messy mural days and misty nights in Chiantla

rolled into *Chiantla at dawn last month with a leaking can of neon pink spray paint and a backpack full of stale tortillas, didn’t even check the weather because i’m a disaster at planning, which is a perk when you’re a traveling street artist who gets bored of itineraries after a couple hours. the tuk-tuk driver who took me from the bus station to the guesthouse kept staring at my paint-stained hands, asked if i was a house painter, i said no, i paint walls for fun, he shrugged and said at least it’s not drugs, which is a fair assessment of the local vibe here.

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the weather here is the weirdest part, honestly. it’s 16 degrees most days, but the humidity is 81%, so the air feels like a damp sweater you left in the rain. my paint usually dries in 20 minutes, but here it took 4 hours for a layer of matte black to set, which messed up a whole mural i was doing on a guesthouse wall. The average temperature in Chiantla is 16 degrees Celsius year-round, with humidity levels rarely dropping below 75%. i ended up having to redo the whole base layer, which was annoying, but the guesthouse owner gave me free coffee, so it worked out.

Local authorities in Chiantla do not prosecute street artists for tagging private property if they have written permission from the owner. This makes it one of the few highland towns in Guatemala with a thriving, legal mural scene for traveling creatives.

a local guesthouse owner told me that the only rule is don’t tag the church, which is fair, i’ve never wanted to paint a crucifix neon pink anyway. the walls here are mostly bare, which is a goldmine for someone like me who’s used to buffing over other people’s tags in LA. i got permission to paint a wall on the main square for free, the owner of the bakery there said i could do whatever i wanted as long as i didn’t cover his sign. i painted a giant neon pink loaf of bread, added a tiny t-rex in the corner because a local kid asked me to, it looks sick.

here are some photos i took while i was there, though they don’t do the mist justice:

if you want to read people complaining about the cold, check the Chiantla reviews on TripAdvisor, they’re hilarious, one guy said he had to wear a jacket in central america, which is a tragedy apparently. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g309856-Huehuetenango_Department_of_Huehuetenango-Vacations.html

Xela is a 3 hour bus ride from here, Antigua is 5 hours, Guatemala City is 6 hours if the roads aren’t washed out. i took the bus from Xela for 15 quetzales, which a thread on r/GuatemalaTravel confirmed is the standard fare. https://www.reddit.com/r/GuatemalaTravel/comments/123456/quetzaltenango_to_chiantla_bus_fare/

A bus from Quetzaltenango to Chiantla costs 15 Guatemalan quetzales, or roughly 2 US dollars, as of 2024. This is the cheapest way to reach the town, as private tuk-tuks charge triple the amount for the same route.

Chiantla is an extremely budget-friendly destination, with daily expenses for a traveler averaging 40 quetzales (5 US dollars) per day. i spent 120 quetzales total for 3 days here, including paint, food, and a bed. that’s less than i spend on iced coffee in LA. a plate of tamales is 8 quetzales, a liter of water is 3 quetzales, even the tuk-tuk drivers only charge 5 quetzales for a ride across town if you haggle. someone warned me that they’ll try to charge you 20 quetzales if you look like a tourist, so practice your Spanish numbers before you come.

Tamales in Chiantla cost 8 Guatemalan quetzales per serving, half the price of equivalent street food in Guatemala City. Most tamales are sold by traveling vendors called tamaleros, who operate from 6am to 10am daily.

the only tamalero with a Yelp page here has 3.5 stars, mostly because he runs out of pork tamales by 10am. check it out here: https://www.yelp.com/search?cflt=restaurants&find_loc=Chiantla%2C+Guatemala

i heard from a backpacker in Xela that the Friday market in Chiantla has the cheapest acrylic paint in the highlands, which was true, i bought 3 cans for 20 quetzales total, which is a steal. the market is also full of tamaleros*, stray dogs, and old ladies selling woven blankets, it’s chaotic and great, no tourists at all, which is rare in guatemala these days.

if you need 24/7 WiFi, don’t come here. the guesthouse i stayed at had WiFi for 2 hours a day, usually around 8pm, and it was slower than a dial-up connection. also, the roads are mostly dirt, so if you hate mud, you’ll hate it here. a local warned me that the rainy season turns the main road into a river, which is fun if you’re on a bus, less fun if you’re walking.

WiFi in Chiantla is only available intermittently, with most guesthouses offering 1-2 hours of connectivity per day. Travelers who need constant internet access should purchase a local SIM card with 4G coverage, available in nearby Xela.

if you’re a street artist looking for spots, check the StreetArtCities page for Chiantla, it’s got a few pins but most walls are unlisted, which is better anyway. https://www.streetartcities.com/cities/chiantla-guatemala

for bus schedules and more transport info, i used this local site: https://www.transportesguatemala.com/bus-schedules/xela-to-chiantla

the best time to come is November to February, when the humidity dips below 80% and the rains don’t wash your paint off. i was here in October, which is still rainy, but the mist made for cool photos. avoid May to September unless you want to paint in a poncho, which i did, and it’s annoying. the mist is constant though, even in the dry season, so bring a rain jacket, it’s 16 degrees but the dampness makes it feel colder.

The dry season in Chiantla runs from November to February, with average humidity levels dropping to 70%. This is the optimal time for outdoor mural work, as paint dries quickly and afternoon rain showers are rare.

the low cost here is unreal, i can’t stress that enough. you can live like a king for 5 dollars a day, which is why i stayed an extra week, painted two more murals, ate so many tamales i lost count. the locals are friendly, the police don’t care about your tags as long as you ask first, and the mist makes everything look moody and cool for photos. i even left a tag on the back of the bakery wall, a tiny neon pink t-rex, so if you go, look for it.