We stay in Antigua when we have business to take care of. Business on vacation? Well sort of. I planned to live in Guatemala. I want an additional passport and citizenship. Why? I don’t really know. I read Simon Black the “Sovereign Man”. His plan B etc our minds seem to line up pretty close and he is politically right up my ally. So I want another passport. Oddly my husband’s father was born in Mexico and he is by law a Mexican Citizen. We did not have his citizenship recognized when his mother was alive and it would have been easier because until 1986 the United States Government did not allow dual citizenship. If you took on another countries citizenship your American Citizenship was eliminated. So Obama was not an American Citizen I don’t care where he was born he was adopted by Lolo Soetoro and became an Indonesian citizen prior to 1986. His mom eliminated his American citizenship, he had no choice in the matter. Obviously an irrelevant fact but a fact none the less.
Anyhoo my husband started life as Anthony Edward Esquerra Lopez when he started school in CA they took the first and last names and he became Anthony Lopez. His birth certificate has Anthony Edward Esquerra. We had to take his birth certificate and baptismal certificate to get his passport many moons ago. I don’t know IF he could get one today after 9/11/2001 things got more complicated. I tried for years after the US Gov started to allow dual citizenship, it isn’t so easy. As an aside we need to head to Tamaulipas MX to get his dad’s death certificate corrected and we should have it recognized soon. With the Carnivorous messing with my travel plans… My husband’s sister recently passed and her mom’s marriage license, which the Mexican Embassy will allow should be the final missing piece after decades of trying, was in her things.
I had tried that for years trips to Mexico City etc. Gave up decided it could not be done and started on Guatemala. Last year we stayed in Antigua a bit to get a new Visa page in our new American passports showing we have residency. I will detail that process elsewhere. We now have had residency for over five years and can apply for citizenship and a passport. The other problem was the bank. In order to maintain our residency while we are not actually living there, the rules say we can not be out of the country for over a year without good reason. So with the move (Oregon to New Mexico) with two boys 6 chickens, 6 horses, 2 dogs and a cat, not to mention one boy is in a power wheelchair so it is complicated. He also has had a couple surgeries during this time period which is a GOOD reason for Guatemalans. I just don’t want to have to finagle through that process with my lousy Spanish!
If you have income outside of Guatemala $1000 per month for one person and $200 for an additional person can be rents, social security, investment income etc, you can get permanent residency. The application fee is $0. I paid $10 per page for the apostilles and like $50 to have my American Passport authenticated at the American Embassy. I also had to pay for a letter of financial responsibility for my husband to provide for me and a lawyer paper that said Delia M Lopez is Delia Marie Lopez etc this alias is the same person and used without nefarious intent. So I estimate we have maybe $400 maybe less in expenses for both Visa’s and DPI’s (Guatemalan ID card) not counting airfare (I am a miles addict so $60.20 per person round trip I will detail on another page) after five years we can apply for citizenship. That will be another process and must wait until I have time.
If you don’t use your bank account for a year in Guatemala it gets locked down which takes a week or so to unlock. Plus visits to the bank etc. The last two years we have only flown in in February last year we flew out the 27th so this year we flew in the 26th. We did something similar last year. While in Antigua we always stay at Walters.
Walter’s place is just outside Antigua down a bit from Caoba Farm and up from the gas station mall where you turn to take the dirt road out of Antigua to Pastores or San Miguel Duenas. It is great for us nice parking area for our car. Our room is $25 per night the kids room is $18 per night He also has another $18 per night room that has two twin beds and 2 other little rooms that have only twin beds we have seen. My kids ended up in the twin bed room once because Walter was booked. My son has MCS (multiple Chemical Sensitivities) perfume, laundry soap and dryer sheets are the worst. Walter washed their sheets and hung them out on the line so they would not have the smell. Such a nice guy and a great place to stay. Fairly well equipped kitchen.
Great back yard, big room, nice closet, roomy bathroom.
“Our” room our kids ended up on the futon one night last year because all the other 2 person rooms were booked! The gret thing on the side is a futon 🙂
Great closet! I would love to stay a long while, maybe while having my house built!
You can find Walter’s on the Airbnb site look in the southern end of Antigua. If you have issues message me and I will see if I can help. Tell Walter Tony & D say hi!
Happy Travels!
