Guatemala – A driving challenge! (13th Jan to 5th Feb 2016)

Guatemala - Switzerland of Central America

On January 13^th. We took off to the Guatemala border at Melchor. We also got stopped by the police who wanted god knows what because we had everything in order. In the end we got a warning for a broken tail light which we already knew but replacement is only available in the US. The border crossing to Guatemala took some time but was painless. Of course we had to fumigate the rig again and make copies of passport, driver’s license and registration. Than we paid around 40$US and the customs guy wanted to look in the camper which he didn’t because our gas alarm went off. One of the stove burner was on. Not a big deal, but it scared away the border patrol officer and he did not want to go inside the vehicle…. We made it to Guatemala. First we stopped for Groceries and continued to Tikal ( The famous Maya ruins ). It took us about 3 hours to get there and we paid 300Q ( 40US ) to get in. The campground 10 miles later was another 100Q which we thought was pretty expensive. The good thing was that we entered after 3pm so we could go to the ruins in the evening and the whole next day. We settled and went to see the ruins. What a beautiful place and I could try to explain but only pictures can do that. We returned after dark just to find out that the hotel next door turned their generator on. Thanks a lot. L

 

On January 14^th. We went back to the ruins and explored them some more during daylight. Very impressive! One of our favorite Mayan Ruins!! We saw spider and howler monkeys who took the opportunity to shit on Steffi five times. If that means luck then she will be lucky forever. Afterwards we packed up and continued to Flores. The road was actually nice and we arrived around 3pm and wanted to park next to a hotel. Unfortunately they increased their prices to 20US just to park with no amenities which we thought was too much so we drove on the island and parked next to a convention center directly on the Island, where we were welcomed for free http://ioverlander.com/places/3949-boondocking-on-isla-flores . At the time we didn’t know that they have a 3.5t weight limit but nobody cared and the police was patrolling our rig all night. What a nice place to visit. Very relaxing atmosphere!

Impressions from Lago Peten y Flores:

On January 15^th. In the morning all hell broke loose right next to us and we realized that some celebration (Guatemala’s black Jesus day) was going on and we needed to leave soon to get out. Well…. Didn’t work. After we took off a tour guide stopped us and informed us that we will not cross the bridge for a while and he was right. Thousands of people were crossing the bridge from the main land so we parked the rig right in their path and watched the ceremony. Of course our rig got some attention and people touched it from all sides. Very funny. After a hour everyone got on the island and we were able to leave. Our next destination was Finca Ixobel. Before we had to do some shopping at the Maxi Despensa and get some cash from ATM, which took 5 tries before getting money. We arrived around 1pm, checked in and looked at the campground http://ioverlander.com/places/842-finca-ixobel . The best spot which had electricity was behind the facilities. The way to get there looked very muddy but we thought 4wd will do the trick…. It didn’t… We got stuck badly and had to use the winch for the first time. As always there was no tree big enough right in front of the rig so we had to pull it in a 90 degree angle which resulted in some minor damage to the winch. Next time we do better. The rest of the day we just took it easy and relaxed.

On January 16^th. We took it easy and climbed a small mountain that looked like a pyramid. It was steep and the view was not that exciting. On the way down we slipped a couple of times. In the afternoon we went to town with Susanne a German volunteer, who worked there for 2 months. We did a little shopping and returned back by Tuctuc which is always a funny experience. In the evening we enjoyed again the good cooking at the restaurant and went to bed early.

Finca Ixobal/ Poptun:

On January 17^th. Next stop was Rio Dulce where we stayed at a restaurant. http://brunoshotel.com/ The place is famous for the yachties who keep their boats here for the hurricane season. The town was dirty and not much to see. We enjoyed the happy hour and talked to some interesting people. One night was enough so we decided to continue the next morning.

On the way to Rio Dulce:

On January 18^th. We went to a place north at the Lago de Izabal, next to Finca el Paraiso, which is famous for the hot waterfalls. We had a great time. First “hot” shower since we left Mexico… What a beautiful place indeed!! In the afternoon we went back to the camper and relaxed for the rest of the day at El Manglar Hotel and had dinner with a traveler from Denmark.

Aguas Calientes/ Lago Izabal:

 

 

On January 19^th. We took off early to go to Monumento Natural Semuc Champey. From the start we seem to have some issues with the brakes which only got worse by driving to Semuc Champay. Only dirt roads for almost 100 miles going up and down very steeply through the mountains. That was really a new experience and the most extreme driving up to this point (including a bridge that was not really made for us ) . When we finally made it, first the park entrance was already closed so we had to wait until the night supervisor arrived.. In the meantime we had about 10 kids around us asking all kind of questions and interested in the rig. One boy aged about 13 proposed Steffi to sleep there with her…. Finally the supervisor arrived but the bar to get into the parks entrance could not be lifted high enough for us to get through. Only with some digging we finally could get in. We were done for the day and very tired. http://ioverlander.com/places/985-semuc-champey

On the way to Semuc Champey/ first off road in Guatemala:

On January 20^th. We got up early to see the famous water holes on the river. The day was clouded so we could not appreciate its full beauty, but still impressed us. But if I had known what it takes to get here I would have not done it (or stayed in Lanquin the next village and get a local bus there). We packed up and continued to our next destination Coban. The roads are crazy around here and the average speed seldom reaches more than 25km/h. It is a pain. In Coban we went to a grocery store and continued to a campground about 12k outside of town. http://ioverlander.com/places/313-ecocentro-holanda The place Ecocentro Holanda was nice but the amenities were not. We still decided to stay for 2 nights to recover from the drive here.

Semuc Champey:

On January 21^st. We took a bus into Coban and did some sightseeing and we had to organize a part for our tight downs which got damaged on the road to get here. We got lucky did some sightseeing and went back to our campground. The bus was very cheap, for 2 people 12km was 1.10usd and it was actually comfortable J

On January 22^nd. The goal for today was 230km to Lago Atitlan. The road was a disaster. Top speed 20 km/h. The breaks were not in best shape either and made some scary noises. After 180km and 9.5 hours of driving we called it a day and stayed at a gas station in Quetzaltenango http://ioverlander.com/places/11488-petrol-statiom . We were done for the day and did not want to do anything anymore other than sleep. Steffi went off to organize a pizza which under the circumstances was pretty delicious. We went to bed early and slept until 9am.

On the highlands of Guatemala - From Coban to Lago Atitlan:
 

 

On January 23^rd. We packed up and continued to Lago Atitlan. It was only 50km but it still took us more than 2.5 hours. The last 50 km went down a steep hill which scared us because the breaks got worse. Now some of you would say just use the engine break. Well going down more than 16% with 2.5 to. on the bed of the RAM does create some special challenges because a RAM will even do 50KM/H in first gear and to stop that will burn your breaks up. So we are limping downhill and finally made it. We went to the Hotel Vision Azul http://ioverlander.com/places/845-vision-campsite-now-bahia-del-lago, checked in, and walked into town for lunch and some coffee. When we returned the 4x4 extreme club was arriving for their annual meeting. We had a good time with them and also met some other German overlanders.

On January 24^th. We also met Mike and Nancy who live in Antigua and we went to the park next door for a little hike to see some more monkeys and butterflies. In the afternoon Steffi took the bus to Sololá to visit the market while I was relaxing.

On January 25^th. We went into town and took the boat to San Pedro. We walked to San Juan, the next village, which was not very touristic and had a lot of weavers in town.  We took a boat back to San Pedro. There we had a nice lunch overlooking the lake, and visited the church and enjoyed the very relaxed atmosphere in town. There were lots of nice places and restaurants and we also saw another Arctic Fox which seemed to be parked here for quite some time. We returned in the evening and moved our rig to a place with power. We still had a beautiful view of the lake.

On January 26^th. We took the boat again to go to Santiago de Atitlan, where we rented a tuctuc to see the famous places … One of them was a Maya god Maximon, that drinks and smokes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxim%C3%B3n . That was funny because the drinking was done by the people watching him. Tourists rip off but funny. There were other interesting places as well like the Peace Plaza, which was built in memory of the kids which were killed by the military in the 90s before the military and Mayan people signed a peace treatment there.

Lago Atitlan:

 

On January 27^th. It was time to pack up and take care of our broken brakes. We went to Mixco near Guatemala City where we had an appointment with Georg who works for an ISUZU dealership to check on our breaks. Now, dodge RAM is not sold in Guatemala so spare parts might be an issue here. We talked and agreed to bring the truck back next day for the repair. We then bought some groceries, got some propane gas and went to the cabana Suisse where we were allowed to stay http://www.cabanasuiza.com/ . We also met the part owners Walter and Antoinette, who are very friendly. We went to the St. Gallen Café and had some really nice Fruchtflaeh (like cheese cake with apricot) and Nusstorte…. Delicious!

On January 28^th. We dropped the camper and went to see Georg. They took the tires off and soon we knew what the problem was. We needed 4 new brake pads a rotor and some front stabilizers. Well the pads were available but expensive but for the rest we had to go with Georg into Guatemala city to some places I would not go at night but they had what we were looking for but of course the price was premium. We had to get cash money from a bank which was not easy at that moment and 2 hours later we were back at the dealership and waited for the job to be done. At 6pm everything was done and when we wanted to pay for the repair out credit cards were blocked again. Thanks HSBC for a world card that gets blocked all the time. We returned to the campground and called it a day.

On January 29^th We decided to stay for another day before going to Antigua. Antoinette, one of the owners of Cabana Suisse invited us for breakfast (good Roesti!!) and showed us a nice mall where we could buy some German food. Thanks again. We went back to the ISUZU dealer to get the truck washed ( was no time left yesterday) got some stuff from Walmart returned back to camper, repaired the cable which connects the camper to the truck and put the camper back on which almost went sour because we were standing at an incline and the camper was threatening us to roll over. Luckily everything went fine.     

On January 30^th We moved on to Antigua. Of course to get there required to take a steep downhill road which heated up our new breaks pretty badly but we made it in one piece and arrived at the policia touristica where we could camp for free along with other overlanders http://app.ioverlander.com/places/7246-policia-turismo-antiqua . What was funny was that we had to go to a copy center to copy our passports, drivers license and the check in form of which they only had one. We brought back 5 more so the next travelers would not need to do that anymore (maybe). We went into town and found a good Austrian Restaurant and strolled around town watching people. Very nice!

We met 2 other couples from Germany, Karin and Manfred, traveling in their Mercedes Truck http://www.die-ausreiser.de/ and Chanda and Alex with their van from the 80s… The next 4 days we relaxed visited the city with the 38 churches and convents, and visited Mike and Nancy we met at Lago Atitlan, missionaries (who don’t look that way), who built up a Baptist church in Antigua http://missions.iglesiadelcaminogt.com/. On February 2^nd, we took a tour to the Pacaya volcano …. We had to take a van for 1.5hours walk uphill for another 1.5 hours to see a lot of clouds. It was still nice but not worse the hassle. Antigua is a nice city with a relaxed atmosphere definitely worth a visit.

On February 3^rd we went back to Mixco overheated the breaks again, were insured that this was normal ( let’s see if that is true ) No, that breaks just got hot for a short while so we are hoping everything is OK. We went back to the mall with the German food and returned to Cabana Suisse where we had coffee, cake and a long chat with Antoinette.

On February 4^th we got up and drove towards the border to Honduras. The brakes worked quite well, so we hope they will not give us any trouble again. Driving through Guatemala City was a challenge. Once we missed a turn on the Periferico, and ended up in the city… we were happy once we found the way back to the Periferico and were out of town… After 4 hours we arrived in Chiquimula, the last bigger town in Guatemala and decided to spend here the night. http://ioverlander.com/places/7339-restaurante-hotel-grand-caporal We had a nice meal at their restaurant and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.

Today, 5^th February it’s time to cross border to Honduras where we will spend the next 5-6 days.