Todos Santos and back

We decided to leave Todos Santos before noon on Saturday. When we first arrived, Jon had found, with the help of our somewhat dodgy innkeep, a secure place to park the 4WD Hyundai deisel rented in Guatemala City for the trip. It immediately became apparent that the one and a half working glow plugs weren't working at 8800 feet...the car wouldn't start and we ran the battery out. Aha...here we are, Todos Santos, major market day, far from anything resembling a car repair shop and we needed another battery. Flayanna and I adjourned to the town square and found a seat while Jon and Muzzy hiked up and down, up and down and I really mean UP and Down, looking for an auto mechanico. Jon had been in Todos Santos a few years earlier and taken photos of a young man whose photo was later picked up for a worldwide HP campaign. He and Muzzy found the young man's family and cousin Benito came to our rescue, leading them to a motor vehicle graveyard sort of auto repairish shop where they rented a battery that had been removed from a wrecked pickup. To assure it wouldn´t go missing, Flayanna and I observed a small parade of traditionally clad Todos Santeros men, Muzzy and Jon (and the battery carefully cradled in a large piece of plastic) through the center of town....and after some manipulation, the car started. Then the owners of the two huge transport trucks that had been parked behind the car had to be found and the intense manipulation to move them...sort of like one of those flat puzzles where you move all the little squares around up and down in order to get them in order...and we were actually on our way...some two hours after we had intended. The way back to the main highway seemed shorter but no less perilous and we jounced and bumped and rattled our way into Huehuetenango where we immediately grabbed a room in a magical little hotel in the center of town. Our room was off a lovely little courtyard with a huge fountain and caged singing birds, TV and all! I must here interject the curious concept of the speed bump. Throughout Guatemala, on all the roads, no matter what their condition, Guatemala has installed speed bumps...few of them in any place that makes any sense at all. It makes driving a true adventure...ones that make the windshield wipers start up are considered a 10.

The next day we stopped briefly in Quetzaltenango, known as Xela (shay la) where Jon (and Muzzy) had an intense photography session with a family on the edge of town. We actually stopped to photo an old car covered in dust when these two ancient women came out and insisted we take photos of them. One of them kept grabbing my arm and hugging me...she was toothless, with gnarled hands covered in leather like skin...sweet and charming as could be and chattering at me in a steady stream of Spanish and Kich e (a Mayan dialect). The photos are quite amazing. We liked Xela, an old coffee town with colonial Spanish style buildings and the facade of a 16th century church, and if we come back, I could see spending some time there...still pretty high up at 7200 feet.

Then back to the Posada where we fell into our suite in exhaustion. David and Susie were kind enough to upgrade us to the Jr. suite at the same price as a cabana. It was impossible luxury after the 2 days in Todos Santos... what a contrast. Then David contracted with Muzzy to do more photos of the Posada for his website and they paid us with room and board for one day...sweet. We indulged in guacamole and chips (handmade blue corn tortillas custom fried for the order) and a lovley rum and fruit drink with a basil sprig by our favorite bartender, the lovely Laura...she is part of the package deal with the world class chef. They were quite a couple!

We left the next morning at the crack of dawn, chilly ride in the back of a pick up down to the beach, into a collectivo, across Lake Atitlan in the misty morning with about 14 other indegena bound for the Tuesday market at Solola. We hopped on a shuttle for Antigua and our home at the wacky Posada San Sebastian...on to our next adventure...Tikal and Beyond.