Home from 10-Day Trip

The trip back from Punta Gorda, Belize, to Santiago Atitlán went as follows: boat ride to Puerto Barrios (Guatemala); walk 2 blocks to immigration (nobody in masks!); walk 8 blocks to the bus terminal; 5 hour bus ride to Guatemala City; walk around in search of the perfect hotel (just a few crackheads or glue sniffers -- not too scary); eat 2 pupusas from a street vendor (62 cents) and drink 2 beers ($1.80); sleep peacefully in Hotel Ajau in Zone 1; wake up and walk around the city for a couple hours, wainting for the Apple Store to open so I can replace my power cord; taxi to the Oakland Mall; SUCCESS getting a cord ($125); taxi to the bus area in Zone 12; bus to Cocales (2 hours; long wait for bus to Santiago Atitlán which never comes, but after 45 minutes I'm told to take the bus to Santa Alicia (I'd never heard of it!)from which I can get a bus to Santiago Atitlán; fortunately the guy next to me is getting off in Santa Alicia, and he'll let me know where to get off; it's raining like crazy now, and a bunch of us crowd under a little roof overhang waiting for the bus; I'm the only one not speaking Tz'utujil; it comes, and after a short time I see my beloved Volcán San Pedro; before I know it we've zoomed past the place I need to get off; manage to get off half a mile later, as the bus is extremely full, and I can't squeeze through very well with my two backpacks; tuc-tuc to the footpath near where I live; 200m walk, and zas! Home again after a mere 30 hours!