San Ignacio is less than an hour from the borders with Guatemala. After I crossed the border I needed to take transportation to Flores, it’s a major city in Eastern Guatemala and a tourist destination. The taxi drivers can be very tricky they will tell you that you need a taxi to get to the terminal when in fact the terminal is hidden behind them less than a half block away. But they will try to take you and drop you in the market to make it look that they drove you somewhere. Good thing I learned from John back in San Ignacio, at the guest house where I was staying and he told me about the terminal. Once I walked to the terminal, I took what’s called “collectivo” which is a little van converted to pick passengers, although it’s made to pick 8 passengers but they squeeze as much as they can, may be 15. It was a nice ride a bit long but enjoyed seeing the country side.
There’s something interesting about transportation in countries like these especially in Latin America. The driver will make a lot of personal errands while continuing his driving, so we stopped by a bakery, then a passenger asked him to stop by a friend’s house to pick up some stuff. At the same time, the driver will pick up a passenger who appears to be a friend or sometime his girlfriend, and they just keep chatting all the way. I love the atmosphere, the loud music, the passengers laughing and the bus driver and his girlfriend just chatting 🙂
It was late in the day, I arrived in Santa Elena, the closest to where I want stay. I took a tuk-tuk, and just picked the second hotel I found. Did I mention, it was very hot and humid.
