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In today’s Guatemala, you can have a great time and maybe find a great buy on a piece of beachfront property or an old Spanish-colonial house—if you exercise due caution. The future looks bright for the country that is home to the Mayas—a people whose civilization has endured far worse than its recent misfortunes. But we won’t mislead you. The country’s reputation as unsafe is not entirely undeserved. Nevertheless, there are at least two good reasons to get to know this country: the old capital of Antigua and Lake Atitlán. Part of Guatemala’s problem is overcoming the dark reputation it earned during the 36-year civil war that saw thousands of violent deaths each year. The civil war has been over for nearly 10 years, but the violence has been slow to subside. In fact, the national police acknowledge that 5,330 people were victims of violent crime last year—the biggest number since the end of the civil war. So far this year, the rate doesn’t seem to be declining. Many of the victims have been members of gangs, known as maras, killed by vigilante groups. Vigilantes rarely prey on foreigners, yet visitors to the country are occasionally targeted. Ironically, foreigners may be part of the long-term solution: They’re generating wealth that seems to be more evenly distributed than it was a few decades ago. “I’ve lived here nine-and-a-half years, and I haven’t been robbed,” Bill Shetz told me. Bill is one of the best-known expats in the city of Antigua, where he’s commander of the American Legion’s Post No. 2. “Antigua has a lower crime rate than many places in the U.S.,” he said, pointing out that he’s a native of Philadelphia. Bill came to Guatemala just as the civil war was ending. “Since then, it’s become much safer,” he says. “One reason for that is people in Guatemala are more used to tourists. And since the peace accord in 1996, the government has upgraded the police department and now requires more training than it once did.” Time travel Antigua is my favorite city in Guatemala, possibly because it reminds me of Mérida, Mexico. But, Antigua Guatemala, as it’s formally known, is nearly 5,000 feet high, making it cooler than Mérida (winter temperatures often dip into the 40s). Visiting Antigua is like time travelling, largely because history all but stopped in the city when earthquakes destroyed much of it in 1773. At the time, Antigua was the capital of Guatemala, but the ruling Spanish decided to create a new capital, Guatemala City, in a less quake-prone part of the country. Three years later, the government ordered Antigueños to abandon their city, but not everyone obeyed. Today, Antigua has about 32,000 residents—half the population of 1773. Now, almost a decade after the end of the civil war, American and European tourists are starting to return. Palaces, monasteries, convents, and churches remind visitors of its past, and elegant restaurants, art galleries, and theaters give Antigua a new cosmopolitan air that’s rarely found in a city this small. Bill Shetz laughs when he thinks about the local American Legion’s ironic choice of a venue for many of its meetings—a German restaurant, the Jardín Bavaria. It’s a moderately priced establishment that’s become popular among expats. “By the way,” he says, “in Guatemala, never assume that high prices mean better food.” Though prices in Antigua and elsewhere in the country are slowly rising, almost everything is a bargain by U.S. standards. At the popular restaurant La Fonda de la Calle Real, a main course of Guatemalan-style bell pepper stuffed with spiced meat costs $5.90. Menu prices seem to change quickly, but $5 to $8 is average for a main course at most moderate to upscale restaurants in Antigua and other popular destinations. Gallo, Guatemala’s national beer, sells for about $2.35 a bottle. Rising prices are due in part to the increase in tourist numbers and the overall decline of the dollar over the last few years. Today the dollar buys about 7.63 quetzals, compared with nearly 8 quetzals three years ago. As in many other countries, it pays to bargain for whatever you buy at retail stores and markets. The general rule is to start at about 40% lower than you’d be willing to pay. Houses in Antigua start at about $200,000 for a two- or three-bedroom residence in a fashionable area, but prices drop dramatically on the outskirts of town. Small upscale apartments rent for about $400 a month, and many hotels rent suites by the week or month, starting at about the same amount. How much does it cost for an expat to live in Antigua? According to Bill, the average is about $1,500 a month, but some do well on much less. In Guatemala City, the cost of living is generally lower, but the crime rate is higher and the city of about 2 million lacks the sophistication of Antigua. An exception to the rule is the small towns around Lake Atitlán, a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Antigua. Like the old capital, these villages have attracted expats for many years. Living here is more expensive and, unlike Antigua, parts of the Atitlán area were severely damaged by Hurricane Stan late last year. Guatemala counted 654 deaths immediately after the storm, and several weeks later nearly 1,000 people were still missing. Within hours after the storm, U.S. helicopters from Honduras delivered tons of food, water, and medical supplies, and evacuated dozens of people. In all, the American government spent more than $12 million in hurricane relief. Off the record, American officials say they hope the goodwill initiative will help persuade the new Guatemalan president, Oscar Berger, to take more visible action against crime—not just violence, but also drug smuggling. New Age Atitlán. Crime isn’t a problem in Atitlán. Americans and Europeans continue to vacation here and buy homes. “It’s a beautiful part of the country, and the people have a welcoming nature,” Steve Hendrix told me. Steve is a reporter for the Washington Post who recently bought a villa on the lake for himself, his wife, and their three young children. “Aldous Huxley said that Atitlán was the most beautiful lake in the world. Well, frankly, I think that Huxley understated it,” says Steve. What impressed Steve, Huxley, and countless others is the glistening, tranquil lake surrounded by green hillsides and framed by majestic volcanoes. The freshwater lake is about 5,100 feet above sea level. Geologists say it’s the result of a huge volcanic explosion about 85,000 years ago. For a place that seems so remote, Atitlán is easy to reach from Antigua or Guatemala City. Some people drive, and that’s usually safe as long as you don’t have a flashy car or travel at night when highway bandits still occasionally strike. That’s a good rule throughout the country, and because road safety often changes, it’s wise to ask locals about potential problems on any intercity roads you plan to travel on. One of the country’s major car-rental firms, National Guatemala (tel. (502)2-362-3000; website: www.nationalguatemala.com ) has a basic weekly rate of $252 for a Toyota Corolla, and that’s typical for other firms too. Since cars aren’t very useful around Atitlán (local traveling is usually by boat), a good alternative for reaching the lake area is a van service, which most hotels can arrange. A popular van company is Servicios Turísticos Atitlán (tel. (502)7-762-2246), which charges $125 to drive two people each way between Antigua or Guatemala City and Atitlán. While Americans are the dominant expat group around the lake, the area is still sparsely populated. Steve says that he and his family were attracted by the slow pace, the local music, and the food. In the dozen
villages around the lake, Mayan is still the prevailing language, though
many locals now speak some English and Spanish. You can hike from
one village to another, but no highway connects them. To travel from
one side of the lake to the other, residents depend on ferries, which are
cheap and frequent.
But that doesn’t mean expats are unwelcome–far from it. For the most part they’ve built elegant lakeside residences that have not spoiled the charm or beauty of Atitlán. Last year, Steve bought his villa, which is situated on the north shore near the village of Jaibalito and not far from Santa Cruz. The villa is essentially three connected structures with four bedrooms. The Hendrixes
aren’t year-round residents, and like many other expats they rent out their
home in Atitlán for the majority of the year. In that way,
it generates income and helps defray the cost of upkeep and travel to and
from Maryland, their permanent home. Steve’s house can sleep up to
13 people and rents for $800 to $1,000 a week. The rainy season in
this part of Guatemala is from May to October, but even during this time
there’s some sunshine nearly every day.
Lakeside Living Despite the exotic beauty of Atitlán, real estate prices are low. A two-bedroom, two-bath house near Panajachel recently sold for $75,000, and a five-room villa a little farther from the lake in Panajachel was advertised at $40,000. Lakefront properties are understandably more expensive. The asking price for a lakefront house on 3.45 acres near Cerro De Oro is $238,000. Lucas Toliman, was hard hit by Hurricane Stan. Many houses simply collapsed when they were hit by the high winds, and others are still in need of repair. The situation has led some home buyers to assume the area is ripe for bargain-hunting. Nothing could be further from the truth, says Roland Erhard of Atitlán Dreams, a major real estate company in the area. cording to Erhard, buyers might pick up damaged property at a low price, but repairs could push the ultimate cost higher than what they might pay for undamaged property. For Guatemalans, Stan was only the latest catastrophe to cause homelessness and poverty. So how do expats feel about living luxuriously in the midst of rampant poverty? Though they don’t say much about it, many residents around Lake Atitlán, including the Hendrixes, are active in organizations dedicated to relieving poverty in Guatemala. Steve also believes that the presence of expats has a positive effect on the economy. “Sure, it’s potentially off-putting to spend your time in a nice place in a poor country. But I find that our being there is ultimately a benefit to the country and increasingly important.” - Article
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