Postcard No.10 - Guatemala 🇬🇹
City, beach, city, beach on repeat
Holaaa 👋
I originally started my substack to share my travel life with friends and family but it’s somehow grown to include complete strangers. So welcome!
There’s only 48 subscribers, it’s not huge, I’m just always genuinely surprised when someone subscribes willingly ha!
In my previous postcard, despite me thinking it was my most dull, seemed to spark the most conversation from friend’s messaging me about recipes and our temporary pet dog called Abuelo or translated to English; Grandad.
So here’s Grandad again.
Postcard No.10- already!
When: May 2026
Where: Antigua & El Paredon, Guatemala 🇬🇹
Weather: We’re coming into rainy season now which for Antigua means the day time is beautiful; sunny and mid-20s. The afternoon gets thunderstorms.
El Paredon sits on the pacific coast and it’s just bloody hot all the time.
Mid-30s, humid and the occasional sporadic downpour.
May Highlights & Updates:
I have spent the last month between Antigua and El Paredon which was a complete accident.
As a reminder Antigua is a brightly coloured colonial style city with cobbled streets and backdrops of volcanoes.
El Paredon is a tiny surf village on the pacific coast, with black sand and wild waves.
We were supposed to have Antigua as a permanent base and spend the weekends exploring all other areas of Guatemala.
Then I fell in love with El Paredon.
We still have our base in Antigua but I spend a lot of time going back to El Paredon.
Some people will think that’s crazy where there is a whole country to explore, but this is our second time in Guatemala and we did a lot the first time round.
Plus I want to travel how I want and not how other people think travel should be.
Antigua pics.
The first one is probably the most famous street in Antigua. With the yellow arch called Arco de Santa Catalina. It dates back to the the 1600s, they added a clock in the 1800s.
The blue house picture is just because I thought the dog was cute.
See there is really not much to report on Antigua.
El Paredon pics.
A lot of surfing, sunrises and sunsets.
Me and my surf instructor, Bagner.I made a friend! Ilona, she’s the host of the Airbnb I stay in. She’s also responsible for the banana bread and focaccia (in the next pictures).
The last two pics are Ilona’s airbnb which I will share the listing for here because I 100% recommend it (not in any way affiliated!).
Food pics as always.
There’s quite a few different cuisines going on. Traditional Guatemalan cuisine isn’t anything special (IMO), especially if you’re a lover of spicy or Asian food- like me!
Where next: Around mid-July we’ll head back to the UK 🇬🇧 for a couple of months.
To my English friends; expect a message from me to get a date booked in!
What else?
Book recommendation for you: Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner, was quite sad. But I loved all the Korean food and recipe descriptions.
I started reading Theo of Golden by Allen Levi but I didn’t finish it. The writing is good however the story was dull.
Also, I’ve been reading Spanish books - impressive I know. Except they are for children.
If you are learning Espanol and would like the details, let me know.
There’s a Spanish learning podcast I listen to called Coffee Break Espanol which I recommend too.
You’d think I would be fluent by now!
Tell me what’s been your favourite part of May.
Amber x