Antigua to Lanquin by bus.

Our 8am shuttle bus pick up from the hostel was of course on Guatemalan time which is 35 minutes late. We left hostel Antigua with the added gift of bed bug bites which would prove in the days to come super itchy in the forthcoming jungle heat. We paid extra to have a bigger bus rather than the bog standard uncomfortable shuttle bus and at £20 each was expensive by Guatemalan standards. We had reclining seats and a/c which sounds good but the journey quickly became worse. After leaving Antigua we stopped at Guatemala city and picked up another bunch of people that filled the bus to bursting point with all the fold down Joey seats in the gangway aisle being used as well. To top that the driver refused to use the air-con as it used too much power so we could not climb the hills being so loaded.

Customer service was not high on the Guatemalan psyche.

 My knees would not fit in the space between my seat and the seat in front being a lanky 6ft tall so had to sit at an angle with my legs dangling out into the aisle. When some guy started to invade my precious space I warned him that I had no place left to put my legs so would have to ram them up the side of his legs to which he replied, " That's fine as I am gay so like the contact". Kathy ended up being in the middle of a fat gay boy sandwich, squeezed in a sweaty space between them and their flapping bingo wings. I think they got the hump as they could not sit together as both Kathy and I did not want to swap seats with them and have to sit on the uncomfortable Joey chair in the middle. The 11 hour journey was pure torture, hot, sweaty with a lack of toilet stops. I can't believe we paid extra for this!

This is how Guatemalans carry their babies. No strollers here!

  We arrived at Lanquin at just after 7pm after a very bumpy last 45 minutes on an unpaved road in the dark. Exhausted we were glad to find a guy from our resort El Retiro waiting for us at the bus stop. Into the back of a pick-up we jumped and were soon settled into our room which had air-con, a balcony with hammocks overlooking the most gorgeous light blue river you ever did see. It was in a beautiful jungle garden backdrop and the room was decorated with hand painted moods of autumn.. We swiftly unpacked and went down to the riverside bar and as it was happy hour, swiftly downed a few litre bottles of Brahva to try and numb the memories of that bus journey.

Breakfast view of the river.

   Breakfast was served on the riverside which probably the most gorgeous setting since we had breakfast at the beach on Gili Air in Indonesia and we felt the journey was worth the pain. Later we headed into town and shopped around for a tour of Semec Champey and our onward bus tickets to Flores our next stop. It was the first place we walked in that ended up giving us all the right answers so we booked with him. Mikes Travels ended up being a top agent and a good pick we later found out but read about that in our separate blog on Semec Champey. Next we wandered into the centre of town and found ourselves there on market day which was full of visual treats. We needed some drawing pins that turned out impossible to find and after 10 attempts drawing a blank we found a guy who had some odd ones and we had to barter with him to buy 10 from his little stash which he gladly overcharged us for.. We also picked up some bananas and mangoes which you buy for pennies here.

Del Boy was having a slow day at the market.

 We then went back to the hotel for a fruit lunch with our new purchases then hit the decking on the riverbank to go swimming in that lovely cold clean river which took the sting out of the formidable jungle heat. Later on I grabbed a Tuk Tuk to Lanquin caves with Kathy deciding she wanted to carry on her patronage of the hammock as it was so hot. At the caves I was the only Patron so wandered into the caves which were lit most of the way then it was torch only which threw some great but spooky shapes and being over 2km into the side of the mountain in the dark on my own decided 10 minutes was enough even though the caves go on much deeper. There are several shapes that have formed which they named such as The Frog, Elephant and curtains but you had to use a lot of imagination to make the shapes come to life. Outside the cave entrance I waited for dusk which is when the thousands of bats come pouring out to commence their evening feed. It was quite a spectacle.

While waiting for the bats to emerge from the batcave I had to endure this view for 30 minutes.

 Now pitch black when I walked back to the ticket booth to be relieved that my prearranged Tuk Tuk had actually shown up. On the way back I grabbed some falafels and a few litres of Brahva for mine and Kathy's dinner having found a shop next door to the resort nearly 2/3rd's cheaper than inside it. That night we swung in the hammocks on the veranda listening to the sounds of the jungle, watching cockroaches and toads going about their business, the cockroaches ended up killed in the name of hygiene though. Kathy put some music on and we drunk the beers that did not stay cold long but still went down well until we fell asleep in the hammocks and then later crawled into bed. We did have a toad who we made friends with on the veranda but he got a bit too friendly and ended up trying to get into our room. Next day was our visit to what the Guatemalans call the most beautiful place in all their country.

Friendly toad kept us amused with some ribbiting stories of valour.