Friday, April 22, 2011

Towards Antigua.

San Cristobal is at 2100 metres so the temperature was very pleasant but as we dropped down towards the Border it started to heat up again. We passed villages selling their pottery wares, 14 people in the back of a pick up having a pre Semana Santa drink, and burning roadsides before we got to the border at La Mesilla. We checked Nancy and us out of Mexico because we aren't going to re-enter again, and having paid 12Q to get Nancy's wheels disinfected we re-entered Guatemala without a hitch. As soon as you enter Guatemala you are back into the mountains but the road was good and we made Huehuetenango well before dark. Looking at the hotels on the road into town they all wanted about Q250 for a night which is very high so we headed into the centre of town and ended up in a very nice dive called the Hotel Central for Q60.
The streets were full of life as the full moon rose. We set off early the next morning saying our goodbyes to Huehue, which doesn't have many redeeming features, towards our next stop of Solola, passed markets, 'if you can't fit inside than hang onto the outside' vans, traffic jams and wonderful scenery which was unfortunately covered in a haze. On reaching Solola we couldn't find a resting place for Nancy so we carried on down to Panajachel where we camped by the lago for an exorbitant sum of Q80. Everywhere had put there prices up for Easter and hotels were asking about Q150 for a night so we camped. What was promised and what we got were 2 very different things. The swimming pool although full when we arrived became empty with an hour of us pitching camp. The internet was broken. There was no hot water in the showers and almost worse of all we got eaten alive by sand flies and mozzies. But to top it all at around 9pm whilst listening to an audio book Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, our senses were assaulted by the deafening boom-boom of what can only be described as Guatemalan rap party music, coming from the swimming pool area, about 50 meters from our tent. It persisted until 3am!
What could have been it' s saving grace, the view of the volcanoes, were shrouded in mist so you couldn't see them. We rushed away the next morning along some interesting roads to Antigua.

1 comment:

  1. When I first got to your site I though you had stolen a photo from my blog! It's totally not the case, but there is a photo in my newest blog that looks a WHOOOOOOLE lot like the one at the top of your page. I guess great minds think alike.

    Different places celebrate holidays in different ways. Sorry about your sleep. Maybe you should have gone down for a bit of bump and grind... maybe not. I envy your riding locale, by the way.

    Brady
    Behind Bars - Motorcycles and Life
    http://www.behindbarsmotorcycle.com/

    ReplyDelete