I had the pleasure of visiting Guatemala a couple of yrs ago.
We rented a small car for two weeks.
Visit Antigua,Pacaya Volcano, Atlitlan, Chichicastenango, Tikal, and also cross the Border to Copan Honduras.
We felt very safe all the way, incredible country, the Mayan culture and the Tikal ruins were amazing.
Atlitlan lake was just like been part of a peaceful postcard.

Thanks for posting about your trip. Sorry you got the impression that most towns in the country are overrun by cars and trucks - that hasn't been my finding other than Guatemala City and and a few other heavy tourist spots. Lots of smaller mountain towns have core areas with little traffic and most locals don't own vehicles. I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. What towns did you visit in addition to GC, Flores, Antigua, and Panajachel?

Jaguar Inn is the least expensive hotel in the park at Tikal and has no pool - is that where you stayed? Tikal Inn is my favorite but has a nice pool. I haven't stayed at the 3rd option, the Jungle Lodge.

You've pointed out an interesting thing about travel in CA - the risky activities you can try that would be waaaay off limits in the the US or western Europe. The Volcan Pacaya hike and that narrow ledge with no rail on Temple 5 at Tikal are classic examples.

Thanks again!

Thanks for posting your report. I love reliving my one and only trip to Guatemala each time I read someone's post. I would love to go back and take my husband so he can experience the rich culture and history of the country.

christiangernez, despite warnings to the contrary we felt safe wherever we went. some of the dirt roads we drove on were not particularly well designed to resist landslides, so there was a certain amount of "risk" but luckily we didn't fall of the road or into potholes too large to extricate ourselves or our little car!

cgenstar, i hope you get back to guatemala and are able to show your husband its' charms

hopefulist, you are correct i inverted jaguar inn where we stayed w/ tikal inn where we swam. in addition to the places i've already noted we were in or passed through: tecpan (iximche), quirigua, el estor, rio dulce, esquipulas, huehuetenango, chimaltenango, coban, nebaj, san juan el alto and solola. our 3 longest drives were between pana and nebaj, nebaj and coban and coban and el estor. as the road between points almost always passed through every town, village and hamlet (unless dead ends!)we always seemed to experience that impact when we were walking about.

i am not sure if hiking up pacaya was more risky than some of the landslides we drove across especially between nebaj and coban and coban and el estor.

i will try to complete my report soon

Thanks! I'd like to head up to Coban/Lanquin next trip and cross over for a return visit to Nebaj, but it looks like there's no end in site for the detour around the landslide on that route. I don't want to go back to Guatemala City between so might have to save one for the following visit. Adventure!

hopefulist, we actually slogged across that detour before we realized we had crossed it. the detour goes across the landslide. we didn;t realize that until we were across and looking back . yikes!. the landscape one passes through is lovely. i believe it took us almost 6 hours nebaj to coban. it was quite an adventure!

coban is definitely one of those towns we found over run by cars and urban ugliness. someone has erected a soviet era style bandshell on the plaza which overwhelms the cathedral.

we went out to the cavern closest to coban: rey___?? beautiful setting . the cavern is relatively small and many of the stalagtites and stalagmites have been broken. it was a bit underwhelming compared to larger and better proteceted caverns that i have visited in the us southwest, mexico and australia. again the drive out from coban was lovely

cheers
AndrewDavid