Day 1: Bus rides are fun

January 3 (slowly but surely, I'm catching up to the present day)

After the disappointment of our missing luggage, we crammed into a little bus to make the 4 hour trip to Quetzaltenango.

Lanes and speed limits aren't observed in Guatemala, which makes driving in the city very.... exciting. Once outside Guatemala City, we followed a highway through mountains. The engine was very loud and the windows rattled every time we went over a bump (which was often), but I somehow managed to fall asleep. Every now and then we could see one of the volcanoes in the distance, a steep triangle, towering over the other hills.    

We made one stop to fill the tank of the bus and empty our own tanks. We students learned that it's normal in Latinoamérica for public restrooms to not provide toilet paper, so you have to bring your own when traveling. As is typical with groups of Whitworth students, and especially in the humanities, 90% of us are female. When there are 2 available bathrooms, why should las damas wait in a line while bathroom for los cabelleros is free? A group of motorcyclists in the parking lot were very surprised when a female student exited the men's room and Lindy (our male professor) came out of the women's!  
   

 

Less than an hour away from Quetzaltenango, we heard a loud PWOOF and the bus stopped. Our driver, who had been chatting with Professor Lindy about marimbas and politics, managed to restart it once but it wasn't going anywhere fast. We sat for a while on the side of the road while the driver, the two men driving behind us with more of our luggage, and men from the houses around us puzzled about the problem. They poured water into the radiator, which was accessed through a hatch between the driver and passenger seat, while it continued to spew smoke into the cab. After several liters of water and a good hour of waiting, the bus was able to creep up the hill and eventually pick up speed. I fell asleep again.

We made it to our new home around 8 o'clock at night. After some difficulty parking the bus in the narrow, one way streets, we happily tumbled out of the bus and into the courtyard of the language school. There we were reunited with our friends who had been waiting for us, and introduced to our host mothers. My compañera de casa, Emily, and I followed our new mom along the dark, uneven cobblestone streets to our house, which will be the subject of another post.