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Travelling to many countries by myself, with my wife and also with my 6 children has been a wonderful experience. It has included trips to Peru, the Galapagos, Cook Islands, Tahiti and Europe. Read about these travels that have included everything from budget travel to 5 star all-inclusive resorts.
Central America & Caribbean Blogs about travel in Central America & the Caribbean.
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Guatemalan Chicken Bus, Farming Town

Posted 12-13-2009 at 11:16 PM by Norm (Norm's Travels)
Updated 12-14-2009 at 07:46 AM by Norm

Guatemalan Chicken Bus, Farming Town
Public transportation in Guatemala is an experience that everyone should have a chance to experience. In our rush to get to the orphanage we were volunteering at near Parramos we were anxious to get on a bus that would take us there. When asking a local where we could catch a bus to this little town he did not understand at first.

After a few tries and mentioning the name of another city further on the local person corrected me on the pronunciation of the little town we were headed to. “Para-Moose” he said with an expectant tone in his voice for me to repeat it back to him. Para-Moose I repeated back to him
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Antigua, Guatemala Market

Posted 12-13-2009 at 11:07 PM by Norm (Norm's Travels)

Antigua, Guatemala Market
We returned from our second day at the orphanage around 4pm. We were dropped off at the chicken bus stop where we could see hundreds of people descending on Antigua's outdoor market. There were hundreds of stalls some open, some with tin roofs. We decided that today would be a great day to check out the market and see what was being offered. We passed the bus parking lot with its bright red, blue, orange and yellow colored buses painted with all sorts of designs. The bus money collectors were standing in the doorway of the buses hollering out the destination they were headed to.


Men and children rushed around
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Overnight Bus from Flores (Tikal) to Antigua, Guatemala

Posted 12-13-2009 at 11:01 PM by Norm (Norm's Travels)

We decided that in order to save time and the cost of a hotel room we would travel through the night from Flores to Guatemala City and then connect on to Antigua. We had spent enough time already on the bus during the days and didn't want to use up another day on the bus for the 9 hour trip.

We booked a 10pm First Class bus from Santa Elena at the travel agency in our hotel lobby. I thought it was a great deal since it was $3.50 less than what the large travel agency of Flores sold the trip for. It was only 220 Quetzales ($26) from our hotel to Antigua. I had been told this first class bus was ideal since it did not stop in every little town on the way to Guatemala City. We arrived at the bus station and noticed two buses there.
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Missing a Few Things, Only One Found

Posted 12-12-2009 at 08:46 AM by Norm (Norm's Travels)

Filing a Police Report in Guatemala

We decided that in order to save time and the cost of a hotel room we would travel through the night from Flores to Guatemala City and then connect on to Antigua. We had spent enough time already on the bus during the days and didn't want to use up another day on the bus for the 9 hour trip. I wanted to file a police report however for my lost video camera and so the owner of our hotel offered to take me on the way to the bus station while my kids went directly in a truck with another couple at our hotel.

We walked to the front of the hotel and he slipped his leg over his motorcycle and started it up. A bit bewildered I asked if that was how we were getting to the police station....
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Visit the Bank before going to Tikal

Posted 12-09-2009 at 10:19 PM by Norm (Norm's Travels)

Day 5 - Dec 7, 2009 - Visit the Bank before going to Tikal


Banking In Guatemala
Monday morning is not a good day to go to the Bank in Guatemala. I hear Fridays are just as bad. People line up outside for hours waiting for the bank to open so that they can do whatever they couldn't do over the weekend. I was desperately low on cash. I needed to get some money and complete 3 other errands all before my 9 am bus to Tikal's Mayan ruins.

In the end I was able to buy my replacement digital camera, an overpriced ripoff memory stick for the same camera and some snacks for the day's excursion. The first bank I tried however would not exchange my travelers checks. I ran down the street in desperation and passed...
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