Guatemala: Todos Santos

Heeding warnings not to travel late in the day because of the very real risk of highway robbery, we crossed early into Guatemala. Immediately we were ushered onto a chicken bus while our luggage made its way expertly onto the roof. It took a few days to get on a chicken bus that was actually carrying chickens but here's a good example of one:

Typical Chicken Bus, "Guide Me Jesus Christ"

We caught another chicken bus into the highlands, to a cloud enshrouded pueblo called Todos Santos (All Saints). We stayed here for a couple of days with a Swiss guy and his Guatemalan family. It was by far the cleanest place in town. We cooked together and played badminton with the kids at the site of some Mayan ruins (an old ball court, apparently).

The indigenous residents of this town all wear the same distinctive hand woven clothing. The men wear red striped pants with a blue and white striped top that has a thick colourful collar, and a small hat. The women all wear blue themed woven clothing.

Valley and clouds from La Torre

The first morning we organised a trip up La Torre, the highest non-volcanic peak in Central America (3800m). Unfortunately our clocks were on Mexican time and we were up at 4am instead of 5am. In Todos Santos this was nothing unusual. There are chicken buses blasting their horns on main street from 3am, so we waited and watched the locals go about their early morning rituals. Our guide turned out to be the 14 year old son of the principal of the Spanish school.

Kevin our guide at the summit

Descending La Torre

It's difficult to take photos of people in central and south America because of superstitions about cameras. Many believe that a photo takes away the spirit of a person. Others just dislike being a spectacle for tourists. Once we got in trouble for photographing a sheep. But we did rustle up the courage to ask a few people for photos, and managed to take some sneaky ones from the bus too.

Roger with a friend in traditional dress (minus the Puma jumper)

Market Day, Todos Santos

The dramatic journey from Todos Santos was made in another chicken bus where we squeezed three to a seat while negotiating precipitous turns. We got a good shot of an approaching afternoon storm.

Storm approaching Huehuetenango