Guatemala is not for the timid!
Visited San Christobal at night - it is nice - definitely popular with young europeans; you can tell when a bus or mini-collectivo rolls into town because there will be pods of under-dressed backpackers (the kind with back-packs not roll-aboards) scurrying about looking for shelter.
I lied, its 2300 m or 7200 ft up and it gets cold (and lively) at night.
Left for the frontier about 10 AM and immediately hit weather, high cross winds and light rain on twisty mountain roads. Had to bundle up, then dropped into the valley and baked - arrived at the border and checked out of Mexico painlessly (thankfully I did it by the book!) Then I headed south into Guatemala - only the road just ends, nada, it gradually turns into a maze of stands, stalls and confusion. I just did my best to follow the biggest, loudest truck - and then he stopped to chat. When I asked for directions people would just laugh or walk away. Finally a cab meandered up, looked, laughed, and waved me to follow - he honked and reved and led me around stalls to a bit of blacktop and pointed - I gave him about 5 bongo bucks in coins.
The Guatemala side was different - there is a reason no one crosses here. When I pulled up they sprayed the bike with a chemical fungicide (or something) and then demanded payment - fine - only he won't accept pesos; he explains that this is Guatemala, he is an official, and will only accept their bongos - I do the math, add twenty pesos (2 dollars) in pesos and he rolls - stamps my form. Then I go to passport control - its easy - then I go to customs (to import the vehicle) and they've gone to lunch, for an hour+. Me and the only other car wait & wait then get handed over to Moe and Larry, who later give us a hand-full of forms and point us to Curly behind door number 3 (complete with an armed guard where we each part with about $4 in Quetzales which we had to go get from a money changer on the street - then its back to Moe who needs the form I got when I properly left Mexican customs - otherwise its go-back through the maze time...
That behind me I set GPS for Lago de Atitlan (advise from Harry, thanks) and headed into beautiful rain forested mountains where it promptly, rained. No worries - I've got the right gear (thanks Rick and Phil). And then, at altitude, it gets foggy and then rainy and cold, and then the road goes to hell, and the drivers here are ruthless, crazed zombie bastards with a grudge! Got forced off the road until I figured out that passing on blind curves in the mountains (and its all mountains) is an accepted practice. Did I mention that their topes (speed-bumps) out-do Mexicos and they don't feel obligated to mark them in any manner - too sweet.
So I'm now racing through the pea soup fog blindly passing on curves (because I'm cold and want to get there and GPS thinks its close - except GPS doesn't have good Guatemala data - and then I hit road construction - only they don't do such a good job of providing a temporary place to drive - but that doesn't slow anyone down too much - until a big rig jack-knifes about 10 cars in front of me and it closes the muddy, wet, rainy non-highway in both directions. Reminder, I'm on a motorcycle and at this point the adventure is becoming trying. Someone runs to get a big tractor/grader while the drivers argue, shout and point. I see an opening - there's a 3 foot gap and I'll fit - so I take it and plow 15 miles down the mountain in the rutted mud while traffic goes crazy in the uphill slog.
Today I used ever on and off-road skill I've got. They're going to slaughter the BMW-boy.
Finally pulled into town about an hour after dark and someone pointed me in the direction of the zona hoteles (I would have stopped earlier only I hadn't seen a place since leaving mexico). Found a good place on the second try and now Moto is resting quietly in the foyer and I used all their hot water. Saw a kid dump his bike in town on the slick streets - glad I outfitter Moto industrially.
Like I said: Guatemala is not for the timid!
But now that I'm warm and have seen the lake: a Good Day,
Nick
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