anita

Within the past two days I have gotten a new phone, Erin and I have made it from the capitol to Comalapa, sang late into the night to a campfire we had cooked our chicken on (with Cat and Mateo of course) and today's big adventure was getting from Guatemala City to Cobán. We arrived into the capital at 10:30am and were very optimistic of our chances of getting to Lanquín today. No such luck as our bus ride extended from 11:30am-7:00pm. Now, normall this trip would have been about 4 hours, but as it was, our bus broke down about 45 minutes out of the city and so we had to wait until they sent another empty bus for us to board. Unfortunately neither of the buses had air conditioning, so it was extraordinarily hot throughout this entire operation. 45 minutes after the bus broke down, our replacement bus arrived and we all rushed onto the next bus with much enthusiasm. However, about 2 minutes into our ride, we are met with the hugest traffic build-up I've ever been involved in...where it should have taken maybe 20 minutes to speed through, we spent three hours battling oncoming traffic, heat stroke, and brilliantly colored imestone dust storms (that eventually forced us to close the windows, equaling double hell). Erin and I were in relatively good spirits and watched the unmoving landscape with iPods entertaining us as we rode along with about 40 Guatemalans, who consisted of a bunch of babies, some pushy women, and ironically a nun dressed in white, ironic mostly because the bus company we were using was called "Monja Blanca", or "White Nun" (we MAY have pictures of her...). After the three hours of unending monotony we finally got our bus back up to break-neck speeds, finally arriving in Cobán where we are right now.
Tomorrow is all about Semuc Champay and the Lanquín Caves, so more adventuring tomorrow!
´dios
annemary