Let me first correct my error in last weeks post... I said we vaccinated the dogs with rabbis. No we did not make all the dogs Jewish. How embarrassing... Jessssus! Correction rabies!
This past weekend my roommate Colleen and I decided to go the beach on a whim. We talked with about 3 different people to figure our bus situation out. One man said 5:30 another said 6 and lets face it, its Guatemala it could be 7 for all I know. I will say one thing though. If ever in Guatemala and you ask for directions be prepared to be even more lost. Most people will tell you directions and they take you no where near your destination... You have been warned. Ok back to the story. We missed the first bus because it left at 5am, none of the times we were told were right... Oh and there is only one bus per day that goes directly to the beach. Great. So we had to go to the crazy bus terminal with about a million buses zooming around, men yelling out destinations, vendors off and on the buses selling miscellaneous things, and people jumping on the front and back of the buses to catch a ride. Chaotic in other words. But we eventually we got ourselves on one bus to Esquintla where we would have to transfer buses, then take a new bus from there to a shuttle and from that shuttle switch to yet another shuttle to get to the beach. Our hour and half trip turned into three hours. The whole way to Esquintla the bus was packed. Three to every seat and people standing in the isle. Word to the wise, sit in the very back that way its easier to hop out the back door when its your stop. Oh and if all the windows are up its because the Guats are cold. I DIED with the windows up. No circulation and everyone is in your bubble. But once we were in Esquintla the bus terminal was tiny, it could only fit one bus on the actual road at a time, and again people yelling and bustling around. Colleen and I were very close to wetting ourselves and we could not find a bathroom anywhere. An older man yelled to us and pointed us down a tiny alley with no light. Colleen was walking down as I was trying to find my headlamp and sure enough at the end there was a toilet, and a ducky shower curtain. All I have to say is ewwwww. Then as I was gathering all my stuff I heard our bus called out. Colleen took off running towards it and I was a few steps behind her then the old man came yelling after me "Necisitas pagar!!!" Ay dios mio. I had to pay for both of us to pee. A hole 25 cents to pee. We made it onto our second bus and there wasn't a double seat open so I got stuck sitting next to a heavier set lady that was sweating PROFUSELY. She also sat with her legs wide open leaving room for about half my body to sit on the seat. At one point she moved around and her sweat got on my arm. Keep smiling Courtney, DO NOT make a face. Also, if you see someone do the sign of the cross before getting on, try not to be too alarmed. Anyways from there on out we got dropped off on the side of the highway and transferred into a small shuttle that took us through a couple port towns, where we switched yet again onto our last shuttle and within about 30 minutes we were finally at the beach! By this time I myself was doused in sweat and just wanted to get in the water. The town we were in Monte Rico was very small, pretty tropical and our first stop was a fried chicken place to use the bathroom. The lady took me into the back and asked a girl to leave... Hmm what the girl that left was watching chicken off in the sink and guess where the toilet was... Yup right next to that. Reluctantly I bought some french fries since I used her bathroom but the chicken uh no thanks. We did not have any hotel reservations so Colleen and I decided to just head to the beach and pick one ocean front. About 3 minutes of being on the beach we had a hotel, $6 a night, a pool, hammocks all over the place and a restaurant. Could I ask for more? We quickly changed into our bathing suits, had a smoothie and made our way to the black sand beach. It was incredible. The sound of the waves were enormous. It sounded like a storm every time they crashed into the surf. The waves were about 6 feet and the under toe was so strong. With my excellent swimming skills I only went in about 3 feet deep. For most of the day we sat on the beach ate fresh homemade tortillas and just enjoyed the sounds of the beach. Mid day we decided to start building a sand castle. Yes regressing to about age 8. But as we were building our mote about eight little Guatemalan boys asked to play with us. Of course we agreed and within 5 minutes it turned into a sand fight. I am not kidding I have not had that much all over my face, hair body in...EVER. They were absolutely nuts. They would chase us to the waters edge while throwing fists full of sand and then they would stop cause they were too afraid to go in the water. The sand fight turned into tag which turned into a shower and then a nap! They were nuts, just nuts. After our nap Colleen and I walked down the beach to watch the sunset and just see where the other hotels were. We came up to a resort and of course had to check it out. We looked like bums. We had sand all over our legs from walking and everyone at the resort was sitting by the pool, with their pina coladas, that was about 200 yards away from the beach. Are you serious??? Jeeez resort people... They gave us some looks. As we returned back to our hotel there was a sand volleyball game going on and of course Colleen and I being competitors at heart had to join. We got stuck with the shitty team at first... The second round we switched onto a team with two Guat guys that apparently were actually on a team that played in tournaments so we ended up ruling the court! It was a good time but again I was covered in sand from diving. Its very apparent too since the sand is black and its so humid it just cakes your skin. It was great. Dinner consisted of a fresh cut chicken fried in front of us and delicious french fries. The french fries were perfect, not too squishy and not too hard. Reminded me of a five guys, a good American burger sounds good right about now. Later that night Colleen and I went salsa dancing. It was horrendous. Apparently there are a couple different types of salsa or at least just different beats. I looked like bambi with two left feet. Get the visual. The dancing did not last long so we returned to our room put our mosquito nets down and passed out. We missed the sunrise but were up by 7. It was quiet and the only overwhelming sound was the crash of the waves, in spanish very tranquilo (quiet and peaceful). Our shuttle to leave was scheduled for 1 so really about 1:20. Our ride home was nuts. The first shuttle started empty (false hope). Your shuttle will never just be empty. Sure enough ten minutes later the shuttle was full and the Guats closed the windows! What is the deal??? The second shuttle was even worse. I got stuck in the back with 3 people and two little kids on my lap, cute kids but it was hotter than poop. With about 3 more stops our 15 passenger van turned into a 26 passenger van. I got stuck sitting on the floor and again NO AIR! That was about a 30 minute ride back to Esquintla where we were dropped off in the middle of the town and given horrible directions to the bus terminal. While looking for the terminal of course it started to down pour. I mean with in minutes there were sheets of rain. After 10 minutes in the rain we found our Antigua bus and took cover. Again only 5 people on the bus... Do not get excited. Our bus took off and the city was just flooded, maybe about 7 inches of water in the street, hopefully our bald tires have traction... And again within 15 minutes the bus was packed. A woman got on, soaking wet, turned to sit in a seat next to me and sprayed me with her hair... I just have the best luck. If I end up having a growth on my face tomorrow I'll make sure to tell. The ride home was slow, long and hot. All the windows were closed except for Colleen's. The man sitting next to me put his wool sweater on since we had the window open, and then he proceeded to fall asleep on my arm. His wool sweater would rub my arm with every twist and turn in the road and basically chafe it. This was the story of our ride home! Oh wait I forgot to mention. There was a small leak on part of the roof and it kept dripping on this girl so I gave her a little rapper to maybe stuff it. That didn't work, so her mom asked for a piece of gum, chewed it and stuffed the hole. How innovative right, I thought it was funny. Pictures to come later!
Love to all!
Also good news for Rufino, I got a local doctor from the city to come and visit Rufino so we can hopefully get him some help!
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