Our church, Lutheran Church of the Resurrection in Atlanta, supports an important mission in Guatemala. Our church friends at home would not understand how we might spend two months in Guatemala without visiting the Luterana Center (ILAG) here. We did and it was life changing. Our visit was fun, informative, eye-opening, moving and inspiring. It’s …
Author Archives: janie.weeks
Historical Streets of Guatemala City at Christmas Time
Walking tours are such a good way to learn about a city. We like to use GuruWalks. Except for a generous tip for the guide, the tour is free. Our guide on the Guatemala City historical street tour was Beverly, a pure delight. We also had great walking partners, Richard and Li from Malaysia. We clicked …
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How About Guatemala City?
The first thing we noticed about the city was how modern and hip it is. That is because the area of town where our apartment sits has passed through an intense phase of urban redevelopment. Just a few years ago it was dangerous, drug-infested, and home to squatters. Now, our apartment is in the middle …
That’s a Wrap for Antigua
Five weeks is a fair amount of time to get a peek into the lives of Guatemalans living in and around the city, get over the shock of seeing hordes of tourists here, and stop gushing over the spectacular landscape. I am so grateful that we set aside any preconceived perceptions we may have had of …
Festival De Las Flores – Antigua
Guatemala is known as the Place of Trees, but the town of Antigua is the City of Perpetual Roses or as some say, the City of Perpetual Spring. To celebrate that lovely name, several years ago a local marketing expert and online business owner, Andrea Contreras, suggested creating the event as a tribute to the …
We Did It Again
A pre-planned guided tour is a wonderful way to become introduced to a new city or country. They usually hit the high points and deliver a quick dose of history and culture in a short period, which is especially nice when travel time is limited. For infrequent travelers, a tour can reduce stress about security, …
An Unearthly Experience
Most people visit Guatemala to learn about the culture, walk through the ancient earthquake ruins, and see volcanoes. Curious about volcanoes, Stan and I have expectantly searched them out in Hawaii, Columbia, Costa Rica, and El Salvador. Every volcano we visited was disappointing because they were inactive or had dense cloud cover preventing even a peek into …
More on Antigua
Finding stuff is so much fun! Antigua is not a large city. It is fairly new in the grand scheme of things, especially if you consider that the city still standing today was built after 1773 when the devasting earthquake leveled the town. This Spanish town first established in the 1600s has been rebuilt over …
Guatemala and Its Flip Side
It is simple, Guatemala is gorgeous, warm, and welcoming. And like a siren beckoning from a rocky coast or fatal hypnotic attraction, its stunning beauty masks the furious catastrophic capacity that lies inside the heart of its volcanic mountains or below ground in its faults. Guatemala tugs at you and seduces you with its natural …
First Tastes of Antigua
Having two Latin American locations called Antigua can be confusing, especially when both are popular places to visit. Besides being an island and the other a city, their names are spelled the same but pronounced differently. The Caribbean island, Antigua, is pronounced An-tee-gah, while the popular Guatemalan city, Antigua, is called An-tee-gwah. Just an interesting trivia …