Travelodge Hotel Tapachula Chia

... trees, and the mutitude of vendors that were setting up for the festival. Then we look at each other, and our watches (only 20 minutes had gone by) and wondered what to do next. The museum? No, that did not interest us. The Church? No go there either. So we started making wider circles around the square, taking in the blocks around the square. Interesting, but no more than any other city. We saw local men standing outside a TV retailer ...

... breakfast of eggs, tortillas and frijolles we started on the journey back to Xela. The owner of the hotel called for the launcha to take us back to the main land and the joys of yet another chicekn bus.

With a full blown migraine the journey back was sheer hell. It was made worse by a chicekn bus driver who thought he was Keanu Reeves in Speed. He took 45 degree mountain corners at death defying speed whilst pumping out Eye of ...

... Conversa vai conversa vem eles me disseram que cuidariam da prte de entrada na guatemala ja que eles conheciam a maioria das pessoas la. Pensei comigo: que sorte a minha. Parei na lfandega Mexicana dei baixa no carro e continuamos ate a fronteira. Eles me indicaram um lugr para parar e para esperar uns 30 minutos. Normalmente o servico de fronteira da Guatemala demora de 3 a 6 horas para cruzar. mais uma vez pensei: vou sair daqui ...

... arriving to Quetzal Trekkers, another hiker from our group was just showing up, so I eased a bit, but I still felt terribly guilty for promising to be there to help when I was only just showing up then at 4:55AM. Oh well, Chris said it was all bien, and we left almost immediately after I arrived.

We hitched a pick-up truck to take us to the bus Terminal Minerva, where we packed onto an already quite full chicken bus and headed for San Marcos. (Mind you, this is ...

... is where Luis and visited his family - ncluding his nieces and nephews. They had a humble home but they welcomed us in and were very friendly with us. It was really nice to see where he lived and experience some of their life.
We saw some amazing views from high up in the hills including coffee and maize etc.

When we got to San Pedro, we finally found an atm and got some money out and paid Luis for his time. We both really enjoyed it and so gave him a nice ...

The end of Mexico with our super amigos was almost upon us. We had returned to the bus station in tonalá to catch our last bus, which of course by now could only be Gran Lujo, to Tapachula right next to the border between Guatemala and Mexico. From here we would make our separate ways, elena and i into guatemala and alex and said would catch a flight back to Monteray so that alex could be introduced for the first time to the family and also i presume enjoy some ...

... wurd dann nochmal angestossen und irgendwie schafften wir es tatsaechlich, am naechsten Morgen mit gepacktem Rucksack auf der Matte zu stehen. Mit allerlei Chickenbusses (also diese toll aussehenden aber leider schrecklich unbequemen US-Schulbusse) ging es dann drei Stunden Richtung Norden und dann rauf auf den Berg. Ca. 1 Stunde unterhalb vom Gipfel uebernachteten wir auf einer ...

... then do NOT stay in the hotel villa del sol. Its very expensive for what it is, the rooms are dirty, the aircon is broken and the shower didnt work. The best thing I can say about Tapachula is that we only had to spend a day and a night here.

We were fortunate that people from the church where we have been attending told us that they would take some US $20's for $1 bills to use on our trip. (US $ are great to use as tips, border fees and meals when you travel in Central America - they're accepted everywhere. In El Salvador all the prices are expressed in US $). So, we finished our packing after breakfast, got a cab, picked up our $1 bills, and took our three suitcases (we were able to ...

... off to pick up other passengers and buy coconuts, while I fidget nervously in the back seat, breathing down the driver´s neck. We eventually catch up with the bus on the Guatemalan border. I rush my passport/visa paperwork while the other passsengers huff and puff impatiently because I´m holding them up. Then we leave....