I couldn´t with good conscience visit Guatemala without stopping by the famous market in Chichicastenango, and neither could Silje. After 6 days in the jungle where all we could buy was a chicken, it was time to go shopping...

Like the saying goes, getting to a place is half the fun, and after our civilized bus travels in Mexico, Guatemala certainly turned out to be way more entertaining...

As the organized travelers we aspire to be, we bought our ticket to Guatemala City earlier that day. We were told that our bus would leave at 8pm from the very spot we got our tickets, and to be there 15 minutes in advance. Sounded simple enough.

Still stocking up on nutrients after our Atkins unfriendly trek, I wanted to eat some chicken before boarding. Showing up at 7:15pm should give us plenty of time to drop off our bags and go eat, or so we thought... We were immediately rushed onto a waiting "special service" bus, not even allowed to use the toilet. After waiting for a couple of minutes with the engine running, we slowly moved into the main street - actually, jumped and jerked our way would be a more accurate description - where we snailed our way towards god knows what. Edging our way in first gear, we would move kangaroo-style for perhaps 50 meters before taking a few minutes´ break. This inevitably led us to wonder if the driver had EVER been behind the wheel of a bus, but we somehow made it all the way through town. The ticket collector (a separate job from the driver) was all the while calling out our destination in a distorted voice; "Guate-guate-guate"; to hustle up customers. All I can say is that seeing the quality of driving coupled with the psycho voice of the ticket collector wouldn´t exactly entice me to jump onboard...

After this dramatic 15-minute performance we came to a second bus station where we changed to another vehicle, and hopefully to a better driver. Our friend the ticket dude informed us that we had half an hour, and that the bus would depart at 8pm from here. Excellent, we thought, time to use the restroom and get a snack. I had hardly pulled down my trousers when the distorted "Guate-guate" yelling started again accompanied by an intense revving of the engine. All aboard!!

When I got out a few seconds later, the bus was already driving away for another swing around town, picking up passengers at every stone and every tree, even hustling in front of other bus companies´terminals. The driving was still very sketchy and we braced ourselves for a long 10 hour trip.

Despite broken seats that didn´t recline, and extremely scary driving that included regularly passsing other buses on uphill curves with blind corners, we had a nice enough trip. After a couple of hours we stopped long enough to get a delicious street-snack of marinated grilled chicken with beans, tortillas and salsa. Even later we came to a rest-stop where the toilets
a) were free - gasp!!
b) had toilet paper - another gasp!!
c) flushed - oh my god, this can´t be true!

We even got some sleep in before it got too cold...

We arrived 2 hours before scheduled, and found ourselves looking for a connecting bus to Chichicastenango at 4 in the morning. No problem! A taxi driver took us to another station where a bus bound for "Chichi-chichi-chichiiiii" was about to leave.

Again I marveled at the convenience of traveling in a country where most people get places by bus. I can only imagine arriving in any US city at 4am and trying for a connection...

As we left Guatemala City, our bus filled up with peasant men and women carrying huge loads of produce, chickens, and kids. We arrived in Chichi a couple of hours later, frozen to the bone and ready for a warm bed.