Rob and Anna's travel adventure

Rob´s entry (#2), Acapulco to Guatemala City

Rob’s Entry
Standard disclaimer: Anna does an excellent job covering the positive aspects of our trip, and I try to fill the ‘other side’.

Acapulco to Guatemala City
The bus ride to Acapulco was a bit unique. For days before, my stomach had been queasy at times. The night bus to Acapulco was the last straw. Having little appetite the whole day was good because the evening was met with several rounds of vomiting. Fortunately, the bag didn’t have any holes, though several important things were sprayed. Oh well, at least I felt much better afterwards. Now, on to Acapulco. To many, Acapulco represents a once-in-a-lifetime vacation with cliff divers, upscale resorts, and fine dining. To us however, it was just another city stop to Central America. A chance to wash our clothes (in the lavatory sink) and get caught up on some much-needed sleep. I also needed some recovery from my illness. We stayed in the ‘old city’ ($15/night)- a world away from the other side of the bay. It was a more/less pleasant place; however the air pollution, people, noise (blaring speakers outside virtually every store of any size) was a stress, along with the heat/humidity. Anna was having her moments with some of the pushy people there. Overall, we found many of the Mexican people to be a bit on the ‘rough’ side. This is definitely in contrast to the Guatemalan people (which is where we are currently).
After Acapulco, we went to Puerto Escondido. Our experience of the city coincided with the description in the guide book as a bit of a rough place, though we met many kind people there. This was our first hostel experience (as in youth hostel, not hostile, however that was also the case) together. Prior to this, we always stayed in a cheap private room. The hostel was cheap for one traveler, but not such a good deal for a couple. It was a good place to meet other travelers- something we wanted in order to get info from anyone coming from Central America. While speaking with some people from the hostel on the sidewalk in the evening, a drunk tried to start a fight with me, and shoved me also. Fortunately, I involved the hostel staff and nothing went farther. Though a bit shook up, it didn’t influence my perception of the trip- things like that could happen anywhere. The next day, we decided to move on as bus connections required another night bus and we both had enough of ‘dido. So the remainder of the day was spent in the fairly hot and humid city and at the beach. The beach is famous for great waves- a place for surfers before roads were even paved there. Though I know that waves get bigger in other parts of the world, these were the largest I’ve seen. Judging from the few surfers I saw that day, I’d estimate the waves to be about 15 feet.
Our next stop was Tapachula, very near the Guatemalan boarder. Tap was a busy boarder town, Anna liked it however. As a mini-celebration of crossing our first country ‘milestone’ – Mexico, we decided to splurge for a real sit-down dinner. A little background is in order. Virtually all of our eating out has been from ‘stalls’ – small one or two person push carts on the street. Additionally, we were a bit tired of Mexican food and were craving something Asian. The only Asian option was the restaurant- hence the dinner. While a nice diversion, it had to be some of the worst Chinese food consumed (by myself that is). In addition, the chicken was unquestionably stale, and Anna ultimately concluded that some of the chicken was spoiled. I disagreed however, if it was spoiled, it wasn’t by much, and I consumed the rest. While it made my already touchy stomach a bit queasier, neither of us became sick. This was good, as we were planning on our Guatemala boarder crossing the next day.
The boarder crossing was a bit of a fiasco. Everyone at the boarder (officials, kids hustling everything, money changers, etc.) knows the protocol and exploits visitors at every possible turn. Without going into all the details, the foreigners on the bus all compared details of the transaction to see how badly we were each ripped off. Fortunately, we didn’t come out too bad, and learned a lot in the process. This is important as we have many more boarders to cross before this trip is over. We are already planning how to negotiate our passing into Honduras next week. I’m confident that we’ll have things much more in control next time.
Our first stop in Guatemala was Guatemala City. We went to an arranged homestay. Guatemala City has few attractions, and our homestay was out in the ‘burbs’. This all worked out well as we were a bit strung out and greatly valued the opportunity to chill out. The lady we stayed with shared many interesting stories about how things work in Guatemala (more on that later). We spent the next day doing errands with our host. This included a drive-around, lunch with an actress friend, shopping in the market, and visiting her mother in the nursing home.
Our next stop is Antigua, and will be the start of my next Blog entry.

posted by Rob and Anna @ 12:27 PM