Trip to the Jade Factory

We made it through hump day at school. Only two more to go. Actually we are learning alot but damn, its hard.

The tour through the jade factory would have been more informative if the tour guide spoke in English. Obviously, we still have a long way to go with our comprehension of Spanish.

The one thing we did understand is that the Mayan people would inlay jade into their teeth. No one knows exactly why but it had to be extremely painful. There were no high speed drills then and only their medicinal herbs for pain. There were a few skulls there with the jade in the teeth.

In the museum there were also photos and small examples of how the streets are blanketed with colored sawdust at Easter time. You would swear the streets were covered with a huge colorful carpet. Someone said the elaborate picture made of colored sawdust is laid the morning of, the procession in the afternoon and it's cleaned up that same day.

We walked around central square afterward. Alot of people studying and lounging about. Not as many tourists as we had expected but we know from checking last year that Antigua is packed during the Easter holidays.

Visit to Harley-Davidson Guatemala

After another tough morning in school we hired a van and driver to take us to the HD store in Guatemala City. Good thing we did because our driver got lost so there is no way we would have found it on our own.

We met the owners, Peter and Mike. They were very helpful with maps and directions. They showed us an alternate and more scenic route to Honduras bypassing Guatemala city and the highway construction. Todd got his HD t-shirt and we are looking forward to riding with Peter, Mike and his group down to the rally in Nicaragua in just a few weeks. Note: Mike broke his arm riding his pedal bike not his Harley.

Our first day in Spanish school

It's been a long time since either of us studied grammar. Our first day of school was a long one yet we were only there from 8 am till noon. We wondered how we were going to make it through the next 4 days. The school was once someone's residence and our one on one classes were held outdoors in the backyard. The afternoon's activity was salsa lessons and they were held on one of two roof tops of the residence. The view from the roof top was of 3 volcanos that surround Antigua. Two of these volcanos are currently active.

Later, we walked around town. The chicken buses here are in much better shape and much more colorful than in Mexico.

Lago De Atitlan to Antigua

Our bikes really needed a wash after riding through all the construction. The guys found a car wash and gave them a quick splash.

So we didn't have to back track, the English speaking young man at the internet place told us about a "back" road that runs lakeside to our next destination. He said it was paved, narrow and had a couple of elbow turns. He wasn't kidding but its a ride none of us will forget for a long time. It fact when we were done, we all wanted to turn around and do it again.

It was Sunday and the market in Patzicia was packed. We were gratelful of the Toyota in front making its way through the crowd. Not sure how long it would have taken us to get through on our own. Everyone sure took a second and third look at the three of us riding through town. We drew quite a crowd at the gas station at the top of the hill.

The same young man told us that Chimaltenago had a Burger King. We figured it might be our last shot at fast food. There were two armed guards in the Burger King parking lot. They directed us to a stall. The parking lot was empty yet they put the 3 of us in one stall. We didn't argue.

Next were the cobblestone streets of Antigua. Don led us to the school he found last year, but they moved and did not inform him. We got directions but there are no street signs to be found. You have to count blocks and there are many one way streets. We finally parked the bikes and Don and Wayne went looking for the school on foot. We were only a few blocks away.

The school had a room for us and we signed up for 5 days of Spanish lessons.

Quezaltenango to Panajachel on Lago De Atitlan

Last night we enjoyed great food and a few too many rums (we were composing a song with the word Quezaltenango in it) the four of us laughed so hard we had tears in our eyes.

Maria gave us directions out of town and warned us about the upcoming construction. We got lost but figured it out. Not too many extra kms. What we neglected to ask Maria, was how many kms of construction there was. For us, too many. Dust, bolders, gravel and slow moving trucks. Just when we thought we were through the roads would be a mess again. Once this is finished it will be a fantastic road.

The landscape was rolling with defined crops on the hills. Many people working in the fields and along the road with their vegetables.

The first view of Lago Atitlan with its volcanos is beautiful. We stopped by a snack stand and the kids were trying to sell us their little dolls and other souveniers. Todd started handing out candy and before you knew we were out. Time to move on.

Rode into main street Panajachel looking for a hotel. The street was narrow with vendors on both sides. We spotted a brightly colored hotel with a nice balcony. Pulled in and the rooms were really nice with secure parking for our bikes. It was only $40 per night. Went for a walk to the lake. We bought some peanuts from a elderly woman on the street. We pretty much ate the whole bag. Within 30 minutes, both Diane and Don were sick. Don't buy the sugar coated ones. Todd and Wayne were fine because they ate the salted ones. Todd and Wayne went for a greasy pizza supper. Diane and Don were out of commission.

More photos from Quezaltenango

Tapachula to Quezaltenango, Guatemala

Up early today for the border crossing into Guatemala, plus our "time" at the hotel/motel was up.

We asked a local guy standing at the fork of the road which way to go. He said right and before you knew it he was riding his motorcycle right beside us. He kept pointing to his shirt and saying in perfect English that he worked at the border crossing and could help us . We have crossed other borders and had locals help us for a small tip so we were not concerned about this guy. Boy, were we wrong. We made the worst mistake you can when in Mexico. You have to ask "how much" before and we didn't. This bandito saw us coming and got us good. The cost for the permit was only $40 plus some photocopying and he charged us $150 each bike. When we started to question him, he all of a sudden could not speak English. He became defensive and we thought we better suck it up and pay to get out of there. We have since heard this happens to other tourists and if you try to get across on your own it can take several hours and might even cause you to stay overnight at the border which is not a good place to be. At this point you have left Mexico and have not yet entered Guatemala so you are in no man's land. This bandito led us out of town to the proper highway and gave us directions to Quezaltenango and had the nerve to ask for a tip for his services. Again, what do you do. We each gave him around $10 and got the hell out of there. We will be smarter next time and negotiate the price ahead of time.

The roads to Quezaltenango are paved but rough with potholes. Not much for scenery but we were still stinging from our experience at the border.

Stopped at a gas station in Quezaltenango hoping to find directions to a nice hotel when a man riding a BMW bike stopped and offered his help. He said he could take us to a nice, cheap hotel with security for the bikes. We followed him downtown near the central square. From the outside this hotel did not look like anything we would check out but inside it was a typical colonial hotel with old tile and hardwood floors in our rooms. We met the owner and his daughter. The hotel is now 3rd generation with the 4th in training. The father has ridden his BMW bikes as far north as Alaska and south to Argentina. He rode until he was 85. His bikes were on display in the hotel. Maria and her family were very helpful and treated us like family.

We walked to the town square and met David. He watched us drink cervezas and wanted to shine our shoes but Wayne already had his done and Todd and Don had sneakers on. Diane had David shinedher sandals for 5 quezals, which is less than $1. David said he was hungry so we went to McDonalds (in the square) and bought him a big Mac combo. He sat on the floor near us and inhaled the food. We worked out a deal with him to follow us back to our hotel where he could shine 3 pairs of boots and Don's chaps. He sat outside the hotel in the entrance and worked hard shining our boots. They looked like new when he was finished. We paid him and tipped him well. Maria said that he probably has to turn the money over to his mother. We found out he did not have a father. We were glad that we had bought him something to eat. You could tell that David was grateful. He thanked us and went on his way.

Supper in the hotel was served to us by women dressed in traditional Guatemalan clothes. The ladies are quite short and looked so cute in their colorful clothes. We really enjoyed our stay at the Hotel Modelo and hearing about the history of the hotel from Maria and her family.

Puerto Arista to Tapachula

It was hard to leave such a beautiful place as Puerto Arista but we had miles to make. There was a military check point before the main highway and these guys were not fooling around. They checked everything, even felt under the seat, tapped side panels and looked in every nook and cranny. Kind of makes you wonder about Pto. Arista. We continued on through beautiful countryside.

The border crossing in Tapachula is not very well marked. We actually rode right past the customs office. It is on the other side of the highway. Turning in our Mexican visa and permit was no problem.

Found a hotel/motel on the city ring road. Doug, who we met in Barra De Navidad told us about these hotels. He stays in them all the time because of the security for his bike. Very large, nice rooms with garages and they rent by the hour. We decided to check it out. $250 pesos ($25) for 8 hours. We got the night for $500 pesos. Don and Wayne's room was cheaper because they didn't have a garage. King size bed, swinging hammock in the room and a special communications system to order food, drink and whatever you want. There is a special window where these items are delivered. We watched a car pull right into the garage, the door was closed immediately and they communicated through intercom. No one would even know who was in there. We didn't know the system and kept walking to the office for cervezas. The girls in the office didn't like that and would bring the beer to our window and told us to use the telephone. Place was really quiet and we actually felt like we should be whispering. We have seen these hotels on the outskirts of all cities in Mexico.

Puerto Arista - Day Two

We liked it so much here we stayed an extra day. Guys played in the waves and we had to have more shrimp.

Salina Cruz to Puerto Arista

We were not able to find a tourism office in Salina Cruz so decided to hit the road and hope to find somewhere to stay along the ocean. Along the way there was an electric plant fuelled by huge windmills.

Not knowing if these places off the main highway had hotels, we stopped for a cold drink and drew quite a crowd of people getting off a local bus.

Soon, a man (Sebastian) approached us and said he could speak English and did we need help. He recommended a place toward the ocean but we needed gas first. While we were filling up, Sebastian and Graciella showed up and told us about Puerto Arista. They decided to go there as well and we could follow them. We arrived at a beautiful, secluded bay where local people go for the weekends and holidays. There was no one there except of course a couple from Ontario. It looked like many homes on the beach were abandoned and we wondered why. Appeared to be some damage and maybe a big storm came through some time ago and people cannot afford to do the necessary repairs. It's an unspoiled town.

We had many cervezas, tequila and shrimp in the beachfront restaurant. The sunset was beautiful. We are grateful to Sebastian and Graciella for showing us this gem.

Puerto Escondido to Salina Cruz

The four of us headed out for Bahias de Huatulco. We had heard it was supposed to be the next Cancun. There is alot of development going on here and we met a couple from B.C. at a Century 21 office. All land currently ready for development is sold with more land coming available. This will definately be a tourist destination. Not our bag.

Left for Salina Cruz. Area has salt farms, a refinery and oil storage tanks right on the ocean. We thought there would be places to stay along the coast but we ended up in this industrial city. Hotel in downtown was OK but not what we had hoped for. Too late to continue on so we stayed put.

Acapulco to Puerto Escondido

After a well needed rest in Acapulco our destination was Punta Maldonado but when we got to the turn off we still had plenty of daylight and energy to ride.

A bit later we came around a corner and spotted two motorcycles parked at a road side restaurant. We pulled over excited to see other motorcyclists. To this point we had not seen any other than a BMW going the other way.

We met Don and Wayne, both from B.C. We were all headed the same direction and planned to hook up in Puerto Escondido.

Along the way our spring for the kick stand was giving us problems again. Good thing we have a bungy cord. It's not pretty but it works. Two local cars stopped to see if we needed help which was nice.

Found Don and Wayne as soon as we arrived in Puerto Escondido. The Best Western hotel was $225 per night. We went on a hunt for something cheaper and found a really nice place with a Moroccan style to it. ($125/night).

While we were enjoying the sunset and a cerveza, a man approached us asking if we could help him unload his motorcycle from the back of a pick up. We learned that Jerry had been riding behind us and met a vehicle on a sharp left hand turn. They clipped each other and Jerry ended up in the ditch. He was OK and his bike was slightly damaged. Jerry is from Chicago and just started his around the world motorcycle trip. Jerry had friends in Mexico City and plans to go there to get his bike checked out. The five of us spent the evening swapping stories. We hope everything works out and Jerry continues on his trip.