Panajachel was fun. The week we spent here was filled with days of coffee and cake, walks along the lake, meeting fun and interesting people and various activities including salsa nights, talent shows and boat rides on the lake. It was very relaxing and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. I mentioned this before in the previous blog but I didn't last long with the church thing. I only went to the first 2 services and then some of the activities that were run in the afternoon. I guess some things aren't for everyone. But that being said I really enjoyed the people we met. It is so nice to meet people who are so nice to everyone, no matter if you know them or not. That is what these people are like. They are so friendly and always welcoming. Almost everyday we went to lunch with a big group of people from the church and we'd always have interesting conversations about so many things. This is the way dinners usually went as well, often we'd have several tables all pushed together as there were so many of us. I have to say though, I don't think the food in Pana was very good. Often the waiters would forget orders, and really simple orders too, and drinks would be wrong and it took so long for the food to come out. Don't get me wrong...some places were really good and the food was delicious, but in general it was not a good experience. Except for the coffee and cake...that was excellent!
As the feast came to an end there was a little difficulty working out a way to return to te city to catch another bus to Mexico because of all the rain we'd been having. Because we were in the highlands, the rain causes land slides which usually go over the roads and block them for days at a time before they can be cleared for cars again. We decided to risk it and booked a private shuttle back to the city for 4:30am so we would make it in time for the bus to Flores. The next morning we were woken up at 3:45am...the bus was early. Well thats a first! The bus driver said that he came early case the road was still out and we had to wait for them to clear it. Well it was a good thing that he did because about 3kms from the main highway there was a landslide the blocked the whole road. It was the craziest thing to see because there were impatient people who just skirted around the side of the road over a really deep gutter and close to the edge of the embankment. The chicken bus drivers are really insane also, they just went straight through and almost spoiled it for everyone by getting stuck in the gutter. Eventually, after waiting there for about 2 hours we got through and continued on our way. We caught up with our new travel companion, Laura, in Guatemala City and got on a bus headed to Flores.
We arrived into Flores on Friday night and stayed at the same hotel as we did when we came back from Palenque. Once again Flores was hot! So hot, but it was nice after a week of being so cold. The next day we just spent relaxing in restaurants and we also went for a walk around the island. We had to get up at 4:30am the next morning to catch the shuttle to Chetamul (the Mexican border), which turned out that it didnt arrive until 6:15am!! Waiting on the curb for a bus in Flores bought me back to 2 years ago when I was waiting for a bus back to Belize that never came. Except this time we had Laura who could call the bus company and ask why they were so late...apparently the driver never turned up. That bus ride from Flores to Mexico was really long and tiring! We made it though and managed to catch a bus straight away to Tulum and that is from where I am writing this blog. We´ll be here for the next 3 nights, then we will travel to Cancun to meet up with Amy and Rob on Thursday. But back to the first night in Tulum...the hotel we stayed at was horrible!! It smelt like mould and that was probably because there was mould on the pillows and on the beds. April was freaking out because she saw little insects on her bed and after the incident with the bed bugs in San Pedro La Laguna it is understandable. We were the only people at the hotel and I can see why, it wasn´t even that cheap either. But we were tired and it was dark so we decided to stay for just one night. The next morning we went for a walk to the beach to look for another hotel, but didnt realise it was such a long way and the hotels are spaced apart a lot, so it didnt quite work out. Finally we found on of the hotels that Laura had loked up on the internet and decided to stay there. Its pretty nice and in the town so its close to the restaurants. That afternoon we went to the beach....it was so good. April and I have been dreaming of the beach sisnce we left Aus and it was exactly like a postcard. Crystal clear waters and pure white sand with cute little pink flecks in it and because it is the off season it was really quiet. We pretty much had the beach to ourselves apart from a few other couples. We were having a great time until it started raining and that spoiled the mood a little, but eventually it stopped and we started enjoying ourselves again. Tomorrow we are going to the Tulum ruins and then the next day to Cobá, cant wait to get back to seeing some archaeology!!!
