Out into the country

I followed Ryan’s advice and stayed at Patricia’s bed and breakfast in Guatemala City (it wasn’t exactly top secret advice, since Patricia’s is clearly listed as the best place near the airport in Lonely Planet, but whatever.) She picks you up at the airport for free and takes you to the bus station for $6, which I highly recommend so that you can experience as little of Guatemala City as possible. It seems to be made up primarily of traffic circles. Lots of security- there were actually some guys with guns guarding the collection of suburban walled compounds where Patricia’s was, and there was a traffic cop on practically every corner.

So, Patricia took me directly to the chicken bus that would take me to Panajachel, the town at Lago de Atitlan. Unfortunately, there were no chickens on the bus. There were, however, highly aggressive salespeople- one of them actually put two packages of cookies in everyone’s lap, and then collected the cookies back if you didn’t get out some cash. Not bad marketing- that way you can have the experience of having the cookies before making your decision. The bus driver’s assistant also hung out the door, calling out the names of all the towns we were stopping at, and in a few cases tried to convince (Guatemalan) people to get on the bus who clearly didn’t want to. Imagine- you’re walking in the general vicinity of a bus stop, and someone jumps out saying, “Hey, you want to go to Chicago, right? Get on!” Say, maybe that’s a good idea- I haven’t been to Chicago in awhile. OK, fine.

Guatemalans prefer to sit next to strangers at the front of the bus rather than taking free seats near the back of the bus. A fellow gringa said it’s because they’re used to all living together in one room.

The ride was all green and hilly and beautiful, kind of like the opposite of Illinois. I didn’t take pictures out the bus windows because I have my pride. I also resisted taking pictures of the adorable indigenous babies sitting in front of me, because you’re not supposed to do that (there are rumors that white women kidnap indigenous babies, which to be honest doesn’t seem like a bad idea when you see their huge, adorable eyes. Just kidding. I will not kidnap indigenous babies.)

Here is the exact place of my introduction into real Guatemala: