Whenever I travel I always seem to stumble my way into a cab ride that feels incredibly normal  (due to the nature of the areas I travel in) and at the same time makes me wonder if I’m barely escaping with my sanity or with my life. Maybe that is an overstatement – I’m not always narrowly escaping with my life, but I feel like I have seen my share of life-threatening and downright crazy events unfold from the backseat of a cab.

In a couple of extremely sad moments, I have come across the bodies of the recently deceased simply laying in the road, victims of either poor infrastructure or loose traffic/pedestrian laws. I’ve been on my share of pot-holed roads on massive canyon walls, witnessed a cab driver trying to take a fellow passenger hostage, been stranded with a cabbie on a remote Costa Rican highway and crammed into more vehicles without sufficient seats or seat belts than I care to remember.

This brings me to the ride we took from Antigua to San Pedro on Friday. The trip is, or should be, 31 miles. We were told by our driver and other locals the trip would take “about two hours.” At 2:00 pm, we met the driver of our 15-passenger van, piled in, and then stopped at another hostel where we picked up 8 other passengers; 2 of them German, and 6 Israelis. It quickly became apparent the driver had overbooked and we were one seat short. The truly odd thing though, was the driver refused to let any of my group sit in the front seats near him. Those were apparently reserved for the Israelis we were about to pick up. The driver strongly encouraged 2 of the 4 Israeli girls into the front seat. These ladies happened to be beautiful, young and bra-less. I stopped wondering why the driver had reserved these seats when I noticed the sheer shirts they were wearing. One of the ladies suddenly burst into tears and had to be consoled by her friend while the other took her place up front. They were speaking Hebrew the entire time, but as to what upset her I have my guesses. Anyway, the only seats left at that point were one near the door, and another little stool without a back that could be placed in between two bench seats. I felt the urge to take that seat, but the whole situation was so surreal and unfolding so quickly that I wasn’t sure how to react.

Once in, she started to settle down while the driver arranged our bags on top of the van. On top of the 10 foot van suitcases were piled on top of each other, making the van effectively 15 feet tall. Ropes were used to secure it and a tarp was placed to provide protection from the coming rain (which falls every afternoon/evening without fail).

So we were off. About one hour into the trip, the driver suddenly pulled over to an auto shop. While the car still ran, he leaned over and talked to the owner through the passenger window. After a brief conversation, the owner walked inside the shop and returned with some floor mats. He displayed them for the driver who took a good look, then shook his head and kept driving; this was the first floor mat drive-through I have ever witnessed.

A few minutes later we pulled off the highway and stopped at a restaurant for a quick break. Sensing my chance to be chivalrous, I made sure I took the girl’s stool before she could get in. As she got back in, we had an awkward little disagreement about who should sit in the stool. I told her I was happy to do it and she kept responding that I didn’t have to do it and I should get up. I refused and she continued to insist that I get up, putting her hand on her hip and using her finger to motion that I should get off. Everyone in the van was noticing now and she finally relented. Burning desire must have been written all over my face. As she sat down in the seat in front of me, she turned around and said, “You don’t need to do this – I have a boyfriend you know!” I thought about showing her my wedding ring, but I just let it slide, still trying to process what she had actually just said.

The rest of the trip unfolded rather slowly: long winding canyon roads, sharp turns, steep slopes, rain and fog, a road closure (probably landslides) and an eerie feeling that we were going to be in the car a lot longer than 2 hours.

Along the way the two Israeli men turned on some Hebrew rap music and sang along, assuming the entire car wanted to listen (to be fair, some Rihanna was thrown into the mix). We hit and killed a dog, came within inches of hitting  a pedestrian at high speed, and nearly got stuck on a one way road that had become two way.

We finally arrived, 5 hours later, at our destination. The Israeli girl thanked me one last time (I had been sitting on the stool the rest of the way). I’ve never been happier to leave a van. Our grouped, all of us professional consultants, wheeled our rollaboards up the cobble stone street in the pouring rain to the Villa del Lago where we all collapsed, grateful to have survived.

Our first destination is Antigua, the former capital of Guatemala. It reminded me of some of the colonial South American towns I have visited before. Six of us from Kellogg stayed here for just one night before moving on. Our van ride to the next destination will be a topic for a future post.

I went on a run in the morning, then we ate breakfast at the hostel where we staying, called El Gato Negro. We toured some old churches and toured the city. This picture was taken near the town’s central park.

A couple of things I’ve noted so far: Guatemalans seem very polite, somewhat quiet and extremely resilient. I came to learn a little bit more about its past. The country has been ravaged by a civil war which ended in 1996, but included bloody genocide and forced disappearances performed by the government who killed many of those living in rural areas who were viewed to be sympathetic with guerrillas. Their ability to survive and carve out a life in these tall mountain areas is amazing.

I was upgraded on both legs of my flight which meant I got to spend some time in the airport lounge before boarding. I was thrilled when I walked into the bathroom and saw a Toto brand toilet. If you haven’t heard about Japanese toilets, they’re amazing – heated seats and automated levers to wash and dry you. It took me a while to convert, and it might be a little much to talk about, but once I realized how nice it was to find a warm seat in the middle of the night and never have to worry about toilet paper I was hooked.

The title of this post is Japanese for “it’s been a long time.” Too long. Note to self: if you ever build a house or remodel a bathroom, install a Toto. Here is a shot of the control panel.