March 31, 2026: Welcome to our March cocktail hour. Let’s have some traditional Guatemalan beverages such as Gallo beer, Ron Zacapa Centenario rum, or “Rosa de Jamaica.” We can finally venture out to our sprawling balcony as the dry season has finally arrived! Maybe we’ll be lucky enough to see Volcán Arenal or the Worm Moon. You can even come along vicariously on our trip to Guatemala and Belize where we explored colorful Guatemalan culture and Mayan ruins. Sunset is is now at around 5:50 every night and, hopefully, we can enjoy some magnificent painterly skies at sunset.
I have a variety of soda, seltzer water, or limonada con soda or horchata for those of you who don’t drink. Mike can also whip up some excellent smoothies. Thanks for joining us in our escape into a peaceful corner of the world.
March marked our tenth month in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Now that the month is over, we have two remaining months here. I’m looking forward to one more visit to Nicaragua to see the family and then returning home for June and July to see the family in Virginia and take care of some business. I hope the chaos in the world won’t ruin our hoped-for trip to Scandinavia (August-October). We’ll return to our pariah country for another two months to *VOTE* (!) and to spend the holidays with the family.
A trip to Guatemala & Belize
We drove to San José on March 3 and flew to Guatemala from March 4-18, with 2 nights in Belize (March 14-16). We loved the colorful Mayan culture found in Guatemala, but traveling there was cumbersome and a bit grueling at times. We needed a lot of rest after our trip! I was happy to add two more countries to my list; I’ve now visited or lived in 43 countries.
A long grueling drive to San José
On Tuesday, March 3, we drove a grueling 4 hours to San José where we spent the night at Hotel Aeropuerto; they allow us to leave our car there (for $10/night) if we stay either the night before or the night after a trip. I hope that will be the last time we have to drive to San José. We sat by the pool and read, and later enjoyed beers and ate a Mexican dinner at the on-site Cactus Beer Garden. The next day, we flew from San José to Guatemala City.
Antigua, Guatemala
In Antigua, we were bowled over by the celebrations, unfurling purples, and alfombras de aserrín (sawdust carpets) of Cuaresma (Lent). We met my nephew Seth who would climb Volcán de Acatenango the following two days, and just as we met him, we witnessed the death of a baby right in front of us at Al Tueste Coffee House. We popped into churches, as well as ruins of convents and monasteries destroyed ultimately by the 1773 earthquake; this catastrophic event led to the capital being moved to Guatemala City. We wandered through the colorful Mercado Local and the Mercado de Artesanías, where I bought a couple of Guatemalan tops and pants. We stopped for drinks each afternoon at Red Zebra with its mellow music and vibe. Finally, we sampled authentic Mayan cuisine at Itzam.
Lake Atitlán, Guatemala
Around Lago de Atitlán, we went from our Airbnb base in Panajachel to the Sunday market and the colorful town cemetery in Chichicastenango, where colorful tombstones and mausoleums encourage Guatemalans to accept the inevitability of death. We zipped across the lake in lanchas (water taxis) to various towns around the lake: San Pedro la Laguna (the hippie backpacker town), San Juan la Laguna (the Tz’utujil town filled with colorful Mayan-themed murals), and San Marcos la Laguna (the “spiritual nurturing” town). We took a tuk-tuk to Santa Catarina Palopó where houses are painted in blues and greens with Mayan symbols. We ate several times at Lena’s Atlantis Restaurant decorated with colorful Mexican perforated banners called papel picado, representing the fragility of life and the element of wind.
Flores & the Mayan ruins of Tikal in Guatemala
We arrived early to Flores after a short flight from Guatemala City and spent our first day exploring the colorful island town, visiting the Cristo Negro (Black Christ) at Catedral Nuestra Señora de Los Remedios y San Pablo Itzá, taking a boat ride on Lake Petén Itzá, eating delicious lunch and dinner at Nativo, and soaking in the hotel pool. Our second day, we took a shuttle 1 1/2 hours north of town to Tikal Ruins and National Park, where we spent nearly 5 hours and close to 19,000 steps traipsing through the huge site in hot and humid tropical jungle. We learned all about the Mayan city, once the capital of what became one of the most powerful kingdoms of the ancient Maya, reaching its heights during the Classic Period, c. 200-900 AD. When we were able to relax after our exhausting day, we had fun watching little boats and a small ferry putter back and forth across the lake as if in some video game.
San Ignacio and the Mayan sites of Xunantunich and Cahal Pech in Belize
We took an early shuttle from Flores across the Belize border and onward to San Ignacio, Belize. Our first day, we wandered through the town’s Saturday market; visited an iguana project, where we were able to pet and hold the iguanas; ate lunch at San Ignacio Resort Hotel; hung out by the pool at Maya Mountain Lodge; and ate a delicious dinner there at Fiona’s. On our second day, we visited the Mayan sites of Xunantunich and Cahal Pech, ate lunch at the wonderful Ko-ox-han-nah, and then relaxed in the afternoon at the hotel pool and ate another fabulous dinner at Fiona’s. We checked out at 11:00 on Monday but had to wait around by the pool for our 2:30 shuttle back across the Belize border to Flores, where we caught a flight at 8:45 p.m. back to Guatemala City.
Museum-going in Guatemala City, Guatemala
We had an afternoon in Guatemala City after a private driver brought us back from Panajachel to Guatemala City, where we would catch a flight early the next morning to Flores. On that afternoon, we visited the Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología where we saw hundreds of items collected from Mayan sites all over Guatemala, including Tikal. That night we ate dinner at Kyoto Restaurant, where we enjoyed sake, Sapporo and sushi. After we returned from Flores/Tikal and Belize, we spent another day exploring two museums on the beautiful campus of Universidad Francisco Marroquin: Museo Popol Vuh (museum with Mayan art and relics) and Museo Ixchel del Traje Indigena (cultural museum focusing on indigenous dress). We ate another dinner at Kyoto, and left early the next morning (5:30 a.m.) to fly back to San José.
Dining Out
Once we returned home from Guatemala, we went to Moya’s Place to listen to the debut of the band Deep Cover; we are acquainted with two of the members. I enjoyed a Pad Thai with shrimp while Mike had a Fajita Bowl with chicken. We also have on our Spring BINGO card to try three new restaurants before we leave Costa Rica, so we tried Dond’Liz, a restaurant in Tronadora that we discovered has a great lending library. I enjoyed my grilled tilapia with garlic sauce while Mike ate a hamburger. I picked up a book, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You I’m Sorry by Fredrik Backman, adding additional pressure on myself to finish all the books I brought from Virginia so I don’t have to haul them back home. After going there for the first time, we ended up going there twice in the same week, the second time just before we attended El Gran Tope de Tronadora. On Friday night we went out with Darrell and Farida to Casa Italia in Nuevo Arenal, where we had a wild night filled with laughter. 🙂
No Kings Day protest in Costa Rica
On Saturday, March 28, we met a group of about 75 like-minded folks to wave our NoKings signs and get photographed by phones and a drone. It’s always uplifting to find how many people throughout the world are against our current fascist administration. I was also encouraged by the turnout in over 3,000 locations in the U.S. and in other locations throughout the world.
El Gran Tope de Tronadora
On the 28th, we went to the festivities in Tronadora to celebrate the town’s 50th anniversary since it was rebuilt on higher land after the dam that created Lake Arenal forced the town to move. It was billed as the “Gran Tope de Tronadora (The Great Tronadora Horse Parade).” It seemed a bit chaotic and disorganized, but we enjoyed the crazy atmosphere.
Homebody stuff
We saw the moon the night before we drove to San José; the 4th was the night of the Full Worm Moon but we couldn’t see it from our hotel in San José. We played Scrabble four times, with each of us winning twice. Mike got the car washed so he can start putting feelers out to sell the car in May. I finished 4 books in March bringing my total to 14/48. I especially enjoyed My Friends by Hisham Matar and The Women I Think About At Night by Mia Kankimäki. We watched one fabulous movie, the Norwegian Affeksjonsverdi (Sentimental Value). We started watching a couple of new series or new seasons of old series: Finding Ola (located in Cairo) and Virgin River (S7). We finished watching Younger, Emily in Paris (S5), The Upshaws , and the fabulous Danish series Families Like Ours (Familier som vores). We continued watching Leanne, Ponies, Between Lands (Entre tierras), Ripple, Grantchester (S4), Shrinking, The Lincoln Lawer (S4), and The New Adventures of Old Christine.
Drives, walks and local explorations
On Sunday morning, March 1, we went for a breezy walk from Tronadora down Peninsula 1. It was a gorgeous day, and we met a lot of calves, horses, and friendly Costa Ricans along the way. The only other walk we did was a loop around Tronadora, where we saw some pretty spring flowers.
Finishing up My Winter BINGO card & a new Spring BINGO card
I wrapped up my Winter BINGO card and made up a new Spring BINGO card. I was finally happy to put away my 2025 bullet journal, which held my Winter BINGO card.
Finishing up my Winter BINGO card
I checked off a number of things on my Winter BINGO card in March, achieving 5 BINGOs:
- Got a pine green pedicure.
- Created a Winter playlist: Winter in Costa Rica
- Visited San Ignacio, Belize and Xunantunich
- Visited Antigua, Guatemala and Guatemala City
- Visited Flores & Tikal
- Visit Lago Atitlán and Chichicastenango in Guatemala
- Made the last of my “comfort foods”: Chili Mac
- Finished reading The Nickel Boys.
Beginning my Spring BINGO card
I completed a few things on my Spring BINGO card already:
- Went to El Gran Tope de Tronadora wearing a cowboy t-shirt
- Tried a new restaurant: Dond’Liz
- Finished The Women I Think About at Night: Traveling the Paths of My Heroes by Mia Kankimäki, My Friends by Hisham Matar, and On the River Styx and Other Stories by Peter Matthiessen (the last of which I absolutely hated).
Family Happenings
We got pictures of Allie at home and after drawing all over her face with markers. We also got to celebrate Alex’s 35th birthday vicariously as the family went out to a Mexican restaurant. We also got to see photos of Allie at her day care.
On my Costa Rica blog, you can find my weekly recaps of our lives in Costa Rica for the month of March:
- mike’s 72nd birthday week & a pj day with movies “marathon” {week 39/52}
- stray days in costa rica before & after guatemala {weeks 40-42/52}
- a festive dinner with long lost friends, NoKings day, & el gran tope de tronadora {week 43/52}
Here on this blog, you can find everything I’ve written so far about our trip to Guatemala & Belize.
- cuaresma in antigua, guatemala
- guatemala: lago de atitlán
- what i learned in flores, petén & the mayan ruins at tikal
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I hope you’ll share how the year is panning out for you, and what plans you have for the spring.
How did your March go? Did you have any special family gatherings? Have you welcomed any new additions to your family? Did you celebrate any birthdays or anniversaries? Have you read any good books that can inform your worldview, seen any good movies, binge-watched any television series? Have you planned any adventures or had any winter or holiday getaways? Have you dreamed any dreams? Have you gone to any exotic restaurants, cooked any new dishes? Have you been surprised by anything in life? Have you created a Spring Bingo Card or dream list? Have you made any new friends? Have you learned anything new, taken any classes or just kept up with the news? Have you sung along with any new songs? Have you undertaken any new exercise routines? Have you marched or otherwise participated in political protests? Have you been battered, or alternately, uplifted by any news?
Please share your March with me by giving me the plot below, or a link to a post in your blog that tells about your month.
~ wander.essence ~ 
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