Hostal Los Lagos Guatemala City

We made it to Guatemala City at 2PM. We had to find our way from the airport to the bus terminal so we could purchase our bus ticket to Tikal. Guatemala City is divided into zones, with Zone 10 being the financial, safe, clean area. Zone 1 was the sketchy, scary zone. Take a guess where our bus terminal was located? We opted for a cab to the terminal because the last thing we needed was to be lost on some bus roaming around the ghetto.

On the cab ride over, I lost count at the ...

... area that the banditos normally rob people we were so scattered I felt as vulnerable as the hunters from Jurassic park 2 being picked off one by one by the velociraptors (bet you didn't think you would hear a Jurassic park 2 reference today). In all honesty it was a bit concerning as the trail passed through some overgrown jungle and we all had a really difficult time seeing the person ahead of us let alone a guide or police officer. I'm sure ...

... about how he now had a great story to tell. Even after many trips on a chicken bus, I still have all my belongings because I pay attention. I hope since I didn't have anything that "exciting" to report, all this writing hasn't bored you too much back home. If you made it this far, thanks for traveling along with me. Maybe one of my stops made you stop to investigate it a little further for your own visit. Some of the most interesting ...

... it was just a small collection of yoga retreats and holistic healing communes and not much else, except for some cliff-jumping for the those looking for an adrenalin rush after so much yoga and meditation.

I decided that I was chilling enough in San Pedro so there was no need to transfer all my things across the lake, which in retrospect was the best decision. That afternoon we (well 6 of us as Dave was now doing 6 hours of Spanish a day and staying with ...

... that I was leaving. After all the time I'd spent thinking about going back, getting sort of excited to return to Canada, I still couldn't believe that I was at this last juncture. On the plane, I was sitting next to (surprise) a Guatemalan guy, and I had one of my last conversations in Spanish. The plane. That was quite something, being on an airplane heading unwaveringly towards the United States. It was scary, really. I didn't want to go, honestly. There were ...

... once for toilet break and all of us making a beeline for it. After picking up some snacks we arrived in the hectic place of Guatemala City and saw heaps of chicken buses - all of them have an exhaust problem as they throw tons of black smoke every time they take off. It was crazy to be in such traffic and chaos again! I also saw so many pinata shops - it was like pinata street and there was also a funeral street...

We swapped into a mini bus for the ...

... to chill and that is exactly what we have done. Good thing too because (one of us) is dealing with a bit of "MoctezumaŽs Revenge", some revenge = ( ... I guess he deserves to give it. On this blog, youŽll get all the juicy details! So far our Spanish is not too bad, weŽre getting by and learning new words and phrases. Everyone is pretty patient with us gringos, there is a ...

... which was the much preferred options for me because I did not feel like lounging at the airport terminal for 3-4 hours. Again, I was promptly picked up at the arranged time. This time I am sharing a van with 5 other people. I had a good conversation with an American woman from Oregon. She was here on business making arrangements with a village along Lake Atitlan to ...

Sorry, it's been * while. We're b*ck *g*in though... Altogether, we spent * month in Xel*. The gr*mm*r got h*rder. There *re 2 verbs th*t me*n 'to be', which one you use h*s import*nt consequences, there *re *lso m*ny m*ny double entendres which you don't re*lise you've s*id until you've s*id them. They *lso like c*lling people *fter fruit *nd *nim*ls. If you *re being * bit stupid they'll c*ll you * 'burro' which is donkey. If you *re * pretty l*dy ...

... Manhattan to Newark was at midnight, so that gave us two and half hours in town. It was then that we realised that there was a full blown blizzard on. Now I know that its been snowing in England of late, but a New York blizzard is cold. Fortunately it had stopped snowing by the time we got to Manhattan, so we managed a whistlestop tour of some of the main sites before trying to find a bar. But nowhere would let us in because of what we were ...