If today was a normal day at home in the States, I would have called in sick. I have a sore throat, headache, and generally just feel low on energy. I tried to do some bicimaquina work in the shop (we are making a new corn thresher), but called it quits after trying to cut some material, getting tired quickly, and coming to terms that I am indeed sick. So, I'm spending the day in our room napping, reading, and lucky for you - blogging!
Last week, Nilit and I had to make a trip to Guatemala City to take care of some visa business. It was going to require a week of processing, which gave us the perfect excuse to take some vacation from Maya Pedal and visit other parts of Guatemala.
We left from San Andres Itzapa early on Sunday afternoon and took the "chicken bus" into the city. I'll get to our trip in a bit, but first I should really tell you about the chicken buses. They are recognizable by any American as our beloved yellow school buses. Apparently, the buses that eventually stop passing US highway standards are donated here to be used as transit. The size, shape, windows, seats, and sometimes even beat up US license plates are a dead giveaway. But most of them are painted over in some bright color (generally green or red), and all have installed handlebars on the inside ceiling for those who may be standing. After that, they are personalized based on owner preference. Some have a chromed-out interior and exterior and bright paint on the inside. Some have tassels hanging down from the cieling, and flashing lights all around. A few you see are just plain, still yellow on the outside, and have a simple sign in the window indicating their destination. But all - and I do mean all - have this in common: 1) a Guatemalan flag hanging from the mirror, 2) loud blasting upbeat Spanish pop music, and 3) people sitting 3 or 4 per seat (8 per aisle), and even more standing. It's quite the experience. We've actually had a lot of fun riding them and chatting with people.
Anyhow, we reached Guatemala City in the early afternoon. There's not as much to say about Guatemala City, and not much to see. It's a huge, bustling place with big malls and buildings and McDonalds' and people everywhere you look. It even has big city suburbs (we will get to why this was problematic for us later..). We decided to stay the night on Sunday, get our embassy business done Monday morning, and take the overnight first-class bus to northern Guatemala Monday night. The embassy says the visa will be done the following Monday. We quietly pray that they don't lose Nilit's passport in the next week, and hand it over.
We were most nervous about the bus terminal for the overnight bus. Guatemala city, by all accounts, can be a dangerous place if you're not careful. Although the first-class bus is itself is said to be nice and safe, we had to board it from the old city center termed Zone 1 (sounds cozy, right?). The buses left at 9pm and 10pm, and arrived in a small island village (called Flores) at 6am. Considering the long trip, and stories about how nice the buses were, we figured this would be the best use of our time. We arrived at the bus station at exactly 9pm, and watched that bus leave. Broken Spanish with the guy standing there indicated we couldn't take that one. Darn. Oh well. He said to go inside and buy tickets for the 10pm. Sounds good.
We entered the small building and found about 10 other tourist-looking people standing around presumably waiting til 10pm as well. We asked the lady behind the counter how much it would cost for the 10pm bus to Flores. She first asked us to show our tickets, and when we told her we needed to buy them, she told us "No hay boletas," ("there are no tickets") and told us to find the window outside to buy tickets. Hmm, okay. I think we need to buy our tickets and then present them to her. Walk back outside..no window where she indicated. Asking the guy we saw earlier where the window is, he tells us there is no window. We need to go inside. Confusion! When we told him she said she didn't have any tickets, he told us they must be sold out. But there's another company, around the corner, that has overnight buses to Flores as well.
It doesn't quite make sense to us...but, well, alright. Maybe we had to reserve tickets earlier here. Let's go find the other place.
Pepper spray in my pocket, we walk down around a couple sketchy dark streets and find the other bus company. There are people EVERYWHERE. A couple of small families, but mostly just men standing alone in the dark and staring. Feels just a bit sketchy. We walk in and realize the tickets are more expensive, and buses not nearly as nice. Hmm. We leave the counter. Lots of hesitation. Probably 15 minutes of hesitation. Maybe we didn't really understand the lady at the other place. Let's go back.
We head back out, pass the guy who told us to go to the other company (undoubtedly wondering what we're doing now) and approach the lady at the counter again. I sort of pretend like we hadn't been there before, mostly just as a re-boot in my head. "We need tickets for the overnight bus to Flores." She recognizes us, but gets up and checks a sheet. "Ah, yes. Two tickets will be 300 Quetzal, and these are your seats. Bus leaves at 10pm." My Spanish is terrible, but this was clear.
Nilit and I look at each other. What just happened? I have no idea. Maybe someone canceled. Maybe I didn't say the right thing the first time..my Spanish is terrible. Who cares, let's just buy the tickets!
We got on the bus at 10pm and settled in. We chatted with a few people at the station while waiting, and everyone seemed trustworthy enough - but we had definitely heard about robberies while people are sleeping on these overnight buses. We took our backpack with us instead of storing it underneath the bus, and kept it closest to the window away from the aisle. We tied our big backpack, small backpack, and my purse all together, and I tied my purse around my waist. All zippers faced downward. Nilit sat on the outside, and I kept our stuff underneath my feet. You'd have to have been pretty darn talented to rob us that night.
The seats were actually quite comfortable, but neither of us really slept much. A couple of hours of shut eye here and there, mostly woken up by the bumpy roads. We reached Flores at around 5:30am. We had planned to travel to Tikal (where there are ancient Mayan ruins) right away. Buses leave from Flores all day, and take about an hour to reach Tikal. Bleary-eyed and still sleepy, we get off the bus and immediately find a man and a minibus offering a ride to Tikal.
Alright, how much?
"$10."
Prices in dollars. We're definitely in tourist-land now. Based upon what we read in guide books, this actually seems like a good deal. We get on with some other overnight-bus riders, pay the driver, and head for Tikal. We are spending the night in Tikal, but the others in the bus are returning to Flores this afternoon. We find out that their $10 gives them a round-trip ticket. We do need to come back to Flores tomorrow, because we're spending the night there. After haggling with the driver a bit, asking for half of our money back, he finally agrees that the van will return to Tikal tomorrow afternoon and pick us up to go back to Flores. "No problems, no worries! I am here for your service!" Too much enthusiasm. We don't believe him. We get a receipt. Spoiler alert: He doesn't show up the next afternoon. But I'll get to that.
We arrive in Tikal and check in to our hotel. It's a pretty cute and small place, surrounded by lush gorgeous rainforest. Rooms are situated in an outdoor semi-circle filled with trees and plants. It's still early and you can hear birds singing different tunes. We see monkeys in the trees, too. As we're checking in to our room, we're greeted by a man who speaks to us in perfect English, explaining that he offers a tour of the ruins. It's fairly cheap, and starts at 9:30am. We eat some breakfast at the hotel restaurant, and decide to do the tour. The man then sits down at our breakfast table and tells us that he studied in the States because his family traveled a lot. His father was a paleontologist, and actually is listed in books as one of the founders of one of the pyramids in Tikal. He shows us the book, and his father's picture. Way cool!
The tour was about five hours, and absolutely amazing. But, I wrote way more detail about the travel experience than I expected, so I'll have to cut it here for now!
Look out for the next post about Tikal. By virtue of the place itself, the post is bound to be awesome.
Stay tuned...
Last week, Nilit and I had to make a trip to Guatemala City to take care of some visa business. It was going to require a week of processing, which gave us the perfect excuse to take some vacation from Maya Pedal and visit other parts of Guatemala.
We left from San Andres Itzapa early on Sunday afternoon and took the "chicken bus" into the city. I'll get to our trip in a bit, but first I should really tell you about the chicken buses. They are recognizable by any American as our beloved yellow school buses. Apparently, the buses that eventually stop passing US highway standards are donated here to be used as transit. The size, shape, windows, seats, and sometimes even beat up US license plates are a dead giveaway. But most of them are painted over in some bright color (generally green or red), and all have installed handlebars on the inside ceiling for those who may be standing. After that, they are personalized based on owner preference. Some have a chromed-out interior and exterior and bright paint on the inside. Some have tassels hanging down from the cieling, and flashing lights all around. A few you see are just plain, still yellow on the outside, and have a simple sign in the window indicating their destination. But all - and I do mean all - have this in common: 1) a Guatemalan flag hanging from the mirror, 2) loud blasting upbeat Spanish pop music, and 3) people sitting 3 or 4 per seat (8 per aisle), and even more standing. It's quite the experience. We've actually had a lot of fun riding them and chatting with people.
We were most nervous about the bus terminal for the overnight bus. Guatemala city, by all accounts, can be a dangerous place if you're not careful. Although the first-class bus is itself is said to be nice and safe, we had to board it from the old city center termed Zone 1 (sounds cozy, right?). The buses left at 9pm and 10pm, and arrived in a small island village (called Flores) at 6am. Considering the long trip, and stories about how nice the buses were, we figured this would be the best use of our time. We arrived at the bus station at exactly 9pm, and watched that bus leave. Broken Spanish with the guy standing there indicated we couldn't take that one. Darn. Oh well. He said to go inside and buy tickets for the 10pm. Sounds good.
We entered the small building and found about 10 other tourist-looking people standing around presumably waiting til 10pm as well. We asked the lady behind the counter how much it would cost for the 10pm bus to Flores. She first asked us to show our tickets, and when we told her we needed to buy them, she told us "No hay boletas," ("there are no tickets") and told us to find the window outside to buy tickets. Hmm, okay. I think we need to buy our tickets and then present them to her. Walk back outside..no window where she indicated. Asking the guy we saw earlier where the window is, he tells us there is no window. We need to go inside. Confusion! When we told him she said she didn't have any tickets, he told us they must be sold out. But there's another company, around the corner, that has overnight buses to Flores as well.
It doesn't quite make sense to us...but, well, alright. Maybe we had to reserve tickets earlier here. Let's go find the other place.
Pepper spray in my pocket, we walk down around a couple sketchy dark streets and find the other bus company. There are people EVERYWHERE. A couple of small families, but mostly just men standing alone in the dark and staring. Feels just a bit sketchy. We walk in and realize the tickets are more expensive, and buses not nearly as nice. Hmm. We leave the counter. Lots of hesitation. Probably 15 minutes of hesitation. Maybe we didn't really understand the lady at the other place. Let's go back.
We head back out, pass the guy who told us to go to the other company (undoubtedly wondering what we're doing now) and approach the lady at the counter again. I sort of pretend like we hadn't been there before, mostly just as a re-boot in my head. "We need tickets for the overnight bus to Flores." She recognizes us, but gets up and checks a sheet. "Ah, yes. Two tickets will be 300 Quetzal, and these are your seats. Bus leaves at 10pm." My Spanish is terrible, but this was clear.
Nilit and I look at each other. What just happened? I have no idea. Maybe someone canceled. Maybe I didn't say the right thing the first time..my Spanish is terrible. Who cares, let's just buy the tickets!
We got on the bus at 10pm and settled in. We chatted with a few people at the station while waiting, and everyone seemed trustworthy enough - but we had definitely heard about robberies while people are sleeping on these overnight buses. We took our backpack with us instead of storing it underneath the bus, and kept it closest to the window away from the aisle. We tied our big backpack, small backpack, and my purse all together, and I tied my purse around my waist. All zippers faced downward. Nilit sat on the outside, and I kept our stuff underneath my feet. You'd have to have been pretty darn talented to rob us that night.
The seats were actually quite comfortable, but neither of us really slept much. A couple of hours of shut eye here and there, mostly woken up by the bumpy roads. We reached Flores at around 5:30am. We had planned to travel to Tikal (where there are ancient Mayan ruins) right away. Buses leave from Flores all day, and take about an hour to reach Tikal. Bleary-eyed and still sleepy, we get off the bus and immediately find a man and a minibus offering a ride to Tikal.
Alright, how much?
"$10."
Prices in dollars. We're definitely in tourist-land now. Based upon what we read in guide books, this actually seems like a good deal. We get on with some other overnight-bus riders, pay the driver, and head for Tikal. We are spending the night in Tikal, but the others in the bus are returning to Flores this afternoon. We find out that their $10 gives them a round-trip ticket. We do need to come back to Flores tomorrow, because we're spending the night there. After haggling with the driver a bit, asking for half of our money back, he finally agrees that the van will return to Tikal tomorrow afternoon and pick us up to go back to Flores. "No problems, no worries! I am here for your service!" Too much enthusiasm. We don't believe him. We get a receipt. Spoiler alert: He doesn't show up the next afternoon. But I'll get to that.
We arrive in Tikal and check in to our hotel. It's a pretty cute and small place, surrounded by lush gorgeous rainforest. Rooms are situated in an outdoor semi-circle filled with trees and plants. It's still early and you can hear birds singing different tunes. We see monkeys in the trees, too. As we're checking in to our room, we're greeted by a man who speaks to us in perfect English, explaining that he offers a tour of the ruins. It's fairly cheap, and starts at 9:30am. We eat some breakfast at the hotel restaurant, and decide to do the tour. The man then sits down at our breakfast table and tells us that he studied in the States because his family traveled a lot. His father was a paleontologist, and actually is listed in books as one of the founders of one of the pyramids in Tikal. He shows us the book, and his father's picture. Way cool!
The tour was about five hours, and absolutely amazing. But, I wrote way more detail about the travel experience than I expected, so I'll have to cut it here for now!
Look out for the next post about Tikal. By virtue of the place itself, the post is bound to be awesome.
Stay tuned...
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