Who writes this, and why.

The writer.

An expat based in Zona 14. Years on the ground, not months. The qualification here isn't a journalism degree; it's enough time in Guate at altitude with a smoking volcano on the horizon to know the difference between a real safety concern and a traveler repeating something they read on Reddit.

This site started as notes-to-self — where I'd actually send a friend flying in — and grew into a desk. The tone stays personal. The content stays honest.

What this site is.

A standing field brief on Guatemala City, updated when the ground shifts. Not a top-10 list, not a food blog, not content-farm slop. The homepage is the brief. The Briefing is where longer dispatches land when they're worth the space.

What this site isn't.

• Not sponsored. No hotel, restaurant, or tour operator has paid for placement here. Recommendations are what I'd actually say to a friend.
• Not AI slop. A human wrote every sentence. LLMs are useful for editing — they don't do the work of noticing which block flipped between January and March.
• Not a travelogue. No breakfast photos, no hostel diaries, no "I got lost in the centro" stories. This is a brief.
• Not comprehensive. Guatemala City has museums, restaurants, night scenes a dozen sites catalog already. This site covers where to stay and what to know. That's the scope.

How the map works.

The Stay22 embeds aggregate live inventory from Airbnb, Booking, Vrbo, and Hotels.com. If you book through them, this site earns a small commission at no extra cost to you — that's how the lights stay on. The editorial and the affiliate layers are independent. The neighborhoods listed on the homepage are the ones I'd name to a friend texting from the airport, regardless of any affiliate link attached.

Corrections & tips.

If I got something wrong or a block has shifted — tell me. This site improves with local corrections.