On the slippery slope to comfort and ease...

OOPS, we seem to be slipping off the local bus wagon. I guess after a taste of the ease of the luxury bus service yesterday, we may be spending a couple of days (at least) paying more for transportation. I must admit for the extra about $10 each it was nice to just take one bus up to the border, get your passport stamped and then take off again in our awaiting carriage. The El Salvadoran exit control police came right on the bus, as did the money changers and the lunch sellers. I even got a bracelet and necklace set for $1. I figured the beads were worth more than that and lots of other (not tourist) people made the same purchase so it must be an OK deal.

We got up early (as usual). I went up on the roof of the hotel at about 6 am. It was nice and peaceful as the city (Antigua, Guatemala) wasn´t really awake yet. I got a fair idea of the layout of the town from up there. It was quite beautiful with the mist on the mountains ringing the city. I could see both the cathedral and a really fancy convent place from the rooftop. Charles was up and we were out by about 7. We found an ATM, ate breakfast on the street (an omelette sandwich with refried beans --of course--plus tomatoes and onion on a really nice big bread bun for $1) saw all the main buildings, had a fancy coffee and returned to our hotel by 9 am. By this time we had both independantly assessed this as a tourist trap we had seen the best part of already so agreed we wouldn´t bother wasting another of our precious nights here. We do, after all, have places to go and things to see. Here is where the slippery slope hits. We were returning to the hotel to grab our bags and take off for the bus station when we noticed the hotel flyer said they had a shuttle for our next destination leaving in a couple of hours (door to door service for $10 each). From the guidebook I knew we would have to change local buses a couple of times to get where we were going. We opted for the shuttle and now have a couple of hours which we are killing in this internet cafe. I notice they have a shuttle for our next destination too.....