Guatemala By The Numbers - And a Bus Crash on the Way to Honduras

Well team, we made it to Honduras. We got on our second class bus in Flores this morning and headed for the border. At about 1:30 PM our bus was rear-ended by an 18-wheeler. After waiting by the side of the road for a while and watching a lot of mysterious fluids leak from the engine, the bus driver and his assistant determined that they had done an adequate job of duct taping the engine back together and we continued on our journey. We eventually got to Chiquimula, a town near the border and caught the last shuttle to the border. We crossed the border into Honduras at about 6:30, only to be told that the last buses and taxis normally leave at six, so we are stranded in the middle of nowhere. After talking to some friendly police officers for a bit, they talk some of their buddies into giving us a ride into town for 100 lempiras each, not too bad considering the situation. After checking into our hotel we treated ourselves to some delicious street food where our entire meal only cost 50 lempiras total, about $2.65.
Anyways, now that we have left Guatemala, time for a quick budget update. Keep in mind that I had about $74 dollars in my pocket when we entered Guatemala, and I had about the same when we left. Over the 45 days we were in Guatemala, we withdrew about $2556, or just under $57/day. This is actually pretty good considering we took over three weeks of Spanish school where we both had our own teacher all day, and we went on a very expensive hike to El Mirador. All in all, Guatemala could easily be done for much less money, but we wanted to hike Mirador, and work on our Spanish a bit. Just remember, when you are in Antigua, eat at the comedors to get a great meal for 15% of the cost!

While Mexico really was all about the street food - and the beaches - Guatemala was really about great people. Between our time in Xela and all our friends from school, meeting Denesse in Antigua, and then the great people we spent 5 days in the jungle with to El Mirador and back, we had nothing but great times with everyone we met here!