A Posh Weekend in Guatemala City and Antigua

In this post:

- 2-night stay in Cayala area of Guatemala City with visit to La Aurora Zoo

- 1 night stay in Antigua with coffee plantation tour and lunch at La Cuevita de los Urquizú

When Rich announced that he'd be heading to Guatemala City for a business trip in mid October, I immediately jumped at the opportunity to tack on a weekend trip with the family and add a new passport stamp for a country that I've never visited before (nor was it on my radar to visit, to be honest). Given the relatively quick flight from Los Angeles (4 hours direct) and being on Central time zone, it made a quick weekend trip very feasible. Coupled with the fact that we'd have a local family as tour guides that was excited to plan the entire weekend for us, it was a no-brainer, so we took Sienna out of school that Friday and headed down South for a mini-adventure! And an adventure it turned out to be, especially on the way back - but more on that later. I will preface that our wonderful hosts live quite comfortably in GC and planned a posh trip for us, so if you're looking for tips on outdoor/nature activities, this is probably not the blog for you!

Guatemala City/Cayala

Our host picked us up at the airport in Guatemala City and drove us to our hotel, the AC Hotel by Marriott in the Cayala district. The mid-priced hotel itself was just fine - the common areas were clean and modern, there is a bar and small restaurant, but I would not recommend the restaurant outside of the breakfast buffet. Our room was comfortable but sterile, a quiet place to rest our heads but not someplace we wanted to hang out longer than necessary - which was totally fine given that we were excited to explore. The patio behind the bar does provide beautiful views of the city, and the location is the key selling point if Cayala is your destination.

Cayala is a new area of the city making up 34 acres, built a little over a decade ago, and was established as a sort of refuge for the middle- to upper-income families in the city from what has been historically a crime ridden city, especially in the outskirts. Despite online sources calling Cayala a gated city, it is not (or at least not where we stayed), but there was heavy police presence that we noted. This could have been due to the protests that were happening that weekend that I'll go into later, but presumably there is a lot of incentive to keep this area safe as it drives a lot of tourism and investments overall. The AC Hotel is located at the heart of Cayala on Paseo Cayala, which is lined with high end boutiques, parks, restaurants, and beautiful white stucco buildings - most of the streets on Paseo Cayala are cobble stone, and while cars can come through, there is very little traffic. Sitting outside at one of the cafe's or restaurants in Cayala feels very much like you are in an upscale area of Italy or France, and we loved just walking through the area and exploring the shops and restaurants. On the weekend, there were vendors renting electric kid vehicles that we could also control via remotes, making walking around the area a breeze with Sienna, who happily cruised alongside us in her souped-up police car.

Our first meal upon arrival in Cayala was at Altuna just outside of our hotel. We had taken one look at the hotel's dinner menu and quickly decided against it and headed outside. We hesitated a bit as Altuna looked a tad too upscale for us after a travel day, with its white table cloths and formal server attire. However, we got caught in the middle of a torrential downpour and had to jump in someplace fast, so went for it. We were glad we did! The service was very friendly - though our waiter's English was broken at best, so I was glad to practice my Spanish skills (they do have an English version of their menu that you could just point to in the worst case). We had delicious octopus, fish, and paella, along with some croquetas de jamon. They had a decent kids' menu as well, with some standards like chicken fingers and French fries. We left full and happy!

Just outside of our hotel there was a cute creperie housed in a non-operational double decker city bus that served delicious Nutella-filled crepes and lattes that we indulged in the afternoons. So delish!

On our last night, we had dinner at Casa Escobar, an upscale steak restaurant that had delicious cocktails and whose food did not disappoint - we split the tuna tartar, bone-in ribeye, and dessert, and almost had to order a second steak as Sienna chowed down the first one! Despite it being an upscale restaurant, it felt quite family friendly - it was lively enough to be noise-forgiving if you do have a rowdy bunch at your table, and there is a fair amount of seating on their patio as well if you prefer to keep the kids outside.

We stopped into the La Aurora Zoo located in the city with our host family, and I was blown away by it - I would rank it right up there with some of the world-class zoos we've visited like the San Diego Zoo! The animal exhibits are incredibly well thought-out and diverse; unlike many zoos that segregate the animals, this zoo had herds of gazelles and prairie dogs playing with elephants in the same exhibit, providing lots of animal sightings in each, even if some may have been sleeping or hiding from sight. There are playgrounds seemingly around every corner to keep younger kids busy, and monkey sightings on overhead vines. Admission also cost a fraction of what zoos cost in the states - the equivalent of $3 for kids and $7 for adults. I'd highly recommend a stop here if you are traveling with kids!

Antigua

On our second day in Guatemala, our hosts picked us up bright and early and took us to Antigua, the former capital that dates back to the 1500's. It sits about 5,000 feet above sea level and was largely destroyed by an earthquake in 1773, but its primary monuments built in the Baroque style of the 18th century have been well preserved as ruins in today's version of the city. The drive was a great way to get a quick feel for the beautiful country side and changing elevations, with views of the lush green mountainsides once we got out of the city. Our hotel, the famous Casa Santa Domingo, was constructed amongst the ruins of the Santa Domingo church and monastery, creating a stunning historic setting throughout the hotel. From the pool, for example, we could look directly into the ruins as a backdrop.

We ate at Refectorio at the hotel twice, once for brunch, and again for dinner. We didn't intend to eat here twice in one day, but heavy rains that night made the decision for us as taking the kids outside in the sheets of rainfall wasn't an option. The restaurant is set inside of the ruins of a former convent, providing a rustic feeling as you dine. At breakfast we had the option of ordering from the menu or getting the breakfast buffet. I chose the latter, mostly in hopes to get Sienna some quick food options. However, I ended up standing in line at the omelet station for over 40 mins, and by the time I got back to the table, everyone else that ordered a la carte was almost done with their meals. Although my eggs were good, I would not recommend going with the buffet - everything is made to order, so while you get your food fresh, it takes much longer than ordering off the menu if there is a line. The only ready-made selections were somewhat limited fruit options and breads. Everyone else did seem to enjoy their meals, so don't let this review deter you from trying their breakfast!

For dinner at Refectorio, we went more formal and ordered cocktails, wine, and entrees - my fish was delicious, and Rich's steak was also cooked to perfection. We kept it simple for the kids with tomato pasta and meatballs - they did have several kid-friendly options. The setting was quite dark and romantic - so although everything in Guatemala seems to be family friendly, it still wasn't the most ideal place to take the under 8 crowd due to the lighting. We were lucky that our hosts brought their nanny and we were able to walk the kids back to their room after they were done eating and enjoy some adult time for drinks and dessert - if you aren't so lucky, I'd definitely recommend bringing some sort of entertainment for your kiddos. They did have some live entertainers singing and playing guitars that walked between tables that temporarily livened things up.

We did manage to have one meal outside of the hotel and stopped into La Cuevita de los Urquizú in downtown Antigua, made famous by Andrew Zimmer's Bizarre Foods. It is a tiny restaurant serving traditional Mayan dishes that include things like revalocado, a tomato and chiles based stew made of pig's head and organ meats. But don't be intimidated if this sounds all too exotic for you - they have plenty of other dishes that are very approachable, like stewed chicken, pork ribs, and plenty of vegetable sides that are packed with flavor and comforting. Our kids dined on pulled pork, chicken, and rice - nothing bizarre about that!

Given the importance of the coffee industry in Guatemala, our hosts took us on a coffee plantation tour in Antigua at the beautiful Filadelfia plantation & resort. The grounds are stunning here - lush green lawns and coffee plants set against volcanos and mountains as a backdrop. They had a play area for kids by their restaurant that our kiddos enjoyed while we waited for our tour to begin.

Our tour guide was very knowledgable, though was quite the talker, and the tour, which was supposed to be a 90-minute tour, turned into a 2+ hour tour. We enjoyed walking through the plantation and getting to pick actual beans off the plants - though our kids got bored once we got to the buildings where the beans are fermented and roasted, and we cut our participation in the tour short at the 2 hour mark. I would still recommend both the tour as well as Filadelfia itself, however - I regret not having lunch there and taking in the views a bit more. If you have younger kids, maybe skip the tour and just walk the grounds yourselves (or do what we did and just jump out of the tour when they get restless).

The short trip really exceeded all of my expectations - certainly thanks to our hosts for creating an amazing itinerary for us (making me feel the need to really elevate my hosting game) but also due to the rich culture and beauty of the country itself. We were surprised by just how modern and clean the parts of Guatemala City that we saw were, and how industrial the city is. We did, however, get a glimpse of what impacts the political environment in smaller countries can have on travel and every-day life (and why I'll do some homework prior to traveling to a new country going forward on current events). Anti-corruption candidate Bernardo Arévalo won Guatemala’s presidency in August, but Guatemala's Attorney General challenged the election results on basis of voter fraud. Indigenous authorities called for the AG's resignation, and protests were held in support of that resignation. As our luck would have it, the protests began on the Friday we arrived, and grew to a scale by that Monday that blocked all major city traffic, including any cars coming or going from Cayala. We were unable to get a car to the hotel to take Sienna and I to the airport and ended up walking, with her and luggage in tow, about 1.5 miles to a place where we could catch a car and pray that more roads hadn't closed en route to the airport during that time. Luckily, we were able to get to the airport in time for our flight - Rich stayed back for his business meetings but had a hard time finding food for the next 24 hours, as food workers were unable to get to their restaurants. His business partner, who was supposed to meet him there that Monday, was told not to come as he would not be able to get from the airport to his hotel. It made for a stressful few hours that Monday, but added a little spice to an otherwise very easy and comfortable trip. We do look forward to coming back soon and taking in more of the city as well as the natural parks and volcanos that Guatemala is known for!