guatemala

so i decided to go straight to guatemala, and it's a good thing. the trip took about 9 hours. i had a feeling that the border crossing might be a bit of a gong show, but i had no idea. i was expecting a pristine border crossing like from canada to the us, with everything clearly marked. not the case. after my 1 and a half hour bus ride to the border, in a nice bus with a slightly maniacal driver, i was dropped off. the bus driver nearly drove off with my bag still in the bus. i think he was in a hurry.
so the mexican side of the border was a few official storefront type buildings, a bus station, restaurant and a jumble of taxis. i made a good guess as to where i was supposed to go, walked into one building, did the passport stamp thing, then went to get a taxi to the other border.
the taxi driver jammed me in with 3 other locals and dropped us all of half way between borders.
great.
so i{m there in this muddy market (b-c the space between the two borders is jammed full of people selling things) with no directions or signs of anything and no other foreiners to be seen. i put on my pack, grabbed my guitar, asked someone where the immigration was, and walked the extra 2k.
once there, it was even less clear as to where i was to go, but i found the guatemalan immigration, paid the illegal "fee" to the shifty migration dude, and wandered into la mesilla, guatemala.
this is definitely a different country than mexico.
in mexico you can mostly avoid poverty and take the first class way around. in guatemala there aren't so many options. i managed to get a tuktuk (mini motorcar thing) to the "bus station" which is virtually a muddy yard full of brightly painted school busses. chicken busses.
is this really my option? yes... it seems to be.
luckily 3 other foreiners ended up on the same bus, so i didnt feel so alone.
what followed was three more chicken busses, being chased on and off each one like a pack of sheep, nearly forgetting my guitar on one of them, one bus broke down on the side of the road, me running to a random house to use the banos (they were very hospitable), driving faster than necessary in the rain through muddy avalanche sites, and finally reaching the beautiful lago de atitlan... where i am now.
and my computer time has run out.
adios
hasta luego....