It’s 4:00 a.m. and Nick has been violently hurling into the toilet considering that midnight. Our minibus to take us on the 10 hour journey from one of our much-loved cities in Mexico (San Cristobal) to Guatemala is due to arrive in three hours.
But before we get to the travel day, let me rewind a few hours to see how this all happened…
Dariece: “This is our last night in Mexico, considering that we’ve been eating lots of international food lately, let’s go out for one last fantastic Mexican meal!”
Nick: “Sounds good. Isn’t it awesome that we’ve travelled through Mexico for nearly 6 months and have never been sick?”
I don’t know why he chose to jinx us on our last day in Mexico…
San Cristobal has some delicious international foods – check out the Thai restaurant and the Italian white wine bar!
At the popular Mexican restaurant, I selected al pastor meat, while Nick went for the chorizo. We inhaled our fantastic burritos covered with all sorts of spicy salsas and sauces, and drank our final Dos Equis beers. We were feeling a bit sad to be leaving a country we love so much, one that stole our backpacker hearts.
Later that night, while dying on the shower room floor, Nick wasn’t feeling the Mexican love. The pains and cramps in his stomach were unbearable, he couldn’t get comfortable and was having hot flashes, followed by cold shivers. It was official, he had food poisoning.
At 4:00 a.m. when it became clear that we wouldn’t be going on our pre-paid bus in 3 hours, I went downstairs to chat with the 24 hour receptionist. We were staying at Rossco Backpackers Hostel and I told the friendly man that we needed to cancel the bus. The staff member waited until the bus company opened at 6:00 a.m. and then came up to our room to deliver the bad news.
We could cancel the bus, but wouldn’t receive any sort of refunds. He was very apologetic and felt really bad about not being able to sort out a deal with the company for us, but we didn’t care about the money, all that mattered was that Nick was able to sleep and feel better.
We’re pretty sure this was the culprit…
If there’s one thing we’ve learned after 5 years on the road, it’s to never travel while having food poisoning. too lots of times we endured travel days that consisted of us throwing-up into plastic bags, puking out the window of a bus, or nearly shitting our pants (literally).
It’s embarrassing to be ill in front of people and it’s disgusting for the other passengers of the automobile who have to listen to it! For us, it doesn’t matter how much money we’ll lose out on, if we’re sick, we’ll spend the day in bed rather than trying to survive a day of travel.
So, we spent another night in our comfortable room at the hostel. considering that I wanted to take care of Nick and didn’t feel like going out and dining alone. The hostel bought a Domino’s Pizza for me! Yep, I had a very American meal in Mexico. However, for my other meals, it was great that Rossco had a communal kitchen so I could make myself some food, and prepare soup and tea for my sick spouse. during that extra day at the hostel, the staff still tried their best to get our money back from the bus company. Talk about going above and beyond.
A charming room at Rossco Backpackers
After a full 34 hours of being exceptionally ill, Nick finally came around and was able to get on a bus bound for Guatemala.
The minibus was filled with 16 other westerners and one Mexican national. It picked us up at 7:30 a.m., but considering that we waited until the last possible moment to book our bus ticket (to make sure Nick could manage a travel day), this indicated that we were the last people to be picked up. We were stuck at the very back of the minibus with seats that were incapable of reclining, and a very grumpy English woman in the seat in front of us that insisted on reclining her chair…all the way back, into Nick’s lap.
Not the best start.
It was a full minibus of people heading to the Guatemalan border
But, not even a grumpy backpacker or food poisoning could spoil this journey for us. We were so ecstatic to be heading additionally into Latin America and stamping into our 46th country! The ride on the Mexican side was smooth and simple. Our minibus cruised along the well-paved roads with ease, passing by beautiful farmland with the morning mist still hovering over the crops. The scenery was extraordinary and after three hours, we stopped for a breakfast break.
Now, if there’s another thing we’ve learned from backpacking the world, it’s to bring our own food on travel days! The bus stopped at a normal vacationer trap, which served a cold buffet breakfast at 95 pesos / person (that’s nearly $8 Canadian!) Aspeople complained about their overpriced breakfast, we chowed-down on cold, leftover pizza, fruit and crackers.
By around noon, we arrived at the dusty border town and after paying 20 pesos ($1.30 USD), we were officially stamped into Guatemala. But, the journey wasn’t over yet.
Guatemala!
We transferred buses and after another 5 or so hours of winding through the mountainside, we arrived at the extraordinary Lake Atitlan! The minibus dropped us off in Panajachel, the lake’s greatest town, and from there we boarded our first lancha (taxi boat) to take us to the private dock at the charming Uxlabil Eco-Hotel where we would be spending 5 nights. located just outside of the little village of San Juan, we knew this would be an exceptional spot for us as soon as we arrived. We were greeted by the smiling faces of the staff and couldn’t wait to check-in.
Our first lancha boat
It took us about 10.5 hours to get from San Cristobal to San Juan, and in my opinion, the journey was a fairly basic process…but it absolutely wasn’t the easiest task Nick has undertaken. We’re very delighted to report that he survived the journey (although he was sick again for another 5 days!)
Guatemala, we have arrived ?
For a lot more in-depth information on getting from Mexico to Guatemala, check out essential ideas & Information: border crossing from Mexico to Guatemala
For a lot more info on San Cristobal (which is a city we LOVE!), check out our post that we wrote last year after spending 5 days in the city.
We love San Cristobal!
Have you had food poisoning before and had to endure a travel day?! share with us below ?
A huge thank you to Hostels Club and the staff and owner of Rossco Backpackers Hostel! everyone went above and beyond to help us and were very accommodating. This was our second time staying at the hostel and we highly recommend it to anyone. another big thank you goes out to the staff of Uxlabil Eco Hotel, everyone was so amazing, the views were extraordinary and we absolutely loved our room and the food at the restaurant!
All thoughts and opinions remain our own, despite any complimentary services given.
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