Crossing into Guatemala took a while. Turns out I misplaced my receipt for the Mexican tourist visa, and the bored Señora official didn’t want to give me the passport exit stamp! Even though logic dictates that I couldn’t have entered Mexico if I hadn’t paid, she just wanted another feather in her cap for swindling me an extra 687 pesos… I tried to circumvent the process hoping the friendly guy at the Guatemala immigration office would overlook that damn stamp, but no cigar. Back to the end of the line, another 687 pesos down the drain, and I’m finally legal in Guatemala. The whole ordeal took about 4 hours, by now I’ve got only 2 hours of daylight riding, on the way I go.

My intended destination was Lake Atitlan, It’s supposed to be the most beautiful lake in the world, also the deepest in all of Central America, looking at the map, I had decided to look for a hotel in San Pedro La Laguna laying along the shore of that lake, so I stuck to that plan. I was amazed at the quality of the roads in Guatemala, but that was short lived. The day faded as soon as I left the main road, going into the mountain now and climbing a volcano, there are 3 surrounding the lake, the road became increasingly narrower and steeper, and full of potholes. No light except for the full moon, and I think I must have missed a sign for another road to San Pedro. I kept going higher and higher, nobody on that road, vegetation in the middle of my path, wet debris all over like a storm had just gone through, the worn pavement was slippery. Ominous signs announcing zona of niebla, and peligroso curva made it fun for me, yes dangerous curves in fog in the night, perfect ! All of the sudden, rain drops littered my helmet shield, are you kidding right now? I screamed still ascending that damn volcano, and just like that the rain stopped, I’m the master of the universe I was thinking in my laughing. Finally I was on the way down, I stopped to take a little video, beautiful landscape, the lake at the bottom, full moon in the sky, lights of a city somewhere far in the background, what a beautiful sight, this was the extent of my Lake Atitlan viewing. Hairpin turns in the descent but I’ve seen worse, a village appeared, cobblestone streets but not one light in the Pueblo. The electricity had been shut off, so yes indeed there had been a storm in these parts. Everyone was Indian, dressed in colorful attire, this was truly Guatemala, a couple of open air churches were in full swing, everybody singing and holding candles, I thought this to be real National Geographic material! No hotel there, and not in the next 2 other villages, I had been riding 2 hours into the night and I was really low on gas, the Empty light had been on for 25 kilometers now, I had been told there should be a gallon left when the light comes on, I was not too worried, besides I have a liter and a half gas canister stowed away in my bagage.

A hotel sign appeared, what a relief! Right on the side of the road at the end of this village, I gleefully paid 100 quetzals, no idea how much that was at the time, and of course this was the worst hotel room of the trip, no hot water, only one bedsheet and a smelly blanket, but good wifi! That’ll do. Had to take America back into town and had dinner, don’t know what I ate besides the papas a la francese, 24 quetzals, $3.00! The little Guatemalan kids were smiling at my strangeness, I smiled back, this became of contest, everybody was laughing and talking to me in strange languages, nice evening indeed .

The ride to Antigua was to be short, so I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast the next morning, it was really good, had to be, right? Cause I paid more for it than dinner the evening before. It’s ok its all good. I remarked that there were a lot of female motorcycle riders in Guatemala, and I’m not talking about mamas with a couple of kids in tow on their scooters like what we’ve seen in Mexico. No, full motorcycle regalia, small bikes though, but leather on, lots of 2 girls on bikes, good for them I thought. Of course in these developing countries, 2 wheels are everywhere, all the time. There are way more motorcycles on the road than there are cars, but they drive their small motorcycles solely for transportation, not as a hobby or sport, they use them to go shopping, to bring their kids to school, heck I’ve seen some carrying mattresses, they’re also used as moving trucks apparently. They do not wave at each other though, I flash my high beam to everyone wearing a helmet, all young riders do not wear them it seems, and I just encounter blank stares. The only riders responding in kind are always bigger bikes, a few adventure bikers going the opposite way, strangers in these strange lands happy to see they are not alone…

I came up to what looks like a very long line of cars and trucks ahead of me, stopped in the sun, every once of them silent, motors switched off, I drove for about a mile passing everyone, nobody objecting, truckers waving benignly, the road was closed. At the end of the line, or was it the beginning? A few motorcyclists, one of them informed me that they are working on clearing up the road ahead, a mountainside had come crashing down, they are going to reopen a 1pm…
Ok then, I was not going to wait an hour sitting on America in the hot sun, there was a restaurant just there, happy for them I thought. I parked in front of it, and just then, 2 beautiful BMW 1200 GS stopped by next to me. Instant adventure rider friendship, those 2 guys were from El Salvador, on the way to the Guatemalan capital for business meetings. They both spoke English but Guillermo, lets call him Willie, was the more talkative. Willie had gone to school in Texas and spoke like a native, well were all native aren’t we? They invited me inside for a beer, they were going to take advantage of this sudden halt to have lunch. And we talked and talked, Willie’s bucket list included going to Ushuaia at the bottom of the South American continent, the ultimate adventure rider destination, everyone wants to go there, me included, some day, ok my lovely wife?

Willie insisted we meet again when I’ll be in San Salvador, the capital, he’ll be back on Wednesday and serendipitously that’s when I had planned to be there. The road reopened and we parted ways after exchanging numbers. Reaching Antigua was a nice and easy ride, my hotel was comfy so I only ventured out at night to seek dinner. No billboard anywhere, perfect. Antigua is a beautiful colonial city, overran by pale faces though, damn tourists everywhere. I, like them, I love how this comma changed the whole meaning of that sentence, took photos of churches, nice old buildings, and kinda got lost looking for my way back to the hotel, the city is laid in grids and the streets all look alike!

Breakfast was served on the hotel rooftop, Antigua is surrounded by volcanoes and one of them is continuously spewing smoke and gasses in the air. I took a little video of this startling sight, the wait staff totally indifferent to this volcanic activity, I assumed it was ok to sit down and eat. I decided to relax in the morning and left the hotel at 1pm, extending check out time a bit. Crossing into El Salvador was an easy one, about an hour, I was becoming a pro at it, shooing away the « helpers » working for tips, I had all my photocopies, passport, license, registration, the works, it only takes as long as the buying a temporary import permit for America takes, and drove literally into the first Salvadorian sunset.

I stopped for the night in a coastal town, Puerto Libertad and found me a very nice gambas dinner by the sea. So far I liked very much this country. The capital is only 40 minutes away, I’m gonna be able to lay in bed the whole morning…