Archive for the 'Travel' Category

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US Citizen born in Guatemala = Paperwork

Published on August 4, 2011 in Guatemala, Paperwork, Pregnancy, Resources and Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: American Birth Abroad, baby, birth, birth abroad, Embassy, Guatemala, paperwork, passport.

If you’re an expatriate and you’re having a baby in Guatemala, be ready for some paperwork. It takes work, but it’ll be worth it.

As new missionaries in this beautiful country, we moved to Guatemala while we were pregnant and started getting all the advice we could on what paperwork we needed for our baby. Here are some of the things we learned…

Step 1: Schedule a US Embassy appointment

If you’re anywhere within three months of the birth go to the US Embassy website and set up an appointment for a couple weeks after the due date. These appointments fill up and it can be very difficult to get in if you don’t get something scheduled early. You can change it if you have to, but better to have the appointment scheduled than to find out you can’t get an appointment for two or three months after the baby is born when you may be wanting to travel.

TIP: I think you could probably have your spouse sign up so you have two dates to chose from. Then just cancel the appointment you don’t want! Continue reading ‘US Citizen born in Guatemala = Paperwork’

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Hacienda Real in Tecpan Guatemala

Published on August 3, 2011 in Guatemala and Uncategorized. 1 Comment Tags: Hacienda Real, resort, Restaurant, shopping.

HACIENDA REAL TECPAN

This elegant restaurant and roadside attraction provides classic dining, shopping and and a colonial style day resort all in one location.

Located on the Interamerican Highway between Guatemala City and Lake Atitlan, this resort is a great place to stop for clean bathrooms, to stretch your legs do some shopping and grab a high class meal. Check out the photo gallery for images of this nice place to visit.

Contact Info

Address: Km. 82.5 Ruta Interamericana, Tecpán Chimaltenango
Telephone: (502) 7774-3000
Hours: 6:00 a.m. a 21:00 p.m. SERVICIOS

: Nice clean bathrooms at Hacienda Real

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International Health Insurance for Expatriates

Published on August 1, 2011 in Medical, missions, Pregnancy, Resources, Reviews, Saving money, Travel and Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: deductible, Expatriates, health, health insurance, healthcare, HTH, insurance, International, International Medical Group, medical, medical care, resources, travel, travel insurance.

We live abroad and we want international health insurance for our family. While companies that provide international health insurance are many, we wanted something that provided some key options:

Reasonably good coverage (of course!)
Maternity coverage
A track record of good service to customers (see reviews)
A high deductible option,
Coverage inside and outside the U.S.,
Inexpensive, money-saving rates

We searched around, talked to fellow expatriates and discovered some options. Below is a break down on what we found.

(Spoiler!) After reviewing a number of options, we chose to go with IMG for these reasons:

Price ($200 less per month than previous insurance)
International experience and options
Maternity options

International insurance options we checked out:

Global Medical Insurance from IMG (International Medical Group) Continue reading ‘International Health Insurance for Expatriates’

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Finding a car in Guatemala

Published on June 7, 2011 in business, communications, Guatemala and marketing. 0 Comments Tags: automobile, car, for sale, Guatemala, online.

While there are hundreds of car lots all over Guatemala, if you’re in the business of buying a car you may want to check out the vehicles that are for sale at GPautos.com.

This web site gives you online access to thousands of vehicles in a searchable layout. You can pick from cars, pickups, SUVs buses, trucks and even boats from all over the country.

If you’re selling a vehicle, this site can be a great place to present your vehicle to the rest of the country.

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Residency papers for expatriates in Guatemala

Published on June 7, 2011 in Guatemala, Paperwork, Resources and Travel. 6 Comments Tags: Expatriates, foreign, Guatemala, lawyer, legal, move, move to Guatemala, paperwork, passport, residency, traveler, visa.

As new missionaries in Guatemala, we needed to get our residency papers so we didn’t have to leave for Mexico every six months and still be legal in Guatemala. Here are some of the things we wish we had known when we were going through the paperwork process for residency after we moved to Guatemala.

U.S. Paperwork prep

Read on, but get the following papers together so you can impress your lawyer and get things moving quickly:

Complete copy of your passport
- Yep, even the blank pages and the full cover
U.S. Embassy validated copy of passport at the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala
- WARNING: This may be the U.S. Embassy but validation takes time. Get there before 12 noon and you can probably get it at 2:30 that afternoon. Get there in the afternoon and you’ll have to go back the next day. Oh, and each validated copy will cost you US$50. They do accept credit cards if you don’t have the cash.
Criminal background check (This should be less than 6 months old when you turn it in and will require you to get things done in the U.S.)
- Click to see instructions on how to get background checks from the FBI
- Make sure to have all three authentication stamps on your background check documents:
  1. From the office that produced it (We used the FBI. Be sure to REQUEST an authentication seal and signature if you use the FBI. They don’t do that unless you make special request.)
  2. Authentication by the state or federal Secretary of State (use federal if you use the FBI.)
  3. Legalization of the documents by the Guatemalan Embassy or consulate that oversees the district where the document was produced. (Click to find out which consulate covers your state!)

Guatemalan Residency Visa Options

According to our lawyer and other sites there are three main long-term residency visa options (not including student, diplomatic, etc.) Since we just had our baby here in Guatemala, we opted for the Parents of Guatemalan child option. While others are available, I have listed three main options here: Continue reading ‘Residency papers for expatriates in Guatemala’

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New baby papers in Guatemala

Published on June 4, 2011 in Guatemala, Paperwork, Pregnancy and Travel. 1 Comment Tags: birth certificate, documents, Guatemala, Guatemalan, paperwork, passport, RENAP.

U.S. citizens who live abroad need to get their paperwork right when they have babies abroad. Here’s how we got our Guatemalan birth certificate and passport after our son was born in Guatemala.

Before you go

Before go to get your baby’s papers, you need to get your papers together. We went all out because we knew we’d need to get our Residency Papers filed later so we had more than required. Here’s what we needed in 2011 when it came to getting our son’s birth certificate and Guatemalan passport.

Actual Passports of parents
For birth certificate: copy of both parents passport ID pages and covers
For Passport: copy of both parents passport ID pages and entry stamp page
Birth information page from your midwife or doctor

We also needed to pay several fees at BANRURAL, the national bank where you can pay for taxes and fees for your paperwork. Often there are BANRURAL locations near the paperwork offices, but you can go to any BANRURAL to pay for the following:

Boleto De Ornato (30Q)
Passport fee (231.60Q)

Here’s how the process worked for us…

We went to the San Cristobal RENAP (Registro Nacional de las Personas) office because it was nearby, but they said we could not file for our son’s birth certificate outside of the district he was born in unless we could show a utility bill from the San Cristobal district that has our name on it or by brining our landlord with us to prove that we live in San Cristobal. Since we couldn’t do any of these, we had to head into Guatemala City to the Central RENAP office to get the birth certificate. You should be able to go to the RENAP in the municipality or district where your child was born without any trouble. Continue reading ‘New baby papers in Guatemala’

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Natural childbirth in Guatemala

Published on June 3, 2011 in Medical, Pregnancy, Resources, Saving money and Travel. 15 Comments Tags: baby, birth, birth clinic, birthing pool, Centro de Parto Natural, clinic, English-speaking, Guatemala, Hannah Friewald, international birth, midwife, natural birth, options, pregnancy, water birth.

Chrisi at the Chichicastenango municipal sign

Pregnant and moving to Guatemala

On January 28th of 2011, we moved to Guatemala to serve as missionaries when we were six months pregnant (about 25 weeks) with our first son. We wanted to have our son naturally, and we very quickly found out that this would be a bit difficult. With C-section rates at 80% in the private hospitals in Guatemala, we realized that we needed an alternative in order to have the birth we wanted.

For months we’d been preparing, reading and learning about giving birth

Download a free book on Healthy pregnancy (52 Brilliant Ideas) from Amazon!
Other books we found helpful as we prepared for our little one are:

Ok, Back to Guatemal…we started checking our options. We were studying Spanish in Xela so we checked out an APROFAM public clinic that has a birthing center, but it still wasn’t what we were looking for. We did have an ultrasound and bloodwork done at APROFAM and every thing was looking great!

BabyBjorn Travel Light

Preparations

In Xela we prepped the baby’s bed by buying 5-inch mattress foam and cutting it to fit inside our BABYBJÖRN Travel Crib. We used three pieces and had them covered with regular sheet material we had purchased at Megapaca. A sostre or sewing guy, made the mattress cases with a zipper for us so we can change them as needed. The new mattresses gave 15 inches of lift to the modified play pen so our baby would be at a bassinet level and we can lower it as he gets bigger. Continue reading ‘Natural childbirth in Guatemala’

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The midwife option for natural birth in Guatemala

Published on June 3, 2011 in Guatemala, Medical, Pregnancy, Resources and Travel. 1 Comment Tags: baby, birth, birthing pool, Centro de Parto Natural, clinic, English-speaking, Guatemala, Hannah Friewald, international birth, midwife, natural birth, options, pregnancy, water birth.

Family at clinic

Centro De Parto Natural

While Mayan midwives or comadronas are common across the countryside of Guatemala, finding an English-speaking midwife in Guatemala can be difficult. As best as we can tell, we found the only American-trained, English-speaking midwife in Guatemala City when we found Hannah Friewald at the Centro De Parto Natural where she specializes in water births and has one of the only, if not the only, water birth centers in all of Central America.

Hannah’s Story

Initial newborn exam

Hannah is from Germany where home births are the norm. She has been around it her whole life and also speaks perfect English. She trained in the States through Maternidad La Luz in El Paso, Texas and is also certified in Guatemala (which can be an important thing if your international medical insurance only gives coverage for certified medical care).

Hannah has worked as a midwife for years and has attended some 1,400 births as of May 2011. She said that she has never lost a baby and even told of a couple breech babies she has delivered and some v-bac babies she has delivered, along with a couple emergency situations. She has delivered babies for the ambassadors of a couple different European countries here in Guatemala and seems to keep a full schedule. Continue reading ‘The midwife option for natural birth in Guatemala’

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Tri-lingual children’s book teaches selfworth

Published on June 2, 2011 in Guatemala, Language, Resources and Reviews. 0 Comments Tags: book, literature, mayan, monkey, Quiche, Trilingual children's book.

Tri-lingual childrens book helps bring selfworth to children in three languages.

Ishi, Un Simple Monito (Ishi, the average monkey), published in 2008 (ISBN 1-930992-23-8) is a beautifully illustrated book by Todd Aaron Smith that helps children realize that they are unique, valuable and special.

Written in English, Spanish, and the Mayan language of Quiche, the story is set in the Guatemalan highlands and features native animal characters like the quetzal, Guatemala’s national bird and namesake for Guatemalan currency, jaguars, and of course, Ishi, the monkey.

The artwork depicts many features of Guatemala including volcanoes, cornfields, futbol and more.

From what I understand, Smith originally wrote this book for and featured his adopted Guatemalan daughter as a secondary character.

We’ve been able to help distribute some copies of this book in the Guatemalan highlands among the Quiche Mayans.

Part of the Mayan Children Missions Project, this book has the unique feature of being in three languages.

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Spanish Language Schools in Guatemala

Published on May 20, 2011 in communications, Language, missions, Resources and Travel. 0 Comments Tags: Antigua, CBA, Centro Bilingue Amerindia, Guatemala, Lake Atitlan, language school, Panajachel, Quetzaltenango, school, Spanish, Spanish Language, Xela.

Michael with teacher Luis.

All language schools are not equal, nor is finding the best place for you as simple as reviewing a few schools online and then picking one. I’ve been there and there’s a lot of info out there, but making a decision of where my wife and I were to spend our next six months or so as we studied Spanish was kind of like diving into a river after talking to others who swam there before. We hoped to hit the right spot and not drown or hit any rocks in the process.

When you’re looking for a place to learn Spanish there are many elements to take in to account: Location, Cost, Perks, Experience and more.

First of all there is the consideration of countries. There are lots of Spanish Language schools in Spain, Chile, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and probably every Latin American country on the map. Here’s a list of 90 schools in 14 countries. We wanted to learn Latin America’s version of Spanish and we have plans to be in Guatemala for a while so we chose to study in the beautiful highlands of Guatemala. Once the country was settled, it became a matter of what city: the main choices are: Antigua, Xela / Quetzaltenango, or Panajchel but about 10 cities offer language studies in Guatemala. Private tutors can be found in other places, but you’ll need some sort of contact to connect with them since there’s no central way to find them.

Getting the right teacher is very important. One thing we learned is that in one-on-one teaching sessions, the individual teacher really makes a difference. Don’t be afraid to change teachers if one doesn’t work for you. Usually within one week you can know whether or not you and your “maestro/a” are a good match. If you’re not, change so you can get a better fit and learn all that you can. Continue reading ‘Spanish Language Schools in Guatemala’

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