It is time to say goodbye to Amado and move on to the next country. Puerto Bus is a good and reliable company, it cost me ten dollars to go directly to Guatemala city. The border crossing is harmless: an officer entered the bus and checked if we had the Nic-SanSal-Hon-Guat enty stamps in our passports. I don’t change money at borders no more. In Guatemala city we arrive in a sketchy and presumably dangerous neighbourhood. A lot of taxi drivers wait in a row to offer me the transportation need to get to the other bus terminal, where the buses to Antigua and Coban are leaving. I decide to go to Antigua because it’s closer to the capital and I want to arrive at daytime. I didn’t even know where the main tourist towns were located. When I do arrive in Antigua, after another beautiful hour in a bus, I feel safe in this small touristy town – it’s the epicenter of gringo life in the region.
I ask my way to a hostel called Jungle Party. Very friendly staff welcomes me and I can make myself comfortable in a dorm room. At night, I eat a typical Guatemalan dish: vegetable soup, carne de res (steak), salad, tortillas (thinner and tastier than in El Salvador), a red bean-paste, friable cheese and a good tomato-vinegar salad.
I climb on my dorm bed late and do not dream about who I am…
Who am I? After all this traveling it’s about time to introduce myself. Where do I come from? Am I just another kid, fresh from university, a street-dumb inexperienced complacent graduate who perceives the world as a collection of footnotes to his theoretical speculations?