First Chicken Bus!
Right now I am writing from Escipulas, a town in Guatemala on the border of Honduras. After a wonderful Navidad in La Esperanza, my friend and I decided to travel together to the ruins of Copan in Honduras and then thruout Guatemala for a few weeks.
So we planned (as much as one can here) and left La Esperanza yesterday for Guatemala City at 6 am in the morning. We took a chicken bus, which went insanely fast and kept me bouncing in my seat..luckily I had a seat in the back of the bus with no luggage rack, or I would have hit my head several times at least. I was a little bit paranoid about getting robbed, because everyone says the buses get robbed on the highway, but nothing happened in that regard (although lots more chicken buses to go…so..!) and there I am with my daypack and knowing I would be an immediate target…but, as I said, nothing happened.
We got off in Guatemala City, where, after asking numerous people for directions,and crossing from one side of the street to the other(and back again) we finally got on another bus to go to the Routes Orientales bus station, in the center of the city. I had to stand on the bus and it was very short, but luckliy a short ride. Everyone was staring at us, which was kind of weird, but you get used to it.
We got to the center of the city and got off the bus. My travelling companion(whose name is Moira and is 25, American, very interesting spunky woman..)…Anyway, Moira sets about trying to figure out where we are. We end up basically being lost-not because of any lack of common sense on out part, but because everyone we ask-policeman, shoeshiner, man on the street-gives us the wrong directions. Finally some guy we asked and who had just kept walking comes back and actually gives us reasonably correct directions. We walk for quite a bit, past the Mercado in the square, past the Cathedral…and get a bit more lost. As we are walking, the stench of urine is very strong and it´s overwhelming and somewhat nauseating.
We finally find the bus station, where seem to be seen from a block away, as we are surrounded by men asking us if we want a taxi or a bus. There´s a bus pulling out at that moment that happens to be going to Escipulas, the first stop on out itinerary. We run to catch it, hop on …forgetting that for the past hour we´ve been talking about having to pee. There´s no bathroom on this bus-and it´s not going to stop for us. We´re hungry and thristy and need a bathroom, but at least we made it to the bus station and got on the right bus…besides, it´s only four hours, the schedule says, to Escipulas.
Wrong. It is not four hours to Escipulas. It is seven hours! This is because they are working on a huge part of the highway, and are only letting one car pass at a time….for 4 hours. Did I mention the windows are cracked and most them do not open? It was so hot in that bus that I felt like I was going to pass out.
I was sitting separately than Moira, because there were no seats together…and although she is wonderful company, it turned out to be really cool, because the guy next to me was (for me) the most interesting guy on the bus. His name was Jorge and he lived in Guatemala City, but was traveling to his mother´s house close to Escapules. He is a lawyer in Guatemala City and specializes in public defense. His clients are young clients in gangs. He turned out to be fascinating, and we talked in Spanish the entire way(and he understood me!). I learned alot about the problems here in Guatemala, and he also served as an impromtu tour guide for the places we passed thru.
We did actually stop once at some sort of bus stop/commedor/fruit stand….and I had had to pee for so long I had sort of forgotten about it. I was more thinking about my legs and knees, which seemed to have locked into the sitting position (10 plus hours on buses in one day is alot). I was also starving, as Moira had all the snacks we had packed for the trip in her bag with her, and it was impossible to get at them from my seat as the aisles were full of people on the bus. I bought some weird fried rice thing at the commedor, with bits of mysterious crunchy things and some sort of meat-ish thing in it and wolfed it down…and then hopped back on to the bus for a few more hours.
When it was time for Jorge to get off, we were fast friends, and he gave me his contact info in Guatemala. I was really happy he offered it, and with the contact info came an invitation to go to the museums in the city-something I´ve been wanting to do, but everyone has advised me is too dangerous on my own. So now I can visit him and his family in Guatemala City and get to see some of the cultural things in the city. Perfect.
We finally got to Escipulas when it was dark. Exhausted, dehydrated,sunburned and hungry, we walked to the first hotel in ther budget section of the guidebook we had brought. Took a look at the room (two twin beds, newish yellow paint, bathroom and sink off the stairwell down the hall…) and lay down for a bit. We walked around the square, the centerpiece of which is
a gigantic Basillica. We were the only gringoes that I could see-tons of tourists, but all of them are Guatemalans. Huge families of Guatemalans, as well as individuals…come here as a religious pilgrimage. The Basillica contains the only Black Christ in Central America. People stand in line to see the Christ…and there are loads of little gifts people buy…rosaries and religious things. There are also these strange little hats with what looks to be little straw animals dangling off them and decorated with Christmas garnishes. People seem to buy the little hats to show they came here…but not sure. People come to get cured of illnesses and there seem to be lots of miracles happening.
There are food stalls everywhere, people selling rosaries walking around, coconut candy stands..It´s a pretty little town. Unfortunately, after I finish writing this, we´ll go take a daytime look at the Basillica and then hop on another bus to head to Honduras. In Honduras we will be heading to Copan, the Mayan ruins. We´ll be there for New Years Eve, and try to spend a few days looking around at the ruins. Then we´ll travel thru Honduras for a few days, and head back to Guatemala to visit Livingston, the center of the Garifuna culture. Livingston is on the Carribean coast, so hopefully it will be slower pace with great music!
Please keep sending your thoughts. I don´t post everyone´s comments, but I still read them all.
Feliz Año to all my family, friends, and utter strangers reading this!
gg
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