A few problems getting here...

We had a few problems getting to Antigua. The day started great with boating it to Panajchel and heading to the nature reserve. Our bus left at 4pm so we had a lot of time to kill. Finally it was 4pm. We were boarding our small 10 passenger van and were off. The driver put the van into first and a horrible grinding sound came from the transmission. He tried again and got it going. Ok he probably just didn´t put it properly into gear. We´re driving through the city leaving town and almost everytime he shifts gears more horrible sounds come from the transmission. This isn´t good. Em´s sitting a couple rows back from me and I give her a worried look. We made it out of town and the driver had to turn right, up a very steep switchback. He slowed down got it into first gear and more earpeircing sounds. He must have tried to get the van into gear and up the hill 15 times before he succumbed to the fact that the van was not going to make it. Disappointment, smiles and sighs of relief came over the van as we went back into town. We were happy knowing that we would not be in the middle of nowhere went the van eventually broke down. Those smiles faded when we found out that another van would be around to take us in 30 minutes, then it was 50 minutes then it was 1 hour then 2 hours. Finally a new van arrived just after 7pm. Three hours after we got on the first van. I felt really bad for one guy who have tickets to a concert that night. As we turned up the switchback that had previously stalled our trip (no pun intended) half the people in the van gave a cheer to the driver. We did finally make it to Antigua around 9:30pm found a hotel pretty quickly and got a bite to eat.
I wouldn´t be a trip if everything worked out perfectly. Right?

A few problems getting here...

Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala