29 Jan--Eddi & I Guatamala Bound

Sun, 29 Jan it was raining this morning when i got up. Madi told me that despite my best efforts everything was wet ... :( well, i know it had to be less-wet than 3 weeks ago. Eddi and i said our goodbyes and headed for the Water Taxi. it was late of course, but when it finally arrived and took off, the engine stalled, but started again .. i was worried we were going to have another trip like the one on the way here; ... no raccoon on this trip either. it was kind of nice to leave Caye Caulker in the rain ... i didn't feel quite so bad about leaving :) we had some time before our bus left, and after a few issues, we boarded our mini-bus and started our 4 hr ride from Belize City to Flores, Guatemala. it was a small bus and i got to sit in the seat right behind the driver. this was great ! i could see out the front window and i really enjoyed the trip. it was nice being able to see where we were going, rather than looking out the side of the bus! didn't really see much other than this field of cattle i dozed a few times on the 2 hr ride to the border. we got through Belizean customs and immigration pretty easily, and then over the river into Guatemala entry was a snap; then back in the bus for the rest of the trip to Flores, about 2 more hours. there were huge sections of the road (main 'highway') that were in horrible condition, potholes and ruts, no pavement. this slowed our progress considerably as we entered small villages, i was amazed at the number of horses, dogs, pigs, adults standing around, and kids playing ON and IN the road ! ....and no one particularly hurried to get out of the way ... on our bus we met Henry who was Guatamalan, but living in Utah. he offered to help us with our transfers in and out of Flores and Guatemala City. we arrived in Santa Elena (sister city to Flores) about 1hr later than planned. but had time to go to a restaurant on the island of Flores and get some dinner. we invited Henry to come with us; and ate at Capitan Tortuga, a nice restaurant right on the water. it would have been nice if we could have gotten the earlier bus, so we could have spent some time walking around ... but it was not the case. so we quickly ate, and returned to the bus station for the next leg of our journey. we boarded our Luxury MotorCoach around 9pm. it was a nice bus, with air conditioning. supposedly we were to get a bottle of water, some snacks, and a movie ... but none of that happened, ...except the air conditioning, it was working overtime. but i was prepared for this and had long pants, sweatshirt, jacket, socks, and my blanket the bus started out, we got settled in, lights out, and tried to get comfortable enough to sleep. it's an 8 hr ride from Flores to Guatemala City. i managed to sleep until about 3am and then woke up to that horrible smell of chemicals that they use in the toilets on buses. i forgot to mention, our seats were in the back of the bus, right in front of the toilet ! i realized i wasn't going to sleep any longer; so i started working on my blog, continually putting some nice-smelling lotion under my nose, and keeping my blanket wrapped around my face. i do have a sensitive nose, and was doing my best to not be sick :( ... nor whine :) so while i'm typing, i realize there are drops of water falling from above me .... must be the A/C ... luckily the quite large snoring man next to me had moved across the aisle, so i moved out of the drips ... but the smell was still there .. ....... " are we there yet? " ...... '...how much longer? '