Hi friends, and thanks for stopping by to read My Guatemala Adventure: Exploring Antigua and Lake Atitlán.
There were three reasons I wanted to visit Guatemala: to study Spanish, explore the beautiful colonial city of Antigua, and finally see the stunning Lake Atitlán. Since I was already travelling through Central America, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to experience all three.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’ve already been travelling through Spanish-speaking countries for four months. Haven’t you practised enough Spanish by now?
Well… not exactly.
The truth is, I’m a bit lazy. If someone speaks English, that’s usually the language I default to. It’s simply easier. So spending a week at Ixchel Spanish School was my chance to step outside my comfort zone and actually use the Spanish I’d been learning.
Ixchel Spanish School
I heard about Ixchel Spanish School from another senior nomad who’s also a solo female traveller.
Ixchel made things easy for me. They arranged a driver (for a fee) to pick me up at the Guatemala City Airport and drive me to where I’d be staying in Antigua.
I had booked a private room and bath with meals at the Spanish school. And I’d booked it about 3 or 4 months in advance of my arrival. Ixchel can also arrange home stays or a room in a guest house. Neither of those appealed to me because, well, I am kind of antisocial and like my privacy. I prefer alone time and not have to concentrate on speaking Spanish with strangers in the same house I’m living in.
OK. Who can see this one coming? The day before my arrival, Ixchel sent a message saying there’s no available rooms on site at the school and instead I’ll be staying in a guest room with a private bathroom in a house right across the street. I’ll get breakfast there and the rest of the meals will be in the school’s kitchen.
Wonderful.
Not.
I arrived in Guatemala City, cleared customs, collected my luggage and headed outside where the driver was supposed to be waiting with a sign with my name on it. Didn’t see him. Walked back inside thinking he might have been hanging around near the doors I’d exited through and I missed him.
Nope. Though a fellow holding a sign with a man’s name on it – forgot the name – tried to talk me into going with him.
Not happening.
A couple of WhatsApps and emails to the school – fortunately their administration was still there – and they reached the driver who was stuck in traffic. He arrived 30 minutes later and we were slowly on our way to Antigua. And yes, traffic was slower than a snail’s pace.
The driver dropped me off at the guest house and helped get my backpack inside the very narrow doorway. The woman who lived there and operated the guest house was very nice, but didn’t speak English and was a little too religious for my liking. She also had an AirBnb operating with an apartment in the same house.
Spanish classes
The following day my Spanish classes began from 8am until noon. Arturo was my teacher. An interesting man. A Guatemalan who fell in love with a Swiss woman and he lived with her there in Switzerland for 25 years until divorce sent him back to Guatemala.
This must be quite a downturn in income for him. In Switzerland salaries are much higher than in Latin America.
For comparison’s sake, I paid $210 (US dollars) for one week of Spanish classes, that’s 4 hours a day. In context, I’m paying $10.50/hour. Sort of. We break around 10am for close to 30 minutes. So it would have been nicer if classes continued until 12:30. You can be pretty certain the school is taking their cut and I don’t even know if the teacher would be earning half that amount.
I’m guessing the teacher earns perhaps $4 to $5 an hour, which is pretty low by Western standards – and by Swiss salaries – but not bad wages in Guatemala. As Arturo told me, people just need enough money to cover what he called something like the Basic Food Basket (my rough English translation).
He was a very devoted teacher and must have spent hours on his own time coming up with mini dialogues based on my interest of horses and travel that we practised in class.
Recommendation?
Aside from the accommodation change, I enjoyed the Ixchel Spanish school and would highly recommend it for anyone interested in learning Spanish in this colonial city. Ask for Arturo – but generally he takes students of intermediate and higher levels of Spanish.
One more thing about the accommodation. While sitting at the kitchen table with the other students on the meal plan, someone brought up that they were supposed to be staying at a room at the school and instead was reassigned a room in a nearby guest house. Almost all of us spoke up and said the same thing happened too.
Getting back to my own room in the guest house, yes, it was directly across the street. I had a 10 second commute. Well, maybe longer if there was a few cars trundling down the street at that exact moment I stepped out the door.
Breakfast was fine. The woman operating the house asked what I liked – mostly yogurt and fruit and juice was good for me. There was a man staying in another room in the house, also a student at the school, who I saw at breakfast.
Unfortunately, I felt uncomfortable the whole time I stayed there. Not in an unsafe way. Just because there were others in the house and too much religious decor.
Free time in Antigua
What did I do when not attending Spanish classes?
Mostly I did a lot of walking around this lovely colonial city.
Several churches around Antigua were destroyed in earthquakes, but not recently. Hundreds of years ago.
Pretty town.
Santa Catalina Arch.
Here’s a fellow selling baked goods out of his car. Not homemade. These were commercially baked goodies.
I went to the market every day. Massive and disorganized. You’d think they’d keep the food vendors in one area, clothes vendors in another section, and so on. But oh no, they were mismatched all over this enormous place. Try finding your way back to one? Nope. If you see something you like – buy it. You’ll never figure out the path back there.
Snoozing on the job!
The outside vendors around the building were easy enough to make my way back to.
A couple of times I walked up to Cerro de la Cruz, a landmark up on the mountain.
There were great views of the volcanoes surrounding Antigua from just about everywhere in town.
Macadamia nut farm
One day I found the bus that would take me to the Valhalla macadamia nut farm.
Macadamia nuts on the tree.
Macadamia nuts drying.
The best part was having lunch in their restaurant there, which was the reason I went there in the first place. Macadamia pancakes with strawberry marmalade, covered with strawberries and lemon cream. That’s strawberry lemonade I’m drinking. Prices are expensive for Guatemala. This cost me the equivalent of about $20 Canadian, so about the same price for a similar meal back in Canada. But, oh, I love me some macadamia nuts!
Colorful buses
Here’s what the public buses look like in Guatemala. They are retired school buses from America and they’ve been painted vivid colors. I just called them the Partridge Family buses.
Santa Semana
I was in Guatemala in March, 2026 leading up to Santa Semana – Holy Week – or better known to English speakers as Easter Week.
There was street art made with colored sawdust.
Religions processions popped up around town with the locals wearing purple robes. You might have already seen these videos shortly after I uploaded them to my YouTube channel.
And one more.
Fast food joints in Antigua
You might find it a bit odd that I would include a section devoted to the fast food chain restaurants that can be found in Antigua, Guatemala. Surely I can find cheaper traditional food. Not to mention my meals were covered with the accommodations plan I’d selected at the school. And let’s not forget that I don’t eat meat, so many chain restaurants don’t appeal to me and I don’t eat in them no matter what country I’m in.
The entire city of Antigua is a UNESCO World Heritage site. To preserve its 16th-century Spanish colonial architecture. They enforce strict sign regulations. No big signs, no neon, and nothing garish in order to preserve this colonial city.
Yes, fast food places are available in Antigua and every now and then I walked by one and did a double take because there was nothing from the outside to indicate what was inside. No mermaids, no kings, no clowns or arches.
As I spotted them, and trust me the signage wasn’t always easy to spot, I took photos.
Burger King.
Wendy’s.
Dunkin Donuts.
McDonald’s.
Starbuck’s.
Antigua to Panajachel
After my Spanish classes ended, I took a shuttle bus up to Panajachel on the shores of Lake Atitlan.
Getting out of Antigua was an adventure unto itself. The shared shuttle was supposed to pick me up at the Spanish school between 12:30pm and 1:00. This is Latin America time. After 45 minutes I asked the school administrators and they said it could be anytime now. It arrived at 1:30. At least I’m on board. The van spends the next hour circling around Antigua picking up other passengers. This is not a huge town. I believe the driver was getting calls from his boss every time another passenger booked a ride and we circled back. Seriously, we went up and down the same streets more than once.
Unfortunately the shuttle did not offer door to door service. It dropped us off in Panajachel just over one kilometer from my hotel so I had to walk the rest of the way. Good thing I’m wearing a backpack.
It was around 5pm when I arrived at my hotel.
Hotel Hanna Resort
I booked a lakeview room at the Hanna Resort through Expedia (affiliate link) – a lakeview room with a balcony. Five nights cost $206 Canadian dollars.
It has a 7.2 rating (out of 10), so not too bad for a budget hotel in Latin America with a swimming pool.
The first thing I realize when I get to my room is there may have been a decent lakeview there at one time, years ago when their photos were taken, but the trees have significantly grown and blocked much of the view.
The WiFi sucked. I had two or three different WiFi choices for connection that I had to rotate through to get a signal.
The room wasn’t cleaned at all during my stay there – 5 nights – and the garbage was only changed on my last day.
Lake Atitlan
Lake Atitlan is basically water inside a volcano crater, so it’s a big lake. Very scenic surrounded by cone shaped volcanoes.
I believe all the villages surrounding the lake can be reached by vehicles, so they’re not land locked. Vehicles have to drive around the volcanoes on slow, poorly maintained mountain roads. The ferry system is faster.
And when I say ferry, these are boats that fit around 50 passengers and are packed full. As I discovered when I took a ferry to San Pedro La Laguna, about 25 minutes by boat, with one stop at another village along the way. I was very uncomfortable on the boat ride out. If it capsized, I’d be stuck in the middle. On the way back I asked the captain if I could sit at the front in the open air. There’s room for 5 up there. It’s the splash zone, but who cares. I was a lot happier up in the front.
I stepped around coffee beans laid out on the sidewalk to dry.
Who wants an Indiana Jones hat?
The sign translates to “the beautiful doorway” but it would be a whole lot more beautiful without those overhead wires.
Street market where the vendors sell produce, meat, clothes, household goods, etc.
This dog managed to steal a hunk of meat off a vendor’s table and ran off to the next street to eat it. Poor hungry thing, can see the ribs.
Colorful traditional women’s dresses.
Lots of murals.
I had lunch at Forbidden Fruit – a smoothie bowl with a view.
I bought some cheap clothes for my next adventure – volunteering at a dog rescue in Mexico. (Stay tuned – that adventure is coming soon!) They said bring old clothes. Well it’s not like I was travelling with old clothes or any clothes that I’d want to be destroyed by puppies and dogs jumping on me. Two shirts and two pairs of pants set me back around the equivalent of $35 Canadian dollars.
From Lake Atitlan to Guatemala City
On March 24, 2026 I got on a shuttle to Guatemala City. Fortunately, door to door service. It picked me up at my hotel. It was about a 4 hour drive.
The actual distance is only a little over 100 km, or a bit over 60 miles. The roads are not in the best of shape and there’s lots of traffic which is why it’s a slow go.
I booked Mariana’s Petit Hotel near the airport for a few reasons. They had good reviews – 9 out of 10 stars, free WiFi, offered free rides to/from the airport and they accepted credit cards.
I was in occasional contact with the owner after originally booking it and requesting a ride to the airport. Once I had booked my shuttle from Panajachel I let him know the approximate arrival time.
About an hour before I arrived he sent me a message saying they were having maintenance issues and had to book me into another nearby guest house, Casa del Angel. He said the price was a little higher, but he would cover the difference (he did not) and that he would still provide a ride to the airport to the following morning (he did not). I’m sure he lied about the maintenance issues too.
The guest house was clean and run by a nice woman – who only accepted cash. I was able to pay her with some of my few precious remaining dollars – USD $35. The WiFi sucked in the place. It didn’t work in my bedroom and I had to go out to the living room and hope to catch the iffy signal.
The Mariana Petit Hotel saga continues
I need to be at the airport at 6am the following morning and while confirming this with the guy at Mariana’s Petit Hotel who decided to ghost me.
The next morning I’m up at 5am and sending messages if I don’t hear from him by 5:30am I’ll have to call an Uber. I’m sure he’s thinking: “Whew! I got out of that one nicely.”
You can already guess how this ends. I took an Uber to the airport.
Now you’d think that would be the end of it.
Later that day, after arriving in Mexico, he sends me another message saying he sent a driver to where I was staying. Apparently the guy arrived around 5:45 and claimed he hung around for about 20 minutes before leaving. My Uber had probably picked me up minutes earlier. I’m not sure why he wanted to argue the point with me after I said he failed to respond to my messages confirming I would have a ride to the airport.
You can be pretty sure his hotel review sucked!
My Guatemala adventure ends
Although my time in Guatemala was only two weeks, it was filled with experiences I’ll never forget. I wandered the colourful cobblestone streets of Antigua, browsed the bustling mercado, and took Spanish lessons at Ixchel Spanish School. I even enjoyed a delicious pancake breakfast at Valhalla Macadamia Nut Farm before continuing my journey.
From there, I travelled to Panajachel, where I finally had the chance to see the breathtaking beauty of Lake Atitlán, surrounded by volcanoes and picturesque villages. It was a place I’d wanted to visit for years, and it certainly lived up to my expectations.
Like any trip, there were a few unexpected bumps along the way, but they were far outweighed by the wonderful people I met, the places I explored, and the memories I made. Guatemala’s rich culture, stunning scenery, and warm hospitality made this a destination I’m grateful to have experienced. If you’re considering a visit, I hope my adventure inspires you to add Antigua and Lake Atitlán to your own travel list.
Published by Cheryl @ The Lifestyle Digs on August 8, 2026.
