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This is a detailed report on that trip: * Panama to Costa Rica: 19 hours, $25, Borders fee $10 * Costa Rica to Nicaragua: 8 hours, $10, Borders fee $10 * Nicaragua to San Salvador, through Honduras 12 hours, $25, Borders fee $20 * San Salvador to Guatemala: 6 hours, $8, no borders fee * So entire bus fee was $68, borders fee was $40 and it takes 45 hours.

Central America (part IV)

Alex Mumzhiu
2006-03-22 18:46:53

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It is such a contrast to mellow Antigua. The city is very hectic, filled with endless markets, full of cars, smog and... surprisingly tourists. Only in my last day, when a fog above the lake is gone, I realized why the tourists still coming there. The lake is really beautifully. It is relatively small and surrounded by huge volcanoes.

Alex Mumzhiu
San Cristobol De Las Casas, Mexico
Apr 8 2004 10:30pm

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From Panachancel on Attitlan lake, Guatemala I went to San Cristobol De Las Casas, Mexico on a series of chicken buses. They are called chicken buses because people carry on them domesticated animals, mostly chickens. These buses are usually overcrowded. Local Indians are small and usually three of them fit in normally two person bus seats. Seats in the first row have a little bit more space. In my bus it was seven people on that normally two person front seat. It was three adults and four children. In addition, there was a turkey and a cat there. Tour companies offer ridiculously expensive tourist buses to San Christobol, but chicken buses are necessary part of Guatemalan experience. Those who have not ridden them has not visited Guatemala.

San Christobol is a nice town, which used to be a backpacker's haven. Now it is mostly ordinary American tourists there, not backpackers. I guess,with antiamericanism growing elsewhere, Americans, who still like to travel, turned to old friend Mexico.

From San Cristobol I went on a day tour to Palenque, which, in my opinion is the best of Mayan ruins. Right from the tour bus I jump to a regular inter city bus and started my long way North to the USA.

Next stop was Oaxaca, Mexico, pretty nice colonial town, with many American tourists again. But Oaxaca the main attraction, at least for me, was the following: In the nearby village El Tule they have the biggest and the oldest tree on the earth. It is 42 meters tall and 58 meters around. It is 2000 ...