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As I had been in the capital one night previous, I made my way back to the same hotel (Hotel Capri in zona 1) as that was the easiest choice, Plus I loved the rooftop terrace on which the rooms were located too. The room they gave me this time had a window looking out east, and when I put my head on the pillow, I could look right up to the sky through it, which was great because the hotel was right on the landing route for Guatemala airport. Big jets flying really low, and I could look right up to their bellies. When I was having a smoke on the rooftop terrace that late afternoon, the evening guard came up and took out a joint from his inner jacket pocket. He offered me some as well, I said no and let him smoke it with an older Guatemalan guy who was also staying in a 'room on the roof'. I must say I felt very safe sitting there, with the guard holding his shotgun in one hand and the ganja in the other....
I went back to the Chinese restaurant I had been previous because they served huge
quantities of food for a good price. As I sat there with a beer waiting for my food I was sort of people watching. I noticed this young guy with lots of woven armbands everywhere around his body trying to sell them to customers. I didn't see him sell any of them, what I did notice however that some of the customers would walk outside with him and come back say 5 minutes later. My idea was that he sold also other 'stuff' other than armbands. Other people came in as well selling flowers (although I saw here whispering into male customers' ears too) candy and what not.
The next day I decided I was going to have a look at the local zoo. Apparently it was decent, but with an entrée price of just Q20 I wondered. I took the fantastic green Trans metro bus to the Montufar station from where it was another 10 minute walk to the Aurora Park in which the zoo is. I paid the ticket and saw it actually was a good zoo. Fairly small, with unfortunately lots of animals from other continents, while I had hoped to see mostly indigenous animals of
the Americas. I walked past the zebras, giraffes and elephants to the enclosures that are pretty well built and of a decent size of the spider- and howler monkeys, tapirs, kinkajous, ocelots, armadillos, pumas, agoutis and peccaries that inhabit the jungles of Central America. Pretty interesting to see like always,but would prefer to see them in natural surroundings of course. I made my way back to the city and walked over to zona 1's Parque Central. Great place to people-watch, eat an ice-cream from one of the vendors, read your book on a bench or listen to one of the passionate preachers. Like on the buses in Guatemala, you can see these guys on the square, bible in hand, preaching to no one in particular. Sweat dripping from their heads, they pace up and down and up again past all the people sitting there. I can't understand of course, but to me it looked even the locals didn't because not a lot of people seemed to be listening. That evening I enjoyed having a TV in my room and so mainly watched the events in the USA on Fox and CNN about the devastating earthquakes.
The last day, Friday
Micoleon
Guatemala zoo29, it was the day of the Royal Wedding. I had prepared for this somewhat so got up pretty early to watch CNN again. Of course, with the time difference, by then William and Kate had already gotten married but I enjoyed watching the fairy-tale wedding anyway. They looked so normal though! That afternoon I spent mostly at Parque Central again, enjoying my last sunshine in Guatemala as I was heading to El Salvador the next day. In one corner was a group of guys standing in a circle and I heard some funny sounds coming from there as well. So I made my way open and was amazed! In the middle of the circle was actually a guy giving sexual education. With my little Spanish I could still make out a few words (plus certain words are universal if you know what I mean) and I couldn't believe he was teaching adult men about it! On the ground lay a large card with paper cuttings and objects (which I will not further describe) teaching man about the female body parts and what not. I took out my video camera as I was standing to the back of the speaker,
Tapir
Guatemala zoo wanting to take a video (just as he was making some funny noises). I had barely turned it on or the guy turns around and shouts 'hey you' three times. I hastily turned it off again, but then he started laughing out loud, holding a rubber penis in front of him and asking me to take a picture. LOL. When I asked him (in limited Spanish) 'Por que sexual education' while pointing at the group of adult men, he answered 'ignorancia' which of course derived from the English word ignorance... Funny!
That last evening I ate at the same Chinese again. It was the last Friday of the month and so payday. Very easily recognized; so many groups of men getting absolutely wasted at 7 p.m. in a Chinese restaurant on cheap beers. And it wasn't only alcohol, I can tell you. Which leads me to say this; I was warned so much before hand by other travelers and certain guidebooks about the dangers of Guatemala city or Central American cities in general, but I just want to say it's not that bad at all. I've been walking around the city a lot and have not felt unsafe. At
night I was only in zona 1, but have not felt unsafe there either. When I went out I only brought the money I needed, put some of it in my pocket in case I was going to get robbed so I could give them something to make them happy, but put most of it in my socks or underwear. I wonder of that would even have been needed. There are so many people about, guards with weapons at so many street corners and hotels and shops, I can't imagine being robbed in such an environment. Sure, there must be nasty parts of the city but as long as you stay out of them, I don't think you've got that much to fear...
The next morning I headed to zona 4 where buses left for the border. I had hoped to get on a chicken bus to te Las Chinamas border but somehow couldn't find a cheap bus for that, so got on a Q40 bus to the San Christobal frontera instead. On the bus the usual sellers again. Talked to an 8 year old boy for a while, William his name was. We practiced saying the numbers 1-10
for a while, I bought 2 overpriced apples of him and he answered my questions. Such a nice little boy, having to work the weekends so supplement his parents budget. Aiy...
It's funny to see all of these people that sell things on buses. It's not just kids or 'poor' people. They come from all ages, middle aged men wearing nice shirts to sweet old ladies in garments to kids in rags. Selling everything ranging from batteries, toys, candy and medicine to tortillas, cake, drinks and nuts. Sometimes you'll see people with a bible in their hand preaching or whatever it is they're saying to the passengers. The one I had on the bus to the border was blind and I think he was selling the new testament. It was quite a comfortable bus and not too full. It took around 4 hours to the border where was stamped out and walked into
El Salvador!
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DE LEON
non-member comment
BE CAREFUL DUDE
I,M A GUATEMALAN, I USED TO LIVE IN GUATEMALA CITY AT ONE TIME, AND AS FAR AS I KNOW, ZONA 1, HAS BECOME VERY DANGEROUS. JUST BE CARFUL.