It is time to start our return journey to the U.S. On February 12th we flew out of Bocas all the way to San Salvador, El Salvador (satellite view), making a fuel stop in Liberia (Costa Rica) again. We met Lucinda's friends Ana and Eugenio and brother Pedro, who kindly hosted us and introduced us to the local food delights. If they're a representative sample of El Salvador, this is where we want to retire. But this was only a short stop, preffering to visit Guatemala this week. We'll be back to El Salvador next week. So on Wednesday, we took a nauseating bus ride to Guatemala City, the last capital of our trip. And like any self-respecting Latin capital, it is busy, noisy, dirty, bustling, polluted, hectic, and full of tourist traps. But also rich in colors, tastes, museums, and boasting a beautiful central park, with the traditional governor's palace to the north:



The park is also host to an infinite number of peddlers, boasting everything from fresh fruit, pigeon feed, stand-up comedy, snake handling, and even fresh goat milk, straight from the source. We took a tour of the governor's palace, a monument to the megalomaniac dictoator that built it in the 40s. Nowadays it serves mostly for protocol and as a museum, also housing some commemorations of the civil war and the peace that followed.

In the evening we took a walk down Avenida 6a, an incredibly crowded street where the sidewalks are cramped with stands selling cheap clothes and knock-off DVDs. Last week, we're told, there were violent clashes between the police and these less-than-legal-merchandise sellers. The police were outnumbered, and probably lost.

Looking for a different kind of Guatemalan ambiance, we took a bus on Thursday morning to Antigua. And when we say a bus, we mean something like this:



Small, retired school buses that are used well beyond their capacity and design specifications. Just when you think they're too cramped to board even another child, the bus driver will stop for another family that hails it, encouraging the passengers to squeeze in a little. And squeeze we did—those seats that were designed for two school kids each somehow fit three adults and a chicken each. Fortunately, we're all good friends, since the curves were pretty wild.

We reached Antigua and landed straight at the town's market on a market day. In the best Guatemalan tradition, it was another bustling experience, with the fruits competing with the traditional dresses and buildings for the most colorful. Many of the fruits we couldn't even name.




In contrast to the market, Antigua itself is a lovely, sleepy town, with colorful buildings and cobblestone streets. From what used to be the magnificent Guatemala capital, only crumbling walls of cathedrals and palaces remain, having suffered from a few too many earthquakes. The town in nestled by three volcanoes, filling the air with particles that would challenge even the least asthmatic. Antigua is also the unofficial capital of Spanish language classes, so if you're interested in some classes in the friendliest environment, this is the place to be.