Bienvemos a Guatemala!

At last I managed to leave the Mohitos behind and actually get on a plane, for a short hop across the carribean to a landing skimming the roofs of Guatemala City, and it only got more sketchy from there on in...

Guatemala City is hyped in the guide books as being a a bit of a nasty place, but the book of lies always said that so I wasn´t too fazed with all the shotgun toting guards out side EVERY shop (ok it was a little wierd to see a shoe shop protected by a 12 bore) however getting my first chicken bus of the trip out of their was quite an experience.
There were only 10 of us on the bus from the main bus station, all locals and myself so was a little confused when I was told (in pictionary style gestures cos my spanish couldn´t quite cope) when they motioned to lay down. I didn´t really need to sleep and wanted to see the city on the way out so stayed sitting up, only when the driver floored it out of the bus station and screamed something at me which even with the lack of vocabulary I could pretty much guess at ´get your f*cking head down´ I actually complied. Only being able to see the roofs of buildings from where I was lying I can only guess at why we needed to boost it out of the city in such a manor, but after 20 mins of jumping trafic lights we stop to pick the rest of the passengers sensibly waiting outside the danger zone on the outskirts of the city.

When I could eventually raise my head I was in for quite a shock change from the stunted growth of Cuba, this place was just a more crazy baby brother of America. McDs on every corner, giant Explorers and Escalades, and even a Hooters! (am going to have to go back to check that out for research purposes).
Leaving the city 4 hours of climbing into the highlands with the temperature dropping rapidly, I wished that the rest of my clothes weren´t on the roof, but the body heat from the 5 other people crammed onto the same seat kept the hypothermia at bay. Eventually dropping down out of the mist I had my first glimse of Lago Atitilan

Rather enthusiatically after a 15 hour travel day already I signed up for school then checked in to the friendlyest looking hostel going as after the drout of travellers in cuba it was nice to chat to someone in english for a bit. Luckily the next day the school was running an excursion up to the ´indians nose´ (i´ve found in my travels most will make any mountain look like a face/ nose/ camel just to get stupid tourists to climb it) but the views from the top were certainly worthwhile

dropping down off the hill into the local market town for some locals snacks was a dangerous experience, but not the sort mentioned in the guide books. Guatemalan people are generally of quite short stature and thats coming from me... and they tend to make the roofs of their stalls only just big enough for them, so most of us returned from the market sporting a nice array of roof shaped injuries...

the dress of the local people is massively colourful as they are desended from the original Mayan culture, with the patterns and styles indicating which tribe they belong to in the same was as tartan.

with even the children getting into the act from an early age

there were so many more photo opportunities around, but without asking and most times paying first, these people don´t really appreciate the intrusion.