Kenny Rogers with The Gambler. A woman I can't remember with Queen of Hearts. And the cast of Grease with You're the One that I Want.

This was the soundtrack of my journey from Panachel to Antigua, Guatemala. At least the first part of it. The bus drivers usually blast Spanish music through the speakers wired into the old school buses lovingly called "chicken buses." But this guys it seems had an affinity for American tunes from the 70's. It took a total of four buses to get here for some reason. It can take as few as one, but that would just be too easy.

"My clean, soft, spacious seat."
The best part was when a shiny, relatively new luxury bus appeared from nowhere at the crossroads where I needed to change to a different bus. I got on, paid the fare of three times the chicken bus fare, and sat in my clean, soft, spacious seat. The hour-and-a-half trip was two US dollars. It was worth it all. Not that I'm hating the chicken buses, but it was more surprising than anything to be on a nice bus for the first time since leaving Mexico.

I've now been in Antigua for about eight hours. It's nice. It feels like I'm in Aspen without the snow. There are mountains, rich white people, cafes and little boutique shops catering to the rich.

Antigua by Night

A rather surprising sight after weeks of poverty and nastiness in the rest of the country. I'll stay a few days and check out the volcano and the cool churches around, but I'll not be moving in.

"Am I the only one this happens to?"
Another thing that Antiuga has plenty of is bookstores. English language bookstores. I'd like to know what the deal is with bookstores and my digestive tract. (Which, by the way, has been in spectacular shape for weeks now.) Every time I walk into a bookstore I immediately have to go to the bathroom. Am I the only one this happens to? At home... on vacation... in Guatemala, doesn't matter. Today it happened twice. I went in one and shortly after went by my hotel room to visit my bano privado. Then not three hours later I was at another bookstore and ended up visiting yet another bathroom. What's with this?

I was gonna post some photos tonight, but my camera doesn't have enough battery to finalize the disk so I can use it in the computer. I'll get to it soon.