FORMALITIES

There are few: valid passport for 6 months.
Its' not necessary visa for the majority of the Europeans. Nevertheless, we advise you to inquire with the embassy or the Guatemalan consulate of your country.

Before your departure, make photocopies of the important pages of your passport.

Embassies of Guatemala in the world

MONEY - CREDIT CARDS      

THE EURO is not accepted in banks.

The quetzal is the currency of Guatemala. It is divided into 100 cents.

For 1 dollar you will receive approximately 7.80 qtz.

Change? Click here

Take traveller checks in dollars (in $100 cuts maximum).
Think of noting the numbers of checks on a separate document and the number of your credit card.

There are many cash machines throughout the country.

Exchange in banks:
Generally, we can change maximum only $200 US / person / day / bank.
The money in cash is more easily accepted in the banks than the checks.

MEDICINES - VACCINATION

There are no real problems for the traveller. Nevertheless there are minimum precautions: be inoculated against the tetanus, the hepatitis A (and advised B) and the yellow fever (valid 10 years).
No vaccine is compulsory.

In jungle, you meet mosquitoes (especially during rainy season - June in November). However, Guatemala is not a zone at strong risk of malaria. It is an infectious illness caused by a parasite (plasmodium), which is passed on by the sting of a very specific mosquito. This one is active only during the hours included between the sunset and the dawn.

Update your pharmacy since your last scout camp. Take imodium, motilium, ercéfuril, and all the fashionable remedies against the turista and the intestinal problems.

Pharmacies, in Guatemala, are numerous and well enough supplied. Prescription is not needed to get itself an antibiotic.

You find very good hospitals in the capital. One of the best is:
The Herrera Llerandi hospital: 6 avenue. 8-71, Z10 such: 334 59 59.

WEATHER

Guatemala is the country of eternal spring. The average temperature is 20 degrees Celsius. The rainiest months are normally in June and September. It does not mean that it rain every day nor all day long. The advantage of rainy season is that the nature is super green.

In the Caribbean Region, in Rio Dulce, in Tikal, it is warm and wet (20°C in 35 °C). In rainy season, the humidity reaches 80-100 %.

In Antigua, in Guatemala-City, in Atitlan, and in the region of Huehuetenango, the temperature is very pleasant the day (20°C in 25°C), the evenings sometimes a little fresh (10°C.)

Spanish is the national language. English is little spoken.
If you speak and understand Spanish, your journey will be more interesting.
In Guatemala, it is spoken too : quiché, mam, cakchiquel, tzutuhil, kekchí, pokoman, kanjobá, chuj, chortí and many others.

Do you need a translator ? Click here

In the winter, the difference are less 7 hours with Europe. In the summer, the difference are less 8 hours.

In your country, your biologic clock adapts itself with day, with the night and with your hours of meal. But when you are abroad, the schedule is quite different.

When you will travel westward (to Guatemala):
During the flight, you go to follow the sun, thus the duration of day is going to increase and your body will adapt itself more easily.

Councils to be followed during the flights :
1) Try to sleep not to increase the lack of sleep.
2) To drink a lot of water, it avoids the accumulation of fatigue.
3) Stretch and move.

The gap (called also jet lag) feels the effects the first 2-3 days after your arrival on the American continent. You will tend to wake up at about 4 and 5 o'clock in the morning...

Of return towards Europe, the gap will be more difficult to assimilate.

HOTELS