Report From Guatemala

January 31/06

Another short day today. Under 100K to El Chiflon. El Chiflon is a spectacular waterfall about 40K south-west of Comitan de Dominguez. The location was recommended to us by Dan (a Canadian owner of a restaurant in Puerto Escondido). Stopping here fit well into our travel plans since it is less than 100K from the Guatemala border crossing at La Mesilla. We had planned to camp here. Camping is available but it is not suited to MC travel since you have to walk in about 200 metres from where you must leave the bikes. However, cabanas are available also and you can park the bikes on the porch of the cabanas. The cabanas for the four of us cost us $40. The park entry fee is $1. per person. We were not sure if food would be available here so we stopped at a grocery store in Comitan for supplies. For $6. we bought enough food for dinner and breakfast tomorrow.

The walk to the falls from the cabana is just over 1K along the river back on a nicely prepared stone and concrete walk and stairs. The falls really are quite spectacular. The water is a turquoise green colour. We were told that the water colour was caused by the high calcium content. It was also great to get a bit of exercise.

The ride today started out quite cool and there was a threat of rain in the high country. By the time we reached El Chiflon we had descended to 2500 ft. and the temperature was once again quite warm.

We passed several military checkpoints today... more that usual. We have not been stopped at any of the checkpoint yet. We noticed as we came father south that security seems more visible. A few days ago we started to notice armed guards at the Pemex gas stations. These fellows are uniformed and carry automatic rifles. We have been told that in the Central American countries we can expect to see many more guns.

Time to play a bit of cards before bedtime. Tomorrow an early start for the Guatemala border. Our destination for tomorrow night is Huehuetanango. (pronounced way-way-ten-an-go).

February 1/06

On The Way To Hueheue…

We reached the Guatemala border just before 11 am. The border is a confusing mix of shops, money changers, customs officials, border guards, tourists etc. There are vehicles of every description… tourist buses, private cars, local buses, trucks, pedestrians, etc. all moving two ways on a street just wide enough for two cars. It is difficult to determine if you have reached the border or in which country you are currently located. We simply stopped riding when it seemed like we should be talking to someone. Someone eventually approached us and told us we need to get our vehicles sprayed for agricultural purposes. This we did. Paid the 15 Quetzales and were told to report to the Aduana (customs). {Note: we had expected that we would be swarmed with kids wanted to assist us with our progress through the customs process. This did not occur. There was no assistance evident.}

In customs we were told that we did not have the necessary stamps (in our passports) from the Mexican “Migracion” and we would have to return 4K into Mexico to get the required stamps. (We later learned that we must exit (salida) each country before we enter (migacion) the next.) While we were waiting for this information we managed to change some US$ and Pesos into Quetzales from a local money changer.

After returning the 4K back to the Migracion office and returning to the Guatemala Aduana we quickly received the necessary paper work and stamps. Then we were directed to another office to complete the paperwork for the bikes. 37 Quetzales late we were on our way. All in all it took about an hour to get through the border. Not bad considering we had to go back to get the Mexican stamps.

Once in Guatemala we navigated the traffic though the border town and onto CA1 the highway to Huehuetenango. We had be briefed that we would immediately notice that Guatemala was a poorer country that Mexico… may be we missed something, but this was not our impression. Border towns are border towns. They are what they are and not necessarily indicative of the norm. Once outside the town were impressed by the cleanliness and the amount of newer construction.

As soon as you enter Guatemala you are immediately into the mountains. The scenery is wonderful. The road, for the most part is windy and smooth. There was some evidence of the recent mud slides but road repairs were virtually completed. Habitation is built high up the slopes. There does not appear to be road access to these homes. Every so often there are walking trails that come down to the highway. Most locals commute by bus. There are buses of every shape and size as well as an abundance of taxis. The larger buses here are painted bright colourful ways. Make’s you smile every time you see one… unless it is in your rear view mirror a metre or so from your rear wheel!

We reached Huehue by 2:30 pm and made our way to the “Centro” (center of town). Generally this is the location of the hotels, restaurants etc) Thanks to our Lonely Planet book we located a hotel near the centro. We discovered that it may be cheaper for us to get 2 rooms than 1 room for the 4 of us. In both hotels we checked today they charged by the person. Same price, one room or two. In this hotel we have one room with a bathroom and shower and the other with no bathroom for less money than one room with a bathroom. Seems like a good deal to us… we all still use the same bathroom but we have more space and separate rooms. After checking in and getting cleaned up we went out looking for a bite to eat.

Sometimes language is not a huge problem. Sometimes it is. This was on of those times. In the first restaurant, we did manage to get a beer but that’s all! Even after I ran back the hotel to get the dictionary and phrase book we could not figure out what the restaurant had to offer. Perhaps too, our timing was wrong…the restaurant appeared on the verge of closing. When they had stacked the chairs on every table but ours, we decided it was time to leave.

The second restaurant experience was much better. Great pizza and more beer. (Does it seem to you that we might be drinking too much beer?) Anyway… This restaurant (Don Juan’s) had a good breakfast menu too so it looks like we will be going back in the morning.

Tomorrow we are continuing down Hwy CA1 Xela. We are planning short days through Guatemala so that (hopefully) we will have more time to see some sights that are off the highways. There is suppose to be some good hiking in the area we are heading.

February 2/06

Up early today and luckily the restaurant we had chosen for breakfast appeared to be the only one that was open at 6:30. We were on the road before 8 am.and it was quite cool. So cool in fact that we soon had to stop for warmer clothes. We started riding at about 6000 ft. and climbed to just over 10,000 ft. We were in the clouds at this elevation. The scenery and the road are both wonderful. You are in steep mountainous terrain although it is quite different that at home in BC. The mountains are treed to the top and so is the agriculture. The cultivated fields are extremely steep. It is obvious that all the work is done by hand or with oxen. Many of the fields are far too steep for machinery.

We had planned to go to a hot spa near Quezelatenango but enroute we stopped for gas and talked to a fellow who owned a BMW. He suggested two other locations so we changed our plans. We rode to the small village of Chichicatenango. It was billed as an authentic Mayan village. It was but the Mayan here have discovered that tourism pays better then farming. We learned that when someone offers you a service, ask how much it is going to cost before you accept the service. A local asked us if we wanted her to show us the local church. We accepted the offer and after a very nice but short tour we where told that we must pay 50 Quetzals.. blunt and to the point.

The best part of going to Chichicatenango was the ride there. These towns are located along narrow mountain ridges. For of those of you in Fernie… it is you are riding a road along the top of Morrisey ridge. The interesting part is getting up onto the ridge. Some turns are so sharp and steep that they are negotiated in 1^st gear because the turn is so tight and with almost full throttle because it is so steep.

From Chichicatenango we back tracked down to Panajachel on Lago de Atitlan (a collapse volcano lake) This is one of the oldest tourist area in Guatemala. Unfortunately the visibility was poor today and we could not see the active volcano on the far shore.

As we were getting moved into the hotel we met a fellow from Kelowna who was on his way back from Panama City with his wife on a BMW RT1200. We made arrangement to meet for beer. The beers turned into dinner and we had a nice evening trading travel stories. We picked up some good pointers from Dan and Bonnie. They had been on the road since October and were making their way homeward now.

February 3/06

The visibility was a little better this morning and all 3 volcanoes were visible from the lake shore. Only one of them is currently active. After breakfast we loaded up and headed for Antigua. We decided to take a minor paved road rather than the busier highway. It was good choice. The road climbed high above the lake and the views were spectacular. There was road work in progress all along this route due to the recent mud slides. Some parts of the road had been destroyed so the were a few detours as well.

As I mentioned earlier, the mountains here are treed to the top. I’m not a geologist so I don’t know much about rock formations, etc. but from observation of the mud slides and the road cuts through the hill sides that there does not appear to be much solid rock. The roads appear to be cut out of the clay bank. It is easy to see how mud slides would be prevalent in this steep terrain in times of heavy rain.

Antigua is an old but well preserved colonial city (from the Spanish colonization). A local told us that it was to be the capital but the Spaniards abandoned it and moved the capital to Guatemala City because of the number of earth quakes in this area.It appears to have survived the earth quakes quite well as most of the larger buildings and churches are reasonably well preserved. The town square with fountain and trees is very attractive. The city still has retained the coble stone streets. (They can be tricky on the bike, especially when wet.) Antigua is becoming a trendy tourist area and there are an abundance of nice hotels and restaurants. It has also developed a reputation for Spanish language instruction and there are several schools and family operated businesses that cater to those wishing to learn Spanish.

We are headed toward the El Salvador border this morning but we may spend another day in Guatemala depending on our progress. We are planning to spend an extended rest stop in Nicaragua. All is well… having a great time. Not missing the snow at all!