Guatemala City and beyond

Arrived in Guatemala City at 11pm on Thursday night thanks to a delayed flight.  Was very thankful I had arranged with a hotel, Dos Lunas, to pick me up at the airport, as the Guatemala City airport was "somewhat" intimidating.  Walked through something of a gauntlet of people, some of whom were shouting, "¿taxi?  ¿taxi?", others of whom were it seems waiting for other passengers, others were holding up hotel signs, and some were asking for money - most of these were small children.  There were several little hands reaching up, tapping me on the arm or the side, asking for money.  One little boy said, "para comer "which is "to eat."  A fitting introduction to Guatemala it seems - and very sad.

We were off to the hotel and I was fast asleep.  The next morning (Friday) I needed to figure out how to get to Quetzaltenango, (Xela) in order to get to Zunil, in order to get to the hotel I stayed at over the weekend.  And thats about how it went - a taxi to the bus station in Guatemala City, a shuttle bus, which is a 1st class bus from Guatemala City to Xela, a taxi from the bus station in Xela to the OTHER bus station in Xela, a camioneta (chicken bus - or second class bus) to Zunil, and a piccop (pick-up truck) to Hotel Las Cumbres in Zunil.  Phwew.

I must confess that for the first 2 hours of the shuttle bus, which is actually something like a US greyhound from the 1980s (not that I remember those, but it is just an estimation), I was trying to figure out how I could go about my trip without ever needing to get on another bus.  Could I cancel all my reservations and just stay in Xela until it was time to go home?  Then I would need just one more bus ride.  It was the speed, the way too fast corners, the HORRIBLE exhaust, and the miles and miles of this in and just outside of Guatemala City that had me pondering this.  In addition, another question posed itself, "What the HELL am I doing here?"  After I decided that my bus driver was more-or-less a decent driver, then I realized there were all of the other drivers out there - I think my rough guide book says of the chicken bus drivers that they have a penchant for passing on blind corners.  I just tried not to look - I was much better off that way!!

I think after a couple hours the "I´m going to die or at least get seriously injured and then what am I going to do?" and the "If this is a first class bus ride, I REALLY need to worry about the 2nd class bus ride" tapes that were playing in my head just got boring (I remember Brian Mahan saying that would happen - not specifically about the Guatemalan bus rides, but about thoughts that go through our heads again and again in general.)  Seeing the overturned truck and vegetables strewn all over the highway did not help.

I was actually also thinking of this bus ride in light of my meditation practice and in terms of the idea that feeligns are just feelings, as thoughts are just thoughts, and that they can be just let go of and then once can just place one's attention on the present moment.  And I wondered, does utter terror fit into those feelings that can be just let go of?  And the reality was that the present moment STILL had me on the bus careening down the Carretera Americana out of Guatemala City.  Is the present moment always the place we want to be?  After this bus ride I'm not so sure.

But I made it - and have survived several other bus rides since then.