It’s 4:00 a.m. and Nick has been violently hurling into the toilet considering that midnight. Our minibus to take us on the 10 hour journey from one of our much-loved cities in Mexico (San Cristobal) to Guatemala is due to arrive in three hours.
But before we get to the travel day, let me rewind a few hours to see how this all happened…
Dariece: “This is our last night in Mexico, considering that we’ve been eating lots of international food lately, let’s go out for one last fantastic Mexican meal!”
Nick: “Sounds good. Isn’t it awesome that we’ve travelled through Mexico for nearly 6 months and have never been sick?”
I don’t know why he chose to jinx us on our last day in Mexico…
San Cristobal has some delicious international foods – check out the Thai restaurant and the Italian white wine bar!
At the popular Mexican restaurant, I selected al pastor meat, while Nick went for the chorizo. We inhaled our fantastic burritos covered with all sorts of spicy salsas and sauces, and drank our final Dos Equis beers. We were feeling a bit sad to be leaving a country we love so much, one that stole our backpacker hearts.
Later that night, while dying on the shower room floor, Nick wasn’t feeling the Mexican love. The pains and cramps in his stomach were unbearable, he couldn’t get comfortable and was having hot flashes, followed by cold shivers. It was official, he had food poisoning.
At 4:00 a.m. when it became clear that we wouldn’t be going on our pre-paid bus in 3 hours, I went downstairs to chat with the 24 hour receptionist. We were staying at Rossco Backpackers Hostel and I told the friendly man that we needed to cancel the bus. The staff member waited until the bus company opened at 6:00 a.m. and then came up to our room to deliver the bad news.
We could cancel the bus, but wouldn’t receive any sort of refunds. He was very apologetic and felt really bad about not being able to sort out a deal with the company for us, but we didn’t care about the money, all that mattered was that Nick was able to sleep and feel better.
We’re pretty sure this was the culprit…
If there’s one thing we’ve learned after 5 years on the road, it’s to never travel while having food poisoning. too lots of times we endured travel days that consisted of us throwing-up into plastic bags, puking out the window of a bus, or nearly shitting our pants (literally).
It’s embarrassing to be ill in front of people and it’s disgusting for the other passengers of the automobile who have to listen to it! For us, it doesn’t matter how much money we’ll lose out on, if we’re sick, we’ll spend the day in bed rather than trying to survive a day of travel.
So, we spent another night in our comfortable room at the hostel. considering that I wanted to take care of Nick and didn’t feel like going out and dining alone. The hostel bought a Domino’s Pizza for me! Yep, I had a very American meal in Mexico. However, for my other meals, it was great that Rossco had a communal kitchen so I could make myself some food, and prepare soup and tea for my sick spouse. during that extra day at the hostel, the staff still tried their best to get our money back from the bus company. Talk about going above and beyond.
A charming room at Rossco Backpackers
After a full 34 hours of being exceptionally ill, Nick finally came around and was able to get on a bus bound for Guatemala.
The minibus was filled with 16 other westerners and one Mexican national. It picked us up at 7:30 a.m., but considering that we waited until the last possible moment to book our bus ticket (to make sure Nick could manage a travel day), this indicated that we were the last people to be picked up. We were stuck at the very back of the minibus with seats that were incapable of reclining, and a very grumpy English woman in the seat in front of us that insisted on reclining her chair…all the way back, into Nick’s lap.
Not the best start.
Byl to plný minibus lidí mířící na guatemalskou hranici
But, not even a grumpy backpacker or food poisoning could spoil this journey for us. We were so ecstatic to be heading additionally into Latin America and stamping into our 46th country! The ride on the Mexican side was smooth and simple. Our minibus cruised along the well-paved roads with ease, passing by beautiful farmland with the morning mist still hovering over the crops. The scenery was extraordinary and after three hours, we stopped for a breakfast break.
Now, if there’s another thing we’ve learned from backpacking the world, it’s to bring our own food on travel days! The bus stopped at a normal vacationer trap, which served a cold buffet breakfast at 95 pesos / person (that’s nearly $8 Canadian!) AsLidé si stěžovali na svou předraženou snídani, jsme se drželi na studené, zbylé pizzu, ovoce a sušenky.
Kolem poledne jsme dorazili do Dusty Border Town a poté, co jsme zaplatili 20 pesos (1,30 USD), jsme byli oficiálně vyraženi do Guatemaly. Cesta však ještě neskončila.
Guatemala!
Přenesli jsme autobusy a po dalších asi 5 hodinách vinutí přes úbočí hory jsme dorazili k mimořádnému jezeru Atitlan! Minibus nás odhodil v Panajachel, největším městě jezera, a odtud jsme nastoupili na naši první Lanchu (taxi lodí), abychom nás odvezli do soukromého doku v okouzlujícím ekotelu Uxlabil, kde jsme trávili 5 nocí. Nachází se těsně před malou vesnicí San Juan a věděli jsme, že to bude pro nás výjimečné místo, jakmile jsme dorazili. Uvítali nás usmívající se tváře personálu a nemohli jsme se dočkat, až se přihlásí.
Naše první loď Lancha
Trvalo nám asi 10,5 hodiny, než jsme se dostali ze San Cristobalu do San Juan, a podle mého názoru byla cesta poměrně základním procesem … ale absolutně to nebyl nejjednodušší úkol, který Nick provedl. Jsme velmi potěšeni, že můžeme nahlásit, že přežil cestu (i když byl opět nemocný dalších 5 dní!)
Guatemala, dorazili jsme?
Pro mnohem podrobnější informace o získání z Mexika do Guatemaly najdete v základních nápadech a informacích: Border Crossing z Mexika do Guatemaly
Pro mnohem více informací o San Cristobalu (což je město, které milujeme!), Zkontrolujte náš příspěvek, který jsme napsali minulý rok poté, co jsme strávili 5 dní ve městě.
Milujeme San Cristobal!
Už jste měli otravu jídlem a museli jste vydržet den cestování?! Sdílejte s námi níže?
Obrovské poděkování patří Hostels Clubu a personálu a majiteli Rossco Backpackers Hostel! Všichni šli nad a za to, aby nám pomohli a byli velmi vstřícní. To bylo naše podruhé pobyt v hostelu a vřele doporučujeme to každému. Další velké poděkování patří personálu hotelu Uxlabil Eco Hotel, všichni byli tak úžasní, výhledy byly mimořádné a my jsme absolutně milovali náš pokoj a jídlo v restauraci!
Všechny myšlenky a názory zůstávají naše vlastní, navzdory jakýmkoli poskytovaným bezplatným službám.
Mít rád? Připnout! ?
Zřeknutí se odpovědnosti: Kozy na silnici jsou spolupracovníkem Amazonu a také přidruženým společností pro některé další maloobchodníky. To naznačuje, že vyděláváme provize, pokud kliknete na odkazy na našem blogu a nakupujete od těchto maloobchodníků.