Coban

Well after a few days of travel we are now in Coban which is in central Guatemala. There isn´t per say much to do in this town however there are a few national parks outside of town with some beautiful limestone pools and caves to check out. We arrived last night and hope to head out tomorrow to check these places out. It´s hard trying to figure out if we should do a tour with the kids or just try to wing it on our own.

Anyway to catch you up we left San Marco´s on the 7th or 8th by launcher boat to Panajachel. It was a beautiful day with crystal blue water and perfect views of the surrounding volcanoes. After we arrived in pana we spent 4 hours wandering around eating and shopping while we waited for our 4 oclock shuttle bus to Antigua. Knowing that the kids got sick the first time around we thought we would head to the farmacia and get some dramamine for the little buggers. After carefully reading the espanol packaging in the store we determined that it was not to be given to kids under two and that children should have half a tab so we bought 2 tabs for 4 quetzales, about 50 cents or so. They dont sell the boxes so you have to do your reading before hand. At 4 oclock we loaded up into the mini bus and took off. As soon as we got down the street the back of the bus started flapping open so we had to stop as the bus driver cussed in both english and spanish and tied a rope from our seats to the door handle to keep it closed for the 3 hour ride. Huh? Wasn´t sure if we would lose the kids first or the baggage but it actually held the whole way and Mario andretti made it in only 2 and a half hours. My arms and neck were sore from one child always on my lap and holding onto the "oh shit" handles the whole way to avoid knocking the guy next to me out of his seat. The dramamine worked like a champ and the kids managed to hold in their food.

We arrived in Antigua at about 6:30 pm and had to search for a place to stay. Alexyss wanted to play with Isabel so we went back to pasado Merced where we had stayed previously. They invited us out to dinner so we ate with them at a fabulous asian restaurant and got back to the hotel at about 9 pm ready for bed. Unfortunately it was malaria pill night so we all took ours without problems and then it was Alexyss´s turn. Oh my gosh, you would have thought we were killing the girl. I know I said Tob could never be a nurse but you would have questioned my skills that night. I practically shoved it down her throat like you would a dog. After a HUGE screaming fit and alexyss determined we should have never come, we settled in for the night. What was even better is when we told her the pills have to be taken for 4 weeks after we get home too :0)

The next morning after breakfast we got a shuttle bus to Guatemala City in hopes for a bus to Coban. As soon as we arrived at the bus station we booked 4 tickets and were on a bus to coban within minutes. How lucky was that? The ride was pretty smooth. We stopped and ate mid way through and arrived in Coban at about 5 or 6 last night. We stayed in a pretty nice place for the night and then moved on to a hostel this morning.

I have tried to download pictures on most computers without any luck. Most of the computers block you from downloading and the others I can´t understand. Guess we may have to put together a slide show when we get home. Today we are catching up on laundry as I am out of undies and Alexyss pretty much out of clothing. Tob is the only one who never seems to need fresh laundry. He attributes it to fire although I tell him we are surrounded with people and it´s not fire season. He doesn´t smell bad though so I´ll let him fly with it. So I know this is another long post with no fun pictures but if you want to know what we are doing here you have it. I had better go see what Tob has figured out for the day. He was coming up with ideas while I was typing.