The taxi driver asked if we are going to Guatemala City, he flashes his lights and the bus stops! A quick transfer out of the taxi and onto the bus. This bus is a 1970 charter bus, no air conditioning and no reading lights. Now we have a  6 to 8 hour drive to Guatemala City. Our German girl friend needs to get off at another city, and we need to get to Guatemala City to transfer and head to Antigua where we have booked a hostel for the night and are seemingly still on schedule to make it. When we get onto the bus there is maybe 5 people after several stops we are finally full. I feel like I’m on a midnight train being smuggled into Guatemala. We are the only Americans, I like this feeling of transporting the way Guatemalans do it, not paying more, still getting there and just testing the local waters. Both Mateo and I are just going with it, we are both aware that we need to be in Guatemala City, and the German girl gave us a lonely planet travel book, full of helpful information. The bus stops after 8 sweaty hours, the only people not getting off are sleeping people and then us. They start asking us questions, I guess this is our stop, we are in Guatemala City. The bus station is packed, it reminded me of being in New York’s central station, it was so busy, the time was about 9:30 am. Neither Mateo or I are feeling good, sleep deprived and sketchy food with little water consumed in the last 24 hours, we head towards open air and sunlight at the south end of the station to re group. After finding a man in neon green and asking for directions. We head to the upper level to find a bus that is heading to Antigua. There is a mass of people stuffing them selfs on to buses that are showing up frequently, we ask again about getting to Antigua, and get told a stop and head towards the crowd. We shimmy on to the second bus that arrives, we don’t fit on the first one, the buses are patrolled by cops, I assume they make sure not to many people get on the buses but also just help to maintain general security. Five stops later we squeeze our way out of the packed bus. I felt like I was being slowly pushed out of the birth canal, Mateo was even assisted by a man out side of the bus and pulled off. We were in Guatemala!!! How awesome, it is hard to describe the ways it feels different but it is not Mexico, I notice first how Guatemalans look different, it could be because we are in the city but not everyone says good morning when passing by you. Inquiring for directions from the first cop we see he sends us in a direction towards a small cheese market, also many stands were providing breakfast, I was tempted but we really just wanted to get this over with, turns out we were heading the wrong way and need to cross back over the Main Street. After being pointed in the right direction we boarded a school bus with a fancy paint job saying Antigua. This was our first “chicken bus” the most popular form of transportation around Guatemala City and the surrounding areas. Chicken busses are old school busses from the United States.  Luckily this chicken bus ride should only take us about and hour and a half, and at the whopping cost of 1.20$ US. It was full quickly and had some interesting revolving characters. There were people stepping in to the bus to sell whatever they could, chocolates, suckers, and most strange for me, diplomas for best mother, all at a cost. Antigua is a old colonial town, it feels like Europe, with cobble stones, pleasant night life and many Spanish ruins. We stayed at the same Hostel Mateo’s brother Nate stayed at only a couple weeks prior. We enjoyed a nice walk to the hostel and rested a good part of our day.

Relaxing in the sun on the top patio

We spent many hours in the hammocks