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We're back, and it is day 3 of the father and son expedition through the ancient land of the Mayans. We said our farewell to the Rio Dulce and saddled up for another exciting bus ride across the country. On this occasion, we were not the only gringos along for the ride. There was one other couple by the names of Sue and Biff Johnson (a classic name). Poor Biff and Sue didn't know what was in store when they decided to travel across Guatemala by bus. The sweat soaked, long sleeve shirt and look across Biff's face was priceless. These greyhound style buses are all on their last leg. Most of the overhead compartments are broken and hanging open, a number of the windows are cracked or shattered, passengers fill up the center aisle, and you occasionally catch a glimpse of a roach or two scampering across the wall.

The Lost World

Jeremy Curl
2006-08-28 15:57:58

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We're back, and it is day 3 of the father and son expedition through the ancient land of the Mayans. We said our farewell to the Rio Dulce and saddled up for another exciting bus ride across the country. On this occasion, we were not the only gringos along for the ride. There was one other couple by the names of Sue and Biff Johnson (a classic name). Poor Biff and Sue didn't know what was in store when they decided to travel across Guatemala by bus. The sweat soaked, long sleeve shirt and look across Biff's face was priceless. These greyhound style buses are all on their last leg. Most of the overhead compartments are broken and hanging open, a number of the windows are cracked or shattered, passengers fill up the center aisle, and you occasionally catch a glimpse of a roach or two scampering across the wall. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that there is no A/C to relieve the humidity of the jungle. As crude as this sounds, this is still a luxury compared to the chicken bus. Along the way, Biff nearly freaked out, the unripe fruit I had carried for the past four days was confiscated at a check point, and Dad was nearly decapitated by a passing semi-truck; but aside from that all was lovely. The four hour trip ended in Santa Elena, which is directly across the water from Flores. The second we stepped off of the bus we were swarmed by taxi drivers. I quickly hushed them all by raising my hand and then informed them to leave us alone. There was this funny looking character (Rahul) that spoke English and was quoting some extremely low prices for hotels and transportation to Tikal. We summoned him over and questioned the validity of what he was claiming. Much to his surprise, I pulled out my cell phone to confirm the hotel prices. Soon I discovered that the actual costs were more than double what he was claiming. This is about the time my Dad and I started having some fun. -“They must have just hit peak season.” -“The tax in the Tikal region must be 110%.” ...