Humble Hut, we stayed up stairs 

The road out

We departed early the next morning, a great 8 hour drive was ahead of us. After finishing our tasty pancakes and eggs we boarded the truck which would take us to the town of Lanquín, then we would get on to a shuttle that would get us to our connection to head to Guatemala City. I’m going to miss the wonder I have for cocoa trees, what a strange and interesting tree, the only tree that grows seeds from the trunk! Our bus ride was long, our final mini bus into Guatemala city was spacious, with high ceilings. One of the guys had some unstable intestinal issues, we asked the bus driver to stop. Of course this on a winding road and there were not many options for stopping the minibus. The driver said no, only 15 minutes away, we all started insisting that it was an emergency and finding a place to stop would be a good idea. Finally reluctantly he pulled over and the guy went running off the bus to find a cozy bush off the road. The driver stepped out and smoked a cigarette. This is one of my worst nightmares, being really sick while in transit. I have had some bad stomach aches and questionable intestines but never had to pull a bus over for an emergency.

Mateo and his awesome sleeping while reading capabil

The mini bus dropped us at a random street in Guatemala City, we were both convinced that the driver had forgotten that we needed to dropped off. The majority of bus operators like to be talking on their cell phone while in route. I don’t mind it really but when you’re passing through a city and need to get off it’s a bit concerning. We knew we needed to be in Zona 10 to catch the TicaBus the next day to San Salvador. It’s five kilometers away, we walked about halfway until we found a taxi with reasonable prices. He dropped us on a main road just close to where our loney planet guide said a cheap hotel was. The guide failed us with no hotel in sight. We started walking with our bags in search of a cheap hotel. We use the book again to try to find another recommended hotel, it failed us again. We quit using the book and just start searching for a place to stay for the night. We gradually were getting into the nicer side of Zona 10. And the hotels get nicer as well. Every hotel lobby we stepped into I could feel the staff notice that we had been traveling all day from bus to bus to taxi. My hair a mess, I was sticky and sweaty, and really tired of searching for a place to stay. It was less obvious when were outside searching on the street, and so much more obvious when stepping into those fancy lobbies. We continued ask if any one knew of a cheap hotel. In hindsight we should have headed toward the TicaBus terminal, but that’s hindsight. Finally we found a place for 45$ US dollars a night and rested. 45$ is what we would normally spend in a day or maybe two days. I guess it will have to do!