Neilandamy's travel blogs:
|
|
  | |  |
Oh my god not a road surely?
Entry 76 of 119 | show all | print this entry |
Had to leave our lovely jungle hideaway today - boo hoo. But were in no hurry to leave...so had a leisurely get up....packed up and headed for breakfast. Oh yeah forgot to mention the huge spider that had joined for the morning in our bungalow!! was another wolf spider and it didn't even really bother me....they are kinda cute!!!
Had coffee...then breakfast...very yummy, probably the best breakfast i have had in ages....even though it was scrammy egg, beans and bread which i have everywhere it tasted amazing. It was all more juicy and tasty than before...more like an english breakfast. Bread was amazing too!
Then our lovely hosts managed to arrange a lift for us to Rio Dulce, which made things so easy for us!! Said our goodbyes and headed to Rio Dulce...in a posh little launcha.
Was another lovely journey...the river opens right out and is 5km across at the widest point, it also flanked by beautiful mountains. Took quite a while to get there...not that we were complaining...and picked several locals up on the way. Our lovely driver even dropped us off right outside our hostel, which is right on the water.
Checked in, very basic hostel, but it is right on the water, literally, you are sleeping on a few boards over the river...and it had a cool bar and restaurant.
Had a nice cold beer...then went explotring to try and find the bus station for tomorrow. Found some roads and trucks....which was wierd having not seen any for so long, but No bus station. Not much in the town to be honest! Headed back...ready to chill cause it was very hot...but Neil was bored...so off we went to explore some more. This time we headed over the huge conctrete bridge, which we were told from the locals had great views. It was huge....and so different from the kind of roads we were used to seeing. Was a long walk, but it did have good views of the whole river. The town the other side was much more like a town, built along the road with shops, restaurants and loads of bus stations...ph yeah and the usual dirt and rubbish everywhere!!!! Certainly a contrast to the nice places we had been recently! Checked out the bus times, checked our emails...wandered a little then headed back.
Had nothing else to do so decided to prop up the bar for the evening. Had a beer or two...got bored....spent too long chilling me thinks!! Played squares and hangman....see told you we were bored. Then decided to have food. Had sweet and sour which was really cool, cause i was only saying the other day how i would love something saucy like sweet and sour.....spooky eh? was damn good. Had more beer then decided to call it a night...played a few games of cards and then hit the sack.
The next day was time to move on...was kinda glad...the river is pretty and its cool to have a beer sat on the dock...but theres nowt else to do....time to find some action!
Couldn't be bothered to get up for the early bus...so had breakfast first. They were so annoyingly slow...which is typical when you got somewhere to be....still the breakfast wasn't bad.
Hiked over the bridge with our rucksacks...they felt like they weighed a ton....probably cause we haven't done any physical exercise since like....ever.
Reached the bus station thatnk god and waited for our bus...in the heat...and smog...and dirt....a couple of buses arrived and i was very worried to see they were all packed!
Ours arrived eventually and guess what it was packed. Standing room only! Nothing to hold onto...and windy dodgy roads....god i thought. Fortunately it wasn't too long till loads of the locals got off and we got a seat. Then we spent the next hour getting absolutley nowhere. We stopped for food...some people had been on the bus a while, so i guess it was only fair....and then we seemed to drive around in circlesd picking people up. Seriously after about 1 1/2 hours on the road we had done about 5 miles!
The driver then seemed to realise that we were running late and put his foot down...rather scarily at times. During the journey, various locals got on selling their wares...often not getting off for ages....they sold everything from fresh coconut milk in plastic bags....to fruit and crisps and there was even one woman who got one serving whole chicken dinners!!! Was very hot on the bus, and obviously the buses don't have air con, so had to have the window open....which meant my face was blown to bits by the time we got there....still it was better than being too hot...i think!
Eventually we arrived in Guatemala City...looked like a dump! Dropped us off in a kind of bus station, where we were immediately hounded by some bloke asking if we wanted to go to Antigua. We did of course...but would have quite liked to get off the bus and get our bags...and maybe have chance to breath too...before thinking about our next move. We asked for a moment and he gave us a little moment...then he was back...he was trying to tell us to get a taxi to Antigua for like $25...but we knew the bus was dirt cheap....so we wanted a taxi to the bus station, but he kept telling us it didn't exist. Eventually spoke to the taxi driver himself and he agreed to take us to the bus. Were a little worried cause it wasn't an official taxi...but he wasn't having any of it....its a taxi...look he said...not that we could see anything which indicated it was....before we knew it our stuff was in his boot...amongst all his tools, so we had no choice but to get in. We had agreed a price...so that was ok, just hoped he wouldn't try and run off with our stuff. He didn't but he did take us to the wrong bus station. One that wasn't that far...and had chicken buses. Still it was a bus going to Antigua...and it was going that minute...so had to jump out the taxi, grab our stuff and onto the already moving bus!
Once on the bus, i thought this isn't too bad. Chicken buses are basically brightly coloured old american school buses. They even have music....but then the guy...conductor i suppose you would call him....told us we would have to move our bags...we were confused cause there was no one on the bus at this point? We tried to explain we would move them when people got on....but he just kept saying....seat holds 3 people? Anyway i decided to put my bag on my lap to shut him up...and within minutes knew why he had said it. The bus was suddenly full and i mean full...over full. He reckoned you could get 3 to a seat....no way...still they tried. The conductor guy was hanging out of the open door...screaming 'antigua' trying to get more people on....like there was any room....didn't stop him though. Despite picking up all these people the bus never stopped...people had to jump on while it was moving! I was seriously squashed by my bag...hate to think how squashed Neil must have been! The driver drove like a lunatic...speeding round corners...they were good roads though. Passed the better part of Guatemala city and was quite shocked to see the number of cars and new cars at that...fast food joints...cinemas...shopping malls. It was such a contrast to the Guatemala we had seen so far.
Drove up the hill...round and round...the conductor still looking for more passengers! Even at the side of the main road...its crazy.
Eventually reached Antigua..... way hey...still in one piece too....if a little squished!
|
|
If you like this entry, search for other entries by neilandamy, from Guatemala or try a new search. |
| |
Back to Entry - Back to Home
|
26 votes 
This is a top pick!
