Guatemala City

     Guatemala City.  Where do I start?  We’re quickly learning that to get anywhere, you have to switch buses at least twice.  If you ask the bus driver, or his assistant, if a bus goes to a destination, they will just say “Si!”.  What they don’t tell you is that the bus only goes part of the way.  When they drop you off at whatever drop they decide is yours because you have no idea where you’re at or if you’re even going in the right direction, they’ll point you to the next bus that will take you on the next leg of your journey.  Then you ask the driver if that particular bus is going to your destination and they reply “Si!” and you think “Oh thank God.  This bus will take us all the way there!”.  Then that bus drops you off at some other random location that’s not you’re end destination and points you to yet another bus that will take you a little further.  This “game” continues until you’re not really sure you’re actually going to make it to the place you’re trying to get to because the towns, as well as the streets, have no names.  Just when you’re ready to give up……. you see a sign with your destination town on it saying you’re almost there.  On top of that, they pack the busses as full as possible.  I’m not kidding!  Three to a seat plus however many people can stand in the aisles as well as people riding on top of the bus if their happens to be a roof rack.  You don’t pay when you get on the bus, you pay when the busses “helper’ comes around to take your money.  I have no idea how they keep track of everybody, but they seem to do a good job.  I’ve seen these guys(tiny guys) walking on the seatbacks over people to make their way around the bus making change.  It’s pretty ridiculous and insanely dangerous but you just go with it.  That’s how we made it to Coban.  As well as the rest of the towns I’ve been writing about.  However, as luck would have it, there was a straight shot bus from Coban to Guatemala city.  Despite it being packed, we were thankful for the direct route.

Once again, the bus to the capital city dropped us off, at night, in the rough part of town exactly where our travel books tell exactly not to be at that exact time of day.  Luckily, our hotel was literally two doors down from the bus terminal.  We were very happy to get a clean room, a television with some bad English speaking programs, and some hot showers.  Yessssssssssssss!  Needless to say, we slept very well that night.

     The next day we decided to walk 6^th Ave.  In Guatemala City, 6^th Ave is kind of a promenade, closed off to traffic, full of shops, art, and restaurants.  We walked 6^th all the way to the end where it opens up to Central Park.  This Central Park is nothing like Central Park in NYC.  This one is much smaller and completely concrete.  Turns out, it’s where the city first started.  The “park” is actually more of a square, parade ground where they would do small military exercises.  The buildings surrounding the square are, or were, the capital building, the courthouse, and housing for high ranking military and dignitaries.  All in all, it was impressive in it’s own right.  And…… they were having a Christmas festival!  It was mainly for the kids but still lots o fun.  They had a rock climbing wall, lots of craft and food booths, and even an ice skating rink.  Not something you’d expect to see in the middle of a Central American country.  Heck, we even got to see Guatemalan Santa!

     That night we decided to go to one of the major malls to see a movie.  We hadn’t seen a proper movie in awhile and it’s a small treat that keeps you from getting homesick too fast.  When we got to the mall, it was an even bigger treat than we had hoped for!  Very clean, lots of shops including a book store, and lots of fast food from the good ol’ U.S. of A.  I know, I know.  We shouldn’t be excited about fast food.  But it’s a rare treat to have some food from home when you’re in a foreign country and everything just seems so weird and crazy and, well, foreign. We took full advantage of the situation and even decided to stay another day for another movie and even more comfort food.  Don’t get me wrong, the food here is awesome but it’s nice to take a break from it all with some Quizno’s and Cinnabon!  We stayed the next day taking in more of our new land of milk and honey known as “The Mall”.  However, getting to the mall the next day was a little bit of a challenge that let us know two days in the capital city was plenty.  It’s as simple as this.  If it weren’t for the insane amount of black car exhaust filling your lungs, Guatemala city might actually be bearable.  We decided to save money and take the bus to the mall.  It was a safe decision as it was daytime and we wanted to do the “local thing”.  It took us a couple hours and a little walking to get there but the major hurdle was not suffocating on the never ending black smoke billowing out of every bus(and there are a lot of them), car and motorcycle that passed by.  Seriously, our lungs actually hurt after about an hour.  I think it’s safe to say that there is no DOT or DEQ down here.  That pretty much sums up Guatemala City.  Stroll 6^th Ave., see Central Park, and go to the mall.  The next day we left the capital city for the beautiful lakeside village of San Pedro.