I returned to Antigua. Rosario arranged a ride for us with her friend who is the driver, and may even be the owner, of a tourist mini-bus (collectivo). Rosario had arranged the ride because she needed to go to the dentist, she told me there was no need for me to pay for the ride. I gave the driver a little something anyway, as did the two Mayan women we picked up on the way out of San Antonio. Rosario’s friend drops me off at the Panajachel parking lot where another collectivo will pick me up for the ride to Antigua.
Costumed children arrived in tuk tuks with their parents. The children were wearing assorted costumes, Japanese geishas, Disney ducks, flowers, soldiers, princesses, etc. As the street filled with children I became concerned that traffic wouldn’t be able to come down the street.
I asked a street vendor what was going on, and would the traffic be stopped. He told me I had nothing to worry about. Fortunately two more collectivo passengers arrived and we waited together. They had a cell phone and made a call to their tour operator. The tour operator told them if the collectivo driver couldn’t get through he’d walk, meet up with us, and we’d walk to the collectivo. That’s what happened. But. . . he couldn’t find Jennifer. Eventually, after taking us to the collectivo, he goes back and finds Jennifer. As it turns out she was standing next to us all the time, but with all the children she didn’t notice. Off we go. On a different route than the one that took me to Panajachel.
Half the people in the collectivo were car sick because of the bumpy, windy road. They shared Gravol. Some were frightened, thinking we might be in danger of attack because the road was almost deserted. At another point some of my fellow passengers begged for a bathroom break.
In spite of our trials and tribulations We arrived save and sound in Antiqua. It was Friday night, and mysteriously there wasn’t a procession that would interfere with traffic.
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