Otelito Season Hotel Guatemala City

... back in the late 80s. The big Mercedes bus also cuts the trip time down to three and half hours from five and every minute counts when trying not to miss a flight.<br><br>And I have a first to report...a taxi experience that was just fine. We left the hostel at 3:15am to get to the bus office by 3:30 and even at that hour the driver did not try to rip us off. The bus companies in Guatemala usually just use their own office rather than a ...

... of a Magnum and a nice place to admire the bustle. And subsequently trying to find my way back to the hostel: all the streets are certainly picturesque, but they also all look the same and navigating was difficult at the best of times, never mind at night when the landmarks by which one could orient oneself were obscured. It actually took me about 5 days to feel like I new where I was going!<br><br>One day I did manage ...

... was joking or something. I told him I'd swing by later. Back at the hostel, I tried to confirm the King of Pop's death and, as we all know, it was true. That night I dropped by the house but Marta, Lester or Nico weren't there, so I talked with Julio for awhile. A lot had changed on my end. <br><br>The day after I switched to Black Cat Hostel (great hostel, really). Mostly I walked around, traded some books, bought four pounds of coffee (best in the world, no joke ...

... looked like a black alien landscape. We climbed up further up the jagged rock, I noiced that my shoes were getting incredibly hot. At the top we could actually get close to pools of red flowing lava.It was incredible and unsafe you could even roast marshmellows. We got back to the city late at night and went to Fridas for some fajitas and mexican food. There was nowhere to party so we decided to leave the next morning.

... I was finished with classes and tests. I took a breather realizing that people pay a lot of money to have 9 or 10 day cruises down here as I am now technically doing. Shame I could not cancel this last 9 days of my new-found "cruise" and cruise on home, haha. We ported in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala for our final port. Our first of three days in Guatemala, I traveled to a coffee farm just outside of Antigua. I had not ever really thought about the coffee process before. I guess ...

... 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 ...

... and he was a nice fella telling us how the city is really dodgy! We found a nice hotel near the market and bus station in Antigua and had a bit of a look around the old colonial capital, mainly the square and the old Government palace from where the whole of Central America was governed. The one thing that struck us immediately is there are more American tourists in Antigua than Guatemalans. The second day we got up and left at 6 to go to the volcano Pacaya an hour to ...

The next day we did the drive from Salama to Rabinal again. After a brief to-do (I don't really remember what we did before we left) and a change of plans (we were planning to go up in two pickups, like with Agua Caliente), we piled into the bus and start our ascent into the community of Plan de Sanchez. Even having rode the road from Salama to Rabinal and the road up to Agua ...

... when, as I got out of the shower, I felt a burning sensation in both of my arms. They were both red and blotchy and itched like herpes. I showed them to Tom, and he knew exactly what they were. Bedbugs. Now I love wildlife, but bedbugs are not Gods finest creation - this could be with me for the rest of the trip. Tom and I werent sat next to each other on the flight because the airline had sqeezed us in to the last two available seats. In my ...

... going through the Chesapeake, Hampton, Virginia Beach area, but it worked out ok. I did lunch at Hardees and had a sorry chicken sandwich. I ate half of it and then got back on the road. It got dark before I got to Paula's house and I had a little trouble finding the street. I kept thinking I was lost, but managed to go straight to it. It seems to be a very nice neighborhood and very ...