun playground activities, giant swings, natural slides, bridges, picnic area with BBQ pits where families can enjoy a day of grilling, an ecological theater, multipurpose room, campgrounds, waterfalls, and a museum that showcases archaeological finds, unique insects, and the different species of flora on grounds.
The Cerro Alux is part of the "Cordillera del Cerro Alux Springs", which was declared a protected area by the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala by Decree No. 41-97, published in the Diario de Centro America on July 1, 1997 , which is under the administrative coordination of the National Council of Protected Areas CONAP, which provides guidelines for management and conservation of natural resources. In this regard the Alux Cordillera, is a provider of natural resources, especially water resources for part of the metropolitan area, particularly in municipalities of Guatemala, Villa Nueva and Mixco and San Lucas Sacatepequez Sacatepéquez Santiago and Magdalena Milpas Altas, department Sacatepéquez. Also, is related to the surface water and groundwater basins strategic, among which stands out the Villalobos River (one of the most densely populated watersheds and industry in Guatemala) and Amatitlán Lake.
According to Guate Tips, this mountain range is one of the nature reserves around the capital and has very few tracts of dense forests, both coniferous and broad-leaved and mixed forests. Capability Map Land Use of Guatemala, to interpret that 85% of these lands are not suitable for intensive development activities (agriculture and livestock) and less for urbanizarlas high risk for natural disasters cause variables and steep slopes, so it is considered appropriate to use it to the conservation of ecosystems for forest production and ecotourism which makes Senderos de Alux, a Hidden Jewel.
Hours
Tuesday to Sunday 8:00 to 16:00 hrs
Price
Adults: Q.10.00
Children: Q.5.00
camping: Q.20.00 per night / per person
Contact 7873-1333 4518-7151 Directions From Guatemala: Taking the Interamerican Highway west, turn right before reaching San Lucas Sacatepequez at Km 26.5, where you will see a sign Senderos de Alux park, follow the road to the park entrance is located at 1.8 km. from the road. From Antigua: Take the road to Guatemala and after passing the town of San Lucas Sacatepequez, use the retorno to go back and turn left at km. 26.5.
