Iximche Tecpan

Sunday we got picked up by our new great friends Johanna and Edwin ( La united y El camion) who drove us to Iximche, Mayan ruins close to Tecpan…

Beautiful setting and great sky( we are in tropical

mountains)…and we had the honor to arrive when the ashes of a fire used the night before for a ritual were still smoldering in front of a site that has seen thousands of years of similar events. I took that as a blessing for our future path.

I also found out about my nagual according to the mayan

calendar… “ 3 I’X ”… the jaguar. Also related to one of the element …tierra…!

And we all got the best parrillata (bbq) ever! Very very good! And the tortillas, made by

hand right there were delicious .

Then we made a plan for the day after when we had to call a couple of shops and then go to Guatemala City to change the tires in a place were they could also do balancing( a very unusual concept here…)

We decided to take a cab into the city with our tires in

it…the safest and easiest way in a labyrinth of unknown streets of a very big city… a bit more espensive but well worth!Reading the news papers here, about crime in this chaotic capital is a bit unsettling….and risking to get lost , even during the day, could be bad. Motorcyclists ( and passengers) here has to have a specia vest with imprinted on the back in a reflective shining large size the same number of the licence plate…just because lots of criminals used to go around on bike and shoot around and run away in the traffic undetected….It appears that this expedient is working well.

Anyway all worked out and we have two new rear tires (balanced)

and ready to go to Tikal magnana.

And tonite we had a very nice dinner celebration with Johanna and Edwin and once again ( but never enough)we want to thank them for the incredible welcome and help that they have given to us.

And again: Antigua is a great, beautiful town. Lots of history, nice people, they even have a surf shop and Rainbow Café is a great place to hang out.

Different Universes.

So yesterday we rode to Guatemala City for our tires change… we had to follow ( our angel) Johanna in her car because the route was quite complicated and we could have ended up getting lost in parts of town were we should not hang out asking for direction, even during the day.
The first store had only ( too smooth) street tires and the shop looked a bit inadaquate to us, on the phone all seemed ok ( maybe a bit too inexpensive to be true) but the reality was quite different…so we went to the Suzuki dealer ( they on the phone told previously to Johanna that they didn’t have our tires size..)but at list they had two rear ones…with two different prices and very expensive….and they would have installed them but without balancing … And… It was Saturday and everything was closing at 12….and the sky was getting so black and loomy and we were so frustrated by everything so we ended up buying them, tossing them in Johanna’s car and heading back to Antigua under the rain, sweating again, and feeling even more frustrated and confused.
I think that is finally sinking in the reality of the different world we are in …
But somehow ( I speak very personally now) learning a bit more of how people live everyday here and some data like the fact that only 3% of the population makes it to college and only 1% of it finish it, or that mortality rate is so huge that many parents don’t give a first name to their children until they make it to on year of age is putting things in perspective…
Not that we don’t have access to this type of information at home on our handy computers, but here it has such an impact on me… maybe because we are breathing the same air mixed with the same kerosene fumes…
... ... ...
Anyway, tomorrow we’ll make more calls and we’ll find the shop that can do a proper job.
Meanwhile here’s a pic of the volcano we can see from the window of our room.
Antigua is beautiful, more pics to come. No rain today( so far).

more birthday stuff

And so with the joy of wearing dry clean clothes and the welcoming, friendly smile of Johanna we started the evening birthday celebration.
She picked us up at the hotel with her car ( it felt strange to sit in a car!) and after a short ride we were some were in town in a very nice new yorker expat ‘s bar. And, shortly after Makali,a Johanna’s collegue joned us and we toasted to Karl’s life with good local bier, “illegal” metzcal and …pop corns!
Our hosts are working for the Peace Corp and it was quite interesting hearing first hand of some of the wonderful work they are doing in here.
We also discuss some options for the next travel plans with them and listen to their take on the situation.
And I even found a decent guitar in the “secret” metzcal room so we had some metzcal/ital/flamenco (metzitalenco?) improv happening and with the full support of our party I had the best palmeadores ever!
Then time for dinner came and we moved conveniently to next door, were an intriguing Italian expat ownes a very nice restaurant…. Are we really in Guatemala? The tortellini alla bolognese were delicious!
And so it was the various liquors tastes he kept bringing out, together with some of the very interesting stories of his life.
And we even had a cake and a candle for Karl! And he had also his first "La Mordida"( basically gently smashing his face ( this time from Johanna)on the cake while he’s blowing the candle as you can see from the pic). The true Guatemalan cumpleano intitiation experience!
We slept very very well.

Antigua, Guatemala

First of all Happy Birthday to Carlito!
All of you: sing with me....Happy birthday to you...etcetera...
In the pics he's having his first antiguan breakfast after a night of deserved rest.
We left San Cristobal in the morning not as early as we planned due to my second plug leaking air...we had to re-plug it and that took a while...the tires change tomorrow will make me (us) very happy.
Then the borders...the exit from Mexico was actually painless. We were on the other hand sweating profusely, but only because of the fierce heat.
When we arrived,a couple of miles after at the entrance point to Guatemala we thought that the people there directed us in the middle of an extremely busy market area instead of the passport office but no! It was the right way...We had to slalom trough vendors, chickens, kids, dogs, stalls, carts,beggars, shocked tourist and... cars and huge trucks coming from the opposite way...Tijuana is a piece of cake compare to this! But we made it to the offices and they were efficient and very corteous.
Then we took off trough a fantastic mountain side and gorges and beautiful clouds...than it became darker and darker until all the rain in it decided to pour on us!
Soaked again! Very very soaked...too late again to stop safely to wear rain gears...
So we kept going ...and going ...and going... we even got separated again trough a town with a lot of traffic navigating trough a river that must have been a street sometime...this time a couple on a scooter volutarely told me were karl was waiting for me when they saw me waiting for him...we must stand up quite a bit and again a sign of welcome in an other country.
And so we made it to the center of Antigua at dark and under a torretial diluge so we crashed in the first hotel we found. We parked our bikes in the lobby and we took a great warm shower and we loved wearing our dry clothes. We had a nice middle eastern (!) dinner and we slept non stop until this morning. Our clothes are drying now ( after been washed)and this afternoon we'll meet with Johanna and tomorrow off to Guatemala city to change tires.
Then...we'll see what to do, our plans are ever changing and it's all a learning experience including building strenght in accepting delays, de-tours and disappointments... geographicals and emotionals... ... ...
The team is still strong and in good health.
So we'll figure out also how to make it more south next... Maybe building a raft like El Che did...
Inshalla.

S C D L C market...

Todays images samples... and no comment. Too much to tell! Just visit it sometime!
And tomorrow up very early and going to Guatemala. Possibly all the way to Antigua.
We have been in email contact there with Johanna (she used to live in SF across the street)that extremely kindly and super efficiently made an appointment for us at a Suzuki dealer in Guatemala City were we'll have new tires installed. Mine has two punctures and Karl new Metzeler type is wearing out too fast. The roads are not exactly good and dry so we opted for safety.
Mole is good but we are enjoying pizza too! Lots of italians all over Mexico.

San Cristobal de las casas

Tierra del Subcomandante Marcos!
We love it!It's so nice here. Although, on the way,Karl lost a nice bolt that is holding the fairing up...but we found Oscar just few miles after and the Carlito the Great Mechanic fixed it in no time! Cost for it 4 pesos!
Beautiful valley and mountain road...
San Cristobal from last time I was here (25years ago) has grown immensely. But still has kept her charm and welcoming.
We'll take more pictures tomorrow, right now it's raining cats and dogs!

Tehuantepec

That's where we are tonite...and most likely we are the only two gringos in town....
The drumming kids were rehearsing pretty loudly but they were having a good time.
The transportation in this trycicles is quite fun too and efficient. The women dress with very long skirts as andalusian gipsy stile and their fierce attitude and soma reminds me something of that culture.
We got our first oil change in Oaxaca this morning and as we rode trough a beautiful thousand and one turns road we got quite strong rain storm so we got soaked but we dried off in 20 minutes, yes it's still hot. The valleys and mountains full of catus and agaves (metzcal)were so pretty....
I got my second tire puncture too... already fixed in the posada parking lot.
Tomorrow off to San Cristobal.