On to Nicaragua.....

     We left Utilla on the early ferry at 6:30am.  One of the guys the Nicole dove with was also heading to Nicaragua with a friend of his so we all kind of stuck together as travel buddies.  Once we hit La Ceiba, we caught a taxi to the bus terminal and hopped an eight hour bus to Tegucigalpa.  Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, was a trip to say the least.  Coming into town we saw houses and slums(I think) on the sides of the mountains and hills that surrounded the town.  It reminded me of the movies I've seen that show the slums of Rio De Janeiro only on a smaller scale.  Once we got into town and off of the bus, we took a cab to our hotel(hostel) near the city center.  We checked in and went looking for some dinner.  We didn't want to seem like we were tagging along with the other couple so we went out a little before them.  Funny thing is, we all ended up at the same spots!  McDonalds(Nicole) and Burger King(me)  I know it sounds bad to eat fast food when you're on a trip in a different country, but when you're in a place where you have absolutely no idea if you will like the food that you ordered, it's nice to go eat where you know exactly what you're getting and how it will taste.  And that you like it!  So, fast food it was.  The next morning we woke up bright and early and caught a cab to a completely different bus terminal across town and headed for the border.  We had to go to a different bus terminal as not all buses arrive and depart from the same terminal.  Sometimes, depending on your destination, you have to get off of one bus and make an independent connection at a different terminal.  Confusing, right?  Luckily, the locals have always been very helpful.  Once we hit the border, it was time for exit fees and entrance fees.  We paid a couple dollars to leave Honduras then we paid thirteen dollars each to get into Nicaragua.  The most we've paid yet.  Then, about a hundred into the country, we had to pay another dollar for some other tax.  This is the first country that has done this.  We would later find out that this is fairly common.  We will be going somewhere and there will be an "entrance fee" of a dollar or so.  It's kind of a bummer as I felt like we were getting extorted at the border.  I know it's only a buck but you get tired of the feeling that you're getting ripped off.  Also, they say Nicaragua is the next Costa Rica.  Well they're quickly learning how to be efficient at getting money out of tourists.  This is quickly becoming the most expensive country we've been to.  Belize was only slightly more expensive.  If you really want cheap, go to Guatemala.  It's the new Nicaragua.  Okay, I'm done with my little rant.
   Once we got past our little shakedown, we boarded the only bus in sight which took us to the closest little border town possible.  From there, we transferred buses and headed for Esteli.  It was here that we lost our friends for a bit.  The bus was pulling out of the terminal and was literally waiting for Nicole to come back from the restroom so that we could leave.  For some reason our friends didn't get on.  They just stood there.  As soon as Nicole got on, the bus took off and we waved goodbye.  We saw them later and they explained that they felt rushed and were confused.  Turns out they caught an express bus to Esteli and beat us there.  We met up with them right when we got off of our bus and, again, went our separate ways.  The hostels we wanted to stay in were different places.  So, we parted ways.  We were sure we would run into them later.  We went to the hostel we wanted to stay at and it turned out to be full.  So we went to the next cheapest place.  Full.  Then another.  Too expensive.  We hiked all over that stupid town with heavy packs looking for a place but they were all either full, or cost double what we wanted to pay.  After taking a break and getting some dinner(pizza), we hiked back down to a place that had been "closed for dinner" to see if they had any vacancies.  Luckily, we got a room but you get what you pay for.  The room was very cheap, but so was the owner.  The room was literally the worst room I have ever stayed in.  Including some pretty bad places in Southeast Asia.  Also, they turned the showers off in the evening to save money on water.  I was not a happy camper.  That day was not the welcome I had expected from Nicaragua and I was more than a little upset.  Nicole and I decided that we had had enough of Esteli and would head to the Northwest corner of Nicaragua to a tiny village called jiquilillo(Hee-Koo-Lee-Oh)  There was supposed to be good surf and a quiet little hippy-ish hostel called Rancho Esperanza.  The next morning we checked out around 6:30am(sans shower) and made our way to the bus station.  We were on our way to get away from it all.....

Utila

After finally arriving in Utila, we made our way down the dock past all the touts trying to get us to their respective hotels and grabbed a tuk-tuk.  Our hotel was close but our bags were heavy and it had been a long day.  We decided to splurge on a hotel for Christmas so we booked a room at a hotel called the Lighthouse.  We weren't disappointed.  The hotel was built at the end of a short dock so it sat right over the water.  We had an ocean facing room with AC, TV, soft clean beds, a fridge, and a microwave.  After two months of low budget hostels, this place felt like the Ritz!  The owners were descendants of the original English colony settlers and told us a brief history of the island.  We stayed there for three nights then moved to another place on December 26th.
     We went to Utila because it's a great place to get Scuba certified.  Quick and reasonably cheap compared to most other places in the world.  Nicole wanted to get certified and this was a great opportunity to do so while we were down here.  Plus, I had always wanted to check out Utila so it was a win win situation.  Nicole chose the Utila College of Diving as her dive school.  Most dive schools offer free lodging if you get certified through them so we had free lodging for the seven remaining days we were there.  Also, the only gym on the island was located on that property, so I was happy about that.  They didn't have room in the main student housing so we were put in a "suite" in the lodge.  Although we didn't have any AC, the room was very nice with an enclosed deck, beautiful bathroom, and over the water so we fell asleep and woke up to the lapping of the waves on the beach.  In between Nicole's Basic Certification and advanced certification we had to do some room shuffling.  We actually had to move to a flea bag motel for one night then right back to the dive center.  Different room, though.  Not as nice but still thankful we had a room.  Tourist islands like that fill up for the holidays and with the new year happening, we were thankful to even have a room. 
     We didn't see much of the actual island of Utila as it doesn't have roads that go all the way around it.  We ventured a little ways past the edges of the main town but nothing too exciting.  We were there to dive, not explore.  Also, Utila isn't known for it's beaches so we had a lot of dock lounging time.  We did find one "beach" but it was riddled with trash and very shallow with a coral bottom.  Not ideal for swimming.  We mainly stuck to the dock outside of the dive school.
     I went on four dives with Nicole.  She had two free "fun dives" with each course so I joined her on those.  It was good to be back in the water.  One of them was a wreck dive which I had wanted to do for a long time.  However, we couldn't go in the wreck as that's a different certification.  It was an okay dive. 
     The main town on the island isn't much.  It's one long main road running parallel to the water with a couple streets jutting into the island.  It's tolerable when you're not almost getting hit by scooters, motorcycles, four wheelers, golf carts, and tuk-tuks.  There's no sidewalks on the narrow street so pedestrians share the road with all the other vehicles.  It was a nice visit but I can't say I was sad to leave.

Getting to Utila......

Here is the adventure known as "Getting to Utila.".  We thought we could take a ferry from Livingston, Guatemala to Utila, Honduras.  The travel book said we could, anyway.  Nope.  Not so.  Turns out the travel book was outdated and wrong.(About most things, we were finding out.)  Our only option was to take the land route. It started with a one hour ferry from Livingston to Puerto Barrio.  It was raining and a little cold but still felt good.  One of those times when you get wrapped up in the adventure of it all and appreciate feeling the wind and rain on your face.  We started early so we arrived in Puerto Barrio early.  We thought we might catch a ferry from there to Utila but, again, no dice.  We were going to stay the night there but then thought "Why not just see how far we can get today?".  As luck would have it, a microbus to the border stopped right in front of us right when we were contemplating carrying on.  We didn't hesitate and immediately jumped on the bus.  It was a 14 passenger vehicle.  At one point we had 26 people in the vehicle.  Well, not in.  More like in and around.  Both side doors were open with three or four people standing in the doorway either leaning in or holding on but mainly outside of the vehicle.  I was one of the people on the outside.  I had wanted to do that since starting this trip.  I still haven't ridden on top of a bus yet, but there's still plenty of time for that.  It was fun for awhile but then my arms started to get tired.  I got a little nervous when we were doing about 50mph while I'm hanging onto the outside of a wet bus.  Eventually, enough people got off that I could move to the inside.  After about a half hour, we reached the Guatemalan border and, for a small fee, our conductor(drivers' helper) when and got our exit stamps on our passports.  It saved us a lot of time.  Then we walked about 50 yards to get our entrance stamp into Honduras. 
     While waiting in line, three big buses pulled up and unloaded about fifty tourists that all needed entrance stamps as well.  Luckily, we didn't get there after them!  As we waited in line, two things happened.  First, it started to rain.  Hard.  Second, we realized that there were no cheap, local buses.  We were kind of stranded.  We asked one of the bus drivers of the bigger buses if we could get on with them but he said they were full.  The second driver we asked said no problem.  Whew!  But.... directly ahead of us in line were two Americans.  We struck up a conversation with them and it turns out they were driving all the way to Panama.  We asked if they were open to giving us a lift and they said no problem.  Awesome!  Lot's of space in a real car!  After getting through the border, we put our packs in the back of their Forerunner and we were off.  We made it about fifty yards before we had to pull over so the local police could check the paperwork on the car.  It was then that I hoped these guys weren't carrying anything illegal.  The police were really polite but there was a little communication breakdown.  Were pretty sure one of the guards was messing with us because he kept kind of grinning and talking fast.  Finally, he slowed down and asked us if we had anything to declare.  Like guns......  After all of us replying "NO" we were sent on our merry way. 
     We were on the road for about forty-five minutes when we came to a kind of traffic jam.  All the cars and trucks ahead of us were stopped and no traffic was coming our way.  After talking to some other people, we learned that the road ahead had been washed out by the creek, now river, running up against it.  Remember that rain I was talking about earlier?  Nicole and I ran ahead to check out the situation and sure enough, literally half of the road was washed away.  And.... the way the creek was flowing against the road, it was only a matter of time before the other half would go, as well. 

     Just when Nicole and I decided to continue on foot and try to get a ride on the other side of the washout, the local police decided to start letting traffic through a little at a time.  Awesome!  We hopped back in the car and continued on.   If we had waited another day to continue on from either Livingston or Puerta Barrio, I'm sure the road would've been completely washed out.  We would've had to go back into Guatemala and take a huge, two day, detour to Utila.  After that, it was only another hour to San Pedro Sula. Our stop for the night.  I have never seen so much fast food in so little an area as downtown San Pedro.  Seriously.  Worse than starbucks.  We checked into a cheapie hotel we found in our travel book and dropped off our packs.  The room was actually pretty nice and they had television in English.  I know, I know.  TV?  Hey, it's the little things that keep you sane when traveling and everything seems chaotic.  After dropping off the bags we promptly went to Pizza Hut for some good ol' Merican food.  It hit the spot!  Then a quick walk around downtown and back to the hotel.  We didn't find out until later the San Pedro is one of the most dangerous cities in Central America.  Seemed pretty friendly to me.  At the hotel, both of our hot water knobs(the sink and the shower) were "mysteriously" stripped out.  What?  They don't want us using hot water?  No problem.  I pulled out my leatherman, took off the knob, and used the pliers to turn the hot water on.  Voila!  Best shower we've had in Central America yet!  The next morning we got up early and made our way to the bus station.  We used the local, cheap bus instead of a taxi as it was 25 cents instead of five bucks.  Again, the book says those buses our dangerous but everyone was so friendly.  I figured if there are whole families on there it can't be too bad.  At the bus station we hopped a pretty decent bus to La Ceiba.  Kind of like an airporter shuttle but different. We even got to sit in the front seat!  Pretty comfy ride. 
      We made it to La Ceiba and hopped a taxi to the ferry terminal just in time to buy ferry tickets to Utila.  Except......  it was sold out.  Full.  Completely booked.  There are only two ferry times to Utila a day and we had missed the second one of the day.  I started looking in the book for other, smaller boats that might go to Utila.  I was just about to start walking around looking for them one one of the locals trying to get there said his cousin had a boat and would take us for the same price.  We would end up going with the local, his small family, and some other travelers.  We said we were in, but it turned out that there were so many people that wanted to get to Utila that the ferry company booked an extra trip for that night.  We would get there late, but we would get there.
     We waited an hour and a half for the boat but it was worth the wait.  Once everyone was loaded, we took off.  The ride was really rough.  REALLY ROUGH!  Some people puked off the back of the boat.  Nicole and I could've gotten sick but we held it down and gutted it out.  After an hour, we were finally there.  We had made it to Utila.  Whew.......

On to Livingston....

After buying some last minute souvenirs we left San Pedro, Guatemala on the 8AM shuttle boat.  I would say ferry but it's not really big enough to be a ferry.  Once in Pana, we searched for a purse that Nicole had thought about buying but, no luck.  That particular shop was closed that day.  So we had a quick bite an hopped the bus(3 buses) back to Guatemala City.  The first bus up the narrow winding road was not as bad as going down as there was construction and lots of traffic.  That made the bus trip much slower, thankfully.  Also, you don't have to worry about a bus careening out of control and flying off the road when going UPhill.  The second bus ride was my favorite of the trip.  Even though it was crowded, there was no smog and we were rolling through the countryside.  It just smelled good and seemed like we weren't in a hurry.  The last bus ride was the longest but Nicole's favorite as we sat right up front and she didn't get sick.  However, the driver must've thought we were in a race because I've never been in a bus going that fast around corners!  Seriously.  I actually wondered what it would take for a bus to roll and if we were going fast enough to find out!
     We made it to Guatemala City safe and sound and decided to stay in a little bit nicer hotel in Zone 10 close to the mall.  We took a cab from the bus station to where the hostel was supposed to be but after being dropped off found out that the hostel had gone out of business.  It took a few minutes of ringing the doorbell for someone to finally answer.  In fact, we had walked away then turned around and passed the place again when someone came out and let us know that it had been closed for awhile now.  Thanks lonely planet.....  The guy that came out told us of another hotel nearby that charged about the same rate.  We checked in there then headed straight for the mall to hit the movies and see The Hobbit!  We ended up choosing the VIP showing which offers food service throughout the movie and your seats are kind of a Lay-Z-boy love seat.  Pretty cool.  The next day we tried to mail some stuff home via FedEx.  We were going to mail 10 Kilos(or 20 lbs) but the charge was FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS!  Really, FedEx?!  Really!?  No thanks.  I can almost buy a ticket home for that.  We chose to save four hundred bucks and lug our stuff around Central America.  After that we went back to the mall so Nicole could buy a much needed camera.  Relaxed at the hotel for the rest of the evening then headed out early the next morning.
     The next morning we took a bus to Rio Dulce on the Eastern side of the country.  It was a long and uneventful trip but it was on a nice bus so the journey wasn't all that bad.  We made it to Rio Dulce and immediately found a guy(or he found us) that got us a boat ride to the hotel we wanted to stay at.  Turns out there are no roads to this hotel.  One of the owners makes a daily boat run to the main town then takes customers back to the hotel across the lake.  And it's not just across the lake.  It's hidden down/through a couple fingers that reach way back into a kind of swamp/jungle of the lake.  The place is pretty cool!  There are raised walkways between the buildings and everything is on stilts.  I'll see if I can't find some pictures.  We only stayed there one night but it was one of our favorite places so far.
     Early the next morning, we paid our bill and hopped a river boat/ferry/shuttle/tour to Livingston.  Wasn't at the top of my list but the book made it sound like it was worth a visit.  On the boat ride there we saw a lot of river activity.  Including the locals doing their day to day thing.  We went on a couple side trips so that the local youngsters could paddle out in their canoes and try and sell us some of their stuff.  I remember feeling kind of embarrassed.  I was sitting up front so it wasn't until I looked back that all fifteen of us in the boat were taking pics of the kids.  I felt like such a tourist.  I mean I AM a tourist but.....  I just felt like on of the herd.  Also, I remember the kids were selling dead starfish.  That kind of threw me for a loop.  Since when is it okay to kill starfish?  I saw hundreds of them.  Later, in Livingston, I saw turtle shells as well.  It broke my heart to see that.  And, most western countries won't let you in with stuff like that.  They confiscate it at customs.  Just sad to see such a waste.

      Once we landed in Livingston, we made our way to the hotel we had picked to stay at and checked in.  It wasn't the best place but it was cheap and dry.  We checked out the little town for an hour or so and had something to eat.  We then went down and took a long walk along the beach.  We were on the Caribbean side at that point.  The beach was minimal and the water flat.  We were hoping to get some sunny beach time in Livingston but clouds were forming off shore and headed our way.  Sure enough, by morning, it was raining pretty good.  We were planning on hiking to some waterfalls that morning but it was too cold and rainy to swim in them so we opted not to.  In fact, we decided we had had enough rain in general and split.  We packed our stuff and headed to the ferry dock and started making our way to our next stop, Utila, Honduras.  Just getting to Utila was an adventure in itself.  I'll save that for my next post!
  

San Pedro, Guatemala

After two exhaust filled(literally) days in the capital city of Guatemala City, we made our way to the beautiful, lake side village of San Pedro on Lake Atitlan.  It's kind of a backpacker destination so there were lots of travellers and hippie types there.  We just relaxed for a couple of days.  We went on a tour to watch the sunrise on top of one of the very steep hills across the lake from San Pedro.  We decided to make an extended stay and take five days of Spanish classes.  At four hours a day, I speak much better English than I did before!  I can read signs and think "Hmm, I couldn't even read that before I took that Spanish class in San Pedro.  Losiento, Sra. Click, but I think I learned more about verb conjugations in one week than I did in the whole first year of high school Spanish!  Of course, that might be due to a better attention span and willingness to learn.  While in San Pedro, I was able to fit in some early morning runs and even get in some weightlifting at the local gym.  San Pedro is at about five thousand feet elevation so the workouts were definitely harder.  Especially the running!  Nicole was able to find a yoga teacher she liked and start every day with a good yoga workout.  Basically, it was nice to stay in one spot for awhile and kind of get into a routine.  It just lets you reset and regroup.  Being on the road and hopping from bus to bus everyday doesn't allow you to do that.  Nicole and I would go to the same restaurant every night for movie night.  Because the movies were pirated, sometimes they would work and sometimes they would stop before it was over.  We would have a good laugh because everyone else at movie night was older than us.  At least retirement age.  We would joke that we were just another one of the grandma and grandpas at movie night.  Whoopin' it up with all the other grandmas and grandpas.  That about sums up San Pedro.  More updates soon!

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.

    

Coban

Pools of Simuc Champay

We made our way from Poptun to Coban.  A decent sized town with plenty of day trips available.  We stayed in a cheap hotel with a stinky, cold room that was so damp the paint was seeping off of the walls.  Hey, it was cheap!  The circus happened to be in town so we ended up going to the circus on our second night there.  It was only$2.50 each!  Not bad for some small town circus entertainment.  They had some decent acts.  Juggling, tigers, trained mini ponies, and........ the giant cage of death!  It's a big metal ball that two people ride motorcycles in.  We also did a day trip to some beautiful pools called Simuc Champay.  We decided not to go there with a tour so it turned into quite the adventure.  Simuc is about 8 miles past the last little town on that particular road.  When we got off of the bus, we were immediately bombarded with people trying to sell us hotel rooms and rides to Simuc.  One guy wanted to charge us 200Quetzals for a ride there and back.  We took our chances and started walking, hoping a taxi would eventually come along.  Sure enough, a taxi came along.  Taxi ... meaning a truck with a cattle rack on the back.  You just climb in the back and stand there until your at your stop.  Pay the driver when you get out.  It was only 25Q taking the taxi.  Once at Simuc, it was a short hike to the pools and falls.  We also did a 20 minute hike up the side of the hill to get a great view of the pools from above.  The hike up the hill was actually pretty gnarly.  Straight up.  I definitely got my cardio in for the day!  After hiking back down to the pools, we were ready for some swimming.  We hung out at the pools for about a half hour.  It was starting to get dark so we decided it was time to leave as we didn't want to miss the last "taxi" back to town.

         We weren’t sure if we had missed the last taxi back to Lanquin or not. So we started walking just in case.  Nine Kilometers.  That’s a little over five and a half miles.  We knew there was a little hostel we could stay at three Km down the road just in case.  We made it all the way to the hostel and were in the process of asking them when the last taxi came by when…..THE LAST TAXI CAME BY!  Whew!  We hopped in the back of the truck and were very thankful for the rain filled ride back to town.  The next leg of our adventure was hitching a ride back to Coban.  Turns out we had missed the last bus back to Coban so our options were to get a hotel for the night, or hitch a ride.  We sat at the very end of town and waited with another local waiting for cars passing by that were headed to Coban.  After an hour, we were able to get a ride in the back of a small Nissan pickup with some guys that had just sold some pigs in the area.  It was a cold three hour ride back to Coban but, again, we were thankful for the ride.  AND, it only rained the last half hour of the ride.  I’ve got to hand it to Nicole.  She’s a trooper.  It was her Idea to try and catch a ride.  I would’ve been fine getting a hotel for the night.  I think that anyone else would’ve been grumbling the entire cold and windy ride back to Coban but not her.  She never complained once.  Not about the cold and not about the conditions.  I was very impressed with her on that ride.  After arriving back in Coban, we immediately went to the Guatemalan version of Pizza Hut and ordered some comfort food.  Then it was back to our paint leaking down the walls hotel for some much needed cuddling and rest.  We stayed in town one more day and checked out the town a little more then headed to Guatemala City.