Who says time travel is impossible? Between Volcan de Agua, Acatenango and Volcan the Fuego sits a city that allows us to travel back in time into Guatemala’s past, La Antigua Guatemala. This city was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1979. Antigua was Guatemala’s capital until a major earthquake hit in 1773. The city suffered great damage and much of the population moved away from the city, reducing its population by nearly half. The city has preserved its colonial charm boasting great ruins, churches and even the The Captain General’s Palace. However, Antigua still caters to those of us living in the 21st century.
Antigua is home to Guatemala’s best Spanish Language Schools, which Read more
Contemplating how to get all your belongings to Guatemala? The answer might be driving them there. No, it is not the easiest, nor the safest thing to do, but it could work for you. Especially if you speak Spanish and live a little bit closer than say… Maine.
To get a car packed full of stuff into Mexico, you’ll want to take a trip to Transmigrantes Mireya, a company who arranges all the paperwork for bringing a car, loaded down with personal belongings into Mexico. This is a crazy experience in itself, as you can read from the personal travels shared by our fellow blogger at this link. You actually have to give away your title and have Read more
So, the Happy Planet Index in Guatemala has ranked us number 4 as far as the happiest places to live go. Costa Rica is ranked number 1, but I think they paid off the surveyors, and the Dominican Republic and Jamaica at spots number 2 and 3, respectively.
The HPI, or Happy Planet Index, ranking of each country is determined by the life expectancy, life satisfaction, and ecological footprint left on the country.
Life expectancy in Guatemala is where we rank lowest, with the estimate being between 60–75 years. This falls in the middling range, and is what brings our score below Costa Rica’s. (The life expectancy in Costa Rica is above 75 years.)
The Guatemalan visa system is pretty simple if all you want to do is come here on vacation: tourists are given a 90 day tourist visa, which generally covers even extended vacations. If you want to stay longer than that you have a couple options.
Your first option is to renew your tourist visa. The visa can be renewed once in the capital before you actually have to leave the country. Once you leave the country, you are again granted a 90 day visa that can be renewed once before having to leave again. So, basically about every 90 days you have to hike back to the States or up to Mexico (El Salvador doesn’t count as leaving the country, Read more
As far as internet service goes in Guatemala the most popular choice is Telgua. It is the largest telecommunications provider in the country, and although there are plenty of other options out there, Telgua seems to dominate the market.
Telgua offers a package that includes phone, TV, and internet for $60 a month. The TV plan is digital and includes 200 channels, the digitial phone line has unlimited calls to other Telgua customers, as well as Claro lines. The internet speed is about 1MB down and 500K up, as done by a speed test. (I am not sure what the technical up/down are on the package, but those are the average speeds you will be receiving.
Being in the relocation business to Central and South American countries, and traveling between them often, I know the stigma that comes with Guatemala. However, the county has so much more to offer than most people are aware of. The 36 year civil war ended in 1996, and things have stabilized politically, laws dealing with real estate are being modernized and land property databases actually exisit for some regions.
So what’s the deal with Guatemala? Well, it is the largest and most populous of all the Central American countries and has a gross domestic product per capita equal to about half of Argentina’s. The main exports include coffee, sugar and bananas, and the agricultural sector makes up most of the Read more
To obtain a bank account in Guatemala you need to have permanent residency in the country. At least that is the official answer, and the answer you will get if you try and open an account with Banco Quetzal.
However, if you try at Banco Reformador you will be asked to only present your passport and a copy of your utility bill, and possibly letters from two Guatemalans that know you. If you can’t produce two letters, then you may want to try Banco G&T, as all they require for you to open a bank account is a copy of your passport and a utility bill.
Foreigners are often told that they cannot open accounts in Guatemala, and while that Read more
We interrupt this tour of Guatemala City to share with you an important update from the Guatemala Gringo and his other Gringo affiliate sites (see the blogroll)…
The Gringo has worked to create a system that puts readers in touch with valuable people in Guatemala and other Latin American countries. If you need an English speaking driver, real estate information, legal services and so on, all you need to do is this:
When you relocate to Guatemala, one of the most stressful and expensive ventures can be shipping your furniture to Guatemala. To minimize the cost of relocation and reduce the stress of such a move, use a company like CORT Global. CORT makes your move easier by assisting you with rental furniture.
CORT has a wide selection of furniture to choose from for those relocating to Guatemala, and especially caters toward those who are temporarily living in Guatemala. The staff at CORT are very helpful, and can be a great aid in selecting furniture for your living space. They also arrange for delivery of the furniture to your new home in Guatemala, making it even easier for you to Read more
For those who are looking to relocate to Central or South America, oftentimes one of the best ways to secure a stable income (if you aren’t retired) is by finding online work. So, type in WORK FROM HOME in your search engine, and what do you find? A long list of work opportunities… but how do you differentiate the ones that are real from the scams?
The article gives the name of each company, its web-site, and for what job they are hiring and is a great place to get ideas for how to support yourself living abroad. Read more
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