Hiking in the Hills of Guatemala

Many of the tourists who come to the Guatemalan Highlands are excited about hiking. Not too many of them are dressed up fancy. Instead you'll see people carrying heavy backpacks, and front packs too, and wearing sturdy shoes or boots for exploring jungle trails or trekking up the side of a volcano.

Since I'm a pansy, I like fairly short, scenic walks. One of the best of these is the walk along the road from Panajachel to Santa Catarina. It follows the road, takes about an hour or two or three, depending on how fast you go and how often you stop for photos.

My sister and I took two hours up, one hour back. The scenery was so beautiful we wanted to enjoy ourselves, and take plenty of pictures along the way, like closeups of ourselves, and of these flowers.

A shorter hike is to the nature preserve, just a twenty minute walk outside of town, yet with gorgeous views of the lake.

It's my favorite route when I want to get a few minutes out of town and take a short hike by myself.