Northern Guatemala

Rosalinde, as usual waiting for me... at the Guatemala/Belize border 

Tikal in the rain

We had heard great things about Tikal. Along with Tulum near Cancun these were probably the only other Mayan ruins we would visit. We set the alarm for the ungodly hour of 5am (I don't do alarms any more) and 30 minutes later were off in the shuttle bus for sunrise at the ruins. We had the place almost completely to ourselves. Not only was it 6am but also it was pouring rain. Go the cyclist's Gortex rain gear I say!! The site was so impressive. We wandered around for six hours but could easily have stayed a couple of days.

A pair of happy drowned rats.

These photos don't do it justice but the sight was magnificant.

This is Temple 1, the most perfectly intact of all the temples.
Tikal was a town used only by the upper classes.

Temple 1 and the pair of us.

Temple 1 from behind and the sun eventually came out.

We stayed with this poor but very happy Guatemalan
family the night before going to Tikal. A delight.

Is Guatemala dangerous?

Rosalinde bought a guidebook in Gatwick airport on her way to Mexico. She picked up the Footprint guide to Yucatan, Belize and Guatemala. Perfect for her holiday. We found it really useful but what was interesting to me was that everywhere we wanted to go came with a warning of how dangerous it was. 

I had travelled completely safely for six months with no guide book. I never read that anywhere was dangerous. Yes, of course I knew at the back of my mind the stories about this area and the narco gangs. The odd time locals would tell me to go a certain route and not another because it was safer but that was about all. In terms of camping, I get out my iOverlander app and see where people have camped before me. According to the guide book everywhere suddenly seemed to come with a rating of how dangerous or not it was for tourists. The daily tabloids would also lead you to believe we were travelling through a war zone. The first six pages every morning are covered with graphic pictures of murders, assassinations and shootings.

Guatemalan newspapers would scare the bejesus out of you.

Scary tabloid daily newspapers.

Lago Atitlan

A friend of mine Niamh C (as opposed to Niamh Mc) had recommended that we visit the lake of Atitlan. She had travelled in this area before and said it was a highlight. As is often the case we came for a night and stayed for two, swimming in the lake morning and evening and enjoying the beautiful view of the lake surrounded by three volcanos. The gringo trail leads backpackers up the volcanos, camping overnight, but we were satisfied with sitting and reading and relaxing. We met a fabulous retired Australia couple, Ian and Penelope, in our campground in their 4x4 all terrain campervan (below) who fed us slow roast pork and then a few shots of rum before bed. They also let us use their 'stove with a view' to make our porridge the following morning.

Photo from travelsintheearwig.wordpress.com

Cooking breakfast on a Ian and Pen's stove. 

Sunset on the lake. Fishermen busy preparing nets and boats.

Sunset on Panajachel, Lago Atitilan.

Sunrise on the lake. 

Locals busy mending the pier.

A local lady dressed in traditional clothes at her shop by the lake.

Beautiful views on the ride out of Pana. 3x5km climbs to leave the lago.

Maya Pedal

Rosalinde had bought her bike for the trip for 150 euros on DoneDeal.ie before traveling to Cancun. The airline fees were turning out to be so outrageous that she decided to buy a bike for the trip and then leave it in Guatemala. She found a great little project called Maya Pedal based just outside Guatemala City which remake bikes into Bicimaquinas (bike machines) and sells them to local rural communities for a very low price.

Dinner with the founders Mario and Valerie and a night sleeping at the workshop was one of the highlights of Guatemala. If there is anyone reading this has some engineering/bike fixing /general DIY skills and fancies learning some Spanish, they could do worse than volunteering here for a few weeks. Over 4000 volunteers have been hosted over their 20 years of operations. And no, you don't need to pay to volunteer at Maya Pedal. Phew!

Valerie, Rosalinde and Mario standing in front of a
mural of Guatemala at Maya Pedal.

This bicimaquina powers a blender to make aloe vera shampoo
and of course smoothies.

This one crushes corn husks so that they biodegrade quicker.

This one powers a turning plate for making pottery.

This one turns corn into meal for chickens.

This one peels macadamia nuts.

Traffic

Since Rosalinde was flying out of Guatemala City and we wanted to catch a few highlights not reachable by bike, we decided to take an eight hour overnight bus from northern Guatemala to the capital Guatemala City. There are three classes of bus. We went for 2nd class and kind of regretted it a little. But actually the road was so bad even if we had paid a 1st class price we don't think we could have avoided the bumpty-bump-bump-bump... all night long.

Guatemala City traffic is so crazy that we are stuck in traffic
entering from the north at 5.05am.

We arrived into Guatemala City at 5.05am and by 6am we were on a chicken bus (that's what everyone calls them here) with the two bikes strapped to the top for a three hour ride to Lago Atitlan. As opposed to the bumpty-bump bus ride, Rosalinde described this one as like being on a roller coaster. Guatemala buses are all old American school buses - you know the big long yellow ones you see in the movies - which are sold to Guatemala bus companies. Once they arrive in Guatemala the tail end, a couple of metres, is cut off and the engine is moved from underneath to the front. They are made shorter so that they are able to turn the corners on the narrow Guatemalan streets. Bars are also added to the tops of the seats inside, as during the roller coaster rides, a result of lunatic drivers and desperate roads, you have to hold onto something!

Catching a chicken bus at 6am in Guatemala City.

Shell's heaven, 3 varieties of mango. 3 for 1USD. Bargain.