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Published: June 25th 2007
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We arrived in Tapuchula very early in the morning and once again very weary.
We stepped off the bus, to bus companies shouting at us in Spanish, tring to get us on their bus. All we could communicate with them was Antigua. So we boarded a bus and headed to Antigua (WE THOUGHT!!) After having several conversations or I should say trying to!! We discovered that we were actually heading to Guatemala City.
We were a bit bummed but thought we would just change our schedule slightly.
The bus driver and stewardess had other ideas. They called us up the front and in very broken english and our poor spanish, we came to the conclusion that they were going to drop off us on the highway and we would have to get a famous chicken bus to Antigua.
Lucky we were given our free sandwich just a but earlier!!!
So they dropped us on the side of the road, with All of our luggage! Taryn had a slight freak out, but once she realised she could carry 2 boards and 2 backpacks she was off.
We reached the side of the road where we were to wait for a chicken
bus. By this stage it was getting hot!! deep breaths, deep breaths ,we kept telling ourselves!
Finally one stopped. They put the boards on the roof and we jumped in. Boy this was an experience. They really hammer these buses. A few prayers were being said to stop those boards from flying off the roof. We finally arrived in Antigua, we were ALL in one piece and in need of a strong drink!!
Antigua was a real suprise. We had no idea what to expect. It's cobblestone streets gorgeous buildings and amazing volcanoes were picturesque.
We had heard that Guatemala had the best coffee in the world. So we dragged our tired bodies of in search of the perfect cup. The perfect cup was only round the corner from our hostel. The coffee was amazing,it gave us a nice little kick to continue exploring the streets of Antigua. Not only was the coffee great but so was the beer,oh and the red wine(but that was from Chile) Time for Bed!!
We woke the next morning and headed straight out for coffee.
Now we were ready to hit the mercado. It is probably a good thing that we have a few
more destinations to hit before coming back to Australia otherwise we would be shopping up a storm. Brendan has developed a pantolonie fetish!!!
We headed back to the main streets of Antigua(after stopping for a coffee) and by chance bumped into some Aussie boys we had met in Mexico.
Can you guess where we ended up? Yes you are all right, we ended up at the bar for a few lunchtime beers, which took us to the night to finish them!!!!!
The early bus trip in the morning brought the drinking fest to an end.
We were being picked up at 6am to head to Panajachel, where we would catch a boat to San Marcos. We had an alarm clock issue(we won't blame anyone) so we were up and ready by 5am not sure if it was 5am or 6am. IT WAS 5AM!!! 6am finally came around and we were on our way to get all spiritual.
We arrived in Panajchel around 9am, fed our tummies, drank some more coffee and jumped on a boat to San Marcos. This place is amazing. The lake is set around three volcanoes. No surf here, time for the boards to have a rest!!
We had 3 days until our meditation and yoga retreat started. A few red wines were drank in preparation!! We blamed it on the extremely slow food preparation issue going on. The food takes an unbelievable amount of time to come out. We must say it is worth the wait though. Lots of good vibe food.
We settled in to our pyramid cabin and were ready for the spiritual journey that awaited.
Brendan celebrated his 28th birthday with a quiet and relaxing day, after a 2 hour wait for breakfast. He was spoilt with a few more pantolonies, he now has more clothes than Taryn!! We went out for a nice romantic dinner and finished the evening with some chocolate birthday cake!!!!
The temple celebrated its 16th birthday last Wednesday, we had a small celebration at the pyramids, which included a group meditation, individual oracles and a big feast of healthy food!!
Enough to get us through the next couple of days. As we have just finished a 2 day fast in preparation for the 5 day fast that we have to look forward to.
We survived the 2 days on only water and herbal tea, as soon as we
could we headed out for some tofu to bring us back down to earth.
We have just finished a medicinal plant course, which was very interesting. We learnt about growing and harvesting herbs and also how to make herbal remedies. We are looking forward to getting our own medicine garden happening.
We have the day off today, so we have taken the opportunity to get our travel blog up to date. We hope you all have enjoyed reading about our trip so far. Stay tuned for more to come. We will be in complete silence next week, so in the next blog we will let you know how we go or shall we say how Taryn goes with not talking to anyone for 5 days!!
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Bindy
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Happy Days
Hi Taz and Bren What a great job you have done on documenting your journey so far. Sounds like it has been all you have hoped for and more. Great pics. Both of you are looking like you are soaking up the sunshine!! Thanks for sharing. I have really enjoyed it. Every little bit. I do look forward to the instalment that includes how you each cope with the 5 days of silence. WOw!! I will be waiting to hear. Love to both of you, you gorgeous newlyweds. Ciao Bindy