It took a while. In fact, it took longer than I thought it would. The trip from Flores to Guatemala City is across a big stretch of the country. There were a few sections where the road twisted and turned to get over some fairly substantial mountains.
We got up in time for a leisurely breakfast and checked out of the Mirador del Largo at about 8:45 and walk to the Grande Hotel. We decided against a chicken bus as it would be a long day. The big a/c bus pulled in about about 9:40 and then went over to the station in the city of Santa Elena and waited until 10:00. Next, other than a twenty-five minute break for a restaurant at about 3:00, we were on the road straight through to 7:15. There was a variety of geography with a lot of land much drier than I might have anticipated. Some sections though could have played double for Sri Lanka with the right vegitation, geography, and even appearance of villages.
It was, of course dark by the time of our arrival but we'd read that the bus station was in a bad area. We grabbed a taxi and asked to be taken to Zona 10. Our taxi driver stopped at "Las Torres" and we took a room. The area is nice with lots of new hotels and an active club atmosphere, not that that really matters. I think it will still seem like I'm moving when I try to sleep later.
