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XELA PAGES GUATEMALAN NEWSLETTER 
http://www.xelapages.com/ 
Issue  #3,  January 12, 1998 
Current Subscriber - 527 
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Copyright 1998 By Tom Lingenfelter -- Xela Pages 

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CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE 
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1.  "Christmas 1998 in Guatemala"  Tom 
2.   Recommended Travel Guides 
3.   Sponsor Information 
4.   Travel Writers Wanted! 
5.   Publishing  & Advertising Information 

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1.  "How I spent my Christmas Vacation" Tom 
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"How I spent my Christmas Vacation in Guatemala" 

In December, a large portion of my family came to visit us in Guatemala.  We had my Mom, Dad, Aunt, Uncle, 
Sister, Brother-in-law and 2 cousins plus myself, my wife and our 2 1/2 year old son Kain.  This was not exactly 
the budget tour package but we did quite a lot and did not spend nearly as much money as a traditional 
vacation. 

The following is a quick rundown of what we did and the cost. 

Everyone arrived in Guatemala City on the night of the December 18th. 

We stayed at Dos Lunas Guest House a very clean place that I highly recommend.  For $10.00/person you get free transportation to/from the airport, clean comfortable room in the house of a Guatemalan family, and a nice 
breakfast in the morning.  Dos Lunas can not be beat anywhere in Guatemala City!  Lorena, the owner is great, 
she makes you feel right at home and she speaks English!!  To make a reservation stop by http://www.xelapages.com/doslunas/ or email mailto:lorena@pronet.net.gt. 

Because we were a large group we had made arrangements to rent a driver and mini van for the first part of the 
vacation.  I could not have done this without the help of two good friends in Antigua, Nancy Hoffman & Luis 
Ramirez of Vision Travel.  If you need help planning a trip these two really know their stuff.  Contact them at 
ecovision@inter.net.gt or  http://www.cyberwebsite.com/vision. 
Cost of Van: $20 to 30.00/person per day - depending on trip, days & group size. 

Our mini adventure began with a drive to Copán, Honduras.  Starting at 8:30m we all loaded into the van 
and took off.  We had a lunch stop in Rio Hondo and made it to the turn off near Chiquimulla a little before 2pm. The road from here is dirt, a bit bumpy, but great scenery.  We arrived at Las Brisas Hotel in the town of Copán sometime around 4pm. 

Las Brisas is a very nice, reasonably priced, hotel one block off Central Park.  The rooms were clean and the service was excellent. One thing to remember: Ask the owner in the morning to spark up the hot water, before you take a shower!  We stayed here for 2 nights. 
Cost:  2 nights - $25.00/person or $12.50/person/night 

The next day we hired a guide named Douglas Javier Ramos to show us the ruins of Copán.  Douglas gave an 
excellent tour to our group.  He spoke perfect English and had been guiding groups for years.  You may be able 
to reach him by email at: mailto:aventuras_copan@yahoo.com 

Douglas walked us all around the site giving us an up close look at ancient Mayan art, architecture and customs.  Well worth the price of admission! 
Cost:  Ruin: $10.00 - Museum $5.00 - Guide - $3.00/per person.  If you are alone or in a 
smaller group the guides charge approx.: $20.00 for the tour. 

Here are a few pictures of the trip: http://www.xelapages.com/trip/ 

There are plenty of restaurants in Copán to choose from and Central Park had several women cooking meat & 
totillas.  We really liked Vamos a Ver, a restaurant to the left of Central Park if you are standing in front of 
the church. 

The next morning we headed back into Guatemala.  Our destination was Livingston on the Caribbean side of 
Guatemala.  But first a quick stop off at the Mayan ruins of Quiriguá.  A very nice site 3.5 Km off the 
highway to Puerto Barrios.  If you are traveling by bus ask the driver to drop you off at the entrance to the 
site, you can catch a pickup from there. 
Cost Ruins: Q25 or $4.00/person 

We arrived in Puerto Barrios around 1:30pm just in time to load our stuff on to a boat headed for Livingston 40 minutes away. In Livingston we stayed at Casa Rosada.  This was a wonderful place with 8 or 10 individual bungalows set around a restaurant right on the waters edge.  We had dinner in the restaurant that evening and for Q100 or $15 you could have a huge lobster, several in the group had them and love it! 
Cost:  Boat ride to Livingston: Q20 or $3.00/person, 
Hotel:  $10.00/person 

The next morning we loaded up again into a boat and headed up the Rio Dulce for a 2 hour ride.  This is a magnificent boat ride from the Livingston up to Lake Isabel.  You see plenty of birds we even got a glimpse of a Toucan. We also got the show of a lifetime when we pulled up on a group of fishermen who were trying to catch this man size fish.  I did not get a great picture but I did get one of the head. 

Pictures of fish:  http://www.xelapages.com/trip/ 

At the end of this boat ride you arrive at Castillo de San Felipe, which is, an old restored castle that was 
use at one time to protect the entrance to Lake Isabel. They have done a teriffic job of restoring it and you 
can tour it for Q5 or $.75 
Cost of boat ride: Q50 or $7.50/person. 

That evening we headed back to Antigua and stayed at the Hotel San Sebastian. Clean, medium priced hotel, near Central Park. 
Cost $11.00/person 

The next morning we rented another van for the rest of the trip without the driver.  National car rentals gave 
us a 1996 Mitsubishi 15 passenger van for Q475 or $70/day and we headed back to Quetzaltenango. 

My family stayed at Hotel Modelo in Xela for 3 nights and we celebrated Christmas here.  You can find this 
hotel at http://www.xelapages.com/modelo or contact them at mailto:modelo@trafficman.com 
Cost:  Q176 or $25.00/night for two 

We did make a few side trips during these days. We went to the market at Chichicastenango on Dec 24.  I also 
took the group to Xocomil, which is a brand-new state of the art Waterslide park about 40 minutes from Xela. 
After that we went to the Fuentes Georginas a set of hot water pools in Zunil about 20 miles from Xela. 

The end of our trip was Panajachel (Lake Atitlán).  We stayed at Hotel Utz-jay a quiet little family run hotel 
with a beautiful garden as their front yard.  You can reach them thru Nancy & Luis at Vision Travel 
email mailto:ecovision@inter.net.gt   We did not have time to explore Panajachel much but we did take a nice boat ride in the late afternoon across the lake to have a beer in Santiago and San Pedro. 
Cost Hotel Q100 or $15/night fortwo people 
Boat:  Q30 or $4.50/person 

The next day we were off to Guatemala City to drop everyone off at the airport, say goodbye and begin our 
drive back to Quetzaltenango. 

All in all the trip was a huge success.  Like I said in the beginning this was not a budget tour.  I do feel 
like we did a lot and really did not spend a great deal of money, however if you are a backpacker this trip 
could be done for a lot less! 

Total Cost without food:  $300 to 350/person 

If any one of you are looking for trip ideas or need help planning a trip in Guatemala please do not hesitate to email me.  I hope you liked my Christmas Vacation Report! 

Tom 
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2.  Recommended Travel Guides 
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The following is a listing of  five Guatemalan  travel guides, that in my opinion are some of the best.  Included is a link where you can read about these guides and buy them directly from the web using  Amazon.com.   You really should not visit Guatemala without picking up at least one, if not two of these guides. 
(URL may be too long, make sure you copy entire URL to find guides) 

Lonely Planet Central America : On a Shoestring (3rd Ed) 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0864424183/trafficman 

Lonely Planet Guatemala, Belize & Yucatan LA Ruta Maya (3rd Ed) 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0864424248/trafficman 

Rough Guide to Guatemala by Rough Guides, Mark Whatmore 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0312113951/trafficman 

The Rough Guide to Guatemala and Belize (3rd Ed) 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/185828189X/trafficman 

Fodor's Belize & Guatemala : The Complete Guide With Beaches, Maya Ruins and Dive Sites (1st Ed) 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0679033092/trafficman 

To see all my recommendations goto: http://www.xelapages.com/guides/ 

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3.  Travel Writers Wanted! 
=========================================== 

I am looking for people who would like to share their travel knowledge with my subscribers.  You do not have 
to be a professional writer, just someone who has an experience to share.  I can not promise you that I will 
publish your article but all articles will be reviewed. Submit your experiences to 

mailto:articles@trafficman.com 

Thank you! 

============================================ 
5.  Publishing & Advertising Information 

Xela Pages Guatemalan Newsletter is published online from Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. 

This newsletter will be published at least once a month or more often as the situation warrants. 

If you would like to advertise in this newsletter send request to mailto:xela@trafficman.com Cost will be 
$5.00/issue - until further notice 

Have a great trip!! 

Tom Lingenfelter - Editor 
4 Calle 19-48, Zona 1 
Quetzaltenango, Guatemala 
+(502) 765-2072 
http://www.xelapages.com/ 
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