A Promise Made in Antigua

Guatemala is one of the world's most astonishing countries. It took a dislocated shoulder and the generosity of strangers to make me truly see it.

How it began

It started, as these things often do with me, with a moment of poor judgement disguised as adventure. On the outskirts of Valladolid in southern Mexico, we spent a morning visiting the cenotes (ancient limestone rockpools). I launched myself off a makeshift trapeze into the water below with the confidence of a 25-year-old and the joints of a 60-year-old. The results were as predictable as my hubris - a dislocated shoulder and torn rotator cuff.

I won't pretend the next few days were dignified. We were travelling through southern Mexico and into Belize and me with one arm strapped uselessly to my chest, smiling through gritted teeth at border officials. By the time we reached the land border into Guatemala, I was in real pain, (as was my partner, having to put up with me) and carrying the kind of vague unease that Central America can generate in Western travellers.

Eventually, I made an appointment at a local hospital in Antigua. The doctors and nurses X-rayed me and treated my shoulder with real care, skill and proper attention. When it came time to settle the bill, despite my having full travel insurance and being entirely able to pay, they refused. All they asked in return was that I share a positive account of my experience in Guatemala with others.

I have travelled enough, and consider myself open-minded enough, that I don't expect to be surprised very often. I was wrong. There's something quietly humbling about being looked after, properly and without hesitation, by people who have every reason to charge a foreigner whatever the market will bear, and choose not to.

This is me making good on the promise I made to the medics and sharing a selection of photos which reflect our experience of Guatemala. If you ever get the opportunity, just go.

Wonderful People. Unforgettable moments

What struck me most was how little it took. A smile, a gesture towards the camera, and almost without exception people were happy to have their day interrupted. Old women in the market, mothers with their children, men nursing a beer in a local bar — all of them the same: easy, open, generous with their time and completely relaxed about being photographed. There was no suspicion, no reluctance. Guatemalans wear their generosity lightly.

This couple sold fuel by the litre from recycled bottles outside their house, serving scooters and motorbikes passing through the neighbourhood. One of the pleasures of travelling independently is stumbling across small businesses like this

Always time for a smile - Mayan lady in a traditional huipil

One of the pleasures of travelling through Guatemala is seeing the extraordinary variety of traditional Mayan textiles, many still worn with pride in everyday life rather than for visitors.
I met this lady in Antigua's market and asked if I could take her portrait. Her warmth and willingness to stop for a moment reflected an experience we encountered again and again throughout the country.

While waiting for his chicken bus, this gentleman stepped into a tiny marketplace bar for a drink. The soft afternoon light spilling through the doorway caught my eye, but it was his warm smile that persuaded me to ask for a portrait.
He laughed, adjusted his hat and happily agreed.

Not quite how it looks. The soldiers were patrolling the streets, saw me with my camera and asked if I would take their photo. They then posed seriously for this image to share with their families. Straight afterwards, they relaxed and we chatted football. What else?

All aboard

Guatemala's chicken buses, retired American school buses given a second life as the backbone of the country's public transport network are one of its great visual delights. The name comes simply from the days when live chickens travelled alongside passengers. Each bus is individually owned and individually painted as a personal statement of pride and identity. No two are alike.

They trundle through Antigua's cobbled streets laden with passengers, produce and luggage, their conductors hanging from the doors shouting their destination, "Guate, guate, guate", into the noise and heat. Carmen Gabriela. Maria José. Santa María de Jesús. Each one somebody's livelihood, somebody's pride and joy. As a fellow traveller observed, being in a Guatemalan bus station is like being in an open air art gallery. Personally I think it’s a lot more than that.

An old American school bus, collecting passengers and still waiting for its Guatemalan makeover

Every chicken bus has one — the ***ayudante***, hanging from the door, working the street, keeping things moving.

Everything for Sale

On the way back home after another day at the market.

Ceramic owls for sale - a symbol of Guatemala

There was something wonderfully improbable about this stack of hats making its way through the streets. He smiled as he passed, balancing dozens of handmade hats on his way to market. Sometimes the photographs that stay with me are simply moments that make me smile.

A piper waiting for his first customers of the day

From Dusk to Dawn - A land of epic landscape and hidden civilisation

Guatemala sits on Central America’s Ring of Fire, the volcanoes which stretch down to Costa Rica and beyond. Volcán de Fuego — Fire Volcano, 4,000 metres up outside Antigua erupts, on average, every fifteen to twenty minutes. We watched it through the night from the slopes of its neighbour, Acatenango, as it lit the sky and sent rivers of lava down its flanks. As dawn broke over the mountain range, the lights of Guatemala City were still visible almost 70 kilometres away.

Then here is Tikal near the border with Belize— a double Unesco World Heritage Site and one of the great cities of the ancient Mayan world, yet visited by a fraction of the tourists who queue for the pyramids of Giza or the ruins of Chichen Itzá. To stand on Temple IV at dawn, with the roof-combs of the other temples emerging from a sea of mist and the jungle alive around you, is to feel the full weight of what was built here.

Hasta Luego Guatemala. Until Next Time.

A dislocated shoulder is an unlikely starting point for one of the most memorable trips of my life. But it gave even more than I expected and in ways I didn’t anticipate.

The portraits, the markets, the chicken buses criss-crossing Antigua's cobbled streets, the fire and the ancient ruins — all of it shared here because two doctors in a small hospital refused to take my money and asked only that I share what I found. I hope this goes some way to honouring that.