My fascination with transport in Central America continued as I marvelled at the extraordinary prices of direct shuttles from San Cristobal (Mexico) to Panajachel (my destination in Guatemala). Having almost laughed in the face of the agent offering $50, I decided to take matters into my own hand and do the journey all on local buses.
Unfortunately for me staying out until extremely late late didnt get me off to a good start. I didnt get on a bus until 1130 am and by the time I got to the border it was about 3:00pm (Total spent so far $18). I took a collectivo from the bus stop to the border ($18.50) and walking across jumped straight onto a chicken bus bound for Huehuetenango ($20.50). I reached this dead end town at 5:00pm and as there were no more buses headed for my destination I stayed the night. Arising the following morning early I caught a bus bound for Guatemala city ($25.50) and having stopped numerous times for road works I arrived at the bus stop Los Ecuentros. Sensing an end in sight it was two more chicken buss down the hill ($25.50) and I had reached Panajachel some 24 hours after my departure with $24 more in my pocket. I jumped in the first lancha in the water and within 40 minutes I was back in san Pedro, seated at the Buddah Bar with a litre of beer.
The following day I enrolled in Spanish school for a week and set about eating my way through all the restaurants in town. This I can tell you I almost achieved. If anyone wants to know where to get the best felafels, baguettes, burritos, cheescake, pizza, cookies, mexican and asian I can tell you. San Pedro also has to be the cheapest Spanish learning centre in the world. I purchased 5 days of one on one lessons for 5 hours a day at $60US. I took lessons in the afternoon owing to big nights and the fact that it rains for two hours almost religiously in the afternoons.
After three days I had arrived at Saturday and couldnt wait to have the next day off. I ran into Ben and Jeremy, two travellers I had met separately in different countries and who had since been travelling together after they met at Tinas. Apparently I had recommended Ben get to San Pedro on our last night in Tulum. I couldn’t really remember this but there was no denying the fact after he showed me his diary which was covered in my chicken scratch writing and some delightful comments from Sanchez and John. A big night ensued and when I got home at 930 Sunday night I knew my study/day off wouldnt be a terrible success.
After 8 days I left San Pedro bound for Antigua en route to Honduras. I knew there was direct bus from Panajachel at 11am and I rushed to catch a boat in time. I just made the bus and 5 minutes up the hill the bus broke down. After an hour or attempted repairs we were told to fend for ourselves. The two hour direct trip then turned into a five hour affair as I had to catch four chicken buses to get to Antigua. Youll laugh when I tell you its about 160km away.
I briefly stopped off in Antigua for a night to send some mail, organise transport to Honduras and have a barber shop shave for my 6 week old beard. The following morning I awoke at 430 am for the minibus ride to Copan.
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