Touchdown in Guatemala

Upon walking outside the Guatemala Airport I was overcome with offers to take me to my destination of Antigua. Thirty dollars didn´t sound too bad, but i knew i could do better so I took off to the streets to find one of the infamous chicken buses. A simple ¨hola¨ or ¨como estas?¨ goes a long way with getting help and before i knew it, my new friend Pedro and his elderly grandmother took a bus with me to another part of town and walked with me a good mile or two to where my next chicken bus awaited to take me into Antigua. All in all it was less than a dollar fifty US and the chicken bus provided far more entertainment than a taxi ever could. I counted at least 8 people who literally jumped on the bus and passed out candy, ingles dictionary booklets, and even two guys dressed to the T as clowns who put on a 5 minute routine, though i could only make out bits and pieces.

After getting off the chicken bus a good 2 miles from where my hostel awaited me, i made my way across town and took in the new region i´ll be exploring for the next month. Antigua is a cool little town, the streets bumpy with cobblestone are a bit confusing as there are hardly any street signs, but there was a lot to take in as I stood on the roof of the hostel and peered around the town shadowed by volcanos on all sides, one of which was puffing smoke in the distance.

Tomorrow, an early departure for San Pedro Laguna where i´ll settle in for a few weeks and enrich my lacking spanish skills.