Alcazar Dona Victoria Coban

... as the contract is up for renewal.

Anyway back at the bar that night we cavorted with the other travellers of which a good 50% were from Israel. I simply couldn't believe how many there were in one place! But everyone got on well and had loads of fun, mainly due to the crazy bar staff that seemed to have a supreme directive to get everyone up and doing something and drinking lots of booze.

... already and a group, and find some dancing.

It was still pretty early by local standards to find any nightlife, we asked our waiter where we could find some dancing. He tells us that we can always find someone dancing at Bargé.
Excellent, we head off in search of Bargé. We stop and ask several people directions to Bargé, and they always answer with a particular smirk on thier face and send us on our way. We finally find Bargé, in an indiscript ...

... up to a Jimmy John´s driver and asking for a ride to the airport? How embarrassing.

That is my frist gringa stamp across my forehead. Which is how I will refer to making an **s out of myself, as ´gringa stamps´¨.

Oh well, I am in Xela now, it´s in the highlands, and so far very nice. I think I might stay here for a couple days and take an advanced Spanish class, because I want to brush up and also work on my grammar a little bit.

We drove something like 7 hours to get to Coban, thanks to all the hidden speed bumps in every villages.

The view was awesome. We had to cross a river on a "ferry", that didnt look that secure at all.

Then we drove through the mountains, it was really great, but we were really tired.

We arrived in Coban, a really ...

... did people travel in the olden says????). We get about 1 minute of the dance memorized. We can hear the locals laughing at us. Jealousy. Must be.

Dinner was Guatemalan steak. Pretty much minute steak but it was really good. We heap some home made hot sauce on it. Yum.

Beer Count: 12 (Gallo Dark)

There are no bars in Rabinal that are open after 9PM. Our hotel runs out of beer.

... more innocent people.  It’s quite sad.

Needless to say, Devin and I actually made it across alive and are now in Coban.

There’s not much to say about Coban.  It’s basically a jumping off point for other attractions.  It has a cute square with a nice, old church, as many of the towns do.  We just enjoyed a relaxing evening walking around the town and had some pizza for dinner.   It was nice to decompress after the crazy day of travel!

... a hostel, well giving the guy the benifit of the doubt we belived him until we got to the hostel and the price for a room kept going up and talk about pressue sales if we didn't say we might miss the bus in the morning and all that. We took our chances and set off, only to find a place right around the corner for cheaper . The next morning we were on the bus no problems and made ...

... the town of Lanquin with its epic hostel-- El Retiro. Like an all-inclusive resort for people who don´t think accommodations should cost more than $5 a night, El Retiro inspires a ridiculous level of partying and money-spending. They even sponsor a twice-weekly bus into Coban to shuttle backpackers whose tab exceeds their cash supply.

My first afternoon there was a super relaxing antidote to being stuck in busy Coban. I joined a group of guys from the hostel ...