Day to Huehuetenango

Up late, collected laundry and then went to the centre of town, parque central to get a microbus to Terminal Minerva to get the chicken bus to Huehuetenango. It was a day of moving between buses and trying to get comfortable on them right the way through from the earliest part of the day. The journey from Quetzaltenango where I am at present to Huehuetenango (pronounced way-way-tenango should you be passing this way) is rated by lonely planet as the best bus journey in the country. After seeing the bulk of it at dusk on my return I can understand why. Unfortunately, on the way there all I could see was steam rising of me and everyone else on a rather cramped former American school bus as we collectively clouded up everything which resembled windows for the best part of the whole two hour journey.

I did have the satisfaction of getting across town via a couple of local buses to 'las ruinas' which appear to be of Mayan origin and are just a little neglected - there is graffiti on them. I don't know if I heard someone at Teotehuacan outside Mexico city comparing the ruins there to a contemporary housing estate or if it was one of Peter's issues, however, they did seem to resemble the three estates area to a degree and I assume that I am not the first to think of juxtaposing these images with some from Bells Lane, Kings Heath or of the Three Estates Area, Kings Norton. The ruins do resemble a skate park, BMX stunt area and a few other things to an extent. Maybe when I get home I can consider doing this. Until then I have done this please check out the shots of Huehuetenango and Zaculeu on flickr. There was something so urban 1960s Britain about the site I can't explain it, the archaeologists tended to look rather like council workmen because of the overall ambience of the site.

I've spent the last couple of days alcohol and nicotine free and was considering having a beer as I was leaving Zaculeu when I met the two guys in the photo above who have assisted with maintaining my self discipline when it comes to alcohol - they were steaming. There was something dare I say, very English about the girl who was serving the two guys drinks, something I really can't place. Likewise there was something very similar to my younger brother about the guy who was collecting fares on the microbus on the way to Terminal Victoria this morning. I've seen facial resemblances here in Guatemala that for whatever reason tend to remind me of my immediate family more that people in the UK do. I had a bit of a similar feeling in India but not to the same degree as I have done here in Guatemala.

There is a street off Parque Central which is necessary to walk down on the way back to this Hostal, Casa Argentina and I had dreams about it several months before I came away. There was nothing significant about the dreams only that I hadn't been here and I don't think I had seen images of the street on TV. I assume that I had seen the street on TV somewhere and there was use of memory inhibitor which may have in effect supressed the memory into my subconscious - god knows why I prefer this type of explanation but it makes more sense to me. I don't believe the theory on dreams from psychoanalysis nor the notion of being psychic, but I do think the rational explanation for such phenomena does included rather basic psychological principles. I don't like the idea that a basic psychological principle could be used in effect to facilitate mental illness and I would hope that this does not get over looked. I also had dreams about the layout of the house I stayed in at Antigua which did not surprise me in the least - there was something very familiar about the family and life with them. Still, I've made it through all this so far without any significant problems.