March 3rd 2024 – San Pedro, Guatemala

When traveling you meet more quirky people than usual – not least among fellow nomads. Let’s take our housemates in San Cristóbal de las Casas as an example.

Jo had been staying in the house for 2 months when we arrived. He was American and used to be a woman. He was trying to establish himself as a life coach/therapist in San Cristóbal. According to him many of the expats in town were in bad shape mentally and could benefit from counseling. Personally he struggled with several mental issues. We noticed his frequent panic attacks and a variety of phobias. To keep things in check he supplemented his daily diet of psychotropic drugs with a healthy dose of cannabis. Despite all that he was a very nice and considerate guy that we appreciated sharing the house with.

Then there was Suzanne. A French girl backpacking around Central America.
She was fasting for a week in an attempt to cleanse her body. It seemed like a waste of time considering the amount of magic mushrooms, cannabis and alcohol she consumed from early morning to late night every day.
Intoxicated she practiced playing the guitar for hours every day in the garden. One night  Kat and I got invited to witness her stage debut. That was something we didn’t want to miss. The audience was in for a treat. The combination of almost no guitar skills, a weak voice, being tone deaf and having absolutely no rhythm created a spectacular cocktail of sound that is hard to describe. Suzanne seemed very pleased with her performance and celebrated long into the night.

The following day she looked like something the cat dragged in. In an attempt to clear her head she burned incense in the house and tried to do yoga in the garden. After a couple of puke-breaks she gave up and smoked a joint instead.

On one of our last days in town Kat and I visited Casa Na Bolom. It was the home of the danish archeologist Frans Blom and his wife, documentary photographer, journalist, environmental pioneer Gertrude Duby Blom. Today, Casa Na Bolom operates as a hotel, museum, and research center run by Asociación Cultural Na Bolom, a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of the Lacandon Maya and the preservation of the Chiapas rainforest. It was interesting to learn about a Danish “Indiana Jones” we had never previously heard of.

No matter how nice a place is, we eventually become restless. After 9 days in San Cristóbal it was time to move on. As Kat and I were getting ready to leave, Fin showed up to join us. We had agreed to cross into Guatemala together. It would make it easier for Fin at the border with someone to watch over his things while he was doing paperwork. Besides that there had been reports of increased cartel activity near the crossing we would use so traveling in a group wouldn’t be a bad idea.

It was a pleasant ride through the mountains. We arrived at the Mexican border town Ciudad Cuauhtémoc early afternoon. A hotel across the road from emigration and customs supplied us with a suitable room and secure parking. Without luggage and in comfortable clothes we headed over to customs to cancel our Mexican TIP (Temporary Import Permit). It went very smoothly and took less than half an hour for all 3 bikes to be processed.

Ciudad Cuauhtémoc turned out to be an unusually relaxed and pleasant bordertown. In the evening we went out for dinner at the local pizzeria. It turned out to be mainly (exclusively?) a takeaway place, but they were super friendly and dug out a table and 3 chairs for us.

We were packed and ready at the immigration office when they opened at 8 am. Immigration wasn’t quite as ready. The guy who knew how to turn on the computer didn’t show up until 8.45. 15 minutes later we were stamped out of Mexico and rolling through no-man’s land towards the Guatemalan bordertown La Mesilla 4 km up the road.

It turned out to be the polar opposite of its Mexican counterpart and everything you expect a Central American bordertown to be – chaotic and buzzing with activity. The process of crossing the border turned out to be surprisingly easy and straightforward.

First stop was fumigation of our bikes. It cost 12 GTQ per bike. We could only pay cash in local currency. It was not a problem as a squad of guys loaded with money approached us and offered to change our pesos to Quetzales.

With Quetzales in our pockets and fumigated bikes we continued 30 meters further up the road to customs where a guard instructed us where to park. A visit to immigration next door earned us a 90 days C4 visa for Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

Then we could proceed to customs to get our TIP. When the paperwork was done we had to pay the TIP at a tiny bank in the same building. When it was my turn to pay, the door to the bank got jammed. It took a while for the 2 guards to get it opened.

Even with the delays on both sides of the border the whole process only took little over 2 hours. It was a pleasant experience especially because everyone was super friendly and helpful.
Since we arrived at the border the previous day, we had seen no other vehicles cross between the countries.

As soon as we crossed the border the roads deteriorated. It was immediately apparent that Guatemala is a poorer country than Mexico. The flow of traffic also changed. Guatemalans seemed to be more in a hurry and less considerate. We had to be up on our toes as we climbed back into the mountains on twisty roads surrounded by lush greenery.

Katrine and I lost Fin in traffic 2 kilometers before we reached the hostel in Quetzaltenango where we had booked rooms for the night. While Kat checked us in, Fin showed up with 2 other riders in tow. It turned out to be Beth and Nick from the UK.

Just after Fin lost us, they had pulled up alongside him. It was a chance encounter but they were not strangers to each other. A few weeks ago Fin had responded to a request on a WhatsApp group. As a result he was now carrying a heart for Nick in one of his panniers. They were to meet up at a later point, but faith had brought them together earlier than expected.
On top of that, it turned out that they had booked a room at the same hostel as us. Suddenly we had a nice little rally going.

We all stayed 2 nights at the hostel. Much of the time was spent in conversation. Our new British friends had been assaulted and robbed in Belize a month earlier and were in the process of getting back on their feet and regaining faith in humanity.

Just a few days earlier Charlie, one of their friends, had launched a fundraiser to allow them to continue their journey. The response had been overwhelming. It made especially Nick very emotional how complete strangers stepped up to help them out.

We also went for a walk in Quetzaltenango. The highlight was when a security guard let us in at the city’s otherwise empty theater from 1895. No doors were locked and we explored every corner of the building.

Beth and Nick decided on a whim, as Fin, Katrine and I were getting ready to leave town and head for Lake Atitlan, that they wanted to join us. It was a fun 2 hours ride on increasingly twisty roads. At one point we had to take a short break because the rear brake on both Fin and Nick’s bikes were boiling.
Nick shot some video along the way.

Fin, Katrine and I moved in at Hotel San Antonio, just by the lake in San Pedro. Fellow advrider inmate Johnny Drunkard had recommended the place to us. It’s a small family owned and very popular place. We had booked their last available rooms the previous day. Beth and Nick had to make do with the bigger, more expensive and less cozy hotel next door.

Hotel San Antonio turned out to be a cozy place with a very relaxed atmosphere. They have 12 rooms divided between 3 floors. Half the rooms were occupied by permanent residents or long term regulars that stay here for months every winter. The rooms and common areas were immaculate clean and the hotel provided safe parking, a functional kitchen and laundry service.

Katrine and I decided to extend our stay from 3 to 6 nights. Fin one-upped us by extending his stay to 9 nights and signing up for another round of language school.
When a room became available 2 days after our arrival the Brits moved in as well.

Since we arrived in town, Katrine and I have mainly used our time to tie up loose ends and prepare for the Central American leg of our journey.
In the evenings we have been going out for dinner with the other guys and have had the pleasure to be introduced to Beth and Nick’s friend Charlie.
Shortly after he had launched the fundraiser for Beth and Nick, Mosko Moto had reached out to Charlie and offered him a free pick of their products as a pad on the back for his effort. It makes me tip my hat to Mosko Moto. Yet again they have proved to be a part of the adventure rider community not just a company making money off it.