August 23,1997 R80G/S 27410 R100GS 18862 Since Cancun we had been hearing stories of bandidos in Guatemala. In Belize, everyone knows about the gorillas bandits. The route from San Ignacio, Belize to Flores in Guatemala is a very remote road that doesn't even appear on some maps. along this unpaved rough road is where on a regular basis, gun carrying bandits stop cars, and sometimes busses robbing everyone. in the vehicle. The bandits are shot on the spot by Guatemalan military if they get caught, so they need to be quick. Resistance to the robbers will most likely get you killed, so we're told. This not being an everyday occurrence for us, there was a bit of anxiety on this subject for us, so we often took the opportunity to ask Belizeans in San Ignacio about it. It's such a frequent occurrence, that people will casually answer, yes it happens all the time. Just don't resist, and you shouldn't have any problems. Two separate people told us of the most recent occurrence was this past Sunday. Sharon and I talked the night before. First of all, we agreed that there is no possession that we have worth resisting an armed robbery assault for. If anybody puts a gun to our head, they can have anything they ask for. Next, was limiting our losses, We're not carrying a lot of cash and travellers checks since we're relying on ATM's. However, the cash we do have is divided up into three stashes. There's an everyday stash that's in the wallet which is enough to sustain us for a couple days. This is the one we take out when we pay for everyday items, and if we were so unlucky to be pick pocketed, would be the one to go. There is a fake main stash to be yielded should an armed robber not settle for just our wallet that would carry us a week or two, and then hidden else where we keep the real money. Crossing the Belize/Guatemalan border.... We paid our PACT tax of B$7.50 each which every visitor must pay upon leaving Belize. The money is designated for preservation of the various sanctuaries. Our passports were exit stamped, and then the vehicle stamp in our passports was cancelled, and then we were done. Outside we changed some money at one of the many eager money changers outside. The rate on the Belize side was 5.7 Quetzales to the dollar. I was able to bargain a rate to 5.8. On the Guatemalan side, I found the before bargaining rate was 5.8. Later in the day, I heard the exchange rate in Guatemala city has just shot up to 6. We got rid of our excess Belizean dollars, extra 50 Mexican pesos, and changed a $100 traveller check. Rumor has it there is an ATM in Santa Elena (near Flores). Going through Guatemalan customs, the bikes received the mandatory insecticide spray on the underside which we then paid Q7.50 for the service. In immigration, we paid our Q30 entrance processing fee, and got our passports stamped. Then in the next room we showed the titles to the vehicles, and paid the Q70 processing fee. A man ran out and I believe double checked the VIN numbers, meanwhile we talked with the friendly clerks inside. It seemed odd to be in a government people processing office, and have friendly inquisitive conversation. Fortunately, there were few people crossing the border then, since the paper work took the clerk, who was working at a reasonable pace, a while to fill out. From the time we entered Belize customs to the time we left Guatemalan customs, was about 1.5 hours. We received a 90 day visa in our passport and a green vehicle sticker good for 30 days. When we where done, we went to a police officers desk who looked at our paperwork and recorded our entry and drivers license number in his book. Outside of the customs area, we took out our walkie talkies, and wired up our helmets which we had stowed away before crossing into Belize. We drank a bottle of Canada Dry ginger ale, and ate a small bag of ruffles, I asked the money changer at the border about the bandits up ahead. He said don't stop for any woman hailing us down in the road. That's a common ploy the bandits use to get people to stop. I liked hearing this much better. We can easily ignore a woman in the middle of the road hailing us down. Other people had told us that they often put blockades in the road. Contrary to some stories I had read, he said that the bandits don't wear uniforms, but rather t-shirts. We had heard that Guatemalan soldiers are posted along the road, however, armed robberies have occurred as close as 5-6 miles away from the military base. Another thing to worry about was the road conditions. This road isn't listed on some maps, and those that it is, it's listed as 168km of dirt/gravel road. Travellers and Belizeans near the border all said the road was pot holed, unpaved and awful. One guide book said the 65km to Flores would take three hours which works out to an average of 12mph. Of course, this only adds to the already high anxiety level. Bad roads make for slower driving, which make for easier bandit targets... These things were all in the back of our minds. Our spirits were artificially pumped to contain the anxieties... It helped that the Guatemalan border guards were friendly and talkative. Driving along the rural road, I waved at every Guatemalan we drove by hoping that their response would serve as a sort of barometer of the area. I figured no response, no eye contact, or a squinty stare would mean "watch your butt...". I see a person in the middle of the road way up ahead, and try to make out if it's a woman hailing us down. we get a little closer, nope, it's a guy on a bike. We go around a blind bend and I see a guy standing by the side of the road... Is that a rifle on his back? .... nope it's a machete. .... a little further... Woah, that guys got an M-16, so do those other guys... oh, but they're wearing uniforms and smiling.... Even through the robberies were frequent, averaged out over the number of people who passed, we figured we had a less than 1% chance of encountering a bandido. Fortunately, our fate followed the odds... No bandidos. While the road was not good, it was a graded gravel road, which got better the further we went. There were plenty of potholes that with the color of the road, and the sun of the day were difficult to see. The washboard surfaces were not nearly as bad as what we encountered in Mountain Pine Ridge. It would not be a good idea to cross this road after a heavy downpour, as much of it would turn to mud. In the beginning we were averaging a conservative 20-30mph, while towards the last third to El Remate (31km south of Tikal), we were driving around 45mph on a hard smooth clay. We drove conservatively, taking it easy on our overloaded luggage system, and covered the 65km in less than 1.5 hours. We stopped at Don David's, a Floridian who married Rosa, a Guatemalan, and moved down to Guatemala 25 years a go, and now runs a nice guest house. We lucked out and got their last room. By 1:00pm, we were under a grass roof palapa relaxing in hammocks sipping ice cold lime-aide as we looked over the beautiful blue Peten Itza lake feeling the cool breeze blow over us. In between and after lunch and dinner, we spent the rest of the evening talking with other travellers staying here. David brought out some large insects that he had picked up around here, and pinned in a box. Of these included a 5 inch male elephant beetle and the female counterpart, a peanut head beetle, scorpion, stick bugs, a whip spider, etc. He usually takes people out and shows them the tarantula spiders in the yard, however, he was tired after travelling today, and promised he would tomorrow evening. August 24, 1997 The thing to do around here is visit Tikal, which is among the largest and older Mayan settlements. The way to do it, so we're told, is to climb to the top of one of the temples before sun rise, so that we could see the sun rise and mist ascend off the temples below. Since sun rise around here is at 5:43 we got up at 4:20 to drive the 31km North to Tikal. We violated our rule, "never drive at night". Fortunately, the road is paved, and there's not much along the road. Other than a couple horses along side, some large rocks, and branches in the road, it wasn't too bad. We were at the entrance at 5:30am, and since the temples were at the far end of this we were worried that we weren't going to make sunrise. We climbed temple IV which is the tallest in all of the western hemisphere at 64.6 meters. At the top there was a hoard of people all talking sitting around the top steps (bottom steps are not excavated), waiting for the sun to come up and the mist to rise. *That* morning, it felt like a tourist trap. The mist was so thick for the next three hours, that nothing could be seen from temple IV. Since the view was equally bad from all sides, we sat on the other side of the temple, and made a couple PBJ sandwiches for breakfast. While we ate them, we were visited by a gray fox, which was then chased away by a cota mundi, a raccoon like creature with a long tail who then approached us for food. Meanwhile, the ants were really enjoying the peanut butter. In San Ignacio, We met some Germans who had hid from the security guards, and camped out on top of temple IV. They said they didn't get any sleep since apparently the temple is infested with scorpions at night. They said fortunately there was a full moon by which they could spot them. Tikal is in a beautiful setting in the heart of the jungle. There are giant ceiba trees, ferns, palms, vines, etc. A mist blows through that collects on the leaves and drops to the ground making it sound like rain. There was a loud groaning sound off in the distance that would scar the bejesus out of a young kid. It was the howling of a large band of black howler monkeys. As Sharon went off to find an outhouse, I watched a troop high above in the treetops howl at another troop making these ferocious monstrous sounds. When one group yielded, the troop continued it's hike through the tree tops seeming oblivious to us humans on the ground. Sharon came back saying she couldn't go since she found three large scorpions around the toilet. We came across a single rather large spider monkey, which seemed oblivious to us walking through the tree tops as well as we do on the ground. There were several wild ocellated turkeys walking around... The temples around here are incredible. While they are not very ornate, they are huge, and there are quite a few of them in a very cool jungle setting. I love the sound track here. The insects, birds and monkeys, almost all of which are not found in a North American woods, give me this feeling of being in an alien land. very cool... We climbed the pyramid in an area they call "the lost world". From it is an excellent view of several of the other temples, and the one I would recommend for a morning sunrise watch. Looking at these temples, I wonder what kind of mind bondage was used to make people spend their whole lives piling rocks. Temple IV took 30 years, and who knows how many lives were lost making it. Is this slave work done under threat of death? Or did people believe they were appeasing a god, hoping to change nature... It's an expensive price for hope. Maybe they had good labor unions, and construction workers just got paid really well... It's amazing the price people will pay for hope, or some pretend control over something that is not controllable.... the price to feel in control.. build up of religion for this We took off around around 11:00, just as it was really starting to heat up. I'd say the best reason to get up and tour Tikal at 4:30am is for the temperature rather than to see the sun rise. We spent the rest of the afternoon, resting, and talking with other travellers exchanging traveller stories. At 6:30 they offer a set dinner. After dinner when it was really dark, David took us tarantula hunting with a flashlight. It turned out to not be much of a hunt since they were everywhere in his garden. We must have spotted over a dozen without much effort. He picked one up, and let it crawl on my arm. They're amazingly soft. One woman who had some Deep woods off mosquito repellent on, tried to get the spider to crawl up her arm, but it just kept jumping off. Apparently that stuff is effective with tarantulas. We found "big mama" which is the only named tarantula here, However big mama escaped into another hole before we could catch it again. Tarantulas are very common around here. All of the ones in his garden just arrived on their own accord. He says his neighbors kill them off when they see them. During the day, I would have no idea that his rock wall was infested with so many of these huge creatures. David says, that it's very difficult to get them to bite a human. We also found a whip spider (scorpion spider). which is another large, and odd shaped spider that hunts at night. It looks a little like a scorpion. Two of it's legs look like whips which it moves around attracting night predators that sense movement for dinner. The rest of the night was spent talking with the other travellers. I had some wonderful rum which had the most interesting sensation of instantly becoming very warm on my tongue. It's was Bacardi 151 Puerto Rican Rum. The warm sensation I'm sure is due to the fact that it's 151 proof. Two British medical student had brought it and shared it with us. We contributed our bottle of Mexican tequila which we got in Cancun. We met some travellers from Melbourne Australia that were very interesting. Joanne xxxx and Adam had been travelling from San Francisco through Mexico and Guatemala for the past three months. Joanne, 30, is a chef who travels doing research for theme restaurants which she then establishes back home. One of her more successful restaurants netted her 300% return when she sold it a year after starting. Adam, who does a lot of travelling, has quite a collection of odd interesting travel stories. Among others, he told us about travels in Thailand where he was offered the chance to go parachuting with some Thai drug enforcement agents off a military plane as they carried out their raid. He was given a gibbon from some woman off the street which he carried around for a while. ----------------- August 25, 1997 While Sharon slept in, I wanted to go back to Tikal, check out the jungle scene, and work on my journal on top of some temple with a cool view. I left for Tikal at 5:30am hoping that the extra twilight would make it a little safer for driving. While I could see better, there were a lot more creatures in the road. I slowed down for over a dozen dogs lying in the road, half a dozen chickens crossing the road, 4 horses standing in the road, and two geese. The two trees were still lying in the road from yesterday, but someone had removed the large rocks. I hiked up to Group G of Tikal which is an interesting small arena surrounded by half a dozen caves or tombs all of which were unfortunately boarded and locked up. I had hoped to find a way through the jungle to Mundo Perdido (the lost world) which, as the parrot flies, is 1.75km from where I parked the motorcycle. Equipped with hiking boots, long pants, a map, two compasses, GPS, water, and food I set off. However, without a machete, I was restricted to the tiny infrequently used foot paths. I was constantly wiping spider webs off my face. I kept a good pace so the mosquitoes couldn't land and bite, and constantly looked under the foliage I passed close under so as not to have any huge bug of unknown origin falling down the back of my neck. I spotted what looked like a bot fly, and remembered the story of how they inject a parasite that has similar effects as leprosy. I saw lots of amazing plants and wished I had some sort of field guide book. There is such a wide variety of plants, insects, birds, and animal life. Comparing this to a north american woods is like comparing scuba diving in fresh water versus diving in the ocean. There are lots of cool ceiba trees, thorny vines, parasite vines, chiclette trees, not to mention all of the plants which grow in the tropics with huge green leaves often slitted. I came across the ant equivalent of Tikal... a mound approximately 10 feet by 15 feet by 1-3 feet high. Also, I encountered a group of spider monkeys descending the trees. Like an express elevator headed down, they controlled their fall by grasping flexible branches which wouldn't support their weight and would flex downward rather than break, They can use their long tail as a 5th hand since it can grasp at the end. In one place I saw one just hanging by only his tail. I forgot the name, but I saw a little creature that looks is about the size of a piglet, but I believe is closer related to a deer, and lives only in the jungle. I climbed the tall pyramid at mundo perdido, and sat for a long while watching wild life below, eating a breakfast of PBJ sandwiches. Facing North West, I had an excellent view of the temples and forest canopy below. Flying between the trees, I could see keel-billed toucans with their black bodies and red tipped yellow beaks and yellow breast. A flock (9+) multicolored mostly green parrots flew over my head several times. In Ocosingo, we had seen a flock of 30+ parrots fly overhead. They make a lot of noise while flying too. Along the West (shaded) side of the pyramid, Swarms of yellow dragon flies were buzzing the West side of the temple hunting flying insects. In addition to the numerous variety of birds singing, I heard the eerie diminishing discordant wavering whine of some unknown mass of insects, also a throbbing continuous ratchety sound that pulsates throughout the surrounding jungle and is impossible to pinpoint since it's everywhere. I believe the second one is a kind of locust. August 26, 1997 Finca Ixobel (Poptun), Mexico We got a late start, and really screwed ourselves. We left at 10:00am which is just when it begins to get hot around here. The sun comes up around 5:45am, and the temperature is pretty cool. We were wearing our protective pants, and jacket, which is tolerable at these high temperatures if we're moving fast and stay hydrated. Unfortunately, the road from Santa Elana (near Flores) to Poptun where we were headed was among the worst. From El Remate to Santa Elana is 31km of nicely paved road. We stopped in Santa Elana to get some gas from the Texaco station and Quetzales (Guatemalan cash) from an ATM. Gas here sells for 12 Quetzales per gallon for premium which is about US$2.00. They told me it's lead free, but had no idea of the octane rating. The road South from Santa Elana to Poptun we had heard was worse than the road from Belize into Guatemala. The truth is it's much worse. While there are no washboard surfaces, there are so many potholes, that it's often not possible to steer around them with the bike. In places it seems the only thing that differentiates the road from the rest of the land is that there is no grass. In some places, it feels like we're crossing a stream bed except the rocks are embedded in a hardened clay (?laterite?). In many places we averaged around 10mph. I think the easiest way to do this road would be to stand on the motorcycle foot pegs, and just open up the throttle so the bike skims over the potholes. However, the bike takes a serious beating, and we risk damaging our heavily loaded luggage. Being in a remote area of Guatemala, this isn't a good place for a breakdown. While we thought we had just passed bandit territory, David of Casa de Don David, warned us that there were numerous robberies on the road between Santa Elana and Poptun also. He said most of the highway bandits in Northern Guatemala (Belize to Santa Elena, and Santa Elana to Poptun), are from Poptun. He said it would be wise while in Poptun not to mention before hand when we will be leaving. Apparently news travels fast, and preparation for an ambush can be avoided this way. One vehicle of note we saw along this trip was a mayonnaise truck who in addition to driver had a guard up front in the cab with a shotgun prominently displayed. I guess mayonnaise is in high demand.... Along the way, again I waved to people as we passed using their reaction as sort of barometer. So far, just about everyone in Central America replies with a wave, smile or head nod. Occasionally in rural areas, I'll get a dull return look with mouth open as if they've been subject to too much inbreeding. Around the North side of Poptun, all woman and children would wave back, but only about one out of two men would wave or even acknowledge our existence. ... not a good sign. We only had four drops of the bikes today. None of which were serious. Sharon had stopped before descending what looked like a scary erosion rutted hill. She was in a difficult spot where she couldn't firmly plant her feet, and lost balance of the bike. Meanwhile I had pulled up along side of her, and like dominoes, our two bikes fell over. Because of the hill, it was much more difficult to pick up. We were able to upright the R100GS, but couldn't get the R80 up due to the incline. Fortunately a Guatemalan driving by hopped out of his van to give us a hand. The three of us were able to upright the bike. In another place, Sharon had asked me to take her bike across a scary looking bridge. Tired, hot and with bad footing, I hopped on the bike, and promptly lost balance and dropped it. The last time was when we were pulling into Finca Ixobel ranch where we would stay the night. A dumb or blind bull which seemed oblivious to it's surrounding crossed into Sharon's path forcing her to turn into a muddy rut where the tires then slipped and the bike fell over. She was probably going 5mph at the time. The bull took notice when the bike fell over, and scampered off. Times like these, I wish I had a pellet gun mounted to the front of the bike. Fortunately, Sharon got off with just a minor bruise near the ankle. As we approached Poptun, it began to rain. After a long frustrating day, and being only about 5km away from the end, it started to pour. In my mind I was cursing obscenities at Chac, the local Mayan rain god. So close to the end and in the pouring rain, we slowly traversed the bad now muddy road around the long Poptun air strip which they put perpendicular right in the middle of the path of the road. Finca Ixobel is a large ranch turned guest house where many people stay. We rented a tree house bungalow off in the woods for the night and parked our bikes underneath. Our bungalow has a nice front porch, and inside a bed that was suspended in the air from the ceiling by four ropes. I asked our host why the bed is suspended, to which she said it was a Belizean thing. They have a wonderful buffet dinner of which we heaped on the food. We had a chicken cooked in a spicy broth, spiced rice, broccoli with a spiced cheese sauce, fresh made whole wheat bread with a touch of rye, and best of all was a dense quiche that had a wonderful crust and was loaded with fresh basil and sun dried tomatoes piled on top. With this we drank a bottle of Concho Y Toro 1996 Reserve Cab/Merlot from Chile. While this was wonderful with the quiche, it wasn't as good as the 1995 we had in Ocosingo. For desert we had a lemon meringue pie that had about three inches of delicious meringue. We also had a large slice of chocolate cake. We managed to down a 1.5 liter bottle of water with meal as well since we were still dehydrated from our drive in. August 27,28 1997 Finca Ixobel (Poptun), Guatemala I figured out why our bed is suspended in the air by four ropes. Our tree house was not put together by someone trained in carpentry which gives our bungalow a lot of character. It's about as effective at keeping out bugs as making a boat from a sieve. The slanted corrugated galvanized steel roof sits about a foot above the top of the wall where chicken wire has been installed to keep the larger creatures out. The bed being suspended limits the number of creepy crawlies that get too cozy in the middle of the night. A mosquito net is a must. After Sharon killed off 50+ tiny red ants in our bed, we tucked in the sides of the mosquito net and slept well, free of little pests. I woke up this morning only to find our small garbage can in the bungalow swarming with large black ants. Any movement, and the ants would disappear through the slits in the floor. Fortunately, Sharon's paranoia of finding the flashlight and shining it on the floor before she put her foot down in the dark, rubbed off and I did the same. Had I not done the same, I would have stepped in a large black ant highway to the garbage can. The other accommodations are a little nicer. We happened to luck into the last and least desirable of the tree house bungalows. Are other choices were to hang a hammock in one of the grass covered palapas with stick siding, or pitch a tent. The showers are outdoor, and have excellent scenery. There are three of them built each on a cement slab with a surrounding 5.5 foot fence such that one can see over and take in the surrounding views. It feels strange taking a shower in the afternoon when it's raining. The sink is a plastic bowl attached to the side of a tree. In the tree is a mounted mirror from off the side of a pickup truck. The ranch is a nice out door sort of place where people come just to hang out for a few days. There are a couple caves and ponds that people trek out to. However, we just hung out rested, did laundry, and did some writing. The premises are patrolled by beautiful multi- colored large red parrots (scarlet macaws). 4-5+ fly around here, and usually hang out around covered outdoor dining areas. They waddle through the doors, and sometimes walk into the kitchen to grab a banana. They are well adapted to humans. It's possible to put ones face within 6 inches of them. However, any closer and one risks a nipped nose. We talked to a Canadian/American couple, David and Gina, who have been living in El Salvador for the past two years doing Peace core type work. However, they differentiated themselves from the peace core saying the peace core pulled out during the civil war while their organization stayed there and because of this retained the trust of the people. We asked them if we should travel through El Salvador since we had heard rumors that there might be problems. While they said they didn't know of any problems, they pointed out that El Salvador, which is smaller than Belize has 6 million people (Belize has 200k). It's over populated, and has more driving related accidents of any country in Central America. There is no indigenous population left, and there are no ruins to speak of. However, they said because of these points, there are no tourists, or tourist type accommodations, which I guess could be considered a bonus if one is looking to avoid touristy things. I asked them how they help people, and what they do there. They said their presence helps more than anything. On a daily basis he has meetings with people in the town, and talks about gardening, or helping farmers plan. They said a 4th grade education is considered pretty high in El Salvador. Kids are taken out of school when they get old enough to help out. The unfortunate side effect is that some people don't know basic skills like how to multiply and find difficult some real world word problems like, If your chickens produce about 6 eggs each month, how many will you have in 10 months. Regarding birth control... It's non-existent. Condoms are free from health centers, however this is a waste since no man would wear one in this machismo culture. With woman, the pill doesn't work since it has to be taken the same time every day. The importance of timely regularity is not a familiar concept in this culture. The main produce in El Salvador is coffee and sugar and textile manufacturing. However, since it's overpopulated, there really isn't enough land for everyone to work. Unemployment is at around 60%. The largest portion of the GNP apparently comes from El Salvadorians working in the US and sending back money. They said a whole new occupational field has developed in transporting money and goods flying back and forth to the United States. El Salvadorans working abroad sending back money apparently accounts for over a billion dollars into the country which is a large part of the GNP according to David and Gina. They said,a change in US immigration laws for El Salvadorians in the US could cause total collapse of the El Salvadorian economy. We also met a German couple who took great interest in our bikes. Lara was a veterinarian who two years ago had ridden a Kawasaki 650 from Los Angeles to Honduras in a little over three weeks. Sharon and Lara traded similar stories of riding anxieties. Her husband, who I've forgotten his name, was motorcycle enthusiast who knew a great deal about BMW's. We met a Dutch woman now in her mid 20's, had been travelling through South America these past 9 months, and was headed North. We traded stories, and asked her about what was ahead. Her favorite country was Colombia and then Ecuador. She said the Colombian people are very friendly and a lot of fun, which is something other travellers had told us. Dinner tonight was spaghetti with either a spicy meat sauce or a pesto sauce, and garlic bread of which we had both. We had another Concho y Toro 1996 Reserve Cab/Merlot. The more I have this 96, the more I wonder if I really enjoyed the '95 as much as I thought I did. The '96 makes a good table wine, but not much more. Both Sharon and I remember the '95 we had in Ocosingo, as being an excellent value. August 29, 1997 R80G/S 27679 R100GS 18998 Sanarate, Guatemala We were on the ?road? leaving Finca Ixobel by 8:00am Even though I got up at 5:00am, and Sharon around 6:00am, We still can't manage to get going very early. According to our map, we had 60km of more bad unpaved road. Remembering Don David's advice about not telling people when we're leaving the Poptun area, we didn't let on we were leaving until we paid our bill 5 minutes before we left. Even then, we didn't mention which direction we were headed. The road seemed slightly better than before since we were able to average between 15 to 20 mph. The road winds through beautiful green sharp hill views which are difficult to look at while concentrating on the road. 13km South of Finca, we were on a new asphalt road. We had heard that they had been paving this dirt road, but didn't know they had made it this far. The contrast was extreme. Unlike the nice asphalt roads of Belize which use rough large gravel, this stuff was a smooth as cement. The bike felt like it was riding on a cushion of air after having just driving ridden 175km of rough dirt/gravel road. I had gotten use to the pounding, vibrations, bike rattling, and tire noise as they popped over the rocks, that the instantaneous absence of these sounds was a little startling. The road continued to wind through the beautiful green hills on this smooth road which has shoulders. Sharon said to me on the communicator that She hadn't enjoyed riding so much in several months. The paved road continued to be in good shape the entire way. We had planned on making Quirigua our stopping point for the day... However that was when we thought the dirt road was much longer. We were there by 11:30, and since we were in the lowlands now, it was getting really hot. We decided to make Salama up in the mountains near the Quetzal Sanctuary to be our destination for the day. We missed our turn and didn't find out until much later that we long past it, and half way to Guatemala City. It started to rain, turning the scenic drive through mountains into a dangerous dismal one. We changed our plans and decided to find a hotel on the outskirts of Guatemala city. There had been traffic for the past 200km, however since it was always moving at a nice pace along the flat straight road, it wasn't a problem. A large number of the vehicles are fuel trucks labeled in bright red letters "INFLAMABLE" (English: flammable). This appears to be a major gas/oil shipping route from the East coast to Guatemala city. As we start get close to Guatemala city, the rain stops, the traffic picks up, and the drivers become much more aggressive. Like in Mexico, people madly pass around blind curves through the mountains with on coming traffic potentially coming at 60mph. Unlike in most of Mexico though, these roads have shoulders which give room for double passing around blind curves. One guy will enter the lane of oncoming traffic to pass someone only to be himself passed by someone who has entered the shoulder for on coming traffic. When a vehicle suddenly appears around the blind corner, the three lanes usually collapse instantaneously into one lane accommodating this insane gesture with a lot of swerving, but rarely (I guess) with anyone going over the cliff. This isn't limited to sporty cars, but rather fuel trucks and school busses do this to. Occasionally people can't get out of the oncoming traffic lane, and they end up swerving into the shoulder. We did see two separate accidents that looked like they had encountered head on collisions today. After 400km of driving, and about 15km outside of the center of Guatemala city we stopped at a gas station and asked about hotel and restaurant. The gas attendant pointed to a little outdoor eatery shack across the street next to the junk yard. Realizing we were looking for something slightly more grand, he said there were some about 5km down the road. We were tired, and Sharon wasn't digging this crazy traffic where even the truck drivers in gas trucks pretend like they are driving Ferrari's. She rested at the eatery shack while I went looking for a hotel. About 5km down the road I came across a mall with a Burger King, and a Dominoes Pizza, however no hotel. I stopped in another gas station and asked several times confirming with more than one person that there are no hotels around here, and that they are all around the city center which was about 10km further. I headed in that direction. The traffic was barely crawling which given that it was 4:00pm on a Friday afternoon in a city with a population of 2+ million, this is normal. I looked down at the temperature gauge on the bike and read 300 degrees which is well into the red zone, and was still climbing. The air cooled BMW's require air to pass over the heads and cooling fins in order for the engine to stay cool. I would surely have an engine meltdown before I reached the city center, which at this pace, would likely be in a couple of hours. I turned around and headed back to Sharon, not seeing a single hotel along the way. I told her the bad news of which the waitress had told her the same. We decided we would head back the way we came and take the first hotel we came across even if it was one of the rent-by-the-hour auto motels. The first one was an auto motel. I asked the clerk who sits outside, how much for a room. He thought for a moment, and then rather than ask me how many hours we wanted it for, he asked "for the night?" I said "yes". "60 Quetzales", he said. It was a bit high, considering what we had just been paying, but I asked to see the room anyway. Other than the filth and stink of the carpet (despite the door being open), the things of note were the 1 foot high by six foot wide cracked mirrors that were at bed level along the wall. I looked in the bathroom, and saw a contraption on the shower head that looked about as safe as an electric chair in the rain. The shower had a galvanized pipe coming out of the wall with some kind of thick metal cylindrical device where the shower head should be. Screwed onto this cylindrical device were two kinked thick (12AWG) solid copper core insulated wires. Of course, the copper was hand stripped bare where it screw fastened onto the shower head device. Also, the wire running towards the wall weren't quite long enough, so they were bare twist joined to another wire halfway from the shower head to the wall. I can't imagine anyone beyond a 4th grade education stepping foot into this home made shower water heater without first snipping the wires, and stealing all the fuses in the hotel. We found the bounds of our hotel desperation, and decided to move on. It was getting dark, and I was contemplating pitching a tent in someone's yard. We back tracked another 45km to the town of Sanarate without seeing a single hotel. This tiny town has two hotels, Hotel Las Vegas, and Hotel Viajare. Hotel Las Vegas keeps the doors closed and locked, through which I talked to the guard. I could see posted on the wall the price for a night stay would be 38 Quetzales ($6.30). He called down the Senora who I then asked if she had a room. Before answering, she carefully looked me over foot to head, and asked, "Are you Canadian?". Hair wildly matted, wearing muddy black over pants, and with a black diesel exhaust sooted nose that showed the outline of my sunglasses, I said, "No, I'm from Chicago." She showed me a very basic room. I told her I have two motorcycles, and asked if she had parking. After several reiterations of not fully understanding what she said, I gathered she was saying they have an area to park in, but that she offers no responsibility for what might happen to the vehicles. No hotel had ever taken responsibility for the bikes, but also none had made such a point of denying responsibility. I asked to see the parking lot. She sent her guard with me to show me the area. While it would keep people from stealing the vehicles in one piece, it didn't look like it would keep people out. We keep a lot of stuff locked in our bikes at night. It would be pretty easy to bend the aluminum boxes open with a crowbar. We stayed at Hotel Viajare which was equally basic, but allowed us to park our motorcycles in someone's locked hacienda about four blocks away. For 60Q ($10), we got two twin size beds, in a tiny room with ceiling fan and a bathroom. Sharon turned on the spigot and after a pause as air whistled forth from the spigot, a cannon explosion of water hit the sink basin rebounding and spraying her mid region. Her feet got wet as she found out that the drain for the sink leaked so bad that we could only turn on the faucet for small quick explosions or else, the floor under our beds would soon become a puddle. Sore, and totally exhausted after riding for 10 hours, I laid down on my twin bed. The mattress was new and very comfortable. After about a half hour, I noticed my arm and ankle which had been near where the flat sheet didn't completely cover the mattress was itchy with little red bumps. Looking closely, I found little flea size bugs crawling around. After searching and killing about ten of these little suckers, I gave up. Sharon and I checked her twin bed, which appeared to be bug free. We slept together on her twin. Fortunately since we were so exhausted, the cramped space didn't interfere much with our sleep. I didn't notice any bugs, but the next morning as I'm writing this, all of my skin feels unusually itchy. Starting around 4:00am, I hear freely blasting air horns from busses announcing their arrival as they slowly pass through the town. Hearing, "shave and a hair cut... two bits" on an air horn at 5:00 in the morning I can imagine a reply of two shotgun blasts. August 30 , 1997 Sanarate, Mexico Sharon was feeling ill with a mild fever, and stayed in bed until around noon. She didn't have any other signs, so we assumed it may be from exhaustion. I had been up since 6:00am, and did some work on the journal. Our plan had been to make a day trip up into the Quetzal sanctuary and try our luck at spotting one of these elusive Mayan godlike birds. However, since neither of us were feeling very energetic having still had the affects from the long day before, we were both content at blowing off the 240km day trip. The guide books said that it's not a good place to go with only the intent of seeing the birds since, the chances of a sighting were pretty slim. Tomorrow is Sunday, on which at the crack of dawn we figure will be the best time of the week to attempt to go through Guatemala city traffic. It'll take us 45 minutes to get there from Sanarate, and the chances of us not getting lost down a side street is probably pretty low. Like all cities in Mexico, the only way past a city is through it. Bypass highways are a foreign concept. Our true destination is Antigua, an old town dating back to the early 16th century. I went foraging for food in this tiny little town, and came back with two bottle of lemon-lime (Lift) soda, vanilla rice wafers, and a bag of potato chips which is just what Sharon had asked for. Walking around, I didn't see a restaurant that served breakfast, or a place where I could pick up some bananas. This is really a dinky town. In the afternoon, we went in search of a different restaurant from the one we had eaten the night before. While the other one only served fried chicken and french fries, this one had the same menu plus fried fish fillet. Being a long drive from the ocean, we opted for the fried chicken and french fries again, and a bottle of Gallo the local beer that seems to be more into marketing than even Anheiser-Busch. Guatemalan men in this town often wear the white cowboy hats that are common in rural Mexico. Different from Mexico however, they often carry fancy stud decorated machete cases to hold their machetes. Many wear cowboy boots, and some wear giant shiny belt buckles. In Mexico, people carrying machetes look like they've been or are going to work in the field. Here, I think they are carried as a weapon/protection, since it's obvious that some of these well dressed people are not planning to go hiking through the jungle with their family. midevil cowboys.... ---- Dave Thompson http://sdg.ncsa.uiuc.edu/~mag/Thompson Net-Tamer V 1.09 Palm Top - Registered