Issue #199: A Recap of My 10-Day Trip to Guatemala and a Local's Guide to Antigua

Plus, 3 brilliant things I packed.

📺 “Call Her Alex” on Hulu: While I cycle in and out of phases of listening to the podcast “Call Her Daddy,” I’m fascinated by its super-successful host, Alex Cooper, and her unmatchable work ethic, captured in this new two-part documentary on Hulu that covers her foray into live shows and the effort that goes into creating an “effortless” multimedia company; as well as the sexual harassment she endured from her soccer coach while a student at Boston University.

📚 Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro: For readers who enjoyed I Who Have Never Known Men, this novel unfolds in a similar pace, with the narrator (Kathy) offering a retrospective account of her time living in a dystopian version of 1990s England, where she has been raised in a mysterious school and slowly uncovers the dark truth about her existence as a “carer” and “donor.” Though it came out twenty years ago (I came across it through the 20th anniversary edition), I went into it knowing very little and flew through it. I was thrilled to learn there’s a movie adaptation with a great cast!

🎥 ‘The Materialists’ in theaters: Filmmaker Celine Song’s sophomore movie, following ‘Past Lives,’ tracks another love triangle; this time between Lucy, an elite New York matchmaker (played by Dakota Johnson), a wealthy, eligible “unicorn” (Pedro Pascal), and Lucy’s ex-boyfriend, a cater-waiter (Chris Evans). And of course, this being a Song film, it delves into deeper themes around love (remember inyeon?) to explore prehistoric notions of love and wealth. But also… can we talk about the ending??

P.S. In case you missed it, book is out in paperback with a gorgeous new cover!

My earliest memories of Guatemala, which I’ve visited every year of my life, are of adventure: I’m riding in the back of a pickup truck at my family’s dairy farm, swimming in the turquoise pools of Semuc Champey and exploring its surrounding river-carved caves, zipping around the interior courtyard of my grandmother’s house on a Razor scooter, my cousin’s green parrot, Loli, riding the bar above the brake pedal like a perch, cradling a tarantula in my palms in Tikal. When my grandmother died my senior year of high school, in the same home in which she (and her mother, and her mother’s mother) was born, my appreciation for my own mother’s home deepened into a reverence I feel every time I visit.

With my mom at my baptism, posing with a rhinoceros beetle, and with my grandmother at our dairy farm

To this day, there are few places I would rather visit, given the option. Guatemala is nothing short of magical. On this trip, Fuego, one of the volcanoes that looms over the colorful town of Antigua, popped off plumes of smoke as I followed my uncle and his wife through their coffee farm. Over the next few days, I swam in the midst of a thunderstorm, ate lobsters between dips in the Caribbean Sea, and learned that there’s a type of honeysuckle used in traditional Mayan textiles that yields a different shade of blue depending on the lunar phase it’s harvested in (dark blue during the full moon, and light blue when the moon is a crescent). See what I’m saying?? Magic.

Each time a friend asks for recommendations, I’m hard-pressed to offer a clear response. After all, there is so much to see and, honestly, my favorite restaurant is my uncle’s house; my favorite place to visit is his wife’s family’s home on Lake Atitlán. It feels so sacred that I rarely share photos of my trips there, but I’ve collected my favorite photos from a recent ten-day trip, with a recap that includes:

• The part of Guatemala few tourists make it to, but is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been

• A local’s guide to Antigua, with my cousin’s must-visit recs including textile-making classes (!) and a downloadable map

• Plenty of photos from my trip

• The three best things I packed, including an excellent one-piece and the expensive-but-worth-it tech I use for sleep when traveling