I have been to Guatemala a couple of years ago with a friend, but decided to go back last month with my husband and baby. Last time I had done the Acatenango hike and then went to the lake, so I didn't really spend any time in Antigua and I always wanted to go back.
This would be our first trip with a baby (6 months old) and I was looking for a nice, easy destination that would be a good 'soft launch'.
Guatemala fit all the criteria:
Close and short flight, beautiful weather, easy to navigate, and has a wonderful Chabad that has lodging, so we didn't have to worry about eiruv issues for Shabbos. I wasn't looking to be locked in a hotel room all Shabbos.
It was a perfect choice! The weather was absolutely magnificent. Sunny and beautiful, chilly at night.
Food: we brought breakfast and lunch/snacks and relied on Chabad for supper and for Shabbos food.
We brought the Evenflo Shyft (aka the Doona dupe). It was great to use for the airport, and as a car seat for the long car rides, but we didn't use it at all in Guatemala. The streets were really not stroller friendly so we relied on a baby carrier for everything and it worked out great.
We left from EWR Wednesday night. The flight was delayed on the tarmac due to some engine trouble for about 45 minutes, but other than that, everything went well and the baby slept through the whole flight.
When we landed in Guatemala City, I had ordered a driver to pick us up and drive us to Chabad in Antigua, which is about an hour away.
Thursday morning we took an uber to Hobbitenango, a LOTR themed park about 20 minutes from Anitigua.
The park is really cute and well done, and has amazing views. We really enjoyed it (and the weather was magnificent).
We came back to Chabad mid-day and the baby napped while we ate lunch and relaxed (our room had a beautiful balcony with amazing views of the Fuego volcano).
Baby enjoying the view:
In the afternoon, we went back out and walked around Antigua, which is a really nice town to stroll around. We visited the famous arch and walked around the markets.
On Friday we went to Finca El Pilar, which is a mountain trail with mineral springs and birds
We hiked the first half, at which point there was a really beautiful viewpoint.
We then finished the hike, which was very steep and disappointingly there was no view at the top, but we did enjoy.
We came back down and had lunch by the picnic tables and bird feeders.
We then took an Uber to a Chocolate museum in town. We didn't take a class because we weren't sure if we would be able to eat any of the chocolate.
We then walked around and relaxed in the most beautiful starbucks I've ever seen (and the coffee was amazing).
We then went back to Chabad and got ready for Shabbos.
We had a wonderful Shabbos there. We had planned to go to Lake Atitlan on Motzei Shabbos but the shlucha told us we really shouldn't, the drive is not so safe at night especially since we would have to take a boat once we got there at 11:00 at night.
We decided to leave early Sunday morning. We booked a driver for 6 AM and headed out.
We got to the dock in Panajachel a bit before 9:00, where our hotel had sent a boat to fetch us.
Nice hotels at the lake are pretty lacking (and we couldn't get anything with points) but we found Laguna Lodge in Santa Cruz and it's really cool.
The furniture is a bit dated but otherwise it's beautiful. It's set literally on the lake with the most magnificent views.
We had a large suite which was nice with the baby. They had no cribs, but Chabad Antigua was kind enough to let us borrow a pack n play for 2 days.
Our private balcony:
After we had freshened up, we headed right back out for the day. We had booked a boat through the hotel to take us to a few different villages (side point, our baby loved the boat and had some of her best naps on it, even with extremely rough waves bouncing us up and down).
We started off in Santiago. We skipped the typical tours of the saints and churches and instead took a (overpriced) tuk tuk up for some incredible views
After Santiago we headed to San Juan. They have a free tour of weaving, chocolate, coffee, and honey.
We visited all the spots, and then went to a great coffee shop where we enjoyed some delicious coffee and had our lunch
When we left San Jaun, since we were in the area, we made a stop in San Pedro to pick up some food for supper from the Chabad restaurant there.
We enjoyed some time in the hotel for the rest of the afternoon
Smoking volcano:
Monday morning we spent relaxing around the hotel while the baby napped and then did a small walk at the beginning of the hotel's nature reserve.
After eating lunch we packed up and headed out to the dock in Panajachel where we met a driver and drove back to Antigua.
We got back to Chabad where we relaxed, ordered some food, and hung out there until a few hours later when we took a taxi to the airport.
