It was a beautiful early morning ride to the Guatemalan border less than 1 hour south from Comitan, Mexico.

The border crossing at La Mesilla via CA 1 was smooth, painless, and quite professional despite all the horror stories I heard....1 hour and I was done.

The drill was first to check out of Mexico where they make sure my bike and I actually leave. Then it's to the Guat side where I have to pay 20 quetzales ($4.00CAD) to have my bike fumigated and disinfected...REALLY...then it´s immigration, then it's customs, and finally it's the importation papers for the moto, with every step requiring to go back to the beginning to get photocopies made.

While cruising through the northern mountains of Guatemala, I saw some of the most amazing scenery yet on my trip. The road climbed up to almost 10,000 ft. where it became quite cold. After droping down to 3,000 feet in the town of Salola the road then plunged down to 1,500 feet in less than 8 kms. to the small lakeside town of Panajachel, commonly known as Pana. It sits in the shore of a huge fresh water lake called Lago de Atitlan.

This whole area from the La Mesilla border, known as the Highlands is Guatemala's most dramatic region. Here the traditional values and customs of the Guatemalan people are the strongest, with Mayan dialects being the first language, and Spanish the second.

And in this region, Lake Atitlan is one the most spectacular locals in all of Central America. The lake is a caldera (a collapsed volcanic cone filled with shimmering water to a depth of over 1,000 feet. The lake covers an area of 130 sq km and is surrounded by 3 powerful, now dormant, volcanoes all towering over 2,000 feet above the lake...it's really a site to see.

Pana is one of Guat's oldest tourist hangouts, and this week it was full of El Salvadorians there on their vacation.

Lakeside villa owners drive there for weekends from Guatemala City.

The town is full of artisans and mercados, and restos and bars...it's really fun.

Once I checked in to my hotel, it was off to visit Montrealers, Lyle and Andree who I met through my friend and dentist, Peter Stutman. Lyle is a doctor, who has spent much of his money and time to set up a medical clinic foundation to help the poor indigenous people in the villages around the lake. (LYLE, PLEASE POST A "COMMENT" WITH THE WEB SITE OF YOUR FOUNDATION).

Lyle and Andree were in the final throws of finishing their beautiful home high up on the hills overlooking the lake...what spectacular views from their livingroom, as we watched the sunset over a few beers and supper.

The next morning I took a sort of ferry boat...people only... acrosss the lake ...1 hour... to the small town of Santiago, known for it's markets and "Maximon", a rum drinking, cigar smoking deity revered throught the Guat highlands. Max is actually an effigy to which Guatamalans make offerings of rum and cigars and in return expect his blessing. In Santiago, he is a wooden figure draped in colorful scarves with a cigar in his mouth. While I was in "his" shrine like home, surrounded by hundreds of candles, there was a steady stream of locals on their knees praying in front of him. Once again, like in San Juan de Chamula we see this mixture of christianity and paganism.

Then it was off to the market, where I see this sign advertising a hike up the volcano or hike over the ridge to the rain forest. So I call Jim Madison who lives way around the lake and we make arrangements to meet early the next morning. I had really wanted to climb the volcano, but he said it was too dangerous because of many muggings and robbing of tourists by armed thieves. He also assured me that the hike up the ridge into the rain forest was much more interesting, and safer because much fewer tourists go there, but none the less, we would be accompagnied by 3 rotweillers and he would also be armed....sounded better every minute!

Next morning it was up at 0500h so I could get the 0545 boat to Santiago. Jim, who could easily pass for "Crocodile Dundee" was waiting there at the dock in his 4x4, and we were off to his "ranch" ...a remote 10 kms behind the village.

Well, talk about a spectacular house and location far from any other civilization. He has about 10 horses, 15 dogs, other assorted animals he keeps in a glassed in "zoo" built into his house, and the most beautiful 1 year old ocelot that runs around his home.

His home was built by Jim and His beautiful native american indian, Nancy. They moved there in the 70's and built up this place during wild west days of the Guatemalan Civil War that only ended 5 years ago. They also rent out 1 huge room to guests, complete with fireplace and anything else you might imagine .

After a nice breakfast, Jim collected his dogs, packed his gun, grabbed a few machettes, and we were off into the rain forest by 0830h. After a 5 hour strenuous hike without incident, it was back at Jim and Nancy's where we were joined by a Canadian, Marion Moore, who owns a guest house in Pana. All of us hung out in their huge kitchen where Jim and Nancy prepared a gourmet lunch of home made gaspacho soup, garlic parsley salad with shaved parmassan cheese, filet mignon grilled to perfection and home made sausages.....WOW.

After hanging around a few hours, Jim drove me back to the dock for the last 1630 boat back to Pana....but not before first inviting me back the next day as Jim and Nancy's guest for breakfast, and then we would be off to spend the afternoon with their good friends, David and Suzie who own the Posada Santiago, a beautiful hotel, consisting of individual stone cabins in the woods...all with fireplaces, as well as a swimming pool, hot tub, and wood fired sauna all down by the lake.

How could I refuse!

After a great breakfast with Jim, Nancy and Marion the next morning, we all headed to David and Suzies for a fantastic afternoon in the sun, in the pool, in the sauna, and in the hot tub, all the while feasting on shrimp and Cuba Libres. 1600h came too fast and I had to get the last boat back to Pana, but David and Suzie offered to put me up for the night in one of his deluxe cabins for "next to nothing" (THANK YOU SO MUCH AGAIN, DAVID AND SUZIE, AND JIM AND NANCY, FOR SUCH A WONDERFUL DAY).

After a nap to recover from the Cuba Libres, it was to the diningroom for supper with Rachel de Souza, a real nice Canadian (Calgary), travelling alone, who was also staying at Dave and Suzies. After dinner we laid on the grass counting the stars and talked for hours...and get this FRED DOLAN, we talked about "The Da Vinci Code", and guess who's name came up...?...your's, Fred, and Rachel's parents, Cedric and Greta, with whom you frequently have dinner when you are in Calgary...small world!

After breakfast the next day it was back to my last nite in Pana to plan my next morning's ride north east to the Carribean town of Rio Dulce, Livingston, and the ruins of Tikal.