Todos Santos Guatemala to Copan Ruins Honduras

My next target, high in the mountains village Todos Los Santos Chuchamente. I passed through the area where nearly half of the mountain gave its way.

The land slide I passed through.

Very rough terrain, as result my side luggage carrier needed some welding. I stopped in the village Chicaman and found a welding place. Jorge did an excellent job. He didn’t accept any money for his work, explaining this is the present for me from Guatemala. Thanks Jorge.

Later in the day I reached large pueblo Uspantan , suddenly my GPS stopped working. In Central America I solely relied on GPS. I had no maps except for one on my laptop. As a result, no more riding until is fixed. 

Next morning, I found negative wire between battery and GPS was broken off - easy repair. I decided to fix my mirrors at the same time. I found glass shop, they replaced both mirrors for under $4.

Some mountain scenery

Todos Santos Chuchamente known to be very traditional, most local man are wearing traditional clothing; red stripped pants and white/ blue stripped shirt. Mountain scenery was breathtaking. The weather wasn’t the best, cold with some drizzle. Finally I reached the village.

I asked these men if I can take a photo.  I didn’t want to take any chances. In this village, in year 2000, Japanese tourist made a photo of a girl and was murdered by the mob together with his driver.

Last few kilometers to the village were pretty hard with a lot of roadwork. The rain made the road very muddy and slippery. I had only road tire at the rear. I survived going down but I dreaded about going up.

I let the pressure down to 16PSI in both tires.

The movie clip going up 

The highest point after I left Todos Los Santos reached 3300m. At this altitude the temperature dropped to around 8 degree Celsius. It was raining. I had to descend to about 1900m in relatively short distance. The road was very steep and slippery. Often, I had to ride behind the trucks. I boiled brake fluid in my front and rear brakes. Suddenly, I had no brakes. Fortunately when this happened there were no any cars around and I was moving slowly. I managed to cross the road and somehow turned around so I was facing uphill.
This time ‘The Force’ was with me. Close call indeed. Uhh!!

The Movie clip

Next Qutzeltango or Xela as known to locals. Initially I planned to stay there only for one night. The next morning I looked for a place to have my breakfast. I walked into the restaurant and explained in my broken Spanish, I want scrambled eggs for breakfast. They couldn't understand me. In the end I got so frustrated I walked out and had my breakfast at McDonald....

I made a decision; I am going to sign up for one week Spanish course. Xela is famous for its Spanish language schools. Here we go, I am officially a student and hopefully by the week end I will be able to explain in Spanish how I want my eggs done for breakfast.

Today I got an email from Ted; my gear which includes my new camera is on its way to Guatemala City. In 3-4 days will be ready for collection at DHL office – great.

I met again with Victor in Antigua. I met Victor and Pauline earlier in Remate. First we rode to Guatemala City and later to DHL office. For change it was nice  to follow someone. We collected the package and returned to Antigua. 

View of Guatemala City 

Victor showed me how to save some time going through traffic in Guatemala City.

The movie clip

Antigua is the most expensive city in Guatemala. Everything seems to be priced up, very touristy but very nice place indeed.

Wow!! I have my new camera. Thanks Ted.

Main Square

Main square again

and... again main square

These are local bikes.

Local ladies doing some business.

The Cathedral

The mystery couple Victor and Pauline and I waiting for pizza. The pizza was really delicious made by resident Italian chef and the restaurant owner.

I booked a trip to Pacaya volcano. Nice trip but I must admit my expectation were to see lava. I may have to go to Hawaii for this.

Our guide spoke Spanish only. This was very good practice for me.

Th moonscape on Pacaya

Some of the lava sculptures we came across.

Am I in hell??? Maybe not just yet.

This is the closest we got to lava. These are volcano's vents. The guide put wooden stick in one of them and the stick got inflamed in seconds.

After the tour I was dropped off at the main plaza. In the morning I got picked up from the front of my hotel. Previous evening I got to the hotel following Victor. I had only very faint idea where my hotel was ?!#$

What dumb tourist does when he can’t find his hotel and can’t even remember its name? 

He walks around with this dumb lost look on his face and waits for the miracle. Finally an elderly lady stopped her car and offered to drive me around until I can recognize my hotel. To my excuse she explained; this happens all the time because streets in Antigua are very alike. Yeah right!!

Next day I left for San Pedro and Lake Atitlan. San Pedro is very popular with backpackers. It has this distinctive hippy flavor. Grass is freely available if this is your thing. Not legal in Guatemala but authority seem to not care much about it.

Coming down to San Pedro.

In the distance mountain called the Indian Head. Look closer.

View from my hotel's rooftop.

The ferry terminal. You can connect from here to several villages around the lake.

These are ferry boats

Locals fishing on the lake.

Streets are very narrow and steep.

Sunday - off duty time for these two local gentlemen.

I met Brian, an ex US army and ex Iraqi war veteran who chose San Pedro for his home. About a year ago with his wife he started a new business - bar and restaurant with the difference. As he explained to me “I have this dream.... I want to have a cultural center. You can come to my bar and have drink or alternatively you can have smoke with the difference". It was really interesting to watch from other side of the "fence" the action and the slow but steady flow of customers.

These buses are very popular in Central America, called chicken buses. They are old retired american school buses. After certain age when they don't meet USA road standards any more they are sold to several countries in Central and South America. They are beautifully repainted and used on local routes.

San Pedro has its own charm, with something to offer to everyone; nice restaurants, beautiful lake, mountains walks. This was the cheapest place in Guatemala. Maybe a place I would like to come back sometime in the future.

San Pedro was the last place I wanted to visit in Guatemala, next Honduras border and Copan Ruins, about 350km away.