A Bougie Dirtbag Trip to Guatemala & Belize
Every August for the last 26 years, I've celebrated my birthday by doing something new (and usually, very epic). Last year I spent almost a month in Africa, summiting Kilimanjaro, doing a private photography safari in Maasai Mara, and relaxing at an overwater bungalow in Zanzibar.
This year I was torn between doing another hike and doing absolutely nothing on a beach. I dragged my feet for months, before doing what I already kind of knew I was going to do all along: I committed to both, just a few weeks before departure.
I ended up in Central America in the middle of rainy season, where I slogged uphill for what felt like forever up Acatenango in Guatemala. Then I headed off to Belize to lounge around at a private island resort for four nights. It was the ultimate Bougie Dirtbag experience: half hiking, half luxurious rest (and spoiler alert, I may be leading a group of travelers back there soon! Sign up for the newsletter to be the first to know when that trip launches).
I'll dig into all the details of the Acatenango hike and give a full review of Thatch Caye in the coming weeks. But for now, here's an overview of the full Bougie Dirtbag trip, along with an answer to the #1 question I hear when I take these types of trips, and where this whole experience fits on the Bougie Dirtbag scale.
Trip Overview: Lake Atitlán → Antigua → Acatenango → Thatch Caye
As with any Bougie Dirtbag trip, I always start by doing the hard part first, then indulging in luxurious, lavish rest and recovery afterwards. For this itinerary that meant doing the two-day Acatenango hike (also timed to wake up on a volcano on my birthday), then jetting off to Thatch Caye in Belize.
Since I was coming from sea level to hike a 13k+ feet volcano, I spent my first few days in Guatemala working and acclimatizing in Lake Atitlán, which sits at about 5k feet. From there we traveled to Antigua to stay the night and start the hike the next day, then stayed another two nights at a finca up in the mountains (with an unreal view of Fuego erupting every 10mins, btw) before flying to Belize. To be completely honest, I chose Belize out of complete ignorance. I'd never been, but I knew they had nice beaches. When I pulled up a map and saw that Belize was geographically “right there,” I assumed that made the most logistical, and financial sense. Maybe it did, maybe it didn't. I'm not one to argue my own logistics two weeks before departure.
It was low season, so flights were limited and the route from Guatemala City to Belize City was not the straight line it looks like it should be on a map. We had to stay an extra night in Antigua (which, honestly no complaints here), then fly from Guatemela City to Panama City at 4:25am, then on to Belize City. Then we hopped on another flight to Dangriga, had a car take us to the boat dock, and hopped on a boat to Thatch Caye.
Luckily all of the travel went super smoothly, and we made it from our mountainside studio to our premium overwater bungalow in 14 hours—a bit tired, but with zero friction.
I'm always willing to sacrifice long travel days for an epic experience, so this was 100% worth it. Plus, when you're showing up to an all-inclusive (but not that kind of all-inclusive) private island resort where the only thing you really have to do once you get there is relax, the effort to get there becomes irrelevant.
How to Pack For One Trip With Two Totally Different Climates
When I told people about this trip, you'd think they'd ask me about the active volcano I had front-row seats to, or the private island MICHELIN Key resort I stayed at. But every time I do a trip like this, one of the most common questions I get is “how do you pack for a trip like that?"
I guess because do this all the time, I've never really found this to be much of a challenge.
I’ve packed for a single trip where I did a culinary tour through Morocco and a photography workshop around Lofoten, Norway. I've packed for three months of traveling through European cities and mountains in winter, and I've packed for five months of backpacking through the beaches, rain forests, and high-altitude deserts of South America. I've packed for a month in East Africa, including an 8-day trek up Kilimanjaro, a 5-day photography safari, and a week in an overwater bungalow. If you plan with intention and focus on function over fashion (and layers!), you'll likely find that many pieces in your bag will have a lot of overlap. You only need a few specialized items.
What made packing for this particular trip super easy was that I booked the hike through Wicho & Charlie’s, and they handle all of the gear rentals—backpacks, hats, coats, layers, hiking poles, food, etc. Any gear I did bring fit in my carry-on, along with a couple bathing suits, a dress, a pair of shorts, and a sun shirt. A lot of my stuff works for both locations, like sunblock, sunglasses, a mid layer, a rain jacket, and dry bags. On travel days, I re-wore the same layered travel outfit, which included my bulky hiking boots (loosely tied of course, I'm not a masochist). But let's be honest, I could pack for a beach vacay without even bringing a bag if I had to. Besides toiletries, all I really need is something to swim in, and something to cover up with.
Overall Bougie Dirtbag Trip Rating
Bougie Rating: 💅💅💅💅
Dirtbag Rating: 🥾🥾🥾
This trip overall gets a 4/5 on the Bougie scale, and a 3/5 for the Dirtbag rating.
Bougie because we hired private drivers to take us around Guatemala, all of our hiking gear was provided, we slept in hard-sided cabins at base camp, and of course, because we stayed in an overwater bungalow at a private island resort in Belize. The reason it didn't get a full 5/5 on the bougie scale is because there was still a gnarly hike involved, with a night of "camping" on a volcano. Also, Thatch Caye is an eco-resort, and may be a little more rustic than what a luxury traveler may expect. Personally I found it to be the perfect blend of comfort, delicious food, and genuinely warm hospitality. I looked forward to mealtime every day, and spent a good amount of time hanging out with the people who work there.
The dirtbag rating only gets a 3/5 because while the hike is definitely relentlessly steep and challenging (aka maybe not great for a total beginner), it's also relatively short and only involves one overnight. We hiked up to base camp in about 5 hours, and as I always say, "I can do anything for five hours." There were plenty of stops, food was provided, and we started the hike at 10am, making it back by around noon the next day. Even though we shared cabins with other people (and those can definitely smell), all of our sleeping gear was waiting for us along with a hot meal at base camp. Also, my own travel logistics leaned slightly dirtbaggy, but that's largely due to my own last-minute planning.
I'll share more about each leg of this trip in my next two posts—first getting into the details (and photos) of the hike up Acatenango, then all about my luxuriously indulgent stay at Thatch Caye.
Stay tuned!
