Chichicastenango / Nebaj

Getting to the market in Chichi was interesting. We took chicken buses, and had to make 4 transfers. The second bus was so crowded that we had to shove ourselves down the aisle in order to get out of the way of the front door. These are old school buses we're riding in and the adults sit 3 to a sit! The 3rd person in each row is lucky to have all of one buttcheek on the seat. After about 15 minutes of standing, we finally got seats which really wasn't much better than standing. I thought my arms were gonna give out trying to hold myself in the seat as the driver whipped around the mountain curves. I'm so glad it wasn't hot or it would've been miserable, instead it was amusing. :)

The market wasn't quite what I thought it would be. The main streets of the town were closed down and for several blocks vendors were set up in te streets. This sounds simple enough, but it was so easy to get lost. We couldn't tell which roads we'd been down and which we had not. And it was so incredibly crowded it was hard to even walk. People walked in train formation and if you got off the train to look at something, it was hard to get back on. It was colorful everywhere and I was tempted to buy a Mayan outfit, but I don't really have room for that sort of thing on my bike. We were never able to find the food stalls, so we settled for rice and beans on the outskirts of the market. We also got ice cream from Sarita which is my second favorite ice cream shop in central America. And I got guanabana, which is my favorite flavor. We were only at the market about 2 hours before we left for the even higher up mountain town of Nebaj.



When we arrived to Nebaj it was raining and none the streets were marked so we had no idea where we were. We wandered about in the rain until we found a random hospedaje to stay in. During the wandering I was disgusted to find that Nebaj is the dirtiest city I've been to in central america, and that's saying a lot! There was trash absolutely everywhere. Should have know this would be the case when we saw people throwing bags of trash out the bus window on the way. It made me very sad to see this. It is a beautiful area of foggy cloud forest. The place we stayed in was also the crappiest place I've ever stayed in but it was way cheap so it didn't matter. The next morning we walked down a muddy dirt road through fields to some waterfalls. The country side was really petty, as were the waterfalls and rivers, but this area too was polluted. Lots of clothes, tires and styrofoam in the river, it was sickening. I'm glad we did the walk though so Nebaj wasn't a complete waste, but it definitely won't be a place I have fond memories of. How do they expect to have sustainable tourism here amongst such filth?

We made it to Coban last night. It was a long ride in windy mountainous dirt roads from Nebaj. Found a McDonalds in town and had to partake of the Snickers mcFlurry. This type of mcFlurry was limited edition in the US when I was about 18 and reminds we of good times with Shannon so there was no way I could resist, even though I'd already has a large dinner of beans, eggs and tortillas.

I woke up at 3 am feeling over stuffed and somewhat nauseated. I proceeded to puke up my spicy egg and bean dinner which was rather nasty tasting, thankfully no hint on McFlurry flavor in there. I slept the rest of the night. But vomited again upon waking up. There was no notice this time and I jumped out of bed with my mouth full of bile only to find that both bathrooms were occupied by shower takers. And the balcony was still locked from the night, so I paced around not knowing what to do. Then I went back to our room and paced some more. Then Craig suggested I puke in the trash can. It was pitch dark in our room, and I kept flipping the switch and the light wasn't working. Finally it came on and I ran to the trash can to spit out the bile and puke out some more. Not pleasant. Shortly there after we were on a 2 1/2 hour bus ride to Lanquin. It was a gorgeous ride mostly through mountain coffee farms it was foggy and damp out. But the roads were curvy and I felt pretty crummy the whole way. I was very grateful when we arrived. I slept for about 2 hours. All I've had to eat today is some toast and coke. I think I am better, but still kinda afraid to eat.

The place we are staying is called El Retiro and is a really cool place on the Rio Cahabon. We are staying in a loft above a palapa style hut. There is river tubing here and cave explorations, and tommorrow we will visit Semuc Champey, the most beautiful place in all of Guatemala. It is best explained as a limestone bridge over the river and on top of the bridge runs small amounts of water from the river. The result is a series of blue and turquoise pools for swimming in and they are right in the middle of gorgeous rain forest. We are only about 10 km away and will be taking a bus there in the morning instead of paying the $20 to go with a tour operator. I'm very excited, it will be my second time visiting this place.

In 2 hours Guatemalan dinner buffet starts here and it is the only dinner option, hope I am up for it!