San Salvador, El Salvador
I´m in San Salvador. Just booked a room at the Hotel Meson de Maria. And what a trip it has been to get here! I can chuckle now...
It goes a little somethin' like this:
I took the bus from Juchitan and arrived in Talisman, Tapachula at about midnight. Before I could leave the bus depot, a pleasant young man, a taxi driver, approaches me all excited with an offer in superfast Spanish to take me to the border. Let me just say quickly here, that his Spanish made all Mexicanos sound like they learned their diction from whatever Mexico´s equivalent is of Oxford. Mexicanos speak fast, but in general, have excellent enunciation. but this Talisman chap...

I usually prefer to walk around a bit once i arrive someplace, if, for no other reason than to exercise my legs and move my body a bit. So after this fellows long, very convincing spiel, I kindly took leave, told him as best I could that I wanted to take a short walk, and if i decided to take a taxi to the border with him, I would be back. So I pardoned myself to take a walk around the block.

Turns out this one block area is the dirtiest, nastiest section of street I think I ever seen in all my travels. Nasty, muddy, garbage infested puddles. Litter everywhere. Black, ashen filthy sides of buildings. Saw a deformed guy crawling along the sidewalk like a crippled spider. I couldn´t rush back to this guy fast enough to tell him to get me the hell out of here!

Now the real fun begins:
About a 20 minute drive later, we arrive at the top of a descending driveway that leads to the Guatemalan immigration office (aka "The Pit of Hell" (i didn´t know that yet) (i´m thinkin´i should probably stop here because i don´t want to worry some particular dear loved ones)...so, to make a dark short story, shorter, let´s just say, i got my documentation authorized, exchanged some money (too much), and then took another taxi to the bus terminal. Took an 8 hour bus ride to Guate! Guate! (Guatemala City). It sounds to me that Guatemalans don´t speak the same Spanish that is spoken in Mexico. I would speak as clearly as I possibly could to a Guatemalan, something that would render a quick return in Mexico, but the Guatemalan would look at me like I just said something in Cantonese.

Now, as i´m typing this, I don´t remember what the bus station in Guate looked like, but i do remember inquiring about Ticabus. The guy at the counter told me it was in another section of town, muy lejos, and I should probably take a taxi, about 30 quetzales (quick money update: $1US = 10 pesos = 7 quetzales). I communicate to the taxi cab driver I want to go to the Ticabus station, he says a whole lot of Guatemalan spanish that sounds like verbal mumbo jumbo gumbo to me, and says he can take me there for 40 quetzales. We´re off. We arrive at the terminal. There are a group of people huddled on the front porch of the office. It's a bit chilly. I pay the cabby, and sit and wait with the other people. About 10 minutes later, a young man in a white shirt and navy blue slacks arrives, opens the door, and let´s everyone in. Once inside, this group of about 15 are quite cheerful, talking and laughing. After about another 10 minutes, more staff arrive, begin turning on the lights and computer equipment, then processing for folks who have tickets, and also selling tickets to those of us that don't. My turn comes in line , and I inquire about the Ticabus bus pass. The fellow informs he knows nothing about such a thing, and that this is not the Ticabus station, it´s in another section of town muy lejos. I´m a bit perturbed (I´m thinking, "why did i ever leave mi gente que bonito en Mexico?"). I walk outside, see a taxi is just dropping off a woman, and i flag him just as he´s backing out, and ask him to take me to the Ticabus station. He say´s something about busses only leaving twice in the afternoon and other stuff I couldn´t comprehend, and drives me to the Ticabus terminal about 10 minutes away.We get there. It´s closed. No hours posted anywhere! However, across the parking lot there appears to be a homeless(?) man, and the cabbie asks this fellow if he knows when the station opens. It opens at noon. It´s now about 6:05 am. Time to make a decision. The cabbie seems a bit antsy to get back in his car and go make some money. So I decide to return to the other terminal, King Quality. We return. Inside, I approach the ticket agent about a bus to Costa Rico (for some reason I thought the people waiting in the lobby were Costariquennos). Turns out the next bus out is in 10 minutes to San Salvador. I pay, present my passport, and board the bus.

The Bus Ride from Guate! to San Salvador, El Salvador: King Quality
This was definately one of the most pleasant rides so far. Seating was upstairs. Two quite lovely stewerdesses/models (i´m not joking) done up to the 9´s - hair, make-up, nails, wearing cute, spiffy uniforms and high heels (on a bus!) offered us blankets, pillows, juice, breakfast, coffee and two movies w/headphones. Arrived in San Salvador about 10:30 am.
One quick aside: El Salvadoraneo spanish seems to be a bit different than espanol de Mexico. Their pronunciation is different. And whatever I said in Mexico that seemed comprehensible, renders essentially a blank stare here.