Crazy Guatemalen Bus Drivers & Coban Turkeys

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  Coban, Guatemala
Friday, October 19, 2007

We have said goodbye to communicating to anyone else in English. We wished for hot showers yesterday after a massive trek in Tikal....... we ended up with no water at all. The hotel had run out so immediately the two delightful daughters of the house came into our room with a large bucket of water and a bowl to use. Last night we had a big feed of Burritos and nachos, beer and Guatemalan rum to gain some energy. We don't rest often or chill out at the hotels because there is too much exciting business going on out on the street. The street life comes alive at about 6pm and everyone is out and about. This bed was the best one of our trip although we did get locked out of the hostel at one point.

This morning started at 5am because we wanted to get to Santa Elena for the 6am Fuente del Norte bus to Coban. I am over my morning-i-tis and my entrapment fears. We ditched the tuk tuk motor cars because they are lethal and are run over by all the other traffic. I nearly took an arm off yesterday. We met an Israeli Frenchman at the bus terminal who told us about a beautiful natural place called Semuc Champey which is a natural limestone shelf, blue lagoons, caves and inner tyre tubes which you can float down the river in. We had previously knocked this off the itinerary because we couldn't find a way to access it. We are now going tomorrow after a guy at the bus stop in Coban chased us around until we said yes. It was a great deal though and we get lunch and transport there so bargain it was and the hawker hooked us up with a good hotel called CasaBlanca for US$4 each.

Guatemala stimulates all the senses at once..... just how we like it. The transport system is good here made up of pick up trucks, minivans and coaches although it is very confusing to buy tickets for the right bus and alot of bus changes are necessary. The bus we got tickets for was supposed to be a large coach direct for 6 hours but we ended up in a coaster size bus with people crammed into every orifice and many stops in small villages, also no toilet stops and bags on the top to worry about. We bought covers for the packs today of garbage bags and grain sacks. We were happy that we would not be robbed by highway bandits on this bus. THE DRIVER WAS AN INSANE NUTTER on the road. They push started the bus to start it. The windscreen was cracked and had what looked like a bullet hole in the driver´s side. Whenever the bus became light enough as people got off, he would floor it around bends and overtake everything.... man, woman, horse, dog and child beeping his horn the whole way. At one point we thought he was doing it to get our gringo reaction. The upside was that many interesting people got on and off and Guatemala is beautiful. The best thing i saw was a big family with their dining table and whole breakfast set up on top of a busy roundabout..... in the middle. Also was Wicksy's random shoes everywhere. As we hurtled around the lush country areas passing through towns where people waved, the conductor would hang out the door and climb the ladder onto the roof. After awhile the driver cranked up the horrendous sound system to optimum static and noise  level and blared Spanish pop music for the rest of the trip. So much for a six hour sleep but we were thrilled to see this real Guatemalan life.

This land has given me some of the best landscape panoramas i have ever seen. This land is so very moist and alive in colour with lime green palms, corn and undergrowth then higher up the emerald green on the mountains with little thatched and tin roofed homes nestled nicely in the foliage. There was pine forest too and clouds covering the top of mountains. Life is poor but simple in rural Guatemala and we loved it. Lots of activity was happening around the road with the women and daughters wearing colourful clothing and carrying water jugs and baskets on their heads filled with anything and everything and men carting firewood, corn from the fields and machetes. They wear a cowboy type outfit and the kids wear gumboots. The loads they carry are back breaking. Degradation of ecosystems is happening here by the harvesting of the chicle tree for chewing gum, the slow growing palm ¨xate¨ used for importation to developed countries for floral arrangements and the local communities cutting down trees for heating and cooking. The jungle is being felled at an alarming rate for timber, cattle ranches, oil pipelines, new settlements and maize fields...... very sad and i hope they get a grip on it soon.

Cigarettes and a coke (breakfast).... joking..... costs US$2.20.We ventured through the city of Coban and have rated it our favourite yet. We saw anything and everything for sale in the streets and markets here from rabbits, machetes, half dead chickens and turkeys to used army boots, fabric and many other bizarre-o curiosities. We bought a large bag of lychees of the sweetest variety for US$1. Nadine is drinking Gallo brand beer. We ate a con queso tostada bought from a traditional Guatemalan woman and watched while she signed to a deaf shoe shiner lad across a busy road. They have been in these positions on the street for years. The tostada is now my favourite food so far. Each country seems to out-do the one before it and every town in every country has many points of difference. The transport system here is good but hectic and complicated. It is only a matter of time before we see one of the many stray dogs run over.

We went to the main plaza where they were setting up speakers and watched a youth talent show which featured pop singers, salsa dancing and  hip hop rappers battle it out to win an iron, orange juicer, casserole dish, basketball or soccer ball...... classic. We ate dinner for less than US$2 from some street stalls. We had tacos with beef, onion, guacamole, coleslaw, salad and beans. There were whole families working the crowd, the daughters selling baskets of nuts and the sons carrying around residential looking telephones which they appear to plug straight into the telegraph poles.

We are having earlier nites now because there are so many early mornings.

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