Adventures galore

Hey kids,
Updating the blog hasn't been a simple task as internet connectivity here is pretty scarce. Am currently sitting in a tree house structure looking out over a gorgeous lake in Rio Dulce, Guatemala. The last few days have been adventure filled as we head deeper into jungle territory and further from the coast. The Gutatemalans are lovely and my spanish skills are getting a work out.

Yesterday was an interesting travel day. We started out with breakfast at a back packers in Florez. It was recommended for being healthy vego food. Firstly the Big Sissa found plastic bag pieces in her smoothie. When she went to show the staff they looked at it and said in spanish, oh it's from the ice. They then took the drink and did nothing further. A buddy we were having breakfast with then found a hard piece of plastic in her eggs - again, the complaint fell on deaf ears. The Big Sissa then had a kitten climb her back like a scratching pole (she has scratches/scars to show). My porridge, which was meant to be the quickest meal on the menu (according to the menu) came out 1 hour after I ordered it and the fruit plate was a bunch of pre-frozen then thawed fruit - Mmmm thawed banana! Needless to say it wasn't my favourite. So that was the start of the day.

We packed up and got ready for the 2nd class bus from Florez to Rio Dulce. The journey is supposed to take 5 hours. When the bus rounded the corner it looked like it was about to tip over. It was incredibly lopsided and we loaded our luggage under the bus on the lower sloping side which I don't think helped. On the bus the windows opened in some seats and not others. We found seats towards the front of the bus. The bus struggled - to say the least. Each time we stopped to drop someone off or pick someone up on the road side, it chugged along slowly. We picked up a family of Guatemalan women who decided not to move all the way down the back of the bus but to hover in the aisle at the front and then... sit ON me. The woman leaned on my arm rest and then tipped the rest of her bum back onto me. Eeek. What was I supposed to do. The woman behind her was elbowing me in the head and the 9 yr old kid tucked between the seats must have thought I was interesting enough to stare at for 2 hours. So we continue along down the road (with the woman still sitting on me - she still hasn't said anything to me at this point (like, sorry or excuse me or smiled?) or even turned around to acknowledge that yes, she was sitting ON me) and the bus goes over a speed bump and.... bottoms out. It's all over at that point. The bus stops, the driver jumps off, the men at the back of the bus all start to pile out. Oh oh, something is not working out here. I got off to check it out and low and behold the wheel is jutting out. The driver is under the bus trying to fix it and the bus load of passengers are either on the road or on the bus (throwing their rubbish out the window onto the road).

We tried to learn some more spanish, like, where can I get a taxi from here - haha. After about 1.5 hours of false starts the bus was finally on it's way, minus a few passengers who managed to hitch a ride with passing trucks. The guatemalan woman returned to her resting place on my knee and off we went. Then it started to pour with rain which came flying in the windows. It was a trade off between fresh air and getting wet. Fresh air it was. We wound our way slowly through guatemalan jungle and hills and finally made our way to Rio Dulce where we were stuck in a traffic jam for 20 minutes (which we found out was a petrol tanker stuck in the middle of the road - I was gearing myself for an explosion but luckily not). We walked the last 800m into town with our packs and waited for the boat to our hotel.

The hotel is run by American couples and it has a lot of yachts moor during the hurricane season (which is now). It is super cute and possibly the best place we have stayed in so far. Our room is a wooden cabin on stilts with gorgeous white fluffy blankets and mosquito nets. There are no walls on the end of the room that looks out onto the water, just insect netting. We settled in for happy hour beers (DEF. needed them) and the yummiest dinner of the whole trip.

Today I think I'll head to a local orphanage and then swim around on the river. There is a gorgeous looking pontoon with beach chairs that look like they have my name on it.

x