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Is there any getting out of Guatemala? I think maybe not. Seven of us rode out on five bikes this morning around 9am heading for El Salvador. The morning was wet and humid but that was to be expected. The trip was exciting from the start, we were aiming for a beach town in Salvador about 250km away. My GPS (working again) had us getting there for 12pm, a nice short 3 hour ride.
It’s now 8pm and I’ve just booked into a hotel in back in Guatemala city a whole 40km away from the starting point of Antigua.

This trip sure is throwing some curve balls at me lately and today was no exception. First bit of excitement was the lack of a major bridge that should have been spanning a massive fast mud flowing river. No worries we thought we’ll just go another way,  about 5 km up the other road there was another bridge missing. Third time lucky I guess, we found one up a dirt track and we were back on course in no time, that was until we got to the border and discovered another bridge out. The weather has been causing chaos and destruction to this area lately, all the rivers are flowing full force sweeping everything from there path. This time we had to detour through the mountains to another border crossing around 60km away. The roads were wet but the surface was good so we were making good time considering all the obstacles.

I was taking the lead at this stage with Andre who’s riding an African Twin following a close second. It had now stopped raining for the first time all day but the roads were still wet. Just as I rounded a corner riding at about 70kph a God dam mutt ran right out in front of me. I swerved to avoid it only to have it run out into my pathway again. This time I completely lost control of the bike. First I was skidding sideways at a 45deg angle with both wheels parallel sliding down the road to the right, then  I was back up straight before fishtailing  and now both wheels were in  line sliding to the left. I was now on lying the tank hanging on with my legs and everything was a blur. I must have been skidding for about 10 seconds but it seemed a lot longer. The next thing I knew was I was winding the throttle fully back,  It was like someone else  had reached down and taken the controls and I was just along for the ride….It was either going to speed me into a barrier or get me out of the slide..thank’s be to God the latter worked! I finally regained my heart rhythm and control of my bike. I was so lucky to be on a great bike, anything else and I would have road rash all over for sure. That was the closest I’ve ever come to crashing without coming off. I’d hate to think what would have happened if there was any traffic coming the opposite direction.

Just then I glanced in my rear view mirror just in time to see Andre mimicking my every move.  He had been riding a little too close and when I hit the brakes hard he had too as well. At one stage he looked like he might also recover but he wasn’t as lucky and ended up flying through the air leaving his bike too tumble down the road. I managed to get out of the way, turn around quickly and rush to his aid. His panniers had burst open from the impact leaving his tools and stuff were all over the place. First thing he did was to run to the aid of his bike without any concern for himself. He tried to lift his bike and the pain kicked in, only then did he realize he was hurt. His bike hasn’t faired too well I’m afraid, it ended up flipping and landing right down on the forks, completely ruining them and the front wheel. The whole back of the bike is also twisted, I’m thinking it cold be a total loss.

Within a few minutes the rest of our party arrived along with heaps of locals who seemed to have emerged from the bushes. The police were called so Andre could document the incident and would be able to make an insurance claim in the future. When they finally arrived they instructed us to go to the police station. A local guy in a pick up truck kindly stopped and offered his assistance. We managed to get the bike into the truck with the help of everybody around and take it to the police station so a report could be filled out. When we got there we were told to go to another station. Finally Andre was told if he didn’t stop bothering them he would be locked up and we had to leave without a report.

I had called my friend Juan in Guatemala city and we had arranged to meet on the outskirts about 100km away. The local guy with the pick up truck agreed to bring the bike to the city for a price and after three more hours of rain we arrived cold and soaked. Juan and Ivan brought us to a bike shop that will look after the bike and try to fix it. Andre has hurt his right shoulder and left foot but in true adventure rider spirit is planning to ride on. Just on what, yet needs to be decided.

Sorry for the lack of picture’s lately, it’s been raining so hard there’s been no point taking any.

Still here in Antigua awaiting bright dry sky’s. There have been land slides throughout the country and a lot of the roads are severely damaged. Fifty people have been killed so far in Central America and many more injured. Even though I’m thoroughly enjoying it here I can no longer sit still. I’m going to head off towards El Salvador on Tuesday morning regardless of the weather.

The Adventure must go on…..

The power and the water finally came on at 8am but it was already too late. I had already been woken up by my own smell around seven thirty and jumped in the cold pool for a wash. Yesterday was one of the hardest days rides of the trip so far. Looking back now it was also a fantastic day, last night it was hell.

There was a hurricane along with a tropical storm approaching and we were pretty worn out so we spent the day in Panajachel watching houses and business getting washed into the river and swept out into the lake. The waterfall above the town along with all the rivers were flowing with mud and debris which made for an awesome but sad sight. There was also landslides along the two roads accessing town so we couldn’t leave even if we wanted. I spent the night tripping over the feet of a local bar manageress as she attempted to teach me to salsa.

The next morning we made an attempt to escape the ring of volcanos. We battled landslide after landslide but eventually made it over the top and out to freedom. However the storm has left a lot of roads washed out and bridges swimming so I’m not sure how free we are. I’m now back in Antigua assessing the damage and planning my route.

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It was an early start for the city of Guatemala, the morning was foggy wet and uninviting. We left some hotel at 7am to tackle the road through the mountains. It must have rained pretty heavy during the night as there were land sides everywhere. The fog was so thick visibility was down to about 20 meters so it was slow going for the first two hours.
We met up with a few adventure riders from the city about 2 hours outside and had breakfast. They had been tracking us on a web site and came to welcome us to their city. Fantastic guys, Juan, Ivan and Roberto all on BMW’s themselves. They escorted us to the motorrad garage in the city. Its a fairly big place so it was real lucky we had these guys to guide us in. We dropped the bikes off to have some work done on them. I needed the seal in my final drive replaced, a new spoke in the rear wheel, my front wheel balanced and an overall service. I’ve put 19,000km on the bike since I got to the America’s, 19,000 in seven weeks, a very enjoyable 19,000 too. I also needed a rear tire, the one I wanted they didn’t have in stock so Juan drove me across town to get it, what a nice guy. They took us out for dinner and beers to a German club that night and paid for the whole think too. I hope I can repay them some day for their generosity.
Then next day I picked up my bike and rode to Antigua about 40 min away. My Australian friends are staying with local families for a while doing a Spanish course. I’m just hoping that one day I’ll wake up and be fluent. While having a coffee in a little cafe in the square of Antigua I got chatting with Emma an adventure rider and a Central and South American tour guide who lives here on her time off. She took me to a hotel nearby but they were full so I’m now sharing a house with her and three others. I was given a guided tour of the city including all the bars and now I know half the expiates’ in town. I think I’ll stay for a while.

I also got electrocuted in the shower this morning.

We left Pelenque around 8am and headed to the a tiny border town called Bethel. Clearing customs was a non issue, there was none, but somehow three out of the four of us forgot to pay some other hidden fee. We almost had to go back three hours to the nearest bank but I managed to sweet talk the lady at immigration into letting us pay there. We were now out of Mexico and heading for Guatemala. There was only one slight obstacle, the river between the two countries.
This crossing is one of the smallest between Mexico and Guatemala and is without a bridge or ferry. It’s mainly for locals and the odd backpacker. Well it’s an adventure were on and adventure we’re looking for so we decided to try and put the bikes into these tiny boats, one bike per boat. We weren’t sure if it was possible but you never know until you try. The boat owners looked a little nervous as well but they have to make a living I guess so they were willing to give it a go as well.

Just getting the bikes to the boats wasn’t an easy task so we unloaded all the gear to lighten the load as much as possible. We had 3 boats pull up together and ram there bow’s into the muddy bank. Wade went first sliding his bike down the steep bank through the mud towards the little plank resting precariously on the edge of the first boat. He slid the bike to the waters edge, cut the engine and we carefully lifted the bike on. These bikes weigh 260km so it took four of us to get it in and a few more guys to hold the boat’s steady. Once inside the bike barely fitted and looked a little out of place. We repeated this procedure until we had all three bikes wedged into three boats.
We still weren’t sure if this was going to work, the boats looked top heavy and could flip over as we left the bank. My captain was fairly nervous that he might loose his vessel when moving off the shore. I wasn’t too concerned about the boat, at least that would still float upside down, I was a bit concerned about losing my bike to the depths of this mighty river though, at least until the wake from another boat rocked us about and we knew she was steady. Off we went up stream to find some where to unload. The first spot was no good but the second looked alright.
We rammed the 3 boats nose first into the muddy banks again and proceeded to unload. Getting the bikes off was a lot harder as we had to take them off backwards and carry them up some steps so we enlisted the help of some locals who were amazed at what we were doing. The whole process took about two hours but we were finally in Guatemala.
We then had to find immigration as this is not a regular crossing. It was about 30 min away up a dirt track in the pissing rain.It was a fairly simple procedure when we got there, quick, painless and free.
The people here are fantastic and very helpful which after Mexico is welcome change. We rode to a the town of Flores to spend the night, it’s a nice little place in the middle of a lake. Not too many gringos around so all the hotels are fairly empty and cheap.

The next morning we visited the mother of all Maya ruins, Tekal. We left the bikes in Flores, took a taxi and spent four hours walking around the jungle with a guide that just didn’t shut up . He was very interesting for a while but there’s only so much info you can take in. The ruins were cool alright but I think we were more interested in the wild life in the surrounding jungle. It was full of spider and howler monkeys that kept throwing seeds at us.

The next morning we left early for Guatemala city, it was only 460 km away but we never made it. We ended up taking a dirt road through the mountains for about 50 km. The “road” quickly turned into a track that was clinging to the cliff edge in places. One slip and it’s all over and just to make it more exciting there were loose rocks all over the road. I flew into a ditch at one stage but I’d much rather that then flying off a cliff. I’ve not been on the” road of death” in Bolivia yet but after what we’ve just done I’m sure it’ll be a piece of cake. We’ve parked up in some little village for the night tired and sore, Guatemala city will have to wait until tomorrow.

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