GUATEMALA CITY - Guatemala - page 95

704, Zona 10, tel. [phone] or 801/812-6684 toll-free), Delta (15 Calle 3-20 Zona 10,
Centro Ejecutivo, Primer Nivel, Zona 10, tel. [phone]), TACA (Avenida Hincapié
12-22, Zona 13, tel. [phone]), and Iberia (Avenida La Reforma 8-60 Zona 9, tel.
2332-0911). American Airlines and United Airlines passengers can check bags in the day
beforetheirflightatservicecentersintheBarcelóGuatemalaCityhotel(7aAvenida15-45
Zona 9).
The only domestic service is to Flores, near the ruins of Tikal, though other routes may
open if government plans to revamp several smaller airports throughout the country ever
come to fruition. The only airline leaving from the main terminal for domestic flights is
TACA, with several daily flights to Flores. Local carrier TAG (Ave. Hincapie y 18 Calle
Zona 13, tel. [phone], www.tag.com.gt ) offers service from the other side of the runway
at its private hangar.
The airport is located 6 km south of Guatemala City and 25 km from Antigua.
Bus
Guatemala City's unattractive Zona 4 bus terminal is being phased out thanks to a long-
overdue plan to bring order to the chaos traditionally characterizing the state of public
transportation, both within and into and out of the city. Accounting for 80 percent of the
bedlam were buses arriving from and departing to the Western Highlands and the Pacific
Coast.Busestoandfrombothoftheseregionsarenowbasedoutofthe Central de Trans-
ferencias (CENTRA) inZona12,onthesouthernoutskirtsofthecity.Fromthere,aseries
of modern, bright green interconnected buses known as buses articulados take passengers
on a new system called the Transmetro into the city center. Plans call for other transfer
centers for buses coming from the eastern part of the country to be built thereafter. The
city'spublictransportationsystem,meanwhile,willbereplacedentirelybytheTransmetro,
a sort of surface metro, which will cover the entire metropolitan area by 2020 (or so they
tell us).
A number of the (mostly) first class buses still leave from their own depots spread
throughout the city, and this will probably continue to be the case for some time. Here is
the information on some of the more popular first class bus routes:
To Chiquimula (3.5 hours, $4, 170 km): Rutas Orientales (19 Calle 8-18 Zona 1, tel.
2253-7282), departures every half hour 4:30 A.M.-6 P.M., or Transportes Guerra (19
Calle 8-39 Zona 1, tel. [phone]), every half hour 7 A.M.-6 P.M.
To Cobán (4.5 hours, $5, 213 km): Transportes Escobar Monja Blanca (8a Avenida
15-16 Zona 1, tel. [phone]), has hourly buses 4 A.M.-5 P.M., stopping at El Rancho and
the Quetzal Biotope.
To Esquipulas (4.5 hours, $5, 222 km): Rutas Orientales (19 Calle 8-18 Zona 1, tel.
2253-7282), with departures every half hour 4:30 A.M.-6 P.M.