We slept reasonably despite a high level of traffic noise and music blaring from over the road. We kept the lights on to keep the cockroaches at bay. After a bit of conflicting information, we found two people who gave us the same directions to get to the Honduran Embassy. Take bus number 14 to Zona 10.
It cost us 10 centavos and was a short trip along the wide Avenue Reforma to the affluent area of Zona 10. Avenida Reforma ("Reform Avenue") is a main boulevard in the east-centre part of Guatemala City, the capital of Guatemala. It is considered one of the main thoroughfares of Guatemala City. It is 2.26 km (1 mile) in length and has an average width of 60 meters (197 feet) from sidewalk to sidewalk.
It runs from north to south, connecting the north-central areas of the city (Zones 1, 4, and 5) with the southern districts (Zones 9, 10, 13, and 14). It divides Zone 9 from Zone 10. The Zona Viva, where multiple modern buildings can be found, is adjacent to Avenida Reforma. The southern end is at the Obelisco, where it is continued by Avenida Las Americas.
The Avenida Reforma was originally known as Boulevard 30 de Junio (June 30th), to commemorate the victory of the liberal forces of Miguel García Granados and Justo Rufino Barrios. In Zona 10 there were high walls topped with broken glass shards and barbed wire to keep the “peasants” out.
There was also a lot of green space with grass and trees and fancy-looking restaurants. We found the Honduran Embassy at 16 Calle 8-27 Zona 10 (Telephone 373921) where it carried out it’s operations in the open air of the forecourt. I found out that I didn’t require a visa, but Declan’s Irish Passport caused the usual confusion, and we were told to return at 12 noon.
We found a pleasant place to have breakfast in a touristy garden area. It was a really good breakfast with excellent coffee for Q2.50 Guatemalan Quetzals each. Coffee lovers often have a special place in their heart for Guatemalan coffee. It’s no longer one of the top largest producers on Earth, after being edged out of the top 5, and it’s also not the biggest producer in Central America, but they’re still putting out some excellent quality coffee beans.
For a relatively small country, Guatemala has some very distinct regions when it comes to weather and soil conditions. There are a number of growing regions in Guatemala, each one inspired by diverse climate and soil. While similar in some ways, they all have unique characteristics that contribute to a wide assortment of flavours.
There are over 300 microclimates at play among the various regions here, and 14 ecoregions. More than 80% of the coffee farms here are small-to-medium in size, with only a couple of percent being larger in scale. The percentage of shade-grown coffee from Guatemala is in the high-90s.
We returned to the embassy where we had to wait for a further half hour and pay $3 US dollars for the visa. Luckily an American gave us a lift back to our hotel in his red Volkswagen Beetle. It seemed to be a challenge to drive safely in Guatemala City.
We went out into the sunny afternoon to see what was on at the various cinemas and ended up in one of the city squares. Here we watched a snake getting the better of his “charmer”, biting him once on his wrist and leaving a fang embedded in his finger.
He carried on his act regardless, despite having undermined his credibility as he had claimed that the snake bite was deadly poisonous. The crowd retreated rapidly as he approached carrying the-metre-long reptile by the tail, the women shrieking with horror.
We browsed around Arnels bookshop which had a good stock of English books, but they were expensive at Q15 Guatemalan Quetzals each.
At 18:30 hrs. we went out for another Chow Mein con Pollo in a restaurant with a ridiculously loud jukebox, followed by a walk to settle our food down. The bright electric lights above the road and the shopping plazas made the place look like a less lively Hong Kong.
We ended up in a quiet but friendly bar with a shark sign over the door. We stuck to soft drinks and our bill was only Q2 Guatemalan Quetzals. We walked back to the hotel at 21:30 hrs. through the young courting couples in their modern western clothes and the sidewalk stores selling pens, watches, bags, fruit and clothes.
In our room we waged war with the cockroaches that were cheerfully eating our peanuts and infiltrating our bedding.
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