Chiquimula

---

I got kind of a late start today catching the bus, so now I´m in Chiquimula, a city about 30-40 miles from the Honduran border. I caught a bus from San Pedro to Guatemala City, then a bus from Guat city to here, which is about 8 hours of riding the bus. I plan to get a very early start tomorrow. The first bus to the border apparently leaves at 5:30 or 6 am, and I plan to be on it. Hopefully, I can make it to La Ceiba, or possibly Utila, tomorrow.

The last couple of days have been pretty fun, actually. I have been hanging out with a couple of guys from Ireland and another guy from Oregon. On Sunday, we went kayaking out on the lake and did basically the same trip that I did with the Canadians last week. The weather this time was much better, and there were some amazing views from the middle of the lake that I only wish I had had my camera for. Barry, one of the Irish guys, had a camera, so I might try to get some of his pictures, because he managed to capture a couple of incredible ones.

Yesterday, Barry and Phillip, the Irish guys I met, and I climbed to the Indian Nose, which is part of a formation seen from San Pedro that resembles the face of a person seen from a profile. The climb to the summit was pretty difficult, even more difficult I´d say than the Volcan Pacaya climb, barring any illness. Once we reached the summit, it was absolutely beautiful. I do have pictures, but I don´t have my camera with me right now, so I´ll have to post them later.

On the way back, instead of simply going back the way we came, we decided to take another path that we hoped led to a nearby town. After stumbling around in the forest for an hour or so, we found the town of Santa Clara La Laguna, which was a charming small town that was completely devoid of tourists. We caught the tail end of a market there. It was fascinating to see this town, which was such a contrast to San Pedro, which is full of gringos. We took a colectivo down a dreadfully steep and mountainous road to San Pablo La Laguna, which is another charming little town. From there, we walked back to San Pedro, which was probably a good 3-4 miles away. It was a splendid walk because we walked right beside the lake for the majority of it, and we enjoyed great views of the lake and the surrounding hills/volcanoes for the entirety of it.

In case you´ve never seen or heard of a colectivo before, just imagine 25 people standing in the back of a pickup truck with only a couple of metal bars to hold on to. Imagine this vehicle, with you on it, barreling down a mountain pass with hairpin turns at seemingly breakneck speeds. Imagine the feeling you would get, and you´ll have some idea of how I felt on the back of this truck going between Santa Clara and San Pablo. It was a blast!

Sorry no pictures in this entry. The next one, I promise.

---