As if our chicken bus rides have not been interesting enough,
yesterday provided the ultimate of the ultimate of my chicken bus
experiences. We, Lucy and Jessica (some ladies from California that I
traveled with)and myself, had just spent 6 hours in a bus zipping from
the east side of Guatemala to the west to ultimately arrive in
Panajachel. After being dropped off in Guatemala City at THE least
helpful bus station ever, we hailed a taxi to take us to the other bus
station that would cart us off to our destination in Pana. 45 minutes
later we boarded the bus only to be told that we needed to lay down in
our seats because apparently the bus station we were currently
departing from was not on the legal end of things, and thus the police
were not to see that people were in the bus, and if we would please
put our bags on the floor as well as to not attract attention, and
that "not to worry" as this would only be a 10 minute ride. Under
these circumstances, we could not stop l
aughing the entire ride, our heads sticking out in the isle so that we
could talk, hair dangling to the ground. We have pictures. We
decided that had it just been us three, we would have thought that it
was a joke that the bus peeps thought was funny, but as it was, we
were accompanied by about 5 other Guatemalans who followed directions
and were just as giggly as we were. What a day..
Speaking of Jessica and Lucy, I met them on our 4am shuttle from
Antigua to the ruins of Copán in Honduras. At first only conversing
with the other two dark figures in the van that had sat in the seat
next to me, dawn gave faces to the talkers, and we spent the rest of
the day together going to the ruins, traveling to Rio Dulce, and
staying in a magnificently beautiful hostel on the river. Most
literally, on the river. Words couldn´t even begin to describe the
beauty of it all, so I won´t try, but the people, conversation, and
service topped of our wonderful experience. It was so cool. The next
night, however, brings me to...
Nasty Animal Development #3
Day: Friday night
Time: 10pm ish
Animal: ants
So for some reason we decided that a NEW hostel experience other than
our "paradise on the river" was to be had, so we checked out of the
hostel and booked ourselves into a apparently cute hotel that was also
on top of the river. Thinking that crossing planks instead of the
flooded bridge walkways was...rustic...and adventurous, we continued
contentedly to our little cabaña, unpacked some things to dry, and
headed out to the pool. We then leisurely took a boat to the mainland
to have dinner and once we were done, decided upon just dropping our
exhausted bodies into bed. No sooner had the light been flicked on
when we realized this dream was not to be realized as Lucy saw a trail
of ants marching from the window, around the door frame, and onto my
bed where they were going nuts over ONE COFFEE BEAN...just ONE of the
three I had had in my pockets from the coffee tour I had taken in
Jocotenango the previous day. There were little ants, big ants, huge
ants, ants with wings,
red ants, biting ants...all going nuts (I´m convinced because of a
caffeine buzz). We spent the next 20 minutes shaking my stuff of the
crazy invaders and we headed to the front desk to see what could be
done. CULTURAL INSIGHT: customer service does not necesarily mean
service, and is certainly not done for the helping the customer. Lady
at the front desk said she did not have any ant killer, but offered
instead to give us a candy (a bonbon in fact) for the ants to attack
and most unhelpfully offered us the private rooms (at full price) or
the dorms that were not only small, but hot. Exhausted, we agreed to
the dorms and hopped from plank to plank, crossed the porch that was
half underwater, and climbed up the stairs to what would serve only as
sleeping quarters for the night. Our experience was topped off by a
lizard scuttling out of my room when the light was turned on, the dead
mosquitos smushed on the inside of my mosquito net, and the frogs
making a sound supposedly
like that of Lucy´s alarm clock (they were LOUD and thus she didn´t
sleep). But we assured each other that we were having an adventure
and went to bed without complaint (though they never did give us a
discount..)
To rewind a bit, last week I was in Antigua for a bit where I met 3
girls from Kansas who had been studying at the University of Costa
Rica for a semester and we spent Wednesday going to the coffee museum
(where I picked up those fateful coffee beans), the Mayan music
cultural museum, and crawling all over church ruins where I played
photographer for these girls who LOVED to take pictures (and we took
some amazing and fun photos to be modest). We were staying at a
hostel in Antigua called the Jungle Party which had hot showers,
toilet paper, internet, and a tv in the lounge area where we would
gather to watch controversial movies. It was a good time.
But all is well, no need to worry. Traveling is fun as you meet so
many new peeps from all over the world who´ve had completely different
experiences, have shared experieces, but always interesting.
á bientot
annemary
