Day 18 – Travel day – Panajchel, Guatemala to Flores, Guatemala

We decided to cut out of Panajchel. It’s pretty boring and very touristy, very much not our kind of place. So, we bought a bus ticket up to Flores to see Tikal (the whole reason we came to Guatemala).

We ended up getting a pretty good deal on the ticket. Unfortunately, the shuttle didn’t leave until four in the afternoon so we were stuck carrying around our packs all day. We found a nice little restaurant on the lake and had a long lunch trying at kill sometime before the shuttle. The food was great, Hamburgesa con queso (Cheeseburgers), but the best part was our waiter. He was all of ten years old and was by far the most attentive waiter we have had thus far. Needless to say he got a pretty good tip.

View from the deck of the resturant

Hamburesa con queso

Lindsey waiting for the bus

As we were walking back into town to head to our shuttle a guy rode up next to us on a bicycle and asked if we wanted a hotel (happens all the time) we said no. Then he says “Well let me ask you a question, do you like cannibis (purposely spelled wrong for any of our followers behind the big corporate firewall)” This is by far not the first time we have been offered drugs on the trip, but it total caught us off guard. Before we could say anything the guy breaks into a five minute diatribe about the fallacies in the American judicial system as it pertains to “natural” substances. While we may agree on some points it’s not exactly a conversation I want to be having in the middle of the tourist market. We told the guy we had a bus to catch and he rode off (with his two young kids in tow). Not three blocks from the bus station we were hit twice more with the exact same spiel. A little more aware of the lecture that may ensue, a firm “NO” saved us any more hassle.

Market at Atitlan

Street sellers at Atitlan

We got to the shuttle and were on our way back up the winding road towards Antigua. About an hour and a half into our journey the shuttle breaks down in the little hole of a town, San Fransisco. The driver pulls it into a “taller” (workshop) and the mechanic says it’s done for. The driver radioed ahead for another van to pick us up but the other van is coming from Antigua so it will be almost two hours before it arrives. It is already getting dark and everyone was a little uneasy when several groups of boys (older teens) started to gather around the van for no apparent reason.

We were more worried about our connecting bus as we were going to really be pushing it to make it to Guatemala City in time to catch it. We did end up meeting a couple of kiwis (New Zealanders) on the shuttle and chatted away the 2 hours pretty quick swapping travel tips and email addresses. The next van did finally arrive but was quite a bit smaller than the first one (which was full) so 17 of us piled into a sport van bound again for Antigua with the poor (first) driver stuck sitting in the floor. Best part was one of the guys on the bus who spoke almost no english had the song “Always look on the bright side of life” on his phone and started playing it as we were leaving the shop. Everyone knew the tune and broke out into song almost immediately. Except for the grumpy driver who had to come get us.

View from the back of the van

We finally made it to Antigua and were supposed to be heading off to Guatemala City to catch our bus but the last shuttle had already ran to GC and nobody at the office had the money for gas to take us there (money had already been sent to the bank) so I think driver one put up the cash so we could get on our way and we sped off hoping to catch the bus. It was just us and an Israeli couple heading up that way so we had a nice chat in the empty van. When we did make it to the bus station our bus (the cheap crappy one) had already left but the grumpy driver didn’t know we were supposed to be on that one so he bought us tickets for the first class with the Israeli couple. We were pretty excited for the upgrade and to get going until the “First Class” bus pulled up. It was a real pile of junk and smelled like a moldy bathroom rug. Not fun but not to big of a deal, We plan to try to sleep through most of the 8 hour ride anyway…