Diane - 7/22/04

Thursday, July 22

We got up early and went to the bus station. We had bought some food the day before to make our lunch so we did that. The bus to Rio Dulce is not the chicken bus, but is not plush either. It is like an old grey hound. There were 2 people to a seat so it wasn't very crowded. Of course the seats didn't always work very well and there wasn't a bathroom. The bus stops once on the 5-hour trip so we limited our intake of coffee. The bus ride is quite interesting. It takes quite awhile to get out of Guatemala City, then we hit construction right away. We sat in the construction for about 30 minutes. When the bus stops like that there are always people getting on the bus and selling food, water, pop, etc. After about 3 hours we stopped for a 15 minute break. We got out and used the rest room and walked around and sat and ate our lunch. The trip the last 2 hours gets warmer and you can tell we are getting to the jungle.

The bus dropped us off right before the big bridge going over the Rio Dulce. We had a suitcase full of books with us so we grabbed that and started for the Backpackers. We had all packed in our backpacks so besides the suitcase we didn't have anything else. The Backpackers is right on the edge of the river almost under the bridge. The Backpacker is run by the orphanage and is a place where people can spend the night. There is also a restaurant and a bar. It can get pretty noisy here as Wed. and Sat. nights are disco nights and the music goes until quite late. I planned the trip around these nights. The accommodations are interesting. Since we are at the edge of the jungle and it is quite hot, everything is screened in. This means there is not much privacy. Carisa, Marta, and I were in one room, and from our bathroom we could whisper and John and Kaye could hear us in their room. Of course we did quite a bit of laughing about this.

We spent the afternoon hanging out at the Backpackers. After all of our travels it was nice to just sit on the edge of the river and not do much. I visited with several of the people that I have known for a long time. Angie the director of the orphanage was not here. She was in Guatemala City recuperating from an accident. She has really been out of commission for about 3 months. I missed seeing her as I hadn't had time to go see her when we were in the city. It gets dark in Guatemala quite early. Sometimes as early as 6:30. So..since we are used to it getting dark in the states about 9 this time of year it really throws you off. We all went to bed about 9. I was in our room all ready for bed and happened to look at my watch. It said 8. John had looked at his watch wrong. I went into the bathroom, as you remember it is in whispering distance of John and Kaye's bed and told them it was only 8. We all had a good laugh over it as John was the only one in our group that wore a watch and we called him our official time keeper.

Tomorrow I will get to see my son Miguel again as he has been staying at the orphanage the past week. I am looking forward to it.

Diane

go to July 23 journal entry