Guatemala, Day by Day: A Solo Trip Through Volcanoes, Ruins, and Strangers Who Became Friends

This was, technically, only the second country I've ever traveled to. The first was Qatar, a few years back for work. From there I flew to Saudi Arabia, also for work, and then came home. I did that trip solo too, though once I landed in Saudi I was around people I sort of worked with at the time. Guatemala was different. This was my first truly solo trip, just me, figuring it out as I went.

So why Guatemala? Part of it is something that's been with me since the sixth grade. That's when I first learned about the ancient civilizations of the Americas, the Maya, the Aztecs, the Inca, and I never really shook the fascination. The history, the culture, the ruins, especially the ancient side of it, all of it stuck with me for years. Central America had been quietly sitting on my list ever since.

The other part is pure practicality, and honestly it's a great travel hack in itself. Guatemala is close. People picture a massive expedition, but it's only a few hours by plane. It's actually closer to Florida than California is. Pair that with how affordable it is once you're on the ground, and you've got an incredible trip that doesn't require flying halfway across the world or burning a whole day in transit. For the history, the adventure, and the value, it was an easy call.

A fair amount of this trip still came together on short notice. The volcano hike was booked just days before I left, and some of the best moments weren't planned at all. But that's exactly what made it one of the most memorable trips I've ever taken.

Over the course of about a week, I went from the cobblestone streets of Antigua to the top of a ridge overlooking an erupting volcano, from a centuries-old cathedral in Flores to the ancient Maya temples of Tikal. I ate incredible food for almost nothing, met strangers who turned into friends, collected art straight from the artist who made it, and yes, came home with a souvenir from the emergency room. I'm going to take you through it day by day, exactly how it unfolded, the highs, the hard parts, and all the little hacks I picked up along the way.

If you're thinking about going to Guatemala, I hope this convinces you to do it. Here's how it all went down.

Day 1: from Tampa to Antigua, by way of a 5 AM train and a stranger with a hiking backpack

The trip technically started before Guatemala even entered the picture. I've got family and friends in Palm Beach, so on May 20th I made the drive over from Tampa and spent the night there. My flight out of Miami was early, like offensively early, so staying on the east coast the night before was the move.

Here's my first travel hack, and honestly one of my favorite things in all of Florida: instead of dealing with the airport parking circus or sitting in I-95 traffic at dawn, I took the Brightline. I grabbed a 5 AM Uber to the West Palm Beach station (about $20), and my train ticket ran me roughly $30. If you've never ridden it, do. It's clean, it's fast, it's genuinely pleasant, and you arrive in Miami an hour later without a single white-knuckle moment behind the wheel.

I got to the station around 5:30 and boarded by 5:45. And this is where the trip started feeling like a trip. I struck up a conversation with a girl carrying a hiking backpack. She was Costa Rica-bound, I was headed to Guatemala, so we swapped contacts with a deal to send each other photos from our respective adventures. Turns out we both work in local government, which got a good laugh out of both of us. By the time we rolled into the Miami Brightline station, we'd decided to just split an Uber to the airport since we were both going the same way.

From there it was American Airlines, Miami to Guatemala City. Wheels up at 10:30, on the ground by 11:22. Easy flight, no drama.

Second hack, and this one matters when you're landing somewhere brand new: I'd arranged airport transportation ahead of time through my Airbnb in Antigua. I wasn't about to land in a country I'd never been to and start wrestling with rideshare apps and language barriers in an unfamiliar airport. Instead, I walked out to a driver aranged by my Airbnb holding a sign with my name on it. Smooth, simple, zero stress.

And just like that, I was on my way to Antigua.

Once I found my driver, everything was easy. The drive from Guatemala City to Antigua takes about an hour to an hour and a half depending on traffic, and I'll tell you, it played out like a real-life game of Mario Kart. One thing I noticed right away is that a lot of cars in Guatemala are stick shift. That actually took me back, since the first car I ever learned to drive on was a manual. Still, watching it all happen at full speed was something else. Karts everywhere, weaving in and out.

Around 1 o'clock, we rolled into Antigua. If you've never been, here's the quick picture: Antigua Guatemala was established at its current location in the Valley of Panchoy in 1543 and served as the colonial capital for more than two centuries. It's all cobblestone streets, pastel facades, and ruined churches framed by volcanoes on the horizon. These days it's the main tourist hub in Guatemala, and the second you arrive you understand why. The whole place feels like a city frozen in another era.

I checked into my Airbnb (you can see the listing here), and I'll be honest about both the highs and the one rookie mistake. Three nights ran me $134 total. Worth noting, one of those nights (Friday) I actually spent up on the volcano during an overnight hike, but I kept the room the whole time anyway. It was nice having a home base in Antigua to leave my things in and come back to, so I didn't have to haul everything up the mountain or scramble for storage.

The location was fantastic and the staff were super sweet and helpful. The setup was almost more like a small hotel than a typical Airbnb: an open courtyard with multiple rooms spread across different floors. I had my own bathroom, which was a plus. The mistake? I forgot to check whether the place had air conditioning. It did not. Antigua gets hot, and while the temperature dropped nicely at night, the room itself stayed warm. Combine that with a bed that was firm to the point of being downright hard, and I didn't sleep much during my time in Antigua. Lesson learned: always confirm AC and read the reviews for anything about the beds.

A quick language note while we're here. I'm not a native Spanish speaker, so Google Translate was my friend. But what surprised me was how much came back from high school and college once I was actually in it. My advice: brush up before you go, even if it's just keywords. You can piece a lot together in context once you're in real conversations with people.

Once I dropped my bags, my first mission was lunch. The restaurant was Café Condesa, an international spot right next to Parque Central, Antigua's Central Park. It was very good, with a pretty courtyard tucked inside. I ordered a roast beef sandwich that came with a side of potato salad so good it almost stole the show, and I got two liters of water, the large size. Quick hydration hack: drink way more than you think you need, especially in the summer months. Antigua is hot and dry, and it sneaks up on you.

After lunch I wandered. I walked around Parque Central, took in the fountain, and

set off to see the Catholic churches

scattered around the area. One stop genuinely stopped me in my tracks. I went into San Hermano Pedro, a kind of cultural museum dedicated to the Catholic faith in the city. Inside, on display, is an actual relic: a piece of bone from Guatemala's first saint, canonized in 2002. It's beautifully framed and clearly honored, and standing in front of something like that is a strange, humbling thing.

And then I walked out of the museum and was standing next to a Starbucks.

That contrast stuck with me the whole trip.

Antigua holds centuries of history and deep religious tradition, and then right

around the corner there's a Starbucks, a Taco Bell, a McDonald's. The American footprint is woven right into this colonial city, and the whiplash between the two is something you just have to experience to understand.

My next stop leaned all the way into indulgence. I visited a local chocolate shop, ChocoMuseo, and tried real Guatemalan chocolate. It's nothing like the Hershey's you grew up on. Richer, more complex, just delicious. They also offer a

chocolate-making class, which I didn't do this time but thought was a really cool option if you've got the time.

From there I kept exploring the cobblestone streets, and eventually I found it: the famous yellow arch. It's called the Santa Catalina Arch, built in 1694, and it's the shot you've seen if you've ever looked up Antigua. It's a magnet for photos. While I was there I watched people taking wedding photos, influencers getting their content, backpackers grabbing selfies, the whole spectrum.

What really got me, though, was the architecture, and specifically the doors of Guatemala. So many of them are hand carved, beautiful pieces of woodwork, some painted in different colors. But the detail I kept coming back to was the

hardware. The door knockers, the handles, even the bolts and nails and screws holding everything together. From a design perspective it felt so personal and intentional, like each door had its own character. I could have spent the whole afternoon just photographing doors.

My last discovery of the day turned into my favorite. I wandered into an art gallery that was really a creative mix of spaces: part retail, part gallery, part vintage store. In the back I dug through the vintage section and found a gem, a vintage Atlanta Braves cap from their 1995 World Series championship. I'm originally from Atlanta, so there was no question. That hat was coming home with me.

When I went to pay, I struck up a conversation with the guy at the register (originally from Scotland or Ireland, if I remember right). I mentioned a sculpture in the gallery that I couldn't stop looking at. The gallery happened to be running a group show with artists from different regions, all built around indigo and the color blue, exploring how different artists work with that medium. There were paintings, drawings, and dyed fabric pieces, and the show was interactive: you could take a piece of dyed fabric and tie it onto a fabric sculpture hanging from the ceiling, making yourself part of the installation.

But there was one piece, actually two sculptures shown together, that really stuck with me. One had already sold. The other was still available. As I was talking to the cashier about it, he told me the artist was his wife, Carmen.

That's when the day went from good to unforgettable. He took me back to the studio and walked me through how the sculptures are made, and the process floored me. They collect eggshells from restaurants and other spots around Guatemala. The shells get soaked in a chemical solution to clean and sanitize them, then dried and ground down into a fine powder. That powder gets mixed with dyes, melted into a liquid, and poured into a mold. When it hardens, it sets as hard as concrete. So the sculpture is made from something we think of as impossibly fragile, an eggshell, transformed into something solid and permanent.

I loved everything about it. The story, the process, the fact that he took the time to show me. So I bought it, and I got to meet Carmen herself, Carmen Valenzuela, and buy the piece directly from her. The sculpture is titled Desbalanceado Azul - 02 (2026), and it measures 35 x 10 x 7 cm. The full medium reads like a love letter to natural materials: eggshell bioceramic, indigo, cochineal, and ashes. The indigo tied it right into the gallery's blue-themed show, and the cochineal is a natural red dye with deep roots in the region.

As an art collector, this is exactly the kind of moment I travel for. Getting to meet the artist, hear her story, and support her work directly meant more than any souvenir ever could. Carmen studied both design and environmental studies, and her work grew out of a desire to bring the two together, finding sustainable, environmentally minded ways to create. That's where the eggshells came from. Her art is the meeting point of her passion for design and her commitment to the environment, and standing in that studio hearing it firsthand was something I'll never forget.

Before heading back, I made one practical stop at a pharmacy to pick up altitude sickness medication. I knew the next day's mission was hiking the volcano, and I wanted to be ready for it. Quick hack: pharmacies in Antigua are easy to find and stocked for exactly this, since so many travelers pass through on their way to Acatenango.

Back at the Airbnb, I got to chatting with a nice couple up on the rooftop, and they pointed me toward a few spots for dinner. I ended up at Madre Tierra, a steakhouse near my place, around 7:30. The meal was incredible: steak, plantains, rice, beans, guacamole, tortillas, and sausage. Easily one of the best dinners of the trip. I also ordered a Gallo, the national beer of Guatemala, and I'll be honest, I could only manage two sips. It was light, which I liked, but also sour, and I'm just not a sour beer guy. Still, when in Guatemala, you've got to try it at least once.

It started to rain a little during dinner, which brings me to one more piece of advice: pack a rain jacket or a small travel umbrella. The weather in Antigua can turn quickly, and you'll be glad you have it.

After that, I headed back to the Airbnb, relaxed, and called it a night. Day one was in the books, and a volcano was waiting for me in the morning.

Day 2: Climbing Acatenango to Meet Fuego

I woke up fairly early, around 8 o'clock local time, and started the day with what turned out to be my favorite meal in all of Guatemala. Breakfast was at Café Café Restaurante, and it set an impossibly high bar.

Here's a small downside of not speaking the language: you don't always know how to modify an order, or what you're really signing up for. I ordered both the avocado toast and the açaí bowl, with no idea how big the portions would be. What arrived was a feast. Two huge slices of avocado toast topped with tomatoes, scrambled eggs, and garnish, with a side of fresh fruit. Alongside it, a massive açaí bowl loaded with granola, coconut, strawberries, a whole banana, and chocolate chips. It was one of the best breakfasts I've ever had, full stop.

While I was eating, I struck up a conversation with two girls visiting from Hawaii. They live there and work remotely, both originally from California. They invited me to join them, and we ended up eating together and swapping plans about Guatemala and traveling around Central America. That's been one of my favorite parts of traveling solo, the table for one has a way of turning into a table for three.

My bill came to 141 quetzales (the local currency, often shortened to "Q"), which works out to about $18.50 with tip included. Another reason to love Guatemala: meals like that, at prices like that.

After breakfast I wandered some more and made my way back toward Central Park, where I caught two unexpected sights. First, the ruins scattered around Antigua, and then a parade of students moving through the streets. It looked like some kind of municipal parade, complete with marching bands, flags, and a crowd taking it all in. I even got to see Señorita Antigua up on stage alongside local officials. Stumbling into a local celebration like that, totally by accident, is one of those travel moments you can't plan for.

I circled back to a shop I'd had my eye on earlier and picked up a couple of souvenirs, then spent some time walking through Antigua's central market. That part was fascinating, and it got my wheels turning. What struck me was how many vendors were selling the exact same things. It's a different relationship with supply and demand than what I'm used to. When everyone's offering the same goods, your business comes down largely to luck, to whoever happens to wander into your stall that day. As someone who thinks about business often, it stuck with me.

From there I did more of what I'd already fallen in love with: more ruins, more photos, and yes, more doors. I couldn't help myself.

Then, at noon, it was time. I met up with my tour group to head toward Acatenango, the towering mountain near Antigua, for a chance to see the active volcano, Fuego, up close.

This whole thing was a last-minute call. I booked the tour just a couple of days before I left the U.S,, and I found a company that takes you part of the way up the mountain by four-by-four off-road truck, which mattered to me given my limitations with strenuous hiking.

When I met my group, I had to laugh, it was all girls, and somehow I had something in common with every single one of them. Two were cops from Boston who I became good friends with. Another was solo traveling and worked for the Army as a civilian. And then there was a friend group of three from South Florida, one of them from Tampa, where I live. Between the military connections and the Florida roots, it felt like the group had been hand-picked for me.

We all piled into the truck, and thankfully I scored shotgun. Riding up next to the driver gave me the best seat in the house, though "best" came with a side of terror.

There were a few moments on that dirt road where I was sure we were about to swerve right off the side of the mountain.

We left at 12:30. The truck dropped us at the trailhead around 2:00, where you get out and hike the rest on foot. We reached the halfway point around the welcome sign at 2:50, where you pick up your wristband, and then pushed on to base camp, arriving at 4:15.

And let me tell you, base camp was worth every step. We were above the clouds at roughly 13,000 feet, with a clear, stunning view of Volcán de Fuego, and we watched it erupt multiple times. There's nothing quite like seeing an active volcano throw fire into the sky right in front of you.

At 4:45 we started down the other side of Acatenango toward the base of Fuego itself. From there we hiked up the ridge of Fuego, reaching the summit at 6:45 PM. And here's the honest part: it was pitch dark, brutally cold, and howling with wind. Visibility was almost zero. We'd climbed all that way and couldn't actually see the top of the volcano erupt. The temperature was around 30 degrees, which is worth flagging if you're considering this hike. Guatemala is hot, but the conditions change drastically as you climb. We were in multiple layers, thick warm clothing, base layers, and wet-weather shells over the top of everything.

But here's my favorite moment from the summit. A few weeks before my trip, back in Tampa, I'd found a painted seashell near a restaurant. If you've never come across this, there are Facebook groups where people paint rocks and shells and hide them all over. When you find one, you photograph it, post it to the group, and then re-hide it somewhere new for the next person.

The one I found belonged to a group called Seffner Rocks, out of Seffner, Florida. The second I found it, I knew it was coming with me. So at the top of the ridge of an active volcano in Guatemala, I planted that little painted seashell, all the way from Tampa. I posted it to the group afterward, and people loved that their shell had traveled to another country.

We started back down the ridge around 7:30 PM in complete darkness, headlamps on, moving baby step by baby step. The rock up there is loose and crumbly, almost soft, so it's incredibly easy to lose your footing. One unexpectedly sweet part of the descent: there are stray dogs all along this trail, and they follow you the whole way, friendly, happy to be petted, almost like they're there to cheer you on and keep you going. Honestly, they were some of the best trail companions I could have asked for.

We finally reached the base between Fuego and Acatenango, then climbed all the way back up Acatenango, pulling into base camp around 9:30. All told, the hike came to 11.2 miles with roughly 13,000 feet of elevation change. Given my limitations going in, finishing it felt like a genuine accomplishment.

We had dinner around 9:45, and then it was straight to bed. We slept in these little shacks, and "slept" is generous, it was freezing. There were mattresses and sleeping bags, but we kept every layer of clothing on just to stay warm.

Then, around 11:30, it happened. The volcano erupted, the sky cleared, the clouds parted, and we could see lava pouring down the side of Fuego. And you don't just see it, you hear it and feel it. Each eruption comes with a deep, booming rumble like thunder, and the ground actually shakes beneath you. After missing the eruption from the summit earlier, this felt like the mountain making it up to us. It was one of the most surreal things I've ever witnessed, and an unforgettable way to end the day.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/c7db58_6666fa093a324bce8c9ba61e105e6ce3/720p/mp4/file.mp4

(Video credit courtesy of Olivia in my tour group)

Day 3: Trip Down the Mountain and Back to Antigua

We woke up around 5:30 in the morning. One option was to summit Acatenango itself at sunrise with the guide. I opted out, I was simply too physically exhausted to take it on. Part of the group went for it, and part of us stayed back at base camp. But I still got up, headed outside, and took incredible photos of Fuego in the early light. Around 6:45 one of the trail dogs wandered into camp to say good morning, and our guide served us breakfast around 7:00 when the rest of the group arrived back.

From there we packed up and headed back down Acatenango to the welcome sign, where our driver was waiting to take us the rest of the way down the mountain and into Antigua. For the ride down, I volunteered to sit in the open back of the four-by-four with my two friends from Boston. It was rough and unbelievably dusty, but we made the most of it and had a blast.

Back in Antigua, the first order of business was getting myself human again. I returned to my Airbnb, took a much-needed shower, and cleaned up. I also dropped my dirty

laundry at a local laundromat, where they washed and handled everything for me for about $9 USD.

Quick hack: laundry service in Antigua is cheap and convenient, and after a mountain you'll be grateful to hand someone a bag of dusty clothes and walk away.

Before lunch, I made what turned out to be a brilliant decision: I booked a full-body massage. After that hike and a night sleeping on a mountain, my body was begging for it. I went with a deep tissue massage, which left me extremely sore afterward, but the trick is to drink plenty of water to flush out the toxins. It was professional, relaxing, and worth every cent, and here's the kicker: the whole thing cost about $60 USD for an hour and a half. For that quality of massage, that price is almost unbelievable.

By then I was starving, so I headed to lunch at Rincóncito Antigüeño, one of the most famous chicken spots around. It absolutely lived up to the hype. I had rotisserie chicken with a side salad, rice, and potatoes, with a Coca-Cola and of course more water. Top-tier food, easily one of the best meals of the trip, and it ran me only about $12. That's the thing about eating in Guatemala: incredible food at prices that make you do a double take.

This, though, is also the day I started to not feel great. I didn't think much of it at the time, but it was the first hint of something that would catch up with me later.

After lunch I walked around a bit more, but I kept it short. I had an early bedtime that night, since the next morning called for a very early start.

Day 4: Flores, a Cathedral, and Pushing Through

My Uber picked me up in the dark around 3 AM to make the drive from Antigua to Guatemala City airport for my flight to Flores.

By the time I got to the airport, I really wasn't feeling great. I was exhausted and running on empty, partly from days of barely sleeping in that AC-less Airbnb in Antigua. Everything was catching up with me at once.

The flight itself was easy, maybe forty minutes, quick and smooth, landing at Mundo Maya Airport in Flores. I found a taxi to get from the airport to Flores Island, only about a mile and a half away, which ran me around $6. Small funny moment: right across from the airport sat a Starbucks, a KFC, and a Wendy's, all lined up next to each other. The Americanized pockets of Guatemala never stopped surprising me. The ride was in a large van, so a handful of us tourists heading to the island piled in together.

I reached my Airbnb around 7:30 in the morning. Like my place in Antigua, it was set up more like a small hotel with multiple rooms. The catch: they wouldn't let me check in until 3 PM. So there I was, exhausted, unwell, and standing in serious heat with hours to kill. They were kind enough to let me store my bags, which gave me room to figure out my next move.

Instead of parking at a café right away, I decided to go straight to the Catholic church on the island for the 8 AM mass. It was beautiful, held in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Los Remedios (officially Catedral Nuestra Señora de los Remedios y San Pablo Itzá), which crowns the highest point of the island. The only challenge, again, was the heat. Like so many places in Guatemala, there was no air conditioning, just fans and open doors, and it had to be around 95 degrees inside.

At one point the priest came up to me and asked where I was from. I told him the United States, Florida, and he was warm and welcoming, and asked me to pray for him. I was likely the only person there who wasn't Guatemalan. The mass was entirely in Spanish, and I followed along as best I could. But here's one of the things I love most about the Catholic Church: the mass is identical no matter where in the world you are. I pulled up the readings and the Gospel for the day in English and followed right along, fully part of the service despite the language barrier.

After mass, I found refuge at Café Recuerdito, a spot attached to a hostel, which meant it was buzzing with young travelers and expats from all over the world. I grabbed a light breakfast, sat in the air conditioning, and tried to plan out the rest of my day. There's something grounding about being surrounded by other travelers when you're far from home and not feeling your best, even without talking to anyone, you remember you're part of this larger community of people out exploring.

Sitting there, I made a decision. I was too unwell to kill eight hours waiting on a 3 PM check-in. And since I was in Guatemala, where things are affordable, the smart move was to find a hotel immediately, get a bed, and rest. So that's exactly what I did. I went back to the Airbnb, collected my stored bags, and found a hotel right on the edge of the island.

A quick honest note on that Airbnb (you can see the listing here): I'd booked it for $62, but they wouldn't let me check in early, whether that was policy, they were full, or something else, I never found out. I ended up eating the cost of that booking since I went with Hotel Casazul instead. But here's the thing: everything in Guatemala was so affordable that losing $62 barely registered. Sometimes the real luxury is being able to pivot without stressing about a few lost dollars, and prioritize how you actually feel.

I walked in and asked if they had a room available right then. They did. I paid $60 a night at Hotel Casazul for what turned out to be one of the most beautiful rooms I've ever stayed in. A huge, comfortable king bed, a lovely bathroom, and, best of all, a sunroom attached to the bedroom. When you walked through the sliding door and up to the window, you were suspended right over the lake. It was tranquil and perfect, and the staff were gracious and accommodating from the moment I arrived. Sometimes the best travel hack is simply knowing when to stop pushing and take care of yourself, especially when a great room costs $60.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/c7db58_9acc38a8785c4c42b3cea43c163842be/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

I showered and got straight into bed. I was utterly spent. I climbed in around 11 AM and didn't get up until roughly 8 AM the next day. Nearly twenty-one hours. My body clearly needed it.

That next morning, I was supposed to do the sunrise tour at Tikal, which I'd booked through a company called Tikal Go. But late the night before, they reached out with a complication: no one else had signed up for the sunrise tour. That left me with a few options. I could cover the cost of a second person to make it a private tour, or I could join a later tour that same day. The problem with the later option was my flight, I was flying back to Guatemala City that afternoon, so it was the morning or nothing.

Between being sick and the tour falling through, I made the call to cancel altogether and prioritize rest. It was much needed, and to their credit, the company was gracious enough to give me a full refund.

Day 5: I Made It to Tikal After All

I woke up around 9 the next morning feeling better, not 100 percent, but better. And I couldn't shake how bummed I was about canceling Tikal. The thing kept nagging at me: I was in Guatemala, only an hour and a half from one of the most important Maya sites in the world. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I knew I had to go.

So I forced myself. I went down to the front desk and asked the gentleman there if there was any way for a solo traveler to get to Tikal. He could not have been kinder or more helpful. He told me he had a friend who could drive me and called a taxi on the spot. I was a little nervous given the lingering motion sickness, but when the car pulled up, my worries eased, it was a really nice vehicle, something like a brand-new Pathfinder or Range Rover, comfortable and clean. I asked if we could stop at an ATM so I could pull cash for the trip, and from there we were off.

The driver's name was Carlos, and he drove me the whole way to Tikal. At the entrance I paid the $25 fee and got my wristband. And when we reached the gate, there was a man waiting named José. As it turned out, the front desk and Carlos had quietly arranged a private tour guide for me, and José, who spoke English, was it. This is the kind of hospitality that defined my whole trip: I showed up sick and solo, and a chain of kind strangers turned it into one of the best days of the trip.

José was fantastic. He took me through the park on a four-hour private tour, walking me past the pyramids and temples, letting me explore on my own, and answering every question I threw at him. He pointed out the trees, including the national tree of Guatemala, and explained that the Maya believed it to be the tree of life, with nine levels in the afterlife. He showed me how the pyramids were constructed and how they were used to track direction by the sun, while the temples served as burial sites for kings and queens. He explained that succession worked a bit like the British monarchy, when a ruler died, the next generation took over, carrying the line forward.

At one point he picked up a leaf, told me it was allspice, and had me rub it between my fingers and even taste it. The Maya used it medicinally. The whole tour was that kind of hands-on, deeply educational experience. He spotted wildlife everywhere: spider monkeys and howler monkeys, and even the resplendent quetzal, Guatemala's national bird and the namesake of its currency. Quetzals are famously elusive, so seeing one felt like a genuine stroke of luck. We also came across a coatimundi making its way through the park.

After the tour, we made our way back to the parking lot where Carlos was waiting. He picked us up, drove us to the front gate, dropped José off, and we began the trip back to Flores. When I added it all up, a private driver, a private tour guide, and the park entrance fee, the entire day cost me about $175. For a fully private experience at one of the wonders of the Maya world, that's remarkable.

On the way back I was starving and completely wiped out from hours hiking through the humid jungle. One thing I can't recommend enough: bring a Camelbak. I carried one the whole time in Guatemala, holding two liters of water, and I never realized how fast I could go through all of it until this trip. In that heat, you drink far more than you'd expect.

Carlos and I talked the whole ride back. In Spanish, he told me all about the tourist restaurants in the area, how pricey they are and how they tend to overcharge visitors simply because they're tourists. I told him it's the same back home, that tourist-heavy spots like New York City, Miami, and Washington, DC get expensive for exactly the same reason. By that point I was craving something that reminded me of home, and honestly a little worn out on traditional food after days of it. So I told Carlos, half-joking, that I was a crazy gringo and we should hit McDonald's for lunch. He loved the idea. We went through the drive-through and I covered his meal too, as a thank-you for everything. And I'll be honest, it was genuinely good, somehow fresher and better than it tastes back in the States.

Back at the hotel, I paid Carlos and thanked him for arranging such a special day at Tikal. He asked for a selfie together before he left, a fitting end to a day built entirely on the kindness of people who didn't have to go out of their way for me, but did.

Here's a logistics tip worth sharing. Checkout at Hotel Casazul was 11 AM, but I was going to be out at Tikal all morning and wanted somewhere to shower, relax, and regroup before my evening flight to Guatemala City. So I simply booked a second night. At roughly $60 a night, two nights ran me about $120 total, and having a private room to come back to after hours in the jungle, instead of scrambling with nowhere to go before a flight, was worth every penny. When a room is that affordable, paying for the extra night to keep your home base is a no-brainer.

So I headed up to my room, showered, relaxed, finished off my fries, and grabbed a short nap. Then it was nearly time to head to the airport.

I got to the airport in Flores and caught an evening flight back to Guatemala City. For both legs to and from Flores, I flew Avianca Airlines, and they were fantastic. No issues at all, helpful staff, drinks and snacks served, and, refreshingly, your first carry-on and a personal item are free, so none of the nickel-and-diming you get from some airlines. The round-trip flight ran me only about $100, which makes hopping between major cities in Guatemala genuinely easy and affordable.

I landed in Guatemala City around 9 PM and took an Uber to my Airbnb in Zone 10 (listing here). Zone 10 is one of the nicer, safer areas of the city, and the place was great: a high-rise studio with a comfy bed and, finally, air conditioning, all for $50 a night. The one catch was the shower, I couldn't get any hot water, so it was a cold one that night. Worth noting for anyone planning logistics: that Zone 10 high-rise was only about ten minutes from the Guatemala City airport, which made the next morning easy.

Day 6: FROM SOLO IN GUATEMALA TO NOW The Long Way Home

I woke up the next morning still feeling pretty sick. I'm honestly not sure what was wrong with me, only that I felt horrible and needed to get something in my system to manage it. I found a pharmacy, picked up some medication, and decided to keep my diet plain and gentle. That said, I treated myself to the single best croissant I've ever had, from a café right below my Airbnb. Sometimes a plain diet and a perfect croissant aren't mutually exclusive.

After that I went back up, packed, and took an Uber to the airport for my flight home, scheduled to depart around 2 PM. Except it didn't. Bad weather kept pushing the departure back, and I didn't actually fly out of Guatemala until after 5 PM.

A few notes on getting out of the country, since the logistics were smoother than you might expect. Security, customs, and immigration in Guatemala City were all quick and painless. I'd bought some rum for a friend at the duty-free shop, and that was the only thing US customs asked me about when I landed back home.

The one moment of friction actually happened on the way out of Flores. The security X-ray flagged the art sculpture I'd bought, Carmen's eggshell bioceramic piece, and because it's such a unique-looking object, they couldn't tell what it was. They asked me to unwrap it and answer some questions. I did my best in Spanish to explain that it was a contemporary art piece I'd purchased from a gallery, a brand-new work by a living artist, not an antiquity. Once they understood, that was that. A good reminder: if you're bringing home unusual art or objects, be ready to unwrap and explain them at security.

From Miami, the trip home was a relay. I landed at 10 PM, grabbed an Uber to the Brightline station, caught the 11 o'clock train, and arrived in West Palm Beach at 12:20 AM. From there it was one last Uber to right back where the whole journey had started.

The story doesn't quite end in Palm Beach, though. I rolled in around 2 in the morning, technically the next day, went straight to bed, and woke up still feeling awful. At that point I knew this was more than travel fatigue, so I went to the emergency room. After some testing, I got my answer: I'd brought home three separate strains of E. coli. I was put on antibiotics, and I'm happy to say I feel completely back to normal now.

Here's what I keep coming back to, because it's worth sharing for anyone heading to Guatemala or anywhere similar: I did everything right. I never drank the tap water. I brushed my teeth with bottled water. I asked for no ice in every drink. The only thing I can point to is the raw fruit and vegetables, which are everywhere in Guatemalan cooking, and however they're washed and prepped may have been the culprit. So if there's one piece of advice I'd add to all the others: be cautious with raw produce, even when you're doing everything else by the book. And if you come home and symptoms linger, get checked out. I'm glad I did. Sometimes it happens anyway, and that's okay. It's a small price for an unforgettable trip, and I'd do it all again. Even solo in Guatemala again.

Final Thoughts

Looking back, Guatemala gave me everything I want out of travel and a few things I didn't expect. I stood above the clouds and watched lava pour down a mountain in the dark. I followed along with a Spanish mass in a sweltering cathedral and felt completely at home anyway. I willed myself off a sickbed to see Tikal and was rewarded with a private tour, a quetzal sighting, and a McDonald's run with my driver. And through all of it, the thing that stuck with me most wasn't the volcanoes or the ruins. It was the people, the backpacker on the Brightline, the all-girls hiking crew, Carmen and her eggshell sculptures, Carlos and José, the front desk guy who made Tikal happen, the priest who asked me to pray for him.

That's the through-line of this whole trip: strangers who became, however briefly, friends. The volcanoes and ruins are what you come for. The people are what you remember.

Would I do it all again, E. coli and all? Without hesitation. If you've been on the fence about Guatemala, take this as your sign. Go.

Where I Stayed

• Antigua Airbnb (3 nights, $134 total): https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/52036333

• Flores Airbnb (booked for $62, ended up not using it): https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/933370505248073638

• Hotel Casazul, Flores (2 nights, about $120 total)

• Guatemala City Airbnb, Zone 10 ($50/night): https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1311083979496453610

By: Michael-Chase Strollo

Published: June 5, 2026 11:25 PM ET

Travel, Art, History, Nature, Hospitality,