Soccerdog and the Mexican Spew Bus

It was without an ounce of anxiousness that we boarded our bus from Cancun to Ciudad Cuahutemoc on the border with Guatemala, the bus was clean and comfortable and air conditioning was on a bit high (which I was prepared for as always by wearing just a singlet and sandals). This was to be an overnight bus, which we would connect to another bus the following morning to our current location - Lago Atitlan. Apart from being freezing cold the whole night and wrapping myself in Lucas's raincoat (suprisingly effective) the night time leg wasn't too bad. When the bus stopped for breakfast we suddenly realised this trip was going to take longer than we had thought, as after 12 hours on the road we were barely half way, this is when the wailing begain.....

Two young boys decided to commence crying in the most unimaginable tones in some sort of tag team timing, for the remainder of the bus trip. I think the wailing could partly be attributable to their parents throwing up all over them, much like the rest of bus was doing in their laps and on the floor as we wound through the mexican mountain range, it could have been the strong smell of urine from the toilet we were seated next to that covered the smell of vomit. And if it wasn't the winding road that caused people to revisit their breakfast it was certainly the movie 'Soccerdog' that induced boughts of uncontrollable nausea. Quite possibly the worst movie ever, with a title that typifies the lack of effort put in by everyone involved in the production. Aaaanyway, we finally arrived at the border and a car, tuk tuk and several offices later we were in Guatemala with a 4 hour wait until our 11pm bus to Huehuetengo (where we hoped to get a connection to Panajachel (on the lake). During our wait an enormous storm crashed through, with lightening strikes that looked like the enitre sky had been cracked like an peice of glass and a bright light was shining through from behind.

After finally boarding our bus we were alloted our seats - plastic chairs in the middle of the aisle, 2 hours and a police raid (looking for a fugitive - not me this time) later, we arrived in Huehue and settled in for 4 hour wait until the first bus to Pana. Of course nobody knew when that bus would be leaving so we entertained ourselves with our guitars and talking to drunk Guatemalans after their night on the tiles (or were we entertaining them?). Hearing the call for our destination two minutes before our bus left we disentangled ourselves from our hammocks (now trusty blankets) and leapt aboard. Three hours of half sleep half wake as we passed through the incredible Guatemalan highlands before being dumped (bus still moving as we extracate our gear from underneath) on the side of the road and instructed to get into another bus that was just pulling off - apparently bound for Panajachel. When this bus finally stopped and told us to get out we imagined this nice little town on the lake was Pana and we started to walk towards the lake in order to catch the boat across to San Pedro (our ultimate goal). Luckily a kindly truck driver told us Pana was still another 8km and so we leapt into the back of a ute and finally arrived in Panajachel after 37 hours on the road (our next to last destination - boat ride to come). No internet in San Pedro, so again last contact for a few days as we explore the lake and climb the surrounding volcanoes. I think the scenery in Guatemala is close to the best I have ever seen with regards to green mountains and houses perched on the ends of ridges with a misty pool filling the valleys below.