I never managed to get used to this. Almost every shop, restaurant, and office that caters to anything but the poorest classes, is at all time patrolled by one or more shotgun-toting guards. Imagine running down to the local Chinese take-out for some lo mein, and having to pass two of these guys, gun barrel pointed right up your nose (not the guards' fault; they are not tall people) as you walk through the door.

Outside Guatemala City it's not like this at all, which is most refreshing.