Bus from Antigua

So just a quick note, as I'm only taking a break from reading news articles about murder and mayhem. Thought I would relate to you, dear readers, my interesting trip to Antigua Tuesday night...

A friend of mine was heading back to England early Wednesday morning and had moved from the hotel in zone 1 in the capital where I was also staying (but am not staying anymore as I explained in the previous post) to Antigua. I wanted to hang out with her on her last night in Guatemala, so I had planned to hitch a ride with some friends to Antigua that afternoon. Unfortunately, as plans often fall apart or change rapidly, things got complicated. My original ride fell through, I didn't get out of the office until late due to a lack of keys to the house where I'm staying, and my back-up plan for bumming a lift also didn't work out. So, after changing my mind at least three times about taking a bus up to Antigua just for the night, I gathered my courage and hopped in a taxi to the nearest spot where I could swing myself on to an Antigua bound bus. Why a taxi, you ask? Ah, well, because it was rush hour and the urban buses are packed to the gills with people. So picture me, the only gringa on the bus, bouncing along on the way to Antigua with no way of telling my friend I was running late and no real plans as to where I was going to stay. Ok, I had plans but they, too, fell through oddly enough due to another set of misplaced keys.

I get to Antigua, find my friend, and have a nice quiet evening drinking a few local beers and eating what I think has to be the best bean soup in Antigua. Yum. I managed to snag a bed at the hostel where my friend was staying for half price with the argument that I wasn't staying for breakfast (which is included in the price of a bed). So no true economic hardship, really, besides the rush hour taxi. A bus to or from Antigua to Guatemala City runs about Q8 (that's $1 more or less). My friend left early that morning for the airport in a shuttle and I rose bright eyed and bushy-tailed (sort of) at 6:15 so I could catch an early bus back to the city. To my surprise there was a slightly bewildered German guy at the door of the hostel who, according to the night watchman, had missed the shuttle to the airport and had no idea how he was going to catch his 10 am flight. The poor guy didn't speak much Spanish and the guard spoke no English. The guard was trying to tell the German guy that he should take the bus to the city and then grab a taxi to the airport, but neither one of them was understanding the other. So, being the good Samaritan that I am, I basically told the German I would take him to the airport and dragged him off with me to the bus station. All this time getting to know how things work around here finally paid off. Got the German guy on a bus, got him off at the right stop in the city, caught a cab quickly and made it to the airport in time for him to catch his flight despite some really horrific traffic. And he even paid for the taxi (which I didn't refuse). That was my random act of kindness for the day. After that I headed back to the house for a shower and a change of clothes and made it to the office to do some coding by 11 am. Not bad, right?