Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
13 of Carretera a El Salvador. Due to its popularity with the city's wealthy res-
idents, it appears this sector has become the scene of several violent robberies,
carjackings, and kidnappings. The embassy recommends avoiding travel beyond
kilometer 13 between 9 P.M. and 6 A.M. The document also recommends avoid-
ing travel on the following roads outside Guatemala City: Routes 4 and 11 in the
vicinity of Lake Atitlán and Route 14 between Antigua and Escuintla.
Forthisandotherpertinentinformation,visit
http://guatemala.usembassy.gov/
Your first glimpse of Guatemala City will most likely come from the window of
an aircraft flying over the urban sprawl as it prepares to land at La Aurora Inter-
national Airport. Guatemala City tends to feel huge when first seen from the air.
It might also feel quite intimidating and downright scary, depending on whether
or not people have told you horror stories about the city's crime or its pollution
andnoise.Allofthesearetrue,andcertainlyworthconsidering,butyou'vemade
itthisfar,soyoushouldprobablycheckthingsoutforyourselfandseeitthrough
your own eyes.
Guatemala City is in fact quite large. It is Central America's largest city, with
an approximate metro area population approaching four million inhabitants. The
capital lies spread out across a broad valley surrounded by mountains and volca-
noes and crisscrossed by ravines. Its setting is really quite spectacular. The good
news concerning the city's size is that you really have no reason to venture in-
to more than about a third of the city's area. Much of the sprawl composing the
sizable metro area is found outside the official city limits and is composed of
Guatemalan working-class subdivisions, industrial parks, and slums. The nicer
parts of town are also conveniently located adjacent to each other, in the eastern
thirdofthecityneartheairport.Thedowntowncoreliestothenorthofthecity's
newer sectors.
PerhapsmostfascinatingaboutGuatemalaCityaretheconstantjuxtapositions
evidencing this vibrant capital's status as a microcosm of Guatemala's larger
wealth and class disparities. Tin-roofed shacks cling to forested hillsides just out
of view from the wooden decks of $500,000 homes. Buses trundle slowly down
tree-linedboulevardswhilelate-modelBMWszipbyinthepassinglane.Mayans
from the highlands dressed in traditional garb wait for these buses under steel-
and-glass bus stop shelters advertising French perfumes.
