Welcome to Guatemala City!

Photo by galasdeguatemala.com, used with authorization

To be honest, and since I am not a journalist, or a historian, nor even a writer, I have to say that it is my intention to introduce you to my country from my own perception, as I mentioned last Friday, probably a simplistic one, which I believe is the way most of my paisanos (compatriots) perceive Guatemala. For good or for bad, I will let the professional journalists and experienced bloggers the coverage of what is going on in Guatemala these days.

Additionally, today I express my gratitude to Maynor Mijangos from Galas de Guatemala for letting me use his beautiful photographs, which means that from now on, every time I do not have the appropriate image to illustrate a posting, I am going to use his material. I am sure you all will enjoy his photos as much as I do. 

Back to our journey, Guatemala City seems to me the logical place to start this trip through Guatemala, for several reasons, among others:

The international airport La Aurora is in the city and generally, it is the port of entrance for most of the scheduled international flights to Guatemala, from USA, from the rest of America Continental, and from Europe.

Guatemala City is the capital of the country and has become the main economic, governmental, and cultural center.

Guatemala City is home of Kaminaljuyu, and ancient Maya site that dates back around 9,000 years and considered one of America's most notable archaeological sites, although its remains today -only a few mounds- are not as impressive as other Maya sites more frequented by tourists.

Guatemala City is also home of several museums depicting from well-documented collections of Pre-Columbian artifacts, Maya civilization and colonial art, to indigenous textiles and clothing (one of my favorites not just for the textiles collection, which I love, but also for the naïf paintings by the father of the folk paintings, Mr. Andres Curruchich).

As occurs in almost any large city around the world, Guatemala offers all the modern amenities one can desire including a wide variety of art galleries, theaters, restaurants, hotels and shops.

Since Guatemala City is my homeland and lived there until recently, in some of the next postings, I would like to guide you through some of the places I used to call my favorites, places that I used to visit time after time after time without getting bored.

Photos in the next slideshow by galasdeguatemala.com, used with authorization.
Please click on the image to start: