A Return To Guatemala

I grew up, from age nine to eighteen, in Guatemala.  I documented our travels to Guatemala back in August 2009.  I graduated from high school in August 1981 and left for college soon after.  I returned to visit my parents during Christmas/New Years 1981-82.  I have not been back since - just over forty-three years ago.  The Wife, who has never been there, and I will be going to Guatemala next week.  It will be interesting to see how things have changed.

When I was there I saw the first fast food place open (Hardees).  Many of the amenities we took for granted in the USA were missing or not quite 'there' yet.  Looking at Google Maps I can see the western world has completely moved in with a Starbucks not far from our hotel.  We will be on a tour - Guatemala is still not a very safe place to be.  When I graduated in 1981 you often heard gunfire in the distance and going out at night was never a wise thing to do.

The two week tour will be taking us to several places I visited as a pre/teen.  The market at Chichicastenango.  Lake Atitlan.  The old capital city of Antigua.  The Pacaya volcano. Tikal.  There are a few places I've never been to including Mayan ruins in neighboring Honduras, Copán, and Rio Dulce, among others.  I was not a good traveler when I was a pre-teen.  I'm sure I didn't get as much out of where we visited as I could have.  This trip will be a second chance for me.

As I entered the trip information into Tripit.com and drafted this post I began to feel excited.  It's been a while since I've been excited before we travel.  Usually I don't get excited until we've started on the trip.  I think this is a good thing.

As usual I probably won't post about the trip until I get back.

PS: The picture above was AI generated using Google's Gemini Imagen 3.