The bus ride to Quetzaltenango

We did it! Still, alive, in one piece, and enjoying the Quetzaltenango, which is like no other place on earth I have ever seen! I will save descriptions for my next entry however, as I have so much to tell you about our journey yesterday!

We travelled 'first class', not by any choice of ours, just by chance the bus terminal at which we got dropped off at. The first class bus was about 35 years old, but looked quite comfy, and we were quite relieved that our bags were put inside the boot rather than on the roof. The ticket inspector was a cross eyed soldier with a pump action shot gun (surely not a good combination?). And we boarded with not a little trepidation.

So many things happened on the journey that I haven't seen before! First of all, once the bus left the city, the driver and his pal in the front seat would look at the side of the road for anyone who looked remotely like they might be waiting for a bus. If he saw anyone, he would pull on a toilet chain horn, and his pal would wave out of the window. Anyone that waved back, he would stop for. This is cool. I wish they did this in Leeds, where you're lucky if the driver even stops at a bus stop!

At some points, I felt like I was on a white-knuckle ride. Especially when the driver decided to overtake another vehicle. It seems that the rules for overtaking on the interamericana are:

1. wait until there is a blind bend approaching
2. pull up, centimetres from the vehicle in front
3. slam into low gear
4. swing out, narrowly missing the rear of the vehicle in front, whilst pulling on the toilet chain horn
5. greet the driver of the other vehicle as you pass with much waving
6. notice the large vehicle approaching you at high speed
7. pull back in without signalling.

All of this, and there was no evidence of road rage. People seem to wave, grin, hang out of doors/windows to greet one another. It's ace.

There are food stalls all along the sides of the interamericana highway, along which we were driving. At random points, the driver pulls up, opens the door, and in a second the previously quite bus is transformed into a bustling market place. About 15 traders pile onto the bus, each shouting and waving their wares under your nose. It's ace! We bought sandwiches, and an additional unknown edible item each, for Q20 (less than 2 quid). Other amusing things that I have never seen before include:

* a man riding on top of a coach
* someone painting the white lines in the middle of the road, with a small paintbrush, whilst traffic roars past, centimetres from his fingers
* all traffic producing thick black clouds of smoke that completely engulfed our windscreen rendering us utterly blind - just like in scooby doo!
* women bent almost double, carrying enormous loads of wood on their backs
* flagrant disregard for the rules of the road (or maybe there just aren't any)
* a horse riding in the back of a pick up truck

We are safely installed with our host family - more about that in another entry. The house is lovely, there are 2 cute children, who are teaching us spanish, and a mysterious cat, what we hear but don't see. Tomorrow, we have our first spanish lesson, which I'm really excited about. I really hope that I can become fluent during our stay here. I also hope that I can put some pictures up here soon to show you what this small city looks like. Imagine Mexico 100 years ago, but add loads of very old cars and vans, belching out fumes that I've never smelt before (what *do* they run these cars on?), and you have this city. Still, I said I will describe it more in another entry, so I shall sign off here.