Travelling to Guatemala!

How many ruck sacks can you shove in a humble tuk tuk?

The paperwork said we would be travelling for 8 hours today (Copan to Antigua), but, after it said 8 hours for the journey Ataco to Copan and we made it in 4 and a half, we really didn't think it would be. Boy, how wrong we were. This was another long ass travel day; the final day of my tour. We left at 8:45am. We had to walk 15 minutes out of town because the bus couldn't fit in the narrow streets leading up to our Copan hotel. It wasn't very long before we reached the border with Guatemala and because we already had our stamp from two days ago, the crossing was a breeze. The signature hot and humid weather was sticking with us, so it was great to stop at the Hotel Atlantico for a welcome dip in their pool and a lovely, if not rather expensive, lunch. There was a UN Central Americas conference going on, but luckily they broke for lunch just as we were leaving.

We finally arrived in Antigua around 5pm. The traffic in Guatemala City was crazy busy and we saw the funniest thing amidst this - a suited and booted business man hanging of the side of a "chicken" bus OMG! Wish I'd got a picture. I will never complain about our Tube again.

Our final hotel of the trip was the La Merced in Antigua. I had two rooms here so I'll base this review on the room I shared before I split off from the group. It was a triple as you can see from the pics. Good sized bathroom and shower. WiFi in the room. Opened out onto the central courtyard of the hotel, so it was incredibly noisy. Free internet by Reception where you can print boarding passes, maps etc. The guys on Reception were very helpful in assisting us with excursion info. and where we could find the the best places to eat. Only a 10 minute walk from the Central Plaza / main square. You can also organise a 10 dollar airport shuttle bus transfer with Reception. No restaurant, but Fernandos is just a few steps down the street and it serves the best coffee and food for any time of the day.