Guatemala Travel Notes – November 2024

I realize that the minute details of our travel processes may not be the sexiest blog entries, but my hope is that by recounting them I can help others be more efficient and avoid snafus on their own trips. Indeed, I should probably look back at them more often to make sure that I don’t repeat my past mistakes.

Last week we visited Casa Vieja Lodge in Guatemala for the fifth time. Our prior trips had all been in February, so that was the first major difference. The second was that on this trip we added a few days in Lake Atitlan on the tail end of the trip – the first three times we’d just gone to CVL, and last year we spent a couple of days in Antigua on the front end of the trip.

Here’s how everything played out:

Round One – Home to Casa Vieja Lodge

• We were planning to fly on Avianca for the first time. They had a direct flight from Washington-Dulles to La Aurora in Guatemala City, leaving 1am on the 16th and arriving 5am, which would give us a full day to relax before starting to fish. The business class upgrade was only $99 apiece, so we pounced on that, too. Unfortunately, they canceled that flight a couple of months before the trip and we had to get a refund and regroup. We ended up booking a direct flight on United on the 15th (staying an extra night at CVL) and a flight on American through Miami on the way home.

• My brother – who flies every week and whose frequent flyer balances look like Social Security Numbers – was flying down with us, and got us upgraded to Business Class on United. Winning.

• Hanna and I arrived at Dulles very early. Our AmEx Platinum gives us access to numerous lounges, but unfortunately we were in the awful D Concourse which holds none of them. Fortunately, we had two one-time passes to the United Lounge that we elected to use.

• We were in the United Lounge in 2 minutes, just as they changed over from breakfast to lunch service. It was good but not exceptional – salads, some sandwiches, a taco bar. We settled into our seats and tried to stay calm. It was lucky we got there when we did, because when we exited to go to our gate next door, not only was there a line out the door but we heard they were no longer accepting one-time passes.

• The flight went off without a hitch. In fact, we arrived in Guatemala 20 minutes early. We’d filled out our declarations form online, and after a quick stroll through immigration, we collected our luggage, showed the customs agent our QR code, and walked outside to the waiting Casa Vieja Lodge van, driven by Michael, who we’d ridden with in the past.

• While we had nothing that required us to get to the lodge early, the horrible traffic made this the worst ride to date. Once we got in at midnight and made it to the lodge in 1 hour, 15 minutes. Typically it takes just about 2 hours. On this trip, it was a slow, 3 hour ride, but we got there in time for dinner and settled in.

Round Two – Casa Vieja Lodge to Lake Atitlan

When we told the CVL staff that we wanted to go to Atitlan after our fishing trip, they went out of their way to make sure that everything was smooth. The largest town on the lake, Panajachel, was close to our hotel (a 5 minute boat ride) but getting there would have added two and a half hours to our van ride. Instead, they arranged for us to be dropped off by Michael across the lake, which meant only 2 hours in the van.

When we arrived at the lake, the lodge had arranged for a lancha (boat) driver named Santiago to pick us up. He and Michael loaded our luggage on to the boat and perhaps 15 minutes later we were at La Laguna Eco Lodge, our home for the next few days. The helpful hotel staff helped us get our luggage up the steep steps.

Round Three – Lake Atitlan to Home

• Casa Vieja again went over and above to make sure that we wouldn’t be stranded at the lake, and that we’d get to our return flights on time. The night before we were to return Lodge Manager Benjy reached out to us to confirm the arrangements they’d made.

• Our hotel provided a private boat service to the Kayucos Marina in Panajachel, about 5 minutes away. They loaded our luggage on top of the lancha and we left shortly after 6:30am. We did have to carry our own luggage up the long, steep boat ramp, and I just about had a heart attack carrying Hanna’s 45 pound suitcase (she didn’t want me to roll it on the cobblestones, fearing something inside would break) but in the end I survived to fish another day.

• Our van driver Lionel arrived promptly at 7am from his home in Antigua. We’d been told that the route – a series of switchbacks around the mountains, followed by minor highways, and capped off with Guatemala City’s traffic – could take up to 4 hours, but we made it in a little over 3. That included a stop at a restaurant for Guatemalan coffee, chocolates and pastries. Lionel didn’t speak much English, but between his Spanish and my Spanglish we learned a fair amount about the region and its culture.

• Upon arriving at the airport, Hanna and I checked in at American quickly, but there was no gate agent at Delta for Carl and Lisa. We elected to go through security and wait for them at a restaurant.

• We waited in the immigration line for approximately 25 minutes, longer than we’d expected, but the officer quickly stamped our passports and sent us through.

• The lounge options at La Aurora are limited. Previously we’d gone to the Copa Club and found only a sad little bar and some chips and cookies. This time we returned to the Casa Del Ron Aeropuerto, an outpost of the Ron Zacapa brand that provides access to Priority Pass members. It also allowed us to bring in guests, so we left Carl and Lisa’s names at the desk and got a table. We were entitled to one lunch option and up to three cocktails apiece – not the typical lounge experience but a good value.

• Our plane to Miami boarded easily and we were stateside in just over 2 hours. Unfortunately, I’d forgotten what a mess customs is in Miami. Upon arrival, we got to the short Global Entry line and were five people away from going through when the face recognition software shut down. They moved us to a different camera, but the officer had to boot up another computer to make it work. It cost us about 10 minutes, and while we still made it through faster than the regular line, it was annoying. Then we claimed and rechecked our luggage and got in another long security line. This one took over a half hour and by the time we got through, our two hour layover had been whittled to almost nothing. We emerged in the D Concourse, but at D25, and we had to go to D8, which was a surprisingly long haul. Hanna moved those short little legs and we got to the gate in time to order a $16 sandwich and $16 mini pizza, wolf them down, and get on the plane. Reminder to self: Avoid Miami connections if at all possible.

• The American Airlines plane had a slight maintenance issue and we were delayed perhaps 20 minutes, but after that the flight was smooth and lasted just over 2 hours. We picked up our luggage, called an Uber, and got home by 11, a journey of over 16 hours. Totally worth it.