Getting out of the taxi onto the bus at Malacatan was crazy, once the taxi driver pulled up at the bus stop, a crowd of men gathered around the car and when the driver flicked the switch for the boot they all grabbed our bags, before we had even got out of the car. We fought them off and got on the bus.
Now I thought Mexican buses were crazy;
Australian 2 lane highway = Guatemalan 2 lane highway with over taking lane in the middle for who ever has the loudest air horn.
The whole trip consisted of kamikaze driving and overtaking, at one stage I looked up from my book because I heard airhorns, to see us overtaking another bus and an on coming Mack truck. The bus we were over taking moved right to the side of the road, the truck right to the other side and we passed between with about a foot either side, no one on the bus even gave it a second thought.
Got into dirty Guatemala city late in the day, the hundreds of local buses running in the city are ex American school buses that haven’t been serviced since they left the states twenty years ago. The mufflers have fallen off and the rings are gone so that they pour out this thick black exhaust smoke that fills the air. Rees said goodbye to his Mexican friend after getting his email address and we headed off looking for a hotel. Found a good cheap one and made plans to get out of the city first thing next morning, for Antigua.
The joint had cable and we stumbled across an episode of the Simpons, which is no where near as funny when all the characters talk like the bumble bee guy.