We got up quite early on Sunday morning to get ready to leave Antigua to travel to Xela.
Woke to heavy rain which was a bit of a drag as we had to travel on one bus 45 minutes to a town called Chimaltanengo on the main highway to catch another bus a further 4 hours to Xela.
We had been to the bus station behind the marketplace the day before so knew where the buses left from.
Left the hotel about 7 am to get some breakfast. The rain was really heavy and the cobble-stone streets which sloped inward were running with water making it hard to cross without getting wet feet. Went to the “Bagel Barn” again and had a breakfast bagel while checking the email.
Back to the hotel, we checked out and headed through the marketplace to the bus stop. The rain had thankfully stopped by now and we got on a bus which was just pulling out.
The bus filled up quickly as it slowly drove north out of the town. The cobble-stones ended and the driver basically floored it!
We were still going through the outskirts of the city with building close to the road on each side but he must have still been going 80km/h with the occasional honk on the horn to an approching vehicle or a scary heavy breaking for a dog on the road!
Once we left the city the road started climbing and became quite winding. And bearing in mind it the roads were still wet, it was nervous trip to Chimal. I swear the bus must have been up on two wheels on some of the corners! We missed the first stop at Chimal so had a little walk back from where we got off. Came to a bus with the bonnet up (bad sign!) that was going to Xela so we squeezed on. Got a seat right at the back but had a little trouble getting down the narrow aisle to get there.
The trip to Xela was long but pretty uneventful. The Centroamericano Highway we were now travelling on was better than the other road but there were still sections where roadwork was happening which were very rough. At one stage we came out on the top of a ridge in the clouds and I found I was quite short of breath. Found out later that we were at 3760m above sea level at that point!
Got to Xela early afternoon. The bus depot was a little way out of town so we got a taxi to the center. Found a cafe called Babylon close by and had some lunch and logged on to their wireless internet connection. We were due to meet Maria at the language school at 4pm so we killed some time finding the school and having another coffee at another cafe.
Finally met with Maria at the school and went through some details before she drove us to our appartment which is 20minutes walk from the school.
Xela is not anywhere near as attractive a city as Antigua. Quite busy though and a lot less tourists. Very narrow streets with narrower footpaths and buildings almost up to the roads.
The apartment is simple but quite nice. Two story with open kitchen and living on the groundfloor, large bedroom and bathroom on the second. The shower does have hot water which is some kind of electric element stuck to the top of the showerhead. Very dodgy looking wiring as well!
We both had showers and something to eat and went to bed early. Due at school at 8am tomorrow!

00:44hrs 28/9/08 Domingo (Sunday for the non Spanish speakers)

Yes, that’s right we are wide awake at midnight after a 5 hrs sleep. We were both so tired at 1830hr.
Yesterday as in Saturday we woke up at 04:00hrs after a fabulous 11hr sleep (post 37hr to get to Guatemala with little sleep). So we were starving, the only food we had was instant coffee and no hot water so after reading the recommended cheap eating section of the lonely planet I realised I was even more hungry and we were heading for a place that had hot bread and coffee at 0700hr. As we translated the menu thinking what a cute place it was I heard only what I could describe as a tour group and then I realised it was the worst kind: loud, 40+, Americans. We ordered our breakfast and coffee and then we had to listen to the tour guide go through every thing on the menu only to stop at every dish to answer relevant questions. (“Yes you can have white bread. How about the banana pancakes?“ etc) How annoying. My food was good, coffee average.

So Antigua is a tourist town, cobble stones streets, most shops are for the cashed up tourist, but the city is so beautiful I understand why people want to come here. Even McDonalds and Burger King shop front blends with the traditional façade its really only the armed security guard that makes these places stand out. (What is the Hamburglar a problem here?).

After breakfast we still had an hour or so before the tourist information was open, so we headed for church (La Merced, built in 1694, destroyed by earthquake twice then rebuilt little of it remains from 1694, but it was pretty and had beautiful views from the roof of the convent of the volcanos). A service was on so we went to the convent and returned just after the service had finished. It was pretty and obviously a well used/love place of worship. But I did have to fight back the urge to laugh at the tacky manikins dressed up as baby Jesus and so on. The worst one was Jesus’ body fresh off the cross lying in a glass coffin with bright lights and mirrors. It was very odd.

We spent the rest of the morning walking around, we attempted to locate three museums, two we could not find and one was closed permanently. We located where we were going to catch the chicken bus (the bus the locals use) to take us to Xela (Much easier local name for Quetzaltenengo) on Sunday . In Guatemala they have tourist buses (called shuttle buses to give you the illusion that it is fast) which are well over priced and not guaranteed to be any faster or more comfortable so we just had a glance at how much the shuttle bus was to Xela and the travel agent woman asked Damian if he had change for USD100, Damian said “no” and says to me after that he does not want her counterfeit USD100 note.

So one of our main objectives was to get on line either WiFi or internet café. We went to “Café WiFi” which did have WiFi but we could not connect and neither could this other woman. Damian chatted to her and she said she was going to the “Bagel Barn” where the WiFi was free, she gave us direction and offered to walk with us. We had just bought a beer so we were going to stay and finish it of when Damian realised that she left her phone, weirdly enough there was a message saying SEE YOU SOON on the screen. So we went to the “Bagel Barn” and gave her her phone back which she was thankful for and had some lunch while updating the blog and sending emails etc. It was quite funny to be sitting in a café with all these people typing away and skyping on their laptops. So happy to have brought the Eee PC. It’s been really handy to have. If anyone does want to Skype us our username is “damian and sarah”. Hopefully we will be online a bit more in Xela.

Finally we get to Guatemala!

4.19 am 27th Saturday Antigua, Guatemala.
The plane trip from Buenos Aires to Guatemala City via Panama went well. The plane was smaller and we were right up the back next to the toilets which was a bit annoying. A queue formed most of the way up the aisle for quite a long time until I noticed and pointed out to the head of the queue that for some reason they were only using the first of the two cubicles. People are idiots. (Damian is sleep-deprived and cranky.) Queue moved a lot quicker after that.
Had a couple of hours sleep until the sun came up. There was a guy next to us on the window seat but he kept the blind closed. Not much to see but clouds the few times I did look out. We didn’t think they had TV screens on the flight but they magically appeared folding down from the console above our heads to play “What goes on in Vegas”. Saw it a few weeks ago but watched it again to kill time. Has some funny moments. Window guy opened the blind as we were landing in Panama and we watched as we flew in over the ocean and some swampland before landing.
We were transiting straight to the next flight to Guatemala City and thought we would have very little time but the plane wasn’t yet at the departure gate so we had a short walk around the airport. Not much to see. I can’t believe we have just visited three new countries, New Zealand, Argentina and Panama and didn’t even leave the airport!
Plane to Guatemala arrived and we boarded. Smaller plane yet again, only two seats each side of the aisle. Wasn’t very full either so although Sarah hogged the window yet again I was able to take some photos of the Panama canal from another window. Rest of the fight was open ocean and then clouds until we got to Guatemala City after a couple of hours.Panama Canal


We had decided to try and limit our time in Guatemala City as there can be a bit of crime targeting tourists. We are due in Quetzalteango which is 4 hours from Guate (as the locals calls it) on Sunday afternoon so we have a couple of days to get there.
From outside the airport we negotiated a taxi to take us to Antigua for $25USD which is a 45 minute drive. It is the previous Capital of Guatemala built by the Spanish in founded in 1543 and has some amazing old ruined buildings and churches. The streets are cobblestone.

We arrived around noon yesterday and were dropped off in the centre of town at the town square. We had identified a hotel from Lonely Planet we thought we would have a look at as when travelling it’s always good to have a destination to give the driver or you may get driven to a place where they get kickbacks. As we were approaching the city though the driver asked where we wanted to go. He didn’t speak any English but I gave him the street address in Spanish, pointed to the exact spot on a street map and he seemed to know where I was indicating but then started saying (I think, Spanish comprehension still limited.) that for $20 it was just to the town square, it’s $28 to be dropped off at the hotel door. So I said fine and we got out at the square. It was only a couple of blocks and I have had enough arguments with taxi drivers in developing countries to know to get out when the goings good. At least he was still accepting the original price we had agreed on! We walked the couple of blocks to the hotel we had found in Lonely Planet but it didn’t seem to be there anymore. A few doors along the street we enquired at another hotel. 150 Quetzal for a night. (22USD) and although the outside area looked quite nice the room was small and dingy.

We crossed the street and took a room at the Hotel Refugio which Lonely Planet describes as “the cheapie du jour among savvy travellers”, outside appearance wasn’t much but the room was larger and nicer than the first place and cost was only 80 Quetzal for a double with hot water. “Dos notches por favor” we asked (two nights please) and with much relief put down our bags and hit the shower.

After a hot shower and change of clothes we went to explore the local area. Found a market close by which was very similar to the local markets we had seen in Cambodia and Thailand. A few food stalls including Dominos Pizza! But we thought it might be better to eat elsewhere.




Walked through town to the square past a huge ruined cathedral missing a roof. Looked like there was a museum beside it so maybe something to look at tomorrow. Found a café off the square which was part of a house built in the 15th century. It had a lovely green courtyard which was quickly abandoned as an afternoon thunderstorm came over. After lunch we went back to the hotel and went to bed at 4pm. We both slept until midnight and then on and off until 3.30am I figure if we try stay awake until this evening we should have the jetlag beat (hopefully).
Sarah has been circling museums in the Lonely Planet to plan our day.
Currently 5.30am , 9.30pm tonight back in Australia. Just waiting for it to get light so we can go get some breakfast. Might try find some internet access so we can let people know we arrived safely and update the blog.

Long day hanging around the airport....

22.50pm 25/09 Argentina Time. 11.50am Tomorrow in Sydney and also as far as our body clocks are concerned. So it’s been a really long day sitting around in the Airport. We came in about 4pm local time and the 12 hour flight to Panama City leaves 3.23am! We decided back in Sydney that there wasn’t much point in getting a hotel as there are none near the airport and it would be a 15km taxi ride to the centre of town to the nearest one. Also thought about going and having dinner somewhere but decided it wasn’t worth the risk of missing our connecting flight after the likely tour of all the taxi driver‘s friends “hotels“ and a hard sell trying to get us to stay at each one. We’ll have plenty of time in Buenos Aires when we come back to Argentina with a better grasp of the language.

So as a result it’s been a long and boring day! The airport is clean and open. Few cafes and restaurants but not much in the way of shops. No Internet access that I could find. Been trying out some rudimentary Spanish to have some lunch “Duos Hamburgerure Por Favour.” and we were able to buy a couple of packs of cards from someone who didn’t speak any English.

We both had about 3 hours sleep on the plane. The sun came up at Midnight EST shortly after we crossed the International Date Line.

The view was just clouds with the occasional patch of ocean until we reached Chile and then the Andes were an incredible sight with snow capped mountain peaks. Then after an hour of flying over flat farmland we landed in Buenos Aires.

We were told boarding would be starting around 10.30pm but it’s now 11.05 and noone is at the counter. There’s a big queue for a 2.40am flight to Rome. Wouldn’t want to live near a flight path in Argentina as there are flights going all night.

Sarah has fallen asleep on the bench next to me. I think we will both sleep well on the plane. We’ve both been up for about 30 hours now with only a little over 3 hours sleep. See how the next leg goes!

Are we there yet?

8.20pm EST, local time who knows as we have passed the international date line and I’m not even sure what day it is!
Dinner was served earlier. Sarah chose the Gnocchi which was pretty dry and bland but better than the “Meat” dish I got. “What kind of meat is it” Sarah had asked the flight attendant when he asked if she wanted Gnocchi or Meat. “I don’t know” was the reply. He didn’t add “and I’m not going to make any effort to find out” but we wouldn’t have thought any less of the service if he had. Areolineas Argentinas probably don’t win any awards for friendly and helpful cabin staff.

The movie 10000BC is now playing. I watched for a while but it’s dubbed in Spanish and wasn’t that great the first time I watched it! Just found they do have a second audio channel with English but really can’t be bothered watching. Spoiler alert for those who haven’t seen it: The Egyptian Pyramids were built with the help of Mammoths! Silly movie….

Time to try and get some sleep I think. Only another 9 hours to Buenos Aires…… *sigh*

NZ Stopover

25/9 4.30pm EST or 6.30pm Kiwi time.
For some reason we are sitting in Auckland airport during a brief stopover so the plane can be cleaned and the flight crew changed over or something. Anyway, gave us the chance to have a walk around and get a Burbon and Coke at the airport. There is a wireless hotspot here but at 9.95 NZD when we are boarding in 5 minutes. There’s not much point. Will have to get on in Buenos Aires.

First Post

Four more days until I finish work! Sarah's last day was today. I was expecting her to get very drunk tonight in celebration but she had one glass of champagne and complained it was making her itchy before switching to Vodka and then going to bed early!
I'm sitting in bed next to her sleeping form giving my new Asus Eee PC a bit of a workout. Bought it specifically for the big trip and figured i'd better get the Blogging set up and figure out how to do it before we leave. The poor thing is struggling a bit to connect to the wireless router four concrete walls and a floor away but it's managing just. (edit: Wasn't able to get a good connection. Luckily one of the neighbours is kindly sharing theirs. Thank you "WLAN")

So the plan for the next month is finish work, head up to visit my parents and brother and his family on the NSW far north coast, then head back to Sydney and catch a plane to Guatamala via Buenos Aires. Month in Guatamala learning Spanish (surely enough time to become fluent!) and helping to look after orphans, then head overland to Mexico City (via Mayan ruins) before flying to Ecuadore and heading south until we reach Tierra del Fuego.