Good morning Guatemala!

'How do you like Guatemala?', 'What do you think about Guatemala?', I always found these questions difficult, especially when confronted with them after only 24 hours. We spent the first day in the capital, Guatemala City. In comparison to Mexico, Guate, as the locals call it, didn't reveal its charm until the second look.

Already during the approach, it became apparent that Guatemala was significantly shaped by its landscape: mountains, hills, and volcanoes surrounded valleys and plateaus inland. Cities, settlements, roads, winding roads, as well as fields and plantations filled the open space. There was little room for growth in the country, which had doubled its population since the 80s.

The height of the buildings in the old town was limited to two floors due to the risk of earthquakes. Renovations and new buildings were probably largely neglected during the thirty-year civil war. These shortcomings have been made up for in recent decades. On the outskirts, along the major traffic routes, modern malls, gated residential communities, fast-food restaurants, supermarkets, pharmacies, shopping centers, etc., sprouted up, mostly following the American model. Capitals always accumulated wealth. - Berlin has so far been the lucky exception to this rule.

After wandering a bit through the old city center on the first day, I was looking forward to a city tour on Thursday. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. The traffic jam on the Pan-American Highway into the city put a damper on our plans. What traffic! Another downside of rapid growth.

Instead, on the second and third day, we visited two of Andy's friends and I gained an insight into how the Guatemalans of the upper and lower 'upper middle class' lived, at least in my humble opinion. In Andy's village, Lo de Diegez, I also got an impression of how everyday life was shaped in both tin huts and apartment buildings, in furnished kitchens as well as at open fireplaces.

However, here too, I reached my limits due to my non-existent Spanish skills.

To answer the question at the beginning, Guate was not a beautiful city, but certainly an interesting one. The first few hours made me very curious about Guatemala and the Chapines, as the Guatemalans are colloquially called.