Tag: Guatemala

ATV Adventure on Pacaya Volcano

Posted in central-americaTagged , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

November 29, 2025

Saturday morning we woke up and had another great breakfast at the hotel – it was included, but everything was made to order. We had thought we had given ourselves enough time because the morning before we were still chewing our food as we were running out the door, but we found ourselves in a similar situation.

We noticed two other women in a similar situation, but honestly what were the odds that they were heading on the same tour? Andy had mentioned that one of the women was sort of rude – I told him to be careful or she’d end up on our tour. (More on that later…)

We ate quick and then power walked to the tour office and rolled in right on time. Once we checked in, the man working the front desk let us know that there were a number of different tours taking off at 8:30 and that we could use the bathrooms and wander around their office.

Sure enough, the two women from breakfast walked in, which was fine. There was still a chance she could end up on a different tour. A few more minutes went by and loads more people piled in and we were finally ready to go. Our guide called out for our group, and sure enough. They were in our group!

We had to walk a short distance to get in the mini bus to where they stored their ATVs, which was about 2 hours outside of Antigua. The company that we toured with was thoughtful about the excursion – we had a lunch included, but along the way we stopped for a quick bathroom break and to pick up food if anyone wanted something additional.

You might be wondering, how did we decide to ride a couple of ATVs up an active volcano? Or you might be thinking – nothing you do surprises me anymore, Dani. Either way, here’s the scoop.

Antigua is surrounded by active volcanoes (you would see them puff smoke ever few minutes) that practically dare you to climb them.

One of the puffs of black smoke it would produce every 5-10 mintues

Hiking Acatenango is a bucket-list favorite, and you know how much I love a good bucket-list item. But we were short on time (and not looking to sacrifice multiple days). So I found a smarter workaround. Pacaya: an active volcano just outside the city delivers lava fields, steaming ground, and all the volcanic drama without the long-haul hike. An ATV up Pacaya felt like the perfect way to get our volcano fix and fast.

We made it to their garage and got our helmets and a quick lesson on how to start them/operate them/stop them. I do feel like we all could have probably had a little bit of a longer safety briefing because some people didn’t grow up in central Minnesota around them… But then we were off!

At the garage, ready to go!

We did follow a guide – and there was another guide with a camera woman who was bringing up the rear. They made sure that they were getting a lot of good footage of us. We made our way through some rural villages before making our way out into some hillside.

We rode through some pastures and that’s when things started to get a bit sketchy. They made us go up the hill one by one to make sure we could each safely make it up. Andy’s friend – the unfriendly one from the hotel – went first. Miraculously, she made it. It turns out she was a terrible driver, at this point in the day she had already gotten stopped once and needed help by one of the guides to get unstuck. (From here on out I’ll be calling her the Aussie).

I knew I needed to be able to make it up. Andy went first – and naturally, he made it. The ATVs had been used numerous times so the tires were shot, so they weren’t very grippy. You really had to give it all it had when you were going up the hill in order to make it, but you also had to hit the rocks just right. Thankfully, I made it. It was a white knuckle ride. I was so relieved to have made it through the worst of it.

Made it with a big sigh of relief

After that nasty patch we were nearing the “top” of where we were going for the day. We were able to get off and walk around for a bit. We had about 15-20 minutes to take in the scenery and relax before we started the drive again.

Our next stop was a lava field. Normally, the lava field is where we would have lunch. A rainstorm earlier in the week had cooled the rocks too much and we were unable to heat our sandwiches up enough to cook them fully. We were still about to walk out there and experience the steam vent, which was cool enough in itself.

I really felt like this looked like the “Little Mermaid” rock. Not pictured is that I cut my ankle on the lava rock about 3 seconds later walking back from there. Whoops

From there, our guide suggested we go to a local restaurant to sit and eat our lunches before driving to our final stop. This is where the Aussie almost flipped her ATV. Andy was directly behind her – and remember how I said our tires were bad? Our brakes were also bad, thankfully Andy and I knew how to drive so we were both able to stop. But the man behind me had been tailgating me the entire day and had almost rear ended me because he couldn’t stop.

She had no idea how close she was to flipping her ATV and at this point I’m shouting, “This is SO DANGEROUS!” Because she had no basic driving lessons – and neither did the man behind me. The ATVs just didn’t have great maintenance on them – it really could have ended up being a bad situation, thankfully Andy and I had both pulled off in separate directions and had common sense. But man, that was scary.

After lunch, we made our way to a lake. If the weather had been warmer it would have been a fun spot to swim. But we made our way back to their office and rounded out the trip.

We made our way back to Antigua after a long day on the ATVs. It was an 8 hour tour, so it had been a long day. Once we freshened up we made our way to a local restaurant, where we ended up having dinner with a solo traveler from Canada. She was a hoot and we really enjoyed our conversation with her. Like I said, Guatemala really seemed like a hotspot for people who were venturing out on their own.

After dinner we made our way back to Aqua (from our first night!) for a night cap and to take in the views from the terrace. It was a beautiful way to round out our trip to Guatemala. The next morning we had arranged transportation with our hotel back to the airport. We didn’t have too early of a pickup, so we knew we’d be able to enjoy a slow breakfast at the hotel one last time.

Accommodations: San Rafael Hotel

Up Next: 12 Night Bali, Malaysia, & Thailand Holiday Cruise

The slow life

Posted in central-americaTagged , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

November 28, 2025

One of the major pulls for us to Guatemala was the coffee industry. I had done a lot of research on different companies that offered them, but one that had stood out was De La Gente. They are a nonprofit organization that works with local small scale coffee growers that have formed a cooperative to make coffee growing possible for the locals.

It started back in 2014, the plantation that we visited is a part of the San Miguel Escobar Cooperative. There are 16 coffee growers that are a part of it, and they actually renewed in 2021.

We got picked up close to our hotel for a quick bus ride to the coffee farmer’s house. When we booked the tour, we loved the idea that it would include a portion of it that would include a stop at the house. As we made our way out of Antigua, the streets got rougher and you began to see the disparity from the “city” life to rural Guatemala.

The further out we got – we even saw local watering holes where women and children were gathered with buckets collecting it for the day. It was just such a stark difference from back home where we genuinely take for granted turning the tap on and getting hot water. Often times when we travel I’m left humbled and a little in my thoughts feeling both ashamed for complaining about things about utterly grateful for the things that I do have.

As we pulled up to our stop we were greeted by a group of dogs (Guatemala is definitely a stray dog country – not as many cats wandering around!) and our coffee farmer – Andres was out front throwing a biscuit at a rather sad looking puppy.

We had been in a van full of people, but about 5 of us had been called to get out and our groups were split up. We were with a wonderful gal, Ava, from Ireland, Haim, from Florida, and another woman from New Jersey who I don’t know how to spell her name! We had a short uphill walk to the coffee field with Andres, the translator, and someone else from De La Gente (DLG).

Andres

Once we got to the field we learned more about how Andres, how he got into the coffee industry, how coffee is grown, and how many fields he owns. It was really fascinating to learn Andres’ story and how much he sacrificed to become successful. He had grown up picking coffee for someone else, and then had spent 18 years waiting tables in Guatemala City while his children grew up to save money, and then finally had enough money to buy his own land to grow his own coffee. In the beginning he sold his coffee to big corporations, and didn’t make a lot of money.

Then came along DLG. DLG made it possible to form the coop, which provided the equipment for them to produce their own coffee end to end. The tours also provide about 30% directly to the coffee farmers themselves (at least according to the fact sheets that they provided to us).

We got to pick the ripe berries from the field and then made our way back down to his house. He told us all about how you need the shade trees and how the berries ripen at different times. Full growing process from a master!

You only want to pick the red fruit, the skin is called “cascara” and the coffee bean is inside. It’s ripe and ready to pick when it’s bright red!

You guys, like his actual house with his wife, daughter, and grandson. Incredible. We roasted the beans on his wood-fire stove with his daughter, taking turns of course.

A machine that separates the fruit skin (cascara) from the coffee bean
Green coffee beans after they have been sun dried for almost 2 weeks in the sun (manual process to keep them moving so they dry evenly and don’t grow mold or rot).
We hand roasted the beans on their kitchen’s wood fire stove; the smell!

Then they broke out their old lava stone metate – a long lava stone tool that is used to grind grain and seeds – and we took turns grinding the roasted coffee beans. We learned that the metate was passed down from Andres’ wife’s grandmother. It was at least over 90 years old, if not older. There I was standing in this man’s kitchen in rural Guatemala thinking about how many women had touched this metate. This man and his family had graciously welcome us into their humble home.

We all took turns hand grinding the freshly roasted beans

And I complain about the most embarrassing things. Haim and I shared a moment where everything truly just felt so small. Like our problems really aren’t problems. That really felt like the theme from the day, because Ava felt the same way as well. That we really don’t need all of these THINGS. As we’re standing in their kitchen and they were all just so happy.

So I started crying, just a few tears. I mean it was beautiful to think about something that was so unbreakable – so valuable – to be passed down from generation to generation. There we were, grinding out the coffee beans (rather poorly might I add) and drinking coffee with them.

I can’t recommend that tour enough.

From there, we made our way back into town and parted ways. Andy and I made our way to get empanadas for lunch. Before making our way to Casa Santo Domingo. We had made deep tissue spa appointments beforehand.

The facilities were incredible – it was a former convent that had been destroyed in one of the major earthquake. We got there early so we could swim in the pool, use the sauna, and the hot tub. By the time it was our appointment we were really relaxed. Both of us had incredible massages – we both thought we might have bruises from how much pressure our therapists were using!

After the massages we made our way back to our hotel. We freshened up and were trying to figure out what to do for dinner when I realize we were close to a speakeasy. It was a no brainer at that point and we made our way over there. The front was a wig shop – which was really funny – we were the first ones inside so we got our pick of the tables.

By the end of the night, after we had wrapped up and the place was full. I was seated next to one of the old school rotary phones and it started to ring. I looked at our server and asked him if I should answer it and he shrugged. So I did. I had to solve a riddle – and once I did I was rewarded with a shot.

Up Next: ATV tour on Pacaya Volcano

Guatemala: Jet Lag and Blog Lag

Posted in central-americaTagged , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

November 27, 2025

Andy and I have traveled to some pretty obscure destinations over the years, and most of the time people don’t even bat an eye. We get an occasional, “Is that place safe?” And I usually respond with, “Is the United States?” (Let’s be honest, no). But what was surprising when we booked this trip, we both got a lot of the same question separately, “Why?”

So let’s start there. I love Central America. I’m not entirely sure what it is, but I love the culture, the climate, and Andy and I both love the coffee. Andy spent about 3 years working for Starbucks as a Store Manager (and a Coffee Master!) and Guatemala coffee is one of his favorite regions. Guatemala has rich history – and amazing natural features – hello? Volcanoes!

I had been researching a trip to Cartagena, Colombia on a Thursday, and when I went to book the trip on Sunday the flight had basically DOUBLED in price. Andy had thought we had gotten priced out and we were going to stay in the US for Thanksgiving and I said, “Hold my beer.” 😏

I looked through a range of countries we hadn’t been to – including Jamaica – which I’m glad with the recent hurricane we didn’t end up booking there. But we finally landed on Guatemala Antigua, a UNESCO world heritage site.

We knew it would be a short trip, but we decided to book it anyway. We booked a red eye flight out of Tijuana the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and we were on our way!

We arrived in Guatemala City on Thanksgiving and I had arranged transportation to Antigua through our hotel, which made it super convenient. Antigua was just under 2 hours from the airport, but depending on the time of day I’m sure the traffic could be way worse.

We had booked our room for the night before since it was such an affordable rate – and so we could check in right away. As soon as we got into our room as we took a nap because we were so tired from the flight. We didn’t want to sleep too long because there was exploring to do!

I had found a boutique hotel that was central to the famous arch in Antigua. We also knew that a lot of our activities could launch from this hotel, so once we saw the price and location we booked it. We grabbed a few appetizers and then rushed back to the hotel to meet our guide for a walking tour.

When we can, we like to do walking tours to familiarize ourselves with a local city if we are staying there for a few days. This helps us find restaurants and things to do. Our guide met us at our hotel and took us over to the Arch (half a block away) to start the tour. It was a private tour, which sounds far more impressive than it is. Everything is very affordable in Guatemala, so I think this tour cost us around $50.

Our guide told us about how Antigua was the third capital in Guatemala, but was eventually moved due to earthquakes. It is still a very popular city, and a destination for locals. It is very expensive though – for the locals – and many people vacation there (or get married there!).

We stopped by many different churches and other buildings that held significance. One thing that stood out to us, is that a lot of the “magic” in Antigua happens behind the walls. From the street you actually can’t tell how beautiful a building is until you walking inside the courtyard and that’s when you can see how special it is.

We walked inside a restaurant called Aqua and were able to see from a rooftop the three surrounding volcanoes. It was such a cool view, we decided we needed to come back later in the trip! Another stop was maybe the most beautiful Starbucks we’ve ever seen, which was pretty cool to see how they infused the local culture in it.

We ended the tour and then had dinner before turning in for the evening. It was a great way to get acquainted with the city and scope out different places to stop by on the rest of our trip!

Accommodations: San Rafael Hotel Antigua Guatemala

Up Next: Coffee Tour with De La Gente
Spa Day at Casa Santo Domingo