1/25/2015 Antigua, Guatemala

Hey look at us! We made it to Antigua. Yesterday was interesting, to say the least. We awoke at 6 and packed our bags. 7:30 found us outside the hostel restaurant waiting for the owner to get the front door open. He lost his keys. The unlocking somehow involved a rope and was successful. The owner appeared to be an Aussie who didn’t speak a lot of Spanish. It was a bit ridiculous, he was able to serve everyone quite well though. I wouldn’t have done so well. Afterwards, Jill and I proceeded up the hill to catch our shuttle to Antigua. It was supposed to be at 8:15. When 8:30 rolled around I got a cup of coffee. At 8:45 a gentleman asked us where we were going and spoke on his phone. At approximately the same time, but seemingly unrelated, a Tuk Tuk drove up and the driver said he was there to take us to San Pablo to meet the bus. We readily accepted his story and hopped in with all the bags and my coffee.
I waved farewell to our our amigos whose bus to San Salvador had been supposed to be there at 8:30 and we sped off like a rocket. As our proudly stickered Rastafarian Tuk Tuk started climbing the hill it slowed considerably. Potholes and swerving don’t make for good coffee sipping as I mentioned over the bags to Jill. The view of the lake as we climbed got better and better. As is universally true, the day we left was the most welcoming. We pulled into San Pablo La Laguna and waited again. It should be called San Pablo on top of the hill because that’s where it is. Eventually a nice shiny tourist shuttle pulled up and I got excited. Our Tuk Tuk driver said that wasn’t ours. I enviously watched our Salvador bound amigos pile into it from a second Tuk Tuk. I explained to Jill we could easily steal their ticket and get on that bus.
I finished sipping my coffee and walked down to a tienda while Jill guarded the bags. I found our driver chatting up the cashier. I asked the cashier if they had a trash for my now empty paper coffee cup. She shook her head no. I decided she must not have understood my impeccable Spanish. No store is without a trash. As I cleared my throat to repeat the question louder, our driver pointed out the garbage can attached to the light pole next to the taxi.
After I tossed my coffee cup a second shuttle bus pulled up. Suddenly, another Tuk Tuk made the corner next to us. We heard a hearty “Hey Guys” come from it. It was Skylar from San Cristobal. He is the guy on his way to Utopia in Semuc Champey. We wrote a postcard to give him in San Cristobal to take to our friends and had missed him. Then we saw him get off the boat in San Marcos and led him to our hostel where we thought he would stay. They didn’t have room and he disappeared again. So here he was again passing us in our last moments at Lake Atitlan. I said we have the postcard, the Tuk Tuk didn’t stop and he called out, “I’m staying at Del Lago.” The little red car receded into the distance while I contemplated running after it. Instead, I quickly scribbled Skylar at Del Lago on it and asked our driver if he would deliver it. He did not know Del Lago and I figured having a stranger deliver a postcard to a place he didn’t know and a guy he did not know wouldn’t work out. I sadly replaced the postcard in my pocket and hopped on our chariot to Antigua.
Our new driver must’ve been more comfortable on the racetrack. The bus felt like a lifeboat in a hurricane. He would give a couple warning honks and whip 180’s to climb a little higher and do it all again. The sparkling lake finally faded into the trees. We crested the hill and turned onto a freeway. Me, and the rest of the people on the bus breathed much easier. The rest of the trip involved a gas station and a strange rest stop with some caged rabbits.
Stay tuned for part 2 of Antigua homesteading.