El Cuco, El Salvador to Panajachel, Guatemala

Mon, 03/11/2014 - 12:00

We wake late, because we are tad tired from our huge day yesterday and also because it is still quite dark outside due to the black storm clouds and pouring rain. I also realise it is my birthday.Well I can't think of a better place to spend it. We head out for breakfast after cleaning up the water on the floor (obviously our roof leaked in the torrential downpour last night, seems to be a theme happening here), and meet up with Ben and Maurice. We enjoy a fabulous breakfast and spend the morning chatting. By lunch time the rain has abated and I head to the pool for a lazy afternoon. I share the pool with our resident gammy winged pelican.

Our gammy winged friend, Mr Percival

Later in the afternoon it is a beach walk and then a sumptuous margarita and seafood dinner, all in all not a bad birthday!!!

Beach walk El Cuco

Lan celebrating her birthday with margaritas and a seafood dinner

The next two days follow in the same vein, although we finally get a break in the weather and get to enjoy some beach time. We also manage to get our washing done, while this may seem like a small thing, let me tell you having clean, dry clothes is sheer heaven in these wet, humid conditions.

Some beach time El Cuco

The restaurant and idyllic surrounding of La Tortuga Verde also make it an easy place to chill back, read, eat, drink and be merry, repeat. I should also add that nearly everyone staying here is from the Antipodes, that Australian drawl can be heard everywhere, in some ways a nice comforting sound.

By Monday it is time to leave and we take a beautiful leisurely ride (all the while dodging storms) along the coast to El Tunco, another small beachside village about 200km up the coast. We check into a hostel, ditch the perspiration soaked riding gear and jump in the pool for the rest of the afternoon, before checking out the town including the small artesenal micro brewery. That night we have our first Asian food in ages, there is a Wok place right at the front of the hotel. Happy Campers.

We spend another day in El Cuco, as the village is so small it doesn't take long to check out all the sites, so it is another day of pool sitting and finding some great places to eat.

El Tunco Beach

After all the heat and humidity we decide we will head up into the hills and we take our leave for Juaya on the famous Ruta de Flores, once again the ride along the coast is stunning, but we then turn off and head towards the maze like town of Sonsonate, where we actually mange not to get lost, but further along the road Mr Zumo decides he will take us down a road into a village, the said road turns into a goat track and then it is finally non existent. All the while there is a perfectly good paved road to Juayua which we eventually take after a bit of backtracking!!!

Juaya and the quirky Casa Mazeta Hostel prove de be delightful. This small town is famous for it's local weekend food fare which we don't get to see, but we sure sample the amazing restaurants and coffee shops in town. We end up spending 3 nights here simply because of the fantastic cool climate, it is wonderful to sleep under the covers again.

Casa Mazeta Gardens

Skill enjoying a really good coffee

Church on the main square - Juaya

Chicken Buses (old American school buses)

During this time we have been in contact with David who we met travelling on his Triumph Tiger in Bolivia and then again in Rio last year. David is attending the opening of the Triumph Dealership in San Salvador and will be returning to Guatemala City on Saturday morning. Both he and his wife Yesbell have kindly invited us to stay with them. So we hatch a plan to meet at the El Salvador/Guatemala border at 10.00 am on Saturday morning.

The Saturday morning ride to the border along the Ruta de Flores is absolutely glorious, and we make good time arriving just after 8.00am, it takes us quite a while to cross out of El Salvador as there are quite a few cars lined up but the entry into Guatemala is relatively simple, although we do get a surly little official who is quite rude to me and doesn't like our VIN number plate, apparently it should be on the steering column, well perhaps the Japanese should change their production lines to appease this guy.

The Ruta de Flores

The Ruta de Flores local ladies carrying water

We leave El Salvador

Anyway he eventually relented and processed the paper work and we were done and dusted. We go and wait in the shade, when ten minutes later we hear the throaty engine of David's Triumph Tiger and David appears at Customs. It is lovely to see him again.

We cross into Guatemala

We have a hassle free ride into Guatemala being piloted makes it so much easier. We get ourselves unpacked and Yesbell and David make us so welcome, plying us with food, drink and letting us put our smelly, wet riding clothes in the washing machine and dryer, this must surly be the mark of a true overlanding friend. Later in the evening they take us out to a beautiful Mediterranean restaurant in a truly spectacular mall, the likes of which we have never ever seen before, it is really quite astounding.

Sunset over Guatemala City from David and Yesbell's apartment

The following day we take a drive to another stunning location for brunch, a country club resort set in idyllic countryside beneath towering volcanoes. We spend the morning grazing on truly sumptuous food and chatting, we are so grateful to Yesbell for speaking English with us while her English is very good, it is not her native language and she goes out of her way to converse with us in English which is hard work for her.

Brunch in a stunning location

Late morning we leave, stopping along the way for a coconut water drink, and drive to Antigua where we spend the afternoon exploring this gorgeous town, before it is back to Guatemala city for an early dinner.

Buying coconuts from local vendors

Lan enjoying her coconut water

Exploring Antigua's cobblestoned streets

John, Lan and Yesbell in Antigua

Later in the evening we drag out the Mexico maps (thanks to Cat and Kev) and pick David's brain about his home country. I take copious notes and go to bed feeling really enthused about the next part of our journey. We cannot thank David and Yesbell enough for their generosity, letting us stay in their beautiful apartment, taking us to amazing places, paying for our meals and finally imparting their infinite wisdom and enthusiasm about Guatemala and Mexico. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Next morning after David prepares us a gourmet breakfast we continue to chat about travelling and motorcycles but by 11.00 am it really is time to take our leave. We load up, say fond farewells and take the Pan American Highway out of Guatemala city towards Antigua. This is a lovely easy hour ride as we had driven the road the previous day so had no problems with navigation. Armed with directions and GPS co-ordinates for Casa Menta (recommended by David and Yesbell) we find our destination easily and park undercover in the lovely garden area. We get ourselves unpacked and settled and then go out to search for a sushi restaurant, we do eventually find one and attack our Nori rolls with great gusto. Very happy we then wander around Antigua's streets, it really is a beautiful town. I also happily admire the artesan's markets while Skill takes photos.

Artesan's Markets

That evening we take our bottle of wine and cheese and crackers onto the roof top and watch the sun go down, the end to yet another perfect day.

We spend two more days in Antigua, it is impossible to explore all the buildings and ruins but on one day we visit the Convento de Capuchinas founded in 1736 by nuns from Madrid. Unfortunately it was destroyed repeatedly by earthquakes, however it was a interesting museum exhibiting religious life during colonial times.

Convento de Capuchinas

One of the more bizarre features were the 18 concentric cells set around a circular patio. This is where rebellious nuns were placed to be shamed.

Lan in the cells at Convento de Capuchinas

We also visit the very picturesque Iglesia y Convento de Nuestra Senora de la Merced. Construction on this church began in 1548 and building continued until 1717 when it was razed by severe earthquakes. Reconstruction was completed in 1767 but only 6 years later it was again totally destroyed by earthquakes. Todays church was rebuilt from 1850 to 1855. They were a tenacious lot weren't they.

Iglesia y Convento de Nuestra Senora de la Merced

Restaurant hopping, people watching and wandering the streets of this gorgeous town is a tourist attraction all of it's own, and that is exactly what we do each day. We eat splendid lunches and then at night opt for a wine and cheese and cracker supper in the homely confines of the pretty Casa Menta.

The streets of Antigua

Musicians in Antigua

We finally make some decisive plans and decide we will head to Panajachel on Lake Atitlan, not sure of which route to take, we leave early and enjoy the beautiful cool conditions riding through the hills before hitting the Pan American highway and the traffic congested town of Chimaltenango. We decide to opt for the back road turning off at Patrizia towards Patzun (later on reading the guide book and a few other stories I learn that perhaps this was not the safest of roads to be on, bandit hold ups have occurred here, however we saw nothing but happy, smiling, waving people) it was a beautiful ride through local villages in the mountains, we were congratulating ourselves for being so clever when we got to a town which we don't know the name of and Mr Zumo turned us to the left onto what seemed a fairly major road, we happily followed this for the next 20 km and then it just stopped and turned into dirt, and then it turned into a lane and then it turned into a steep goat track. At this point I gingerly get off the bike on the steep hill and go for a look, hmm not good, time to turn around. Easier said than done on a steep rolly gravel hill, it takes us a good ten minutes to turn the bike around with a great deal of exertion from both of us.

This seems to be a fairly major road

Hmm it turns to a good dirt road and then a worse one, and finally a track.

We retrace the ride back to the unknown town and ask the local ambulance drivers for directions, they rattle off a quick fire direction in Spanish leaving us fairly dazed, after taking a look at our expressions they jump in the ambulance and motion for us to follow them, which we do, once through town they assure us it is all paved all the way through to Panajachel. We thank them heartily and set off.

Follow that ambulance

The road is paved but only just, we play dodge the bike swallowing pot holes for the next 10 kms and then we happen upon this.

Slight obstacle

Oh well, only one thing for it, through we go and then after another 15km of bone jarring potholes we get our first view of Lago Atitlan, it is then only 5 more kilometres and we arrive in Panajachel around 2.00pm.

Lago Atitlan

After a fairly interesting day, Hostel Utz Jay proves to be a lovely peaceful oasis, we have a very comfortable room and our own little balcony which we take full advantage off. After we are unpacked we head out to take in our surroundings, we then take full advantage of happy hour at a local bar before it is out for a fabulous Italian dinner.

Streets of Panajachel

Panorama of Lago Atitlan

Panajachel proves to be one of those places that you could just stay on in, and apparently that is what vast numbers of American expats do. Having said that it didn't take away from the friendliness or the enjoyment of the town. Once you have escaped the women selling their wares and the men trying to get you to take Lake tours it really is a cute little town.

After a rest day where we do very little except read and manage a few skype phone calls, we decide we will take a local boat around the Lake to San Juan La Laguna. We call in for a coffee at our local coffee shop of choice and watch the beginning of the band/pagent. Literally hundreds of marching bands have descended on the town for a competition.

Coffees

The Band Competition begins

Super cool drummers

Not wanting to experience too much of a good thing we head to the jetty where we become enmeshed in a local tour seller trying to rip us and the local boat driver off. We are aware that all is not as it should be and get our money back, only to find he has pocketed some of it (the equivalent of $1.00 US) By this time the local boat driver has had enough and calls for the tourist police, we are quickly refunded our money and the offender high tales it out of there closely followed by the police. After causing such a scene we plonk ourselves down and we are off on a trip to the local towns. It is what we call in Australia, the milk run stopping off at every village. It is a great way to spend the morning, however we do learn that the villages are under threat from rising Lake levels, with many jetties and low lying buildings already flooded. Apparently the Lake has risen nearly 5 metres in the last few years.

Young girl on the boat to the towns of Lago Atitlan

Flooded buildings

We finally arrive at San Juan La Laguna, where we pay our local boat driver, all the while he is apologetically explaining to us that the tour operator was a Bandido, apparently a very bad man. Apparently not only was he trying to steal from us, more importantly he was stealing from the local boat driver, I guess the equivalent of $5.00 is not a lot of money for us but to the local man it is a considerable sum.

We disembark and spend a contented couple of hours being entertained by the local woman selling their wares, the textiles are quite lovely, hand dyed and spun.

Picking Coffee Beans - San Juan

What a Cutie?

Natural Dyes

Beautiful Textiles

When it comes time for us to leave we have a long wait with no boats heading back to Panajachel, although we keep getting vague promises that they will leave in thirty minutes. Eventually we snavel a boat heading to the next town on the Lake, we then have a 20 minute wait there while the boat fills up and finally we are on our way back to Panajachel.

That evening we enjoy our little balcony and the peace and quiet of our surroundings. Some days are sheer gold, today was one of them!!!!

Lan enjoying a glass of red