The journey from Las Vegas south to San Pedro in Guatemala was always going to be arduous, even with a good nights sleep the night before. As it was, I had no sleep, a hangover from drinking about 30 drinks during the previous 24 hours, and the remnants of a cold that have stuck with me since three weeks ago in Chihuahua, Mexico.
It took two flights (Sin City to Houston to Guatemala City), one shared taxi ride from GC Airport to Antigua, a chicken bus from Antigua to Chimaltenango, another chicken bus from there to a main road in the middle of nowhere where I was dumped unceremoniously with no clue as to what I was supposed to do next, a cooperativo (minibus) to Santa Clara, followed by a 15 minute ride standing up in the back of a Toyota pickup truck to somewhere called San Pablo or San Juan or San Something else - by this time I didn´t give a crap and was starting to suspect Guatemala´s public transport operators were conspiring to fleece me for all my quetzales I had in my wallet before I finally arrived in San Pedro.
As it was, the three-wheeler motorised tuk tuk that I got from San Whateveritwas did finally get me to San Pedro on the banks of Lago Atitlan, albeit after the driver tool several corners around high mountainside roads on two wheels whilst picking his nose with one hand, and after I had a small argument with him for suggesting I should pay double the original agreed price because of the weight of my rucksack on the suspension of his tuk tuk.
24 hours since I played my last hand of Pai Gow poker and 48 hours since I last slept, I have finally arrived at the house of Rosa, Filipe and their breastfeeding teen daughter and other younger children, my homestay for the next fortnight. Its 17:40 on Sunday and my first class at a nearby Spanish school doesn´t start until 14:00 tomorrow, however I already have a fairly good idea on what I will be doing for the next 16 - 20 hours, and that it will largely involve staring at the insides of my eyelids whilst snoring.
