62. HONDURAS – Lago de Yojoa

I admit, I do get in to a stinking mood sometimes, not often but I do. Just grumpy, tired not up for things certainly not up for challenges. And this was one of those days. We knew it was going to be a long day. We knew we needed to change the cash at the border, we needed to stop at a bigger town to hunt for the inflator part we didn’t find in El Salvador, and I knew it will be a good old bumpy ride for the second half of the day.

We arrived at a bigger town, Santa Rosa. A good old, sweaty commercial town. Always a good bet finding parts. And it was. First shop we walked into had it. So that was done, but needed some fruit and veg so visited the local busy market. Then we were heading south for about 10 km to our turn off.

This was a dirt road. but not just a dirt road, this area was a cloud forest area (without the forest, I mean once it must’ve been but now it is deforested and agricultured) Still cloudy though, moist and rainy most of the time. Actually, as deforestation goes, it was very pretty.

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This was towards the end of the day and towards the end of my tolerance of a perfectly normal day yet seemed so hard to me for some reason. The road was very bumpy, steep and winding and on top of all super slippery, plus as being the end of the day, people and animals walking along and across the road. Now when a 9 tonne vehicle starts slipping sideways and downward my concerns rise up to the roof. I was holding my breath for minutes without realising it. John was handling everything absolutely brilliantly. He is a pretty confident driver on slippery roads, plus I think, secretly he even enjoys it. Unlike me. People, not aware of our ice-skating manoeuvres, wouldn’t move so I got extra nervous up to a point when I just cried out loud “STOP!!, I want to stop. Now!”

Just 20 meters round the corner was a turn off to a small community, Communidad Cacao. We pulled up there and asked the first house for permission. It was fine. Of course, it always is. Again, very friendly people. Within 10 minutes we had the whole village around Burt. We were chatting to them for a while and felt very welcome. Had a lovely peaceful night.

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The next morning we thanked the family for their kindness and we were moving on. We noticed that just 50 meters from where we turned off last night the road became pretty dry and passable with no problem, beside I was myself again so err… happy travels all around.

Stopping for lunch

Stopping for lunch

It took a few hours to get to the lake where we heard of a couple of places to stay quite near one another. A brewery and a Farm-hotel-complex (They call it Finca Hotels which is a working farm with accommodation or camping and facilities) We decided to stay at this second place but, surely pop in to the brewery for a sharpener before we park up.

The brewery was really cute and seemed well run though we could’ve not fitted in with Burt even if we wanted to. They had a few homemade beers. They weren’t good but it was fun to be here and have some homemade stuff, even though it was cloudy and sweet. Plus we bumped in to the same couple of couples we met in Copán 2 days ago. Tried a few beers, chatted a little then it was time for us to head to our camp.

As soon as we arrived we noticed it is, again a touristy, expensive place with no personality or friendliness. It was quite pricey but at this point there was no other choice so we decided to go for it just for one night and leave tomorrow morning (even though we were keen to park up somewhere for a few days after a few weeks of moving-on’s and kind of hoped this was going to be a good place) Anyhow after a sloppy welcome at the reception we parked up on a grassy area next to the restaurant, hunted for electricity and water ourselves and had an early night. We woke to a microphone test at 6.30 in the morning! (which involved playing full blast classical-pop of Vivaldi, The Four Seasons) then full buses of people arrived to start some kind of a party at 7.30AM. This was kind of weird but we were packing up anyway and without finding out what the party was about we left Finca Las Victorias behind us and headed to the Caribbean side of Honduras.

We knew about a German guy who runs a beach hotel and welcomes overland travellers with full facilities. On the map it looked 2 days drive away, again through cross country roads but we didn’t mind.

Next. Casa Alemania, Trujillo

61. HONDURAS – Copán

John and I crossed the border at San Ignacio with no problem, all went smoothly so it only took 2 hours. We headed up north to Copán near the Guatemalan border.

The paved road was in a much worse condition and it was more winding than thought so it took over 5 hours to get there before dark. We found our place to park up for the night, opposite the Copán archaeological site and only a few minutes walk to Copán the town. After the long day, we felt like treating ourselves with a few beers and pizza in town.

The next day we visited the site which was great and it was very nice to see one more ancient Mayan city before we leave this area and there will be no more. On the site there was also a Mayan medicine trail which we really enjoyed walking through as the finish of our few hours visit here.

 

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Sort of needed to hurry up as we wanted to get to a hot spring in the hills and it was apparently through a difficult road + needed to do some shopping for essentials.

Eventually we got to this hot spring/natural spa only to find that it was a tourist trap and it would’ve cost us a fortune to stay there for the night (on their dirt car park), besides it was run down and the welcome had a hint of “can’t be bothered” attitude. The price would’ve been 800 lempira ($40). This was slightly frustrating, we were very much looking forward to soak in hot spring water. But you see the problem with these tourist traps is that they have a hugely unreasonable set price, they not up for negotiating and above all, we find them unfriendly, fed up with tourists. So it would be wrong to support these places. Actually -never let a lie get in the way of a true story; they did drop the price by 50 lempira (so it would’ve been 750lmp) but that way we were only allowed to use their horrible dirty pool in the back garden, instead of the further 3 or 4 natural pools in the hill side with a view.

This was very disappointing and now we didn’t know where to go, it was getting late and it was another hour or so drive back on this unpleasant road to Copán. No choice so we started driving back then in about a 100 meters from the “Trap” we saw a private land next to the river with a few houses and a swimming pool (which we guessed was hot water pool as this area is full of them) So I asked John to stop and I jumped out to ask the owner of the land if it would OK to park up. He was happy to have us and showed us where we could park up comfortably. This was right between the pool and the cold water river and he invited us to use the pool -that was fed by the hot spring water from the top of the hill as much as we wanted. We offered to pay for the camp and he was happy to take 100 lempiras.

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It was actually such a nice experience. This patch of land next to river had a few cars parked as well. We found out that the cars belonged to the workers of the coffee farm up the hill. They drive to here in the mornings leave their cars and walk over the bridge and up the hill for the day. We were about to cook dinner and open a couple of cool beers when they were getting back down the hill at the end of their day. They were so surprised to see Burt and us. Very curious, they gathered around the vehicle and peeking in the doorway. Particularly one lady was so fascinated by us. Me sitting at the doorway, Johnny cooking but peering over my shoulder, we offered her and the young men gathering around her beer and had small-talks -as much as my Spanish let us, but in situations like this understanding one another is no problem. One guys spoke a couple of words of English and was so happy to say these words and get a response from us. They were so friendly and nice. Then the horses arrived from the hills with the day’s harvest and they got the sacks of their back, loaded the couple of pickups and left. Johnny and I decided to have a plunge in the hot spring after dinner. It was dark by then and just as we got our swimming suits on and hopped out of Burt we (couldn’t see but) heard that someone just jumped into the water. Feeling a bit shy, we were there already so went ahead. It was the wife of our host, who was also a coffee farm worker and was having her daily bath. It was dark, so couldn’t see well, but she must’ve been in her early 50’s. A very nice lady who, despite the darkness, the two strangers, the language barrier and despite the fact that she was naked she was so happy to chat to us. For her all this was just natural and part of everyday life, and somehow these two skinny aliens are in her pool I thought she might feel awkward or intimidated but she couldn’t be more relaxed and friendlier.

In the morning we asked our host if it was OK to promote his place for other travellers. He was very happy for that. Now this place is worth driving up here.

We left shortly after breakfast. First headed to the border (Guatemalan) to change the 1700 quetzales -which is the Guatemalan currency, we found tucked in to one of Johnny’s trainers the other day. At the border there are plenty of money-changers and we got a reasonable rate which was good. Then we had to drive through Copán again then back on the road we came on a couple of days ago. We bumped into 2 couples overland travellers from Switzerland and Germany and after a quick chat we headed in to the Midlands, cross-country to get to the big lake, Lago Yojoa.

Next Lago de Yojoa.

60. EL SALVADOR – Northern El Salvador

I (and the lonely planet) calls Chalatenango area Northern El Salvador, though I got confused the directions here -I always felt East was North and so on. Anyhow, after the balmy cool temperature, we spent a sticky, hot, sweaty afternoon in a big town hunting for a part (our inflator thingybob broke so needed a new one soonish) -which we didn’t find at the end of the day, though for Johnny’s biggest joy we found a horn! We were planning to get a horn with a proper sound, as oppose to the original goat’s squeak we have, as it is a “currency” for travelling in South America. Apparently you gotta match the sound to the size of your vehicle so the opposite traffic knows what to expect round the corner.

Being towards the end of the day, with the Dutchies and with our new horn (still in the box) we were now hunting for a place to stay. After trying a nice looking, public swimming pool/ water park -we didn’t fit, we ended up on a dusty, dirt flat next to a petrol station. It was still hot, hot, hot. And it didn’t cool down throughout the night so we were eager to move on as soon as possible in the morning as we knew where we are going is, again in the mountains and it will be a lot cooler.

After a whole day drive in the windy, uppy-downy roads we still weren’t at the place we were aiming so stopped at a mountain village’s large grassy patch over looking to a breathtaking scenery with hills and mountains. It was a lot cooler and very very windy.

The next day we had only a few hours drive ahead of us so we left early. The road was even more winding and steep but when the pine trees appeared I knew it would be gorgeous and cool up there. We arrived in Montaňona in the early afternoon hours.

Montaňona is the very last little community in the Northern El Salvadorian mountains (before you’re practically in Honduras) tucked away in a rugged, wild pine forest. It also have history of the civil war and has a few things to offer. With a few hours hike in the forest, you can get to see an underground hospital (well, a carved two rooms cave that was more like an emergency operating room) and a guerrilla radio station, antenna and such. The hike itself is very nice, just to enjoy the smell of the pine and the view but the interesting tatus were bonus. We got a guide, Cezar Alas (!) to take us around.

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The village is very small and modest. We had no problem to park up on the football pitch where we had a constant stream of visitors, kids checking us out. It was really nice and Erica and I had small chats with the kids.

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We stayed 2 nights here and decided to move on. The Dutchies needed work on their brake pads so left on Saturday in the hope to find a workshop to solve the problem.

Arrived to the capital of this area, Chalatenango at around midday and found a mechanic to help Erica and Michel meanwhile John and I went to hunt for water to fill up and change the oil in Burt.

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Both jobs took several hours but we were done on time to get going on towards our final destination before the border crossing tomorrow.

We got ourselves a beautiful spot by the huge lake (Lago Suchitlan) for the night. Though we didn’t know about the millions of morning bugs yet. The view was wonderful and Dunya loved the water.

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The next day we headed to La Palma a few km from the Honduran border. There was a small hotel with wifi and facilities where we parked up. Erica needed to catch up with writing and they planned to stay for a couple of days, and we were keen to move on and cross the border the next day. So we had our last supper together with the Dutchies -at least till we see them again.

The following morning Johnny and I packed up, said our “see you later’s” to Erica, Michel and Dunya, and headed to the border.

Next, Honduras

59. EL SALVADOR – Morazán

After leaving the dusty, hot beach we headed north to the Morazán area. There were a couple of communities we were interested to visit, besides the supposedly cool climate attracted all of us.

Morazán is the hilly, north-eastern corner of El Salvador and is known for being the area where the former FMLN guerrilla headquarter was based during the time of the brutal El Salvadorian civil war. There was the most northern town, Perquín that had a post-war museum and guerrilla camps, and El Mozote that had displays of remembrance. John did the research and we all were up for the visit.

We arrived to Perquín in the late afternoon hours and found a small, family-run hotel where we could park up, tightly with both vehicles. The following day we visited the museum and a reconstructed camp which was fascinating. At the museum we had an ex-guerrilla guide and with Erica’s translation we understood more about the war and post-war situation. The museum was small but had enough pictures, documents, histories of those who died, anti-war posters, display of the old equipments, weapons and vehicles to remind the visitor about the war and its struggles. I think all four of us were fascinated by it all and I certainly was very pleased to visit this part of the country.

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El Salvador, wrongly has a reputation of being dangerous but we only experienced the opposite. Where ever we went and who ever we came across with was friendly and helpful. In Guatemala we came across other travellers and they were planning to miss out El Salvador completely because they heard it was not safe, or some who were planning to spend the necessary 2-3 days only and scoot through it. It is a pity. There are so much more to this country.  El Salvador certainly has a different vibe from Mexico, or Guatemala. I could sense that the civil war made an impact on the infrastructure and the people. No one wants it to happen another revolution ever again so the government tries to live up to its pledge ever since and the people appreciate it and take care what they have now. Even we, as foreign travellers had more respect here than in the countries before.

We spent a couple of nights in Perquín at this little hotel. It had high speed wifi (which become a quite valuable thing, as we haven’t found wifi since in El Salvador) So we caught up with emails, skype and the blog and decided to move on the third day morning but stay in the area.

Hotel de Don Manuel Perquin January 2014

Hotel de Don Manuel
Perquin
January 2014

John read about another town, El Mozote that had a history of a devastating event in December 1981. Government soldiers marched in to this town on 11th of December in ’81 and executed everyone one in the village. Today El Mozote has displays, bright paintings on the walls, there’s a plaque with name who had died back then. We thought we could stay in the area somewhere in the wild and visit the town.

10 minutes after we left the hotel we bumped into a very lovely little coffee farm (finca) that welcomed visitors to stay, and it was about 5km from El Mozote. They had a little cafe on site, a couple of swimming pools and a trailhead leading down to a valley to a river and a waterfall. It could have not been more perfect, and with Erica’s negotiating skills we only paid half price to stay.

The following  day the boys, John and Michel walked in to El Mozote and back which took the whole day. Erica and I stayed back at “home” and did some long-waiting domestic duties.

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This was a very nice place to stay but we decided to actually move on, as there were many boondocking (wild camping) opportunities in this rugged and beautiful area.  The following day we packed up and off we went to find a good spot by the river -Río Sapo.

Which we did. A remote, gorgeous spot, parked on large black rocks right by the river. A few people who were, at the end of the day driving back from a swim in the river, stopped and chatted to us, saying that we choose a very fine spot for camping and to enjoy ourselves. It was a lovely night with full moon and, still with cool temperature.

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The following morning after Dunya had enough of swimming in the fresh cold water, we packed up and headed back south to the midland just to head back up to northern area of the country to visit some remote places before we say goodbye to El Salvador.

Next, Northern El Salvador

58. EL SALVADOR – El Salvadorian beaches

After crossing in to El Salvador in the north we meant to stay there in a nearby National Park but as it was still quite early in the day (besides we heard that dogs aren’t allowed in the park) we all decided to head down to the Pacific side and enjoy the beach for a few days. (We really liked the black sandy beach in Guatemala a week or so ago)

After a long afternoon drive we arrived at El Zonte, one of the most recommended surfing spot. This part of the coastline is hilly and the road winding above the beach opening up some gorgeous views of the beach below. (slightly reminded me of Big Sur) So when we arrived at El Zonte the boys parked up by the side of the road and Erica and I walked down the small street to the actual beach-village to see where and how we could fit. Despite El Zonte had a groovy atmosphere and some nice looking cabana/backpackers places it seemed very crowded but above all too tight for us.

We moved on but only in a few km’s we found a wide enough dirt road leading down to the beach. This was another small village with nothing much but a few houses and restaurants with locals. This road ended into a large pond that seemed as though it was created by the high tight through the decades. there was a narrow footpath that leads through to the sandy beach. John and Erica walked down the small beach surrounded by high cliffs where were a couple of little fish restaurants and a couple of wooden huts with hammocks.

While waiting at the vehicles people walked up to us and offering to stay at their property for some fee. It was quickly getting dark and I was getting nervous about just driving up on to the beach. To me, it looked complicated and risky besides, by this point we were surrounded by whole bunch of onlookers which, for me, it’s always more stressful.

When John and Erica came back they thought we could drive through the pond on to the sand and stay there. A local man came up to us, Thomas who, we found out owns one of the restaurants and the wooden huts down the beach and invited us to stay in front of his place.

The boys discussed technicalities how to drive through the pond and through the sandy bit to the restaurant without getting stuck and off went Panda first. It looked all effortless and no problem (as always with their 6x wheels and light weight) then John drove Burt in to the pond and pushed through on the sand to the spot. We nearly got stuck but again, let some air out and that did the trick.

Crossing over to the beach near El Zonte January 2014

Crossing over to the beach
near El Zonte
January 2014

Within a short time we had a prime spot on this lovely beach and could relax with a few cold beer and ceviche at Thomas’ restaurant.

Campsite near El Zonte January 2014

Campsite
near El Zonte
January 2014

I have learnt something; if we were just the two of us (John and I) there is no way I would’ve let us drive on to the beach under these circumstances. I would’ve gotten in to a fit and made us park up on the dirt parking lot between those rundown buildings, and John would’ve been very upset with me and not talk to me for two days. Instead, I was amazed by Erica’s confidence in Michel and Panda, plus how she was very friendly with our host, Thomas. Everything actually was effortless and fun for the whole village to watch us. So it was happiness all around. Johnny really enjoyed the challenge of the parking us and I admit I have to show my trust and respect for John -who is undoubtedly the best driver of a 12 ton truck with the size what we have and his instinct never lie in a situation like this.

We had a wonderful two days here. Dunya was getting better too and enjoying the water. There were enough breeze to have good night sleep and Thomas made sure we are OK.

Campsite at Thomas' place near El Zonte January 2014

Campsite at Thomas’ place
near El Zonte
January 2014

Back to the land near El Zonte January 2014

Back to the land
near El Zonte
January 2014

On the third day morning we moved on and decided to stay on the coastline but much further and have a few more days by the beach with a different scenery.  Besides the Dutchies were thinking to visit a vet just to check up on Dunya -though thankfully she was doing better and better each day, and we needed a new vehicle battery! It blown off the morning we crossed the border and we are starting Burt from the leisure batteries (which is OK for a few times but for too long)

There were a few towns marked on the way and as always Johnny had his good feeling about finding batteries. Of course these are truck butteries, which with luck you can find in odd shops but we also have a size restriction due to one of many silly battery-box design our engineer did back in England. Anyhow a couple of hours stops and search with Erica’s interpretation we found the right size batteries in a busy town by a busy road and John and Michel were on the case to change it. Just when 3 overland traveller vehicles pulled up next to us. We had a quick chat then they were off. Within minutes there was another overlander form Switzerland. Suddenly it felt super hectic. But the batteries were swapped, dog was fed and had some drinks and we were ready to move on.

New batteries

New batteries

We arrived to this beach which was at the most southern part of the coastline near the Honduran border to find that the spot we thought we could park up was full of all the overlanders we met today and some we met in Antigua! It was great to see many people together but it seemed far to crowed for us , besides due to the overhanging top of the entrance gate we wouldn’t fit. Though Panda would have fit through, the Dutchies decided to come with us.

Just a few meter down the road was the end and a large gate lead down to an open beach. We asked permission from the next door restaurant and we were in. Well for $5/night but still it was spacious, we had a palapa between Panda and Burt and we had the whole beach.

Campsite near El Cuco January 2014

Campsite
near El Cuco
January 2014

near El Cuco January 2014

near El Cuco
January 2014

The first night/day was nice, we chilled out, went to say hello to the fellow travellers etc then the second night was so hot and airless and we woke to a penetrated smell of rubbish burning. John suggested to move on to the mountains, which isn’t that far but we have a chance for fresh and cool air besides this is the area that is very important of El Salvador’s history and we could visit the museum and the area to learn more.

It is great that the Dutchies were up for the sudden plan-change and with no problem and after we packed up, filled up with water we headed north to the mountains.

Next Morazán…

57. BORDER CROSSING – to El Salvador

This post about the border crossing isn’t the usual tech detailed info but rather our point of view and experience of getting in to El Salvador with a right hand drive vehicle.

We left early morning to head to Anguiatú the border crossing from Guatemala to El Salvador. We have a RHD vehicle and we knew this could be a problem but we prepared ourselves and were willing to give it a try.

As we were approaching to the border we found hundreds of commercial trucks waiting in line in the right lane. (that was it for the “quiet” border crossing town) We overtook them and headed straight to the gates.

There, after making the necessary copies of the necessary documents we were let through to the Guatemalan border gate where, first we got our exit stamps in to our passports then got our temporary import paper cancelled.

Through the bridge and we were at the El Salvadorian side.

We parked together with the Dutchies, put our sun-blind up to cover the steering wheel and off we went to sort out our passports first. Once that was done, the last thing we had to do was get the vehicle importation papers.

At Aduana (custom) we had a friendly officer first making the necessary photocopies of the handed-in passports and vehicle papers then hand-filled a form asking all the details of our vehicle. (VIN number, motor number, motor capacity, colour, wheels, year of make and so on). He handed back the original papers except the vehicle owner’s passport. Then he did the same of Panda (the Dutchies’ vehicle)

After this paperwork, he came out of the office and physically checked  every single item on his hand-written document against the vehicles’ specifications. Opened up the engine, counted the wheels, looked inside the living-box and finally, we held our breath when he asked to open the cab door to see the steering wheel. He looked inside without a word, noted down the info then moved on to the next bit. All these were done on Panda as well.

After both vehicles were checked, he got back in to the office and typed everything in to the computer. He got a colleague to help and she was doing Panda’s details while our guy did Burt’s.

When all these were done, they printed the document, stamped it, signed it, put a sticker on it, get it sign by a higher ranked officer, made a couple of copies and handed them back with the owner’s passport and we were done. He wished us good travels and off we went.

Though this was done, there was one more point to get through after leaving the office. A couple of kilometers there was a checkpoint where they checked the printed document (original) against the actual VIN number at the driving side and we were let through.

Despite the hundreds of trucks the whole border crossing process took 2.5 hours and there weren’t really many people.

We learned that from 6th January 2014 there will be a $18 custom fee crossing to El Salvador as oppose to no fee at all. We crossed on the 5th of January 2014. Perhaps that explained the many trucks.

We were relieved that we got through the border and be in El Salvador. We guessed we might’ve been lucky with a trainee or beginner officer who might’ve not known the RHD rule…

But here we are in El Salvador with an official, authorized temporary importation paper and we will make the most of it.

Next the El Salvadorian beach…

56. GUATEMALA – from Laguna Chicabal to the border with Antigua in the middle.

We spent 2 days at the volcano, Laguna Chicabal as it was really nice. Even that we heard that 120 visitors (boys church camp) is coming for the second day. But we didn’t mind. The first morning we walked up to the pretty Chicabal lake.

Laguna Chicabal December 2013

Laguna Chicabal
December 2013

The lake, in the crater of the volcano, is considered sacred for the Mayans and they still come up to do ceremonies and leave offerings. It has a peaceful atmosphere that gravitates you there and invites you to stay still and just be. We walked up both mornings and left our offerings, chocolate and tobacco..

Offerings at the lake Laguna Chicabal December 2013

Offerings at the lake
Laguna Chicabal
December 2013

One of the reasons to stay one more night was that we knew we’re about to get down from the high elevation and head to the beach where it will be hot so wanted to enjoy the cool temperature for a little longer.

On our leaving morning we packed up and headed to Tecojate a little fishing village Pierre recommended as a good place to enjoy a quite beach. The town isn’t really pretty but its friendly people helped us to find a peaceful spot on the beach outside of town.

Beach boondocking near Tecojate December 2013

Beach boondocking
near Tecojate
December 2013

near Tecojate December 2013

near Tecojate
December 2013

The Dutchies has a six-wheel drive, light vehicle so it was a piece of cake for them to drive through the soft (and black!) sand. We, as we learnt before, had to let our tires down which took a short while but did the trick. Once parked up, we made ourselves a social corner with the camping chairs and table which was just ready for sunset, which coincidentally happens to be beer o’clock too. We spent 3 nights here and we probable spent a little more time but Dunya wasn’t getting better, in fact she seemed very low and perhaps had a fever and Erica and Michel were keen to visit a vet. We decided to leave on the 4th day morning and head to Antigua where we planned to spend the last few days of this year.

Inflating tires after the sand December 2013

Inflating tires after the sand
December 2013

There’s only one convenient place to camp in Antigua which the parking lot of the tourist police and  is right in the middle of town. Here we met lot of travellers who some of the we knew from the PanAmericana 2013 facebook group so it was very nice to meet them and the ones who aren’t on the group.

Antigua in my opinion isn’t that mind blowing though it was perfect for conveniences, visit a vet, have wifi and spend New Year’s Eve. There was nothing really outstanding we did here but spent more than usual on eating out’s so we prepared ourselves for the border-crossing to El Salvador and  were ready to leave once the festive time was over.

El Salvador has a legal restriction policy about RHD vehicles. We did some research on this with not much luck as everywhere we hit our heads again and again in to the same wall; No RHD vehicles in El Salvador. We were very keen to visit the country and John was prepared to give it a try. Actually the problem isn’t not-getting in to El Salvador, it’s the leaving Guatemala as we have to hand in the Guatemalan temporary importation paper that they cancel and if we happen to have to return to Guatemala we couldn’t. Apparently we would need to spend 3 months out of the country in order to get a new temp. imp. paper for the vehicle. In this light I was slightly un-easy but John seemed quite confidant for the crossing and the Dutchies were happy to come with us.

We choose Anguiatú the least visited border crossing (where Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador meet) and headed that way.

Once we  left Antigua we took the most direct but mostly dirt road towards East. We had a night at a very beautiful area in the mountains by a small church where we were welcome by the friendly locals and had another night by a volcano about 40km from the border.

Next, border crossing to El Salvador…

55. GUATEMALA -Meeting the Dutchies in San Marcos, Lake Atitlan

After we left Todos Santos we were heading to Quetzaltenango, a colonial town that was also recommended for its good Spanish schools. We found the town quite nice and relaxed, also found several schools though no parking -especially not for weeks opportunities.

We wanted to spend the night at a hot waterfall not far from town. It was getting late so we had to press on to get to the waterfall before dark. The drive was very pretty with colourful vegetable patches all the way in the hillside, well as deforestation goes. We got to the waterfall in the dark to find out that for parking overnight would cost a fortune. We tried to negotiate the price as we didn’t needed anything just simply park up but the guy didn’t have any sympathy for us and for the fact that it was already pretty late and dark and we had no other options. We left. On the way down the hill we found a patch of land, just enough space for Burt by the side of the road so we tucked ourselves in there and had an early and quiet night.

The next day we decided to head to Lake Atitlan. I found out that the Holland couple was in San Marcos la Laguna, one of the small towns around the lake so we thought we could try that town first. It also has a reputation of being quite a relaxed place with several yoga, meditation and other holistic classes, plus as there are enough gringos live here and nearby the little grocery shops has quite a good range of health food supply too.

The road from Quetzaltenango to the mountains of the lake was super fast, 2 lanes highway, then a paved winding road through the mountains to get to the lake. First we got in to San Pablo where we had to drive through small streets then it was San Marcos.

We arrived here quite early in the day so we had a chance to walk about and familiar ourselves with the small town. We were hoping we would spot the Dutchies’ vehicle which is an awesome conversion of an old Volvo ambulance vehicle that would be hard to miss. We were up and down on the streets and the only old dirt road that leads you out of town on the other side but no luck. Then we found a internet cafe and had several back and forth emails with them but kept missing each other and somehow the description of their campground wasn’t enough to locate them. Time was running at this point and we needed to stay somewhere so asked the police office if we could park up for the night on the main square which was fine. Once parked up we found a nice little restaurant with free wifi and we got online contact with the Dutchies. Within half an hour they were there at the restaurant. It was great to meet them and we found out about the lovely place they’re staying and that they already asked the owner if we could park up there too. That night we just stayed where we were but planned to drive up tomorrow morning.

The Dutchies (aka dutchiesgoglobal.com) are a fun, young couple of Erica, Michel and their lovable old dog Dunya, the sweetest Rottweiler you ever meet, driving their lovely old converted Volvo truck, Panda. During our dinner and few drinks at the first night we found out that we have a lot of in common, a very similar story and we are indeed very like-minded in our travelling styles. John and I decided it would be nice to park up where they are, for a while and maybe continue the trip with their company.

The following day we met Pierre the owner of Pasaj Cap, the beautiful place where the Dutchies already spent an enjoyable few days and agreed that we can park up here too.

I fell in love with this place at first sight. We got a grassy spot between an avocado tree and some coffee plants with a spectacular view of the lake and its three volcanoes right in front of us. Pierre has a very huge terrace-style property with a few stylish apartment for rent, his own beautiful house with his partner and three dogs, has his own private dock on the lake, citrus, mango, avocado trees and coffee plants, not to mention the fact that Pierre, being a true French man, has a good taste in food and wine too, and he had some superb quality beef, seafood and wine for sale!! It was paradise with and extra touch of wifi.

San Marcos la Laguna December 2013

San Marcos la Laguna
December 2013

We decided to stay here for Christmas (a couple of weeks time) and leave in the first days of the New Year. It was the perfect place to let our hair down, relax and really feel home.

Lake Atitlan from San Pedro December 2013

Lake Atitlan from San Pedro
December 2013

We had a wonderful couple of first weeks. We visited some of the lake towns on foot, then with the boats, Erica and I found a yoga class right in front of Pasaj Cap on the hill, and every other morning we had 2-2.5 hours fantastic yoga sessions. I signed up for Spanish for a week. John could catch up with hundreds of long-forgotten emails, sort a few things on Burt, with family and friends. We cooked together with the Dutchies or went out for a dinner together. We had movie nights and enjoyed lots of (reasonably) good wine. It was great.

Erica, aka half of the Dutchies. San Marcos la Laguna December 2013

Erica, aka half of the Dutchies.
San Marcos la Laguna
December 2013

Michel with Dunya San Marcos la Laguna December 2013

Michel with Dunya
San Marcos la Laguna
December 2013

Sadly an incident occurred with the dogs just a day before Christmas and the Dutchies were asked to leave. As we already had planes for Christmas they agreed to leave on Boxing Day. John and I thought about it and as much as we loved Pasaj Cap and Pierre we decided to move on with the Dutchies too.

Suddenly we were having our last couple of days cutting our yoga sessions short, did last minute shopping, stock up with the good meat from Pierre and had an improvised Christmas Eve dinner at a Japanese restaurant with sushi!

On Boxing Day morning we were packing up when we heard that Pierre told Erica and Michel that they could stay if they wanted. Of course it was nice and we were tempting but somehow we felt that the decision was made, we knew where we’re going next and I think Erica and Michel was happy to change the scenery for Dunya. We were ready.

Shopping trip Quetzaltenango December 2013

Shopping trip
Quetzaltenango
December 2013

We said our good bye’s and left shortly after breakfast for a volcano and its high elevation laguna back up north, near Quetzaltenango. We did some more grocery shopping, filled up with fuel on the way and arrived at the volcano in the late afternoon. There was a grassy football ground at 2600 meters just a few hundred meters from the top where we could park up for a small fee. The change of scenery and a temperature was very nice.

Camp at Laguna Chicabal December 2013

Camp at Laguna Chicabal
December 2013

Laguna Chicabal December 2013

Laguna Chicabal
December 2013

 

We were very happy to have travelling companions and I had a feeling that with our new friends there are more adventures ahead of us, and I’m looking forward to them.

Next, Antigua and to the border…

54. GUATEMALA -Nebaj and Todos Santos

We’ve been planning to take another Spanish lesson in Guatemala. The guide books recommend Antigua as the “ultimate” place for the classes but we weren’t sure at this point if we wanted to go to Antigua or at least staying for a Spanish-class-length of time there.

After some research John found writings on a couple of remote villages in the north highlands where next to some activities Spanish class was an option too.  John is very keen on visiting more authentic, indigenous villages so we decided to take our next stop to Nebaj.

Nebaj is small village in a valley of a the untouched Cuchumatanes mountains with locals keeping the ancient way of living life. Women are still wearing traditional clothes with striking colours. It is a small modest looking town with a church on the main square and a reasonably large market.

We arrived early in the day, parked up at the side of the road and walked in to the centre where there was a local gathering of some sort and the couple bigger streets that lead to the main square had waves of red-skirted woman rushing up to the centre for the beginning of whatever was about to start. We enjoyed looking the arrivals for a while then went to find the Spanish school building to see what our options are.

Nebaj December 2013

Nebaj
December 2013

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Nebaj
December 2013

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Nebaj
December 2013

P1130656 P1130672

After asking around for a bit we finally arrived to the school. They did have places for us -whenever we would want to start the course but couldn’t really help us with camping in Burt and a good place to park up for a couple of weeks. At this point it dawned on us that this could may be a problem. However the manager of the school offered to park up at his house which was in the next village. So we came away with some thoughts.

It was getting late in the day so, regardless for the upcoming time, we had to find a place to stay for this night. The outskirt of the village we found a hotel where we could park up for a small fee.

Shalom Hotel Nebaj December 2013

Shalom Hotel
Nebaj
December 2013

The next day we were still hesitating to make a decision on the school and the offer of the campsite in the next village so just to take our time, we hired a guide and went for a hike for the day.

We had an elderly guide who spoke some Spanish but mainly spoke his Mayan language but with pointing and the little Spanish I understood we could make small conversations.

Hiking in Nebaj December 2013

Hiking in Nebaj
December 2013

At lunchtime we arrived in a very small and very remote village and we were invited for snacks and hot drinks which were prepared and cooked on open fire in the adobe hut while chickens, dog, cats and a pig were coming in and out. The hot drinks was basically roasted, grounds corn cooked in hot water and the snack was a hard-skinned with thorns, dark green, pear-shaped vegetable that was steamed for many hours then the skin needed to be pilled off and munch the flesh of it. They simply tasted like boiled potatoes and we were desperately looking around for butter and salt.  Then we got more sugary burnt corn drinks. Then it was time to move on.

Nebaj December 2013

Nebaj
December 2013

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Nebaj December 2013

Nebaj
December 2013

Nebaj December 2013

Nebaj
December 2013

Nebaj December 2013

Nebaj
December 2013

From here on it was only downhill for a couple of hours, arriving to a town and from there catch a bus back to Nebaj. All together it took the whole day, despite for our snack we were very hungry and very tired by the time we got back but it was well worth it.

We found out that the Spanish school building is actually also a cafe/restaurant with wifi and a quite nice atmosphere. We had a few beers and dinner here and walked back to our hotel spot.

This was our second night with late night football next door, quite literally 6 meters from us, and it went on till 10.30-11PM. By the sound of it, when I asked about this in the hotel, it seemed that there are no evenings really when they don’t play football. So that wasn’t very promising for early and quiet nights. Though we stayed one more day and night to see if we can find a place to park for weeks nearby for the school. Somewhere and sometime in the day we decided to move on to the next town Todos Santos with better luck of the combination of camping and learning Spanish in a school.

It was a day drive through towns, mountain roads then more towns then more winding roads. We thought, according to the description of the town that it will be dirt roads but for our biggest surprise the road was paved all the way. The drive was lovely and there was a point when it did feel we were in Scotland. It was late afternoon when we arrived to Todos Santos.

Its real name is Todos Santos Cuchumatan and it is high up, over 3000 meter in the raged mountains of the Guatemalan northern highlands. It is also a town and area where only indigenous people live under slightly more advanced circumstances than Nebaj. This town felt masculine as oppose to Nebaj but I think it was because in Nebaj the women stood out with their gorgeous dresses, and here quite the opposite. The men, small or big, in Todos Santos wear the exact same outfit; striking red and white stripy trousers and white and blue shirt with embroidered large collars. The fabrics seemed very similar to denim which made it practical in this climate. Being there in December it was quite chilly. The mornings started with thick fog that couldn’t disappear throughout the day which created a spooky atmosphere for the sunset and evenings.

Todos Santos December 2013

Todos Santos
December 2013

Todos Santos December 2013

Todos Santos
December 2013

Todos Santos December 2013

Todos Santos
December 2013

We found a large parking lot on a dirt, grassy field right in town. We found out it was private, but saw a couple of trucks parked up here so we made drove in and our nest for the night. Within half an hour the owner was there so we could settle with a small fee for the parking with him.

Todos Santos December 2013

Todos Santos
December 2013

The next morning we woke to a 3C (37F) temperature so had to take our woollies out. Then we were on a hunt for the Spanish school. In the meantime visited the small market and got the essentials, found an internet cafe and called Mother for her birthday. We found the school but also found out that it doesn’t functional anymore -or at least not in the winter season.  We got a name of a teacher and a rough direction to her home. We found her home but no luck so we continued up the hill  till the road ran out and we found ourselves in the woods which wasn’t just very pretty but we were out of the clouds and the view from above was spectacular. On our way back we discussed our options, how long want to stay etc.

Todos Santos December 2013

Todos Santos
December 2013

By this point we got in touch with another overland traveller couple from Holland and we got an email from them that they are in Guatemala now as well -in Cobán and will be heading to Lake Atitlan in a few days. As much as I appreciated John’s efforts to find an authentic places to stay and learn Spanish, and I really do, and also as much as I found these places fascinating and was very pleased that we visited Nebaj and Todos Santos I started to feel isolated and … well lonely. Not only these 4-5 days but for weeks, perhaps months. We have been travelling exactly for one year now in our style; slowly, taking our time, enjoying places and people then move on when we want to etc. But I felt it would be very nice travelling with company, at least to try, at least for a while… John wasn’t quite ready for this yet. He enjoyed these places, the remoteness more. One of the differences between us is that John is more of a “solo” person who is very comfortable being on his own, being quiet and do things his own way. I am a very social person, I enjoy people the most on this travel (and in general), I did find difficult to leave places in Mexico, Belize where we made friends but had to leave them behind so I was ready to make new friends who potentially like-minded, adventurous like us and as a bonus travelling with a dog! That I love. I persuaded John to leave Todos Santos in the next day or after and head towards Lake Atitlan.

When we got back to our camp we found a bunch of mucky faced, cheeky kids who loved Burt and playing around and under it. As we just set down on a piece of log to  watch them they gathered around us and entertained us. It was very sweet and amazing how kids just don’t care for the fact that we speak a different language, somehow everything is understood all you need is a football or a camera or a small bottle of water. For an hour I was playing with the kids and it made feel even better for this town. Where children are so contented, happy and constantly smiling a place can’t be a bad place.

Todos Santos December 2013

Todos Santos
December 2013

Todos Santos December 2013

Todos Santos
December 2013

Todos Santos December 2013

Todos Santos
December 2013

Todos Santos December 2013

Todos Santos
December 2013

And it wasn’t. I did feel sorry to leave here though I knew we have so much ahead of us.

We left the following morning in the spooky fog and headed south towards Quetzaltenango which is on the way to Lake Atitlan.

Next, Meet the Dutchies…

53. GUATEMALA -from Tikal to Cobán with a southern loop

From Tikal we had one more night in a near-by village by its lake. It was actually a perfect little spot for a night, quiet and peaceful. The next day we visited Flores which was the other side of the lake and we heard nice enough things about it so thought we could give it a go. We got there in no time, but we didn’t like it as much so decided to head south towards another lake, Lago de Izabal. We knew about a campsite on the way, Finca Ixabal, so we knew if we won’t make it to the lake by the end of the day, we’ll still have a place for the night. We arrived late afternoon/ early evening. The lady who runs the place spoke very good English and let us know where we can park up. The place has cabanas, wood-houses, it is a small working farm of growing vegetables, has a few animals. There is also a cafe/self-served restaurant with freshly baked products, a nice chill-out area with wifi, few options for hiking and walking. Overall a very pleasant place to stay for a couple of nights. Needless to mention, as it was still the rainy season and the ground was wet and slippery we got stuck and for a moment it seemed like Burt’s going to end up in a small pond. But a well-thought-through plan, some digging and the use of the sand-ladders did the trick and we out! we were of trouble. All these at 9PM, in the dark and before dinner which makes me slightly more cranky. But it was a huge relief  to be on firm ground again and after cleaning up our mess and mud, we treated ourselves with home-made burgers, chips and beer in the cafe with two lovely French couples. We stayed here two nights which was great and could do a short hike up to the top of an super-overgrown Mayan pyramid.

Hike up to the top Finca Ixobal December 2013

Hike up to the top
Finca Ixobal
December 2013

 

John is checking the scene of spinning wheels from the night before

John is checking the scene of spinning wheels from the night before

The following day we were ready to move on to Lago de Izabal. Again, we knew about a place right by the lake to stay. Though by this point John was getting a little bored to follow other travellers’ waypoints and campgrounds and was ready to do our own discovery. Regardless, we went to have a look at the lake-side place. It seemed we couldn’t fit through a gate that leads to the lake beach. Our only option was to stay back and park up next to a restaurant and they weren’t shy to ask a hefty amount for the one night camp. We thanked and drove off. Just the other side of the road we found another restaurant that let us stay for the night for a much more reasonable fee with electricity hook-up. But the real attraction was the hot-waterfall which was owned by the same family who owned the restaurant. It was a 10 minutes easy hike to the waterfall and it was really worth it. Very beautiful and authentic place where the hot water falls into a cold river creating a very pleasant pool to hang out.  John would’ve wanted to stay one more day/night here and enjoy the hot water again but at the end we decided to move on.

Aguas Calientes

Aguas Calientes

We kept hearing about Samuc Champey as one of the “must visits” in Guatemala. We decided to drive to Samuc on the less-driven road from Lake Izabal. The whole journey was about 60 km but we couldn’t make it to Samuc before the end of the day. The road was very demanding, narrow, at places steep and full of rain-wash cracks or if not the cracks then animals or people walking across unexpectedly, but if not these then a 24 meter long truck coming from the opposite direction. It was certainly entertaining. It was getting dark and we knew we were still about 20 km away from Samuc and judging by the progress we have made after the whole day drive we were looking for a place to stop up for the night. I wasn’t very easy at this point, mainly because all we keep hearing about Guatemala is danger. Perhaps more so than it was for Mexico. John was getting fed up with these second-hand infos, quite rightly, but I am a cheap audience who believes more than I should. So considering the circumstances -being tired, hungry, thirsty and slightly uneasy about things as soon as we were driving through another village I was looking out for a place. And finally spotted a run-down little “hotel”. I jumped out to ask the usual questions. It seemed that the “hotel” doesn’t function as a hotel anymore but the family let us park up and stay for the night anyway for a small fee. The next morning we only had 20 km’s to drive but it took 4 hours to get only to the turn-off which was a town, called Lanquín. From here, after we took a hitchhiker, in a 13 years old boy form we headed to our final destination on an even narrower and steeper road with a falling-apart wooden bridge that made it almost impossible for us to turn on to it as the icing on the whole journey. David, our little friend, in a cab was tiring to make conversation with us in Spanish. We found out that he is from Lanquín and goes up to Samuc almost every day to have  a swim. And finally we were there, at its car park, heaving with 6-7 year old little girls and boys trying to sell Mayan chocolate. Some of them were very sweet and asked our names, then I asked theirs and they loved Burt. We got to Samuc close to closing time and we found out that we can only allowed to park overnight in the car park. It wasn’t awful but it was pretty underwhelming, driving for two days on these difficult roads to get here just to stay in a car park. Hm. We paid our fees and the entrance fee to get in the park before it’s closing for the day. We had a chance to walk up to the viewpoint and have a quick plunge in one of the pools. It is a very pretty place but not sure that the whole effort worth it.

Pools of Samuc

Pools of Samuc

After closing we strolled down the road to a backpackers’ place with a bar with a view of the river and had a couple of bottles of beer and chatted with a traveller. Then on our way back to our camp spot I heard my name followed by giggles. We looked towards the source of the sound and saw the two little girls under the trees having their evening bath in the river. They were very sweet and playful and giggled away. They were just calling my name, “Betti, Betti… holá!” then one of them remembered John’s name and called out; “Otto, Otto, holá!”  We started laughing and I said that he was called Juan. Now that caused a great joy and more laugh.  I was very impressed that these little girls remembered my name even that got John’s wrong and at the same time I felt a little embarrassed that I forgot theirs. The next morning I wished I saw the girls before we left to give some of our little give-out stickers and balloons but all the chocolate girls and boys were vanished. Samuc was somewhat a little disappointment but I’ll never forget those little giggling herberts calling my name.

In the morning we packed up and headed to Cobán, a bigger town with facilities, shops, bank and all as we needed to stock up things. Cobán really isn’t a pretty town but has the essentials and actually has a small park where camping is allowed. From the park it’s just a 10 mins walk to the centre. We sorted everything out here in a day then moved on towards the northern highlands.

John thought we should have our own route now and he had a plan for us.

Next, Nebaj and Todos Santos