After exiting Mexico, we continued down the highway for a few miles to the border at Guatemala.  We hit it at a good time with no traffic.  We had to pay about 25 cents to get our bike sprayed with some sort of disinfectant.  Then I walked into the immigration office and got our passports stamped within five minutes.  I walked to the customs office which was in the next building and got a permit for the motorcycle.  It took about five minutes and cost about $6.00.  It was a good thing it didn’t take too long because it was HOT out.  Clara bought some ice cream and hung out by the bike while I did all the paperwork.  Even in the shade she was sweating profusely.

Once we got on the bike and started moving we cooled off quickly.  The border sits down in a valley shared with Mexico.  However, once in Guatemala you start climbing rapidly into some steep, high, jagged, awesome mountains.  They make you feel very welcome.

Since the border crossings went so well we still had several hours of sunlight left so we started riding.  The road was another great motorcycle road as it wound in and out, up and over numerous mountains.  Like Mexico, there were little towns and houses all along the way.  Unlike Mexico, there were no topes!  We made great time while having fun.

The riding reminded me of the steep mountains in the Dominican Republic.  The little towns reminded me of Mexico a generation ago.  They were not kept as clean as Mexico now is and they have trash thrown about with little apparent desire to clean it up.

We climbed enough that we ran most of the time through pine forests.  We could easily have been on one of many roads through the Colorado Rockies.  The road was two lanes, wide and built with shoulders.  It was awesome.  Instead of looking out for deer and elk, here you kept an eye out for dogs, pigs, chickens and other livestock.

A downside to the wider roads is that drivers know two cars and a motorcycle can fit across both lanes and exercised that option frequently.  When in Rome…  So, I decided to do the same thing and made many such passes that seemed to earn the respect of the local drivers.

We started off from the border very hot.  Within an hour we were high enough that it got very cold.  Then it started to rain.  So we stopped for a second time to dawn more gear before we continued our ride.

After it started to rain we came upon a tanker truck that must have lost control and ran over and demolished a small pickup.  Another fatality.  The engine of the tanker completed occupied what was left of the driver seat on the pickup.  They may still be trying to remove the remains.  There were only about six cars backed up when we came upon this accident so it had just happened within a minute or two before we got there. 

As in Mexico, people jumped out of their cars and began taking care of the situation as though it was their civic responsibility.  Without being able to do anything but get in the way we moved on down the road.  Some minutes later we saw a police car and an ambulance headed to the scene.

The next good size town was Quezaltenango.  We saw a hotel with the same name, Real Plaza, as the one we liked so well and had stayed in the night before.  So we pulled in a got a room.  The price was about the same, $27.00.  The architecture and layout was similar to the other hotel so I think this may be a new chain that is spreading throughout Mexico and Central America.  This hotel was not kept to the same impeccable cleanliness as the previous one but was still on the clean side.  The food was also a notch lower in quality.  Still, all in all, it is a nice hotel at a nice price.  I’ll be keeping an eye out for more of these hotels as we head south.

In thinking about hotels I am struck that all of the places we have stayed have been nearly empty.  I don’t know if we are just early in the season or if supply has greatly out grown demand.  No complaints, just feeling a little lonely at these places.

Another thing that struck me right away about Guatemala is how many motorcycles are on the road.  In Mexico we saw hundreds of mopeds but few larger motorcycles.  All the ones we did see where BMW’s on their way to the convention.  There are lots of mopeds in Guatemala but even more large motorcycles.  They are predominately enduro or dual sport motorcycles and most of them are Blue or Black Hondas (XR’s and XL’s).  There are also a lot of Japanese knock-offs from China.

Another change is the gas stations and the number of them.  Whereas in Mexico all stations are government owned Pemex, in Guatemala free enterprise is the name of the game.  We saw several Esso, Texaco and other stations that are completely new to us.  Like America, here you have two competing stations across the street from each other.  In Mexico, the Pemex stations were placed wherever the government decided they should be.

Along the road side we saw everything from countless friendly people; a dead horse serving up a meal to vultures; and wonderful water falls free falling from the tall, steep mountains.  My initial impression of Guatemala is very high.

Day 2 Quezaltenango to Panajachel (on Lake Atitlan), 132 miles

We arrived at Quezaltenango in the rain and it continued to rain all night.  I sleep like a baby.  However, the rain and the noise of late arrivals throughout the night kept Clara from sleeping well.

I woke early and went for a walk.  It was like walking through a rain forest.  The fog was thick, the air damp, and the temperatures cool.  I returned to the room and worked at the computer as Clara got a little extra sleep.  It was now quiet and she fell into a deep sleep quickly.

After Clara finally woke we went to the hotel restaurant and had breakfast.  It wasn’t anything special.  As we were finishing a couple of gentlemen entered the restaurant and said, “Good Morning” to us.  I guess it is still pretty obvious we are a couple of gringos from up north.  They were business men from Mississippi and were glad to find someone they could speak English with.  They were enamored with our trip and couldn’t believe anyone would do such a thing.  At the same time you could tell deep down they wanted to go. 

By this time the sun was out and it was already starting to warm up.  We still put on heavy gear and hit the road.  We headed up again over some very steep mountains.  As we made our way down the mountains we found thousands of locals lining the streets in every little town and all the stretches in between.

At first I thought it must be a holiday and people were waiting for a parade.  One part of me thought it would be neat to see this thing but another part realized there was a good chance the road would be closed and we would be stuck somewhere unknown for half a day or more.  As long as the road was open we pressed on as hard as we could in the heavy traffic. All the while I wondered to myself what could be going on.

Finally we were pulled over by police on motorcycles.  We stopped and watched with anticipation like everyone else until we finally saw some bicyclists peddling hard up the long steep mountain.  Along with them were dozens of chase vehicles, police, radio and television crews and more competitors.  I guess a hundred or more bicyclists from many different countries peddled by.  The ones toward the rear were clearly more exhausted then the front runners had been.  This wasn’t the Tour de France but you couldn’t tell it by all the journalists, staff and spectators that turned out in support for this event.

Many of the competitors and motorcycling staff took long looks of curiosity at our motorcycle.  In fact, we are becoming quite the show stopper around here.  This is such a motorcycle friendly country that you would think no one would even notice us.  However, out bike is so different that it is of keen interest to a large group of people that do know about motorcycles.  We get a lot of thumbs up, smiles and waves.  Clara pretended that all the people lined the streets just to watch us go by.

The last entries in the race finally went by and we continued down the mountain.  The further we dropped the hotter if got.  Near the coast we ran arrived at Central America Highway 2 and found a nice city with many clean and modern hotels.  They must have some popular beaches in the area.  It was hot so we went right through town on to the next major town.

We arrived in Mazatenango and stopped at a Dominos, of all places, for lunch.  Somehow it caught the attention of both of us.  We were ready for something different than we had been eating and something familiar to us.  We pulled into the parking lot next to about a dozen Dominos delivery motorcycles.  Within a few minutes there were several more motorcycles.  The riders as well as the Dominos delivery riders took long, approving looks at the prepped KLR.  They will be talking about us (or at least the bike) for weeks.

We continued through downtown and faced a typical busy, crowded, active open market that went on for blocks.  People were bustling about everywhere.  As we left town we turned eastward and headed back into the mountains and cooler temperatures. 

We were headed toward the famous Lago de Atitlan.  We finally came up over a rise and had a pullout for the first overlook of the lake.  All we could see was thick fog.  As we continued around the lake the fog started to lift and we could get some views of this incredibly beautiful lake.  We continued around the lake for miles.  It reminded me of riding around Lake Tahoe twenty five years ago before it became so developed. 

We continued around the lake for some time passing several small towns.  We came to
Panajachel and just had to stop.  It was positioned on the lake with a great view of the mountains and the volcanoes that surround the lake.  We stopped at the first hotel that had a lake view.  They showed us a room and it looked comfortable so I decided to book it but then they told me they were sold out for the night.  I wasn’t sure whether it was due to them noticing the motorcycle or that they might have had a bus coming in.  In any case we continued down some back roads until we came to another hotel. 

Clara and I are glad we ventured further into the city.  We came to a very nice hotel on the lake called, Hotel Posada de Don Rodrigo.  It is an expensive but beautiful hotel.  We found about a dozen other Americans.  This was the first town where we saw so many tourists since we started our travels.

Dinner and breakfast was included in the price of the hotel.  Dinner was excellent.  Breakfast was likewise the next morning.

We decided to take some time to enjoy this special place.  Clara and I are both enjoying Guatemala very much.

Day 3 Panajachel (on Lake Atitlan) through Antigua to Guatemala City, 118 miles

If we didn’t get the point across earlier, Clara and I really liked the Hotel Posada de Don Rodrigo.  It is obvious that the owners have much pride and have taken extremely good care of this place.  It is a lush garden placed in one of the world’s loveliest spots.  It is a great place to come for a retreat and renew the spirit.

Clara has taken up interest in some of the web site maintenance and management, photo conversion and editing tasks.  I greatly appreciate this for two reasons.  One it allows me to be away from the computer more so I can take in more of our experience and keep up with bike maintenance.  Secondly, I enjoy watching Clara take interest in something and advancing her skills.  With little oversight she is now doing most of the photo and web updates.  I know I have to be careful to not allow her to spend too much time doing this that she misses out on everything else around us.  We’ll try to maintain the right balance.

We took some time this morning to enjoy this wonderful place including the lake, gardens, swimming pool and great food.  At this point I am passing the mantle to Clara so she can share her thoughts with you.

Hi everyone, this is Clara.  Yeah, Yeah, I know, it’s about time.  My Dad has been harping on me since about day two to write down my thoughts as well, but I just thought that he was doing such a great job, why ruin a good thing?  My job has been pictures, I am usually the photographer and for the past four or five days I have also been in charge of putting the pictures on the website.  Let me tell you, that is the hardest job ever, yesterday we took 97 pictures and today we took over 100.  I am doing my best to put just a few pictures down that everyone can see and we hope that everyone is enjoying our picks.

So on to what we have done in the past 24 hours.  We stayed at an amazing hotel last night as my Dad mentioned yesterday.  It was called, Hotel Posada de Don Rodrigo, it is a retreat hotel, instead of recreation.  Obviously they receive more couples than families because when the bell boy was helping me with the bags, he stopped me and asked if everything was ok, with a very concerned look on his face.  “Of course, why?”  I asked.  He responded with, “Well, you asked for two beds”.  I didn’t know if I should be embarrassed or laugh; I just laughed and explained to him that I was with my Dad.  I got a big, “ahah”, and I think that he told the rest of the staff, because they all seemed a little more relaxed after that.  It was a great stay and this is the first place that I would recommend to others.

We did hang out at the hotel for awhile after breakfast; we went down to the lake and enjoyed the serenity of the area.  Afterwards we headed through the mountains to Antigua, the famous town that everyone said we had to visit.  Our original plan was to stay the night there, but we only stopped for lunch.  We ate lunch at a nice café on the edge of town that is known for their huge and beautiful gardens.  The best part about lunch was their fruit drinks.  I ordered a drink thinking that it was a frozen fruit drink, just like back home, but to my surprise it was room temperature, I was turned off at first, but Dad explained to me that it was just blended fruit with nothing in it.  It was love from then on.  Antigua was a neat town with cobblestone streets and many old churches.  It is very artsy and reminded us of the type of atmosphere that Santa Fe has.  Our plans to stay the night there changed when we had problems finding a hotel, at least one that had secure parking.  It was still early, so we decided to hit the road and headed for Guatemala City.  So here we are in another large city that we thought we could get through and now we are in a hotel surrounded by buildings.

We had a great relaxing day with limited riding.  It was fun enjoying the culture of the area more than we have in the past.  One thing that both of us noticed was that kites are huge here.  There are kite vendors everywhere and it seems as though just about every kid has a kite, they are even hanging in some restaurants.  The wind is usually blowing, so they are perfect. 

I hope that everyone is enjoying following along with the website, we are enjoying sharing our experiences.  Thanks to everyone!  Clara

Day 3 Guatemala City to Copan Ruinas, Honduras, 150 miles

We woke up to a dead battery.  The KLR would not turn over.  I had sensed the charge on the battery going down the previous day.  I had hoped that a sustained ride without too many stops would charge it back up.  No such luck. 

It was Sunday and nothing was open.  No one at the hotel understood the concept of a battery charger.  Everyone said “no problema el lunes.”  We didn’t want to wait until Monday and stay another day in Guatemala City. We decided to ride toward Honduras and see if the battery would take a charge with all extra components turned off (head light, GPS, alarm).  Of course, this meant push starting the bike all day.  It was easy to recruit some help at the hotel because three of the staff members hadn’t left the bike since we pulled in the night before.  If they slept at all I think it was right next to the bike.  They had the biggest smiles on their faces and touched the bike continuously. 

We decided to see the ruins at Copan, one of the more famous and larger of the Mayan Ruins.  This meant we had to go back into the heart of Guatemala City to find a secondary route leaving the city in a northeastern direction.  This was no easy chore.  I was glad it was Sunday without the normal level of activity on the streets.  Compared to Mexico City, navigating this city of 2.5 million people was of little challenge.  However, signage is very poor down here.  Streets often split in two different directions and nothing on the signs indicated which direction we should go.  Relying on a good sense of direction I would make a split decision and go with it.  Occasionally I would stop and ask a local if we were headed in the right direction.  They would often way their hands in the direction we were going and say something I could not understand all the while with a lost look in their eyes.  Sometimes you just have to be flexible, go with your best judgment and hope for the best.

We went through about a dozen small towns that were not on our map.  Note to self – next time try and get the latest map available and the one with the most detail.  Finally, we arrived at a town that was on the map and was reassured we were going in the correct direction. 

We stopped for gas and had a snack.  I saw some men running a make shift car wash so I decided to take the bike over and let them wash it.  It was very dirty from riding several days in the rain.  One of the men spoke English and told me about the time he lived in Santa Barbara, CA.  He worked at a Sizzler restaurant and lived with other family members.  He acted confused when I asked him why he now lived at this place in Guatemala.  I asked him for directions to the Honduras border and he told me he didn’t know.  He said he lived in this city how would he know what was in the next city or further down the road.

I was reminded from previous trips how few people travel outside their city and are not familiar with maps.  We did not find this to be true in Mexico.  However, south of there it is difficult to get directions from most people.  And yet, here was someone who traveled all the way to the United States!  Furthermore, like Mexico, there is an explosion of new cars on the road traveling about in every direction.  It appears that most of them travel the same exact routes day in and day out.

We push started the cleaner KLR and headed down the road.  Good fortune was upon us and we found a sign that clearly indicated which direction to go at the next junction.  Within two hours we were at the border.  We took some risk in crossing on a Sunday.  We were advised that the “B” staff is working and it could take many hours to get across the border if at all.  I had all my documents and a copy of everything in order and proceeded.

In looking back we really enjoyed Guatemala.  It is a very beautiful country with steep mountains everywhere.  There are lots of lakes, rivers and waterfalls.  We found far more tourists in this country than in Mexico.  Everywhere we stopped the people were friendly and wore a natural smile upon their faces.  Lake Atitlan was exceptionally beautiful.  All the roads were in good to great condition.  If we had more time we would have spent a week in Antigua at one of the many well known Spanish immersion schools.  If anyone out there has thought about visiting Guatemala, I would encourage you to do so.  I know you will enjoy it.

To read about our trip into Honduras click here