the ol' shakira and george michael two step

Had a long journey the other day. I went from Pana to Guatemala City on a chicken bus. I love those things! They really aren't made for people my size, but the experience alone is worth it. Guatamala City (Guate to the locals) has some character, but can be a rather unsavory place if you aren't sure of yourself, where you are going, how you plan to get there, and the like. Me being me, I decided to just leave before I got myself hurt. I grabbed a taxi to the bus that would take me to my next destination, the city of Coban. The starting point of my trip was only about 100 kilometers from the destination (as the crow flies) but it took me from 7:30am until 5pm to arrive. Some mountain regions just arent passible and you have to go clear around them, constantly going up the sides of mountains, around hairpin curves, down steep ravines and more hairpin turns on roads no wider than a tiny two way road with no shoulders, all while in a 50 foot bus whos driver loves to pass other cars on blind curves. And those are the major highways and thouroghfares, we don't even want to get into the side roads. Exhausting, to say the least. It makes me want to buy a motorcycle and use the back back roads to get around. Just kidding, Mom!
Coban doesn't necesarily have tons to offer visitors, but it's a very cool little city, nonetheless. Probably around 50,000 - 75,000 people live in the city and the tiny municipalities in the surrounding area. I really didn't do anything here to speak of, but walked the city and stumbled upon a great little Italian restaurant and ended up ordering 3 plates of food before the meal was done. Given, it was a celebratory birthday dinner so I was splurging a bit, but I was a glutton! Definitely the best meal i've had so far on the trip. Great little antipasto salad, house cured smoked meat and local cheese plate, and a delicious linguini carbonara. I couldn't have been more impressed by the food and embarrased that I had eaten so much.
Coban wasn't so much a destination for me as it was a jumping off point for the next place, Lanquin. The next morning I found a collectivo (mini bus) and headed off. Lanquin is ony 60km from coban (on the road) but it takes about 3 hours to get there.

I hope you all are picking up on the theme of troublesome travelling that i'm laying down here. These minibuses are almost better than the chicken buses... almost. The mini buses are basically a VW bus/van with extra bench seats put in. You sit 4 across for the back 3 rows and 3 across for the front row with the driver and two passengers in the front seat. So that is 15 people who fit inside the cab. But wait, we are not even close to being done yet. Since some people only need to go for short distances on these set routes, about 4 or 5 more people hang on to the hand rails and bulge out of the side of the open (sliding) side door. 20 people and we haven't even gotten to the roof yet. Each roof is equiped with a durable luggage rack where the helper person (they work in twos just like the chicken bus workers) secures any luggage or belongings to the roof. Any space that is left is open for seating. On this trip there were 26 people at one time on the mini van. I am not kidding. Unfortunately for this trip, most everyone went the duration. Tons of people shoved into a tiny space, i'm 6'7" with very long legs and I was happy as a pig in shit! I can't explain why because I was extremely uncomfortable with no space, but I had a window seat with the wind in my face, it was a beautiful day and I found the particular radio station that was on hilarious. Usually I would be in pain, but I couldn't help laughing out load at the bad Spanish versions of Celine Dion songs, Popular Latin favorites, lots tons of Shakira and random John Fogerty and George Michael songs all mixed together. I was smiling ear to ear looking at the countyside creeping by and passing very short farmers walking on the road with machetes that were bigger than they were. I am pretty sure the next time I hear, "never gonna dance again, guilty feet have got no rhytym, thought it's easy to pretend, i know you're not a fool" i'm gonna start laughing and craving Chicklets.