Guatemala

Hola!!!
I've made it to Guatemala at last. Right now I'm in the small city called Quetzaltenago or as it is usually known Xela (shayla). It's been about 48 hours since I left but it seems like longer already.

The flight to Mexico City was okay not too busy, watched a movie, had some mediocre food. It was a bit late arriving in Mexico City but I wasn't worried about my connecting flight. I was told to walk to gate 19 when I got to Mexico, so I did but when I got there they told me to go back to the same gate I just came from. It turns out I got back on the same plane. I'm thinking they told me to go for a walk for my own good, get a bit of exercise. The next leg of the trip was completely full but not as long. The airport was pretty quiet when the plane arrived and customs was no problem, but after watching the bags being unloaded it turned out mine was nowhere to be found. Mexicana had misplaced not only my bag but about 25 other peoples bags on the flight. Not sure how they managed to do that, but it took a while to get that sorted out before I could catch my ride to the hotel. Fortunately the driver waited for me.

The woman at the hotel was very kind and helpful. I would recommend Dos Lunas to anyone arriving on a flight into Guatemala City. She tracked my bag down the next day and I got it, but it forced me to stay another day there.

This morning I caught the bus to Xela and there was a bunch of other people on the bus that were from the same hotel. It took about 4 hours and only stopped a few times to pick people up and drop others off. Nobody ever had to stand so that was good. The road was very winding and there were a lot of hills to contend with. When I got to Xela I shared a taxi with another guy on the bus and that turned out to be a unpleasant experience. The taxi driver quoted us 25Q each but he didn't know where he was going and kept asking people on the street for directions. When he dropped the other guy off he suddenly wanted more money, so I decided to walk from there. The taxi driver still wanted money from me, but the other guy who spoke good Spanish was able to negotiate something... He and a friend of his walked with me to my hotel and it was fine after that. Xela seems like a nice place. The central park has just re-opened and there were quite a few people hanging out there. It seems pretty peaceful.

So after all that I'm ready for some food and a drink and then I can relax for a bit. Tomorrow I'll try to find a Spanish school.