Into Central America!

---

Day 8

We have finally made it to Central America. After eight full days of driving we did it. We drove through Mexico. Today by no means passed without incident though. We crossed at the El Carmen border crossing and it really got our blood pumping. As we approached the border men sitting around jumped up and ran full speed to our car. In no time we were completely surrounded and I had the sinking feeling that we were about to be robbed. They were all yelling in spanish, trying to be heard over their equally motivated compadres. It is amazing how fast you forget your Spanish when you become flustered. Fortunately, one of them spoke some english and we told him we would deal with him if he could get all of the others to clear away and let us drive on. The tactic worked and we introduced ourselves to Juan. Apparently, the mob was comprised of wannabe guides, who wanted to help us through the border-crossing process, in exchange for a tip of course. The process of crossing the border took about 30 minutes. It was comprised of paying a small fee, having our car inspected and having our car fumigated. Soon we were on our way. Highway 2 in Guatemala is best described as terrible. It had many potholes, some the size of those cheap plastic snow sleds. The road was narrow with no shortage of massive speed bumps. Justin did an excellent job of navigating the slalom of potholes, but one was filled with water and had the appearance of a harmless puddle. We hit it and I heard the loud hiss of pressurized air escaping. We had our first flat of the trip. We quickly replaced the deflated tire with our spare and drove about 100 meters to the nearest tire shop. How convienent. The poor road conditions had created a large market for tire replacement. The new tire cost us about 15US, which we took out of the gas fund. After the blow-out we had much time to make up. Are you sensing a pattern to this trip? We drove well into the night and found a quaint little hotel with the nicest, most honest man in Guatemala. Senor Vasquez was about 60 and was missing most of his teeth. Because of this gap he was extremely difficult to understand. When pricing the room we both misheard him and thought he said 140GQ (Guatemalan Quetzal) which is about 17US. We gave him the fee and headed out to eat. Upon returning to our hotel Senor Vasquez rushed up to us and put 26GQ in my hand, all whilst laughing and mumbling. Apparently the cost was actually 114GQ, and this nice man was giving two foreign travelers, Who barely spoke Spanish, back their change.

---