Streets squares and districts to visit Guatemala

Flores is a city with steep alleys that, from the only circular road that circles the island, climb towards the highest point, which is the Municipal Park (or Parque de Flores). We will quickly make a tour of it, starting with Calle 15 de Septiembre, whose promenade (malecón) is very popular with the locals.

We cross the El Rosario street and then the Flores street, barely wider than the previous one despite its qualification as an avenue. Climbing towards the Municipal Park, it resounds daily with the cries of the children of the communal school installed in the street. In the evening, it transforms itself, like the other alleys, into a meeting place for the inhabitants of the city.

Surrounded by the town hall, the offices of Cincap and its small archaeological museum, the Nuestra Señora de los Remedios church and the communal basketball court, the Municipal Park, a real furnace during the day, becomes a particularly lively gathering place in the late afternoon and evening. Young people compete in friendly basketball matches, and the not-so-young ones come together to chat.

You can go down the Pasaje Progreso, a roughly paved alleyway, and join Calle Unión, then Calle 30 de Junio, which concentrates the vast majority of the island's hotel establishments. At the end of this street, we reach Calle Centro América with all kinds of shops.

Commissioned in 1935 by President Jorge Ubico, the Obelisco - or Monumento a los Próceres de la Independencia - is located in a small plaza that is the starting point of a 5 km round trip circuit that is particularly popular on weekends with city dwellers who like to run and walk fast. It is about going along the very green Avenida las Américas, through its statues and its park, to reach the Monumento a Juan Pablo II. From there, you can make a detour to the Plaza Berlín to have a nice view of the city and the Volcán de Pacaya.