Guatemala, Belize, and Getting Used to Buses

While I know I said I'd update once I got to Guatemala, I've now been through Guatemala and Belize and am getting ready to move onto Honduras tomorrow!  It turns out getting to the internet cafe moves down on the priority list once you begin to explore new places.  Both were short visits, but a lot of fun.  I arrived in Guatemala city around midday on Monday after my flights, first from Chicago to Houston and then from Houston to Guatemala City.  From Guatemala city I took an hour and a half bus to Antigua where I spent 2 nights with my buddy Erin who was the group leader of the spring break trip I went on 2 years ago.  He's been living there in a nice little apartment for the last 5 years and was nice enough to let me crash there for a couple nights.  I thought I was going to be sleeping on a couch but it turns out he's got a guest room with an extra bed!

It was definitely luxurious living compared to what I was prepared for.  I was a bit worried at first about his 2 cats considering my allergies to those things but I had no problems.  One of them tried to sneak into the room every time I opened the door but I was sure to block his path or kick him out after each attempt.  Erin met me in downtown Antigua once I arrived and we grabbed some lunch before going back to his apartment.  I re-explored Antigua Monday night and crashed early since I hadn't really slept in 36 hours.

On Tuesday I decided I would make a visit to the small rural town of El Tizate where I stayed during my spring break trip 2 years ago to see if the family I stayed with was still around.  I told them I would go back to visit so I was simply fulfilling my promise!  I got off the bus, knocked on the door, and Egma (my host mom) answered the door!  I don't think Guatemalans change the location of their homes as much as we Americans do so it's not surprising they were still there.  Osman, their 15 year old son was home too, but Egma's husban Agustin was working and the 2 other kids, Cindy (9 years old) and Franky (11 years old, and yes they are Guatemalan) were at school.  I walked around the village with Osman until everyone else came home.  We then had lunch (typical rice and chicken with tortillas).  Osman had class afterwards, so Cindy, Franky and I walked across the street and played soccer with some of the other young neighborhood kids until they tired me out.  We went back to the house, had dinner, took pictures, and then I said my goodbyes before hopping on the bus back to Antigua.  It was great to see them and they were definitely surprised to find me knocking on their front door!  (Below, left to right: Franky, Egma, Cindy, Osman, Agustin, me)

Wednesday morning I got up early and caught a 7am bus back to Guatemala City, where I then caught another bus to a small town called Flores in northern Guatemala.  The bus ride is normally 10 hours, but ours took 10 and a half due to a group of undocumented Hondurans getting caught at one of the police checkpoints.  I'm not really sure how they resolved that situation because they all ended up staying on the bus, but I didn't care because I just wanted to get off that bus as soon as possible.  To add to the problems, the power was out in the entire town when we arrived at Flores.  Luckily I had been sitting next to and talking to a well known local politician on the bus, so she helped me to make arrangements to get to Belize the following day and also to find a good, safe hostel.  I was guided to my room and given a single candle.  Even though it was only 9:00, I just got ready for bed and went to sleep because I wasn't about to wander around town in the dark.  Once I blew out the candle I couldn't even see my hand an inch in front of my face so I wouldn't have been able to get up and do anything even if I needed to.  Luckily, the 10.5 hour bus ride wore me out so I fell asleep quickly.

I got up the next morning at 4:45 and was picked up at the hostel at 5:00 by the bus service with which I had made arrangements the night before.  They drove me and 2 Dutch guys across the border of Belize and dropped us off in Belize City.  That was a 4 hour bus ride.  From there I took another bus to the small town of Independence, which took another 4 hours.  From independence I caught a water taxi to the small beach town of Placencia.  It turned out that all the hassle was totally worth it because not only was the town gorgeous, but there were so few people there that it seemed almost uninhabited.

I had met a guy named Will from Vancouver on the water taxi so we walked around and found a hostel to stay at.  Ultimately we found the one in the picture below, about a 20 second walk from the beach, for $12.50/night.  It's hard to beat that deal!

There were 3 girls from San Fransisco also staying at the hostel, so we all hung out and explored the town on Thursday night.  There wasn't much going on (like I said, there was almost no one on the island) so we all went to bed early.  Will got up and left for Honduras on Friday morning, and I headed straight to the beach where I spent a good part of the day with the San Fran girls.  It wasn't really until I took a walk down the beach that it truly hit me - for the first time in over 5 years, I have nothing to do, nowhere to be, and nothing to work ahead on.  After 5 years of engineering with summer internships in between each year, my brain doesn't want to let me think that that can actually be true.  Later in the day, 2 Austrian guys checked into the hostel so we went to the convenient store, grabbed some Belekins (Belizean beer), and hung out at the hostel before going out to one of the local bars.

This morning (Saturday) I got up early and got some more quality beach time in.  The weather couldn't have been more perfect either day - sunny, 85-90 degrees, and a cool 5 mph breeze.
 

When I was all beached out, I packed up, checked out, and took the water taxi back to Independence where I caught a bus to Punta Gorda, a couple hours south along the coast.  That brings me to where I'm at right now, sitting at the internet cafe here in Punta Gorda, Belize, getting ready to head on to Honduras tomorrow.  It sounds like the music is getting louder outside so it's time to go exploring.  I'll update again after I have some Honduran adventures to report on!