3.17 Taking Off To Guatamala

I bought a new bag for my travels, pack up and say bye to Jeff, Shane and everyone and get on a bus at 5pm heading to the Guatamala border. Both Shane and Jeff have still not received their motorcycle titles or Shane’s passport so I’m not sure what their status is at this point. The ride was 12 hours but I was able to sleep most of the time and arrived near the border at 6am then caught another bus to Guatamala City at 7am.
The bus stopped at the border and everyone had to get out and go through customs. Since I was sleeping I was the last one off the bus and had no idea where everyone went. I was instantly barraged with “helpers” who basically just try to get money out of you. You have to pay the border crossing fees in their local currency so they also have money changers who are also there to scam you. I forgot to check what the current exchange rate was before I left and I changed out 1000 Mexican pesos and received 130 Guatamalan Quetals in exchange. I later find out I got ripped off super hard on that deal. I find the first customs guy and give him my passport and tourist visa and he starts spouting off something about how my visa is no good and how ill have to go get a new one in the last town. I know my visa is good for 180 days, he is looking for a bribe. Since I lack the Spanish skills to even begin to argue with him a quick 20 dollar bill in passport gets the stamp and he gives it back to me and points down the road. So off I go with literally 15 guys following me telling me I need to give them money for this and that and how I have to hurry cause the bus is going to leave me. They are seriously masters of confusion and it worked. They are also carrying fake ID cards saying they work for the bus company as well as the government.
Since I really have no idea where to go and think I am going to get left by the bus I end up paying one of the guys 50 dollars to get my passport dealt with. He did get it taken care of quickly but the entire time he wanted more and more money which I did not give him. Having a random guy have your passport is not a good feeling and was pretty stressful. It worked out in the end and I got back on the bus negative 70 dollars. Lesson Learned. We arrived in Guatamala City around 4 and the bus drops me off who knows where. All I have heard is bad about Guatamala City and how it’s the murder and robbery capital of central America. My guide book pretty much says don’t go there its extremely dangerous so im kinda on edge. I find a chill taxi driver that speaks English and he takes me to the next bus station so that I can book my bus for the next morning to Honduras. He is a genuinely nice guy I can tell and this puts me at ease. He says he will take care of everything and wait for me while I get the tickets. I book the tickets and decide to splurge and get the Executive Seats because my last 12 hour journey was kind of uncomfortable. The bus leaves at 5am and I have to be there at 4am, brutal. Get back in the taxi and he takes me to a ATM so I can get some money then recommends a hostel near where the bus station is.
The hostel is very nice and 2 American guys who are staying there greet me and we start talking. One of them is 19 years old and was home schooled his whole life and this is his first time out in the real world. He is seriously ADD to the max and lacks major social skills, he latches onto me like im his best friend and just gets way to friendly way to fast. Starts asking me how to pick up girls and how he is in love with some girl in El Salvador and is going to go see her even though she does not like him, haha sounds like a great idea. Woah you are to much to handle right now so I go out and get some food and buy a new Digital Camera to replace my lost one. I get back and there are 2 girls from Norway there and dude is all over them being super annoying and I can tell they are very turned off with his ridiculous advances. I pull him into the room and give him a 20 minute pep talk on what not to do around girls, which is everything he was doing. I felt like I was a old man giving advice to a middle school kid. Since I have to get up at 3:30am I call it a night.