Today we have a hideously long drive - 3 1/2 hours to the border and once we cross into Guatemala another 8 hours to Panajachel, although VJV have cleverly omitted to time the first leg so subconsciously everyone thinks it's "only" 8 hours.
To make matters worse there have been blockades across some roads on the Guatemalan side in protest at the price of fuel (£4 a gallon - they don't know they're born!) and as our new guide Emilio was quite badly delayed yesterday getting to our border rendezvous, at Francisco's suggestion we are leaving at 06:00 in the hope we get to the border before it gets too busy.
So most photos in the post will be poor quality snaps from the coach. As you can see it was a misty start.
There were a lot of roadside stalls which seemed to be in groups all selling the same kind of thing ie. strange wooden creatures.
And then a few miles further long flowers for sale on a cluster of stalls.
Or terracotta chickens
When we reached Frontera La Mesilla, Francisco explained that the bus had to drop us about 1km from the actual border post and that we had quite a steep hill to walk up. He would arrange for porters to take our suitcases but I thought it best to pack both cameras away so we could carry them safely on our backs - so unfortunately no photos.
Francisco has been an excellent guide; always punctual, knowledgeable, good communicator (even when the microphone in the bus failed and he had to kneel up facing backwards so we could all hear him) and patient. We think he was very pleased with his tip as he kept coming back over to us for a final chat after we'd said thanks.
Our Guatemalan guide Emilio had been communicating with Francisco and recommended that we each put a single US1 bill in our passports to speed up the immigration process, but in fact the official didn't want it and handed it back with a look of disdain. It must have taken almost an hour for us all to leave Mexico and enter Guatemala; Ian and I were one of the first ones through and so changed some US Dollars with a man in the street, which was apparently the best and only option. He was a huge guy and had a massive wedge of notes with him, no doubt he had security watching his back at all times. He was very pleasant and happily gave us smaller notes when I asked him to. It was quite funny actually as Emilio heard me say to Ian about changing the large bills and was about to take over when he heard me speaking Spanish and he did look quite impressed!
Our new bus is considerably bigger with a separate cub for the driver Miguél-Angel, and much more legroom plus on first impressions Emilio is very good (although I've warned him Francisco will be a hard act to follow) - I think I'm going to like this leg of the trip.
And now for some more rubbish photos on our way to Panajachel (at least these windows aren't tinted), but with another 8 hours to go, I've got to keep myself entertained somehow!
Cool dude
Logs anyone?
I think I mentioned the nano-second time lag already so I thought I leave this one it for a laugh.
With the Copa de Mundo as it's known here to starting in 4 days, football fever is gripping everyone.
Emilio said old US school buses get bought and are then "pimped up" and used as private transportation.
We stopped at a petrol station for yet another loo break just as the sun was starting to set and the view was stunning so I set off with my camera - unfortunately there was a load of debris. Several of the men followed me, also Emilio, to copy the shot and were able to climb over the rubble but I was just in flip flops so didn't attempt to.
Back on the coach waiting for people to finish their coffees, the colours had intensified so I went back for another shot.
When we were nearing Panajachel, on the side of Lake Atitlán, Emilio explained that we'd been moved to a different hotel as the original one was fully booked. So we're now in a 4* lakeside hotel with a fabulous view of the 3 volcanoes Atitlán, San Pedro and Tolimán. Well I got 2 out of 3 in this shot which isn't bad - maybe I'll get them all tomorrow.
Emilio asked if we'd like to go out for dinner as a group as he knew a very good Pupuseria - hard to answer really as I don't think any of us knew what type of restaurant it was. Pupusa is a kind of thick griddle cake or flatbread made from corn or rice flour and filled with a choice of fillings and the national dish of El Salvador. Emilio assured us it was delicious so we all agreed to meet in reception at 19:00 except one person changed their mind and so we all waited in vain for quite a while - how rude. It was quite a long walk to get there through some very dark streets but we had Emilio with us so felt OK.
The restaurant was rather small and more of a café really but there was a wide choice of fillings. Unfortunately my choice of fish was probably the worst I could have picked; the pupusas themselves were completely devoid of any taste whatsoever and the fish was dried anchovy or similar and presented with a side serving of pickled cabbage. Ian's chose more wisely and had cheese in one and vegetable in the other and said they weren't too bad. Never mind they were very cheap and we enjoyed the wine. Some of the others were staying on for more drinks but Ian and I decided to call it a night and got a tuk-tuk back to the hotel.
Phew, that was a long day!