Tacuba

Sometimes just getting from place to place is an adventure. I said goodbye to my friends in Antigua yesterday, and eventually found the bus going to Guatemala city. People got off at stops along the way, and I was the last person on the bus. They didn´t want to go all the way to the terminal so they let me off at a corner, and pointed up a street. What choice did I have but to go. I guess it could be the same if I was in any big city and not know where to go, and had no map, but everything being in a new language makes it a bit more interesting. After talking with some shopkeepers along the road that I was directed to, I got on a city bus going to the bus station. It was then that I decided to pull out my guidebook and see what it said about local transportation. Ah, yes, they were frequent, convenient, smelly, and, what´s this, not at all safe. Muggings and murders aboard city buses. It was the middle of the day for me, and there were lots of people on the bus, so I didn´t get any bad vibes, but I did pay attention to my surroundings.
The bus terminal wasn´t marked at all, and I had to be led there. People are very willing to help a person out here, and it wasn´t the first time that someone has walked a few blocks to show me the way. The bus to El Salvadore was leaving in just over an hour, so I had some time to kill. I sat down next to a guy who turned out to be from El Salvador´s capital city, San Salvador. We spoke for a while, and I found out that he was in Guatemala city because his brother-in-law was doing something in Guatemala city, ran out of money, and needed to get some more money to get home. This guy came all the way to Guatemala City to bail his brother out. He showed me a good stand for some local food, and then on the bus we sat near to each other. When we got to the El Salvador border, the guard just looked at my stamp and didn´t
give me a new one. It seems that most of the countries in Central America have the same visa policy, and the 90 day stamp for Guatemala also works for El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama.
The bus adventure wasn´t over, though, because not far after the border, I saw the road signs that showed the way, and my bus was going a different way. So, at the side of the highway, with no other vehicles in sight, they let me off. I walked about 100 meters to the junction, and within 5 minutes, a local bus came along and stopped to pick me up. I guess there are no bus stops here; people just get on the bus at any point on the road. That means in some places, the bus stops quite frequently. In some places, it just slowed down and people jumped off. Ahuachapan is the place I wanted to go to catch another bus to Tacuba.
Earlier in the day, still in Antigua, I changed 400 Quetzales, the Guatemalan currency, to US dollars, the El Salvadoran currency. It worked out to US$51 and a little bit left over in Quetzales. I got a $50 bill and a $1 bill, and there was no way that I was going to get change for the $50 in most places. I was fortunate that the local bus that I caught cost 25 cents, and the next bus from Ahuachapan cost
$0.60. I have never been on a more crowded bus than I was on the bus to Tacuba. Even the B-line to UBC on a rainy day doesn´t compare. It was fun, though, and people were friendly. I was lucky to get on at the beginning and get a seat.
After an exciting journey, I arrived at Hostal Mama y Papa Gonzales, where there is the most beautiful view from the upstairs patio. El Salvador is so beautiful, and today, we are going with our guide, Manolo, for a 6 hour hike in the mountains, and then we will head to some hotsprings. Tomorrow, we are planning on going to a volcano that is only 200 years old. It started out as a smoking hole in 1770, and
by 1960, it was 1910 meters tall - a perfect black cone, devoid of life. One of the newest mountains on earth, it is going to be a steep hike and hopefully it won´t destroy my shoes.