And now we are in Guatemala!! yay!

We stayed 9 days total in Oaxaca, the extra five for free because I had landed a painting commission.  The hostel, Los Amigos, just moved locations and didn't have a sign out front to say they existed so I offered to paint them a sign on behalf of Leo's suggestion. I did not design the logo but mearly drew and painted it on their wall but it was a good way to get back into painting.

On the last day in Oaxaca we finally decided to get on a bus and out of Mexico, we've spent tons of time here and all of Central America is waiting.  We bused that night to Tapachula arriving in the blasting heat at 7:30am. The bus cost about 500 pesos each. In Tapachula we ate some breakfast at a cafe/restaurant across the street and then started biking towards the border by 10:30 (after we soaked our shirts of course). Once we reached the border it was a little confusing to really know who was legit and who was just being crazy but we made it through with a stamp and carried on up a super steep hill. Border crossings I guess are just super sketchy places to be...we crosed at the northern crossing in Talisman. Once we were a little ways from the border we stopped for some tacos and quesadillas for lunch after enjoying a small bag of ice cold water one of the local shop owners gave us after climbing the super steep hill. Awesome.
We passed a funeral procession on the road with a large group of people walking behind the cars and one woman on the edge of tears smiled so big when we passed by, it was a such a beatutiful moment.

Around that time the sky started to darken and rain. And then it started to pour, thunder and lightning all around so we took shelter under a small shelter on the side of the road. So far the biggest differences between Mexico qnd Guatemala are the three wheeled tuk-tuks acting as taxis, the van taxis that leave the side door open with a guy hanging out cause its so full, the trucks acting as taxis with usually 20 people standing in the back hanging on and the truck almost bottoming out from the weight, and of course the the chiken bus which are basically school buses painted pretty colours which for some silly reason look like the safest ride...hmm...oh and theres the men on the side of the road sharpening their machetes. All of these crazy amazing things with a lush green, mountanous background.
After waiting out some of the rain we carried on only for the sky to start dumping on us again. We decided to start looking for a hotel..we came across a couple but they were rather expensive. We went through a small town called Catarina that had a church with a large roof over their courtyard that looked like prime camping space. We asked and they allowed us to set up our tent for the night. They even made us coffee in the morning at 6:30. Very nice people.

And that ends day 1 of Guatemala