Wed afternoon and Thursday Fiasco

I got into Manzanillo around 2pm and bought a ticket for Lazero Cardenas for Thursday morning at 9:15 am. I however didn't have the money for a ticket and there was no ATM machine in the bus station so I took a taxi to an ATM and back and then went in and bought my ticket (202P) and took my taxi (he waited) to hotel Colonial. He charged me $100 P.

My hotel was expensive (370P) but extremely nice. The only drawback is there was no fan (only AC) and I prefer a fan. There was a nice restaurant and wireless internet.

Language is a funny thing - you can understand the words perfectly but not have the correct meaning. I asked which floor my room was on and she said the 2nd - strange as my room number was 313. The first (main) floor is called planta baja which means? So in the latin culture they number floors differently - I knew this but had forgotten.

Spent the afternoon wandering around downtown. Had lunch at an outdoor cafe and had the world's worst waiter. He was so disinterested it was pathetic. I was long done with my meal and wanted a 2nd beer and I finally flagged down a waitress and asked for another beer and the bill. She brought (promptly) my beer and the bill. The bill was wrong (only 1 beer not 2) and I told her. She promptly (notice the repeated use of the word prompt) the corrected bill and I paid her. When she came back (promptly) with my change I gave her a 20% tip and said it was for her. When I first came my waiter came w/in 5 minutes and gave me a menu and I asked for a beer (Modelo Negro) and it took him about 10 minutes to come back with my beer. I almost left. I ordered my meal then and when it came he just plopped it down and didn't ask if I wanted anything else. He was pathetic.

In the afternoon a guy called out to me since I was wearing a Wisconsin T shirt. He was a bullshitter but fun to talk to. We had a couple of beers. Got to bed early (before 9)

Thurs Morning

I got up at 6am - before I found my phone it had already shut off. Had to wait till 8 am for breakfast so I looked for another place and everywhere is just locked down tight till 8ish. Had my breakfast at 8 and booked out of there at 8:20 to the bus station. Went to the counter to get the bus number and she said, "sorry but there is no bus to Lazero Cardenas. My mind went blank and then I thought, "Holy fucking shit, now what the fuck am I going to do" and then after I got my money back I sat down and looked at my map. She told me that there was problems in the road. I talked to one company and to get to Acapulco it would cost me 900P (which I didn't have in cash) and would take 18 hours or something going through Guadalajara. I found another company having a bus leaving at 6pm that coes to Acapulco - Don't know how the bus gets there or if the "problem" in the road means that this bus won't go either. If that bus doesn't go (I'll get there a couple of hours early) then I'll take a bus to Mexico City and just book it till I get to Guatemala.

I took a taxi back to my hotel (35P each way) and explained the problem and asked if I could have my room till checkout - she apologized and told me that as soon as I had checked out she had my room cleaned but that I could leave my backpack. I had figured that I would probably have to do that anyway which is fine.

I'm back sitting in the hotel restaurant (where I have a damn fine waitress) typing this and drinking more coffee than my body can handle. It's now 9:46 am and I have mucho time to kill.

ciao