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March 13rd 2024 – Concepción de Ataco, El Salvador

We ended up staying for 9 days in San Pedro.

The town consists of two parts:  “Gringolandia” by the lake where the majority of foreigners reside and the main part  up the hill where the locals live and work.
Our hotel was perfectly located at the fringes of Gringolandia right by the lake. It allowed easy access to the good restaurants and bars without us being bothered by the racket when at home.
San Pedro is a veritable maze of narrow, steep and twisty alleys. It was a fun place to explore.

Apparently license plates have a tendency to disappear in Central America. One evening we visited Antonio’s print shop in town to get an extra set of plates for the bikes. I used the opportunity to have a few stickers with my logo made as well. It turned out to be a challenge for Antonio. We ended up working on the project together all evening during which Katrine and I got introduced to his entire family.

Twice Katrine and I visited other towns by the lake. Even though they were close by they had very different flavors.

San Juan was only a half an hour hike from San Pedro. It was notably less touristy. Local law prohibits outsiders from purchasing land within the municipality. 95% of the population is the indigenous Tz’utujil.

We reached San Marcos by boat. It is the fastest and most common way to travel between the shoreside towns and villages of Lake Atitlan. It was a strange but charming and very beautiful place, often referred to as the ultimate hippie village in Guatemala. 
The indigenous community occupies the higher ground, while expats and tourists have taken over a flat jungly patch by the shore where paths snake through the dense vegetation.
It’s probably the most expensive town by the lake and obviously caters for the vogue crowd of millennials in search of spiritual enlightenment while on a quest to save the planet one tofu at a time.

Lake Atitlan is the deepest lake in Central America. Katrine and I went for a swim every afternoon. The water was clear and very pleasant. The locals claimed that it had rejuvenating powers. One day we rented kayaks to explore further.

In the evenings we went out for dinner. Because of all the expats there were several very good restaurants in town. We enjoyed delicious Italian, jewish and Japanese food but our favorite place ended up being a Guatemalan restaurant called Jakuu. The place didn’t look like much but great food, big portions and small prices made it a winner.

Fin joined us most nights. So did Nick and Beth until they left town after a couple of days. Charlie occasionally showed up as well. He was staying with a family in town as part of his Spanish course. They fed him, but he always had appetite for an extra meal. One evening he showed up with leftover cake from his host family who had made it to celebrate his 12.000 day’s birthday.

One evening Daniel, our neighbor at Hotel San Antonio tagged along. Back at the hotel he always sang and played his guitar. He was good so nobody minded it. He had an address in New York but spent half his time traveling all over the world. This is how he introduces himself on the Youtube channel that finance his way of life:
“Hi!  I’m Daniel Mackler, a filmmaker, musician, hitchhiking wanderer, former New York City psychotherapist, and explorer of creativity and life.”
He was an interesting and nice guy that fitted right in.

One evening, when it was just Katrine and me, we ended up having a very interesting conversation with Greg and Lily from South Africa. A year earlier, in their late twenties, they had pulled the plug, left  secure corporate jobs to work on a private yacht in an attempt to see the world and save up a chunk of money to buy freedom and allow for more adventures in the future.

The people we meet and the conversations we have are more than anything else what makes our journey interesting and worthwhile.

On our last morning in San Pedro the alarm woke me at 4.30.
It was still dark and very quiet when I opened my laptop on the balcony with a cup of coffee next to me, ready to watch the first MotoGP qualifying session of 2024. Perfect way to start the day.
Fin would be leaving the same day as Katrine and me, but traveling in another direction.
We shared a comprehensive farewell breakfast before hitting the road.

Katrine and I traveled through the mountains along the south shores of Lake Atitlan. The riding and the views were spectacular. At one point the road had washed out and had been rerouted. The detour included a wheel deep river crossing. It was a bit chaotic by the river and we didn’t stop to take pictures. Back on terra firma across the river I asked Katrine if we should turn around, repeat the crossing and try to take some shots. I received a firm no. The first crossing hadn’t allowed her time to think about what she was doing or being concerned before it was over. She felt like doing it again would be tempting fate and asking for trouble.

Early afternoon we arrived in Antigua. We had booked a room just north of the historic downtown.
As the sun started to set and the temperatures dropped we set out to have a closer look at the former capital of Guatemala.

Our evening walk brought us to Brooklyn Pizza Co. Greg the owner greeted us from behind the bar as we walked in. He set out to travel the world on two wheels in 2016. A couple of years later love made him settle down in Guatemala. 2 years ago he opened a bar/restaurant in Antigua. He’s a dormant rider at the moment but invites motorcycle travelers to stop by for a free pizza when they pass through town.

It was great to meet the guy. The pizzas were amazing, the beer cold and the shots plenty.
Greg was hosting Beth and Nick. They showed up later together with Greg’s wife Luisa. We got to bed pretty late that night.

Antigua was a charming city with an interesting history. There is much to see and do both in and around the city.

An overnight hike to the summit of Acatenango with views of the active Fuego volcano is probably at the top of the list for many visitors. Katrine and I were tempted. The night views of Fuego are without a doubt amazing. What is less amazing is the hike itself, the amount of people on the mountain and how commercialized it is. In the end we came to the conclusion that it wasn’t worth it for us. It wasn’t an easy decision.

Instead we spent a couple of days exploring the city itself. It’s not only a popular tourist destination (with good reason) but also a place favored by well off expats. As a result the city is littered with good restaurants, nice bars, artisan bakeries and the like. Not a bad place to hang out!

One day most of downtown was closed to traffic for hours due to a religious procession. Thousands of people participated. They had put in a lot of effort.

On our last night in town we dropped by Brooklyn Pizza Co to give Greg one of our newly printed stickers. He collects them from travellers to put on the bar. We stayed and talked for a while. Eventually Luisa showed up with the British tontos in tow. It was their last night in town as well.
Later Chantal and Arnout from the Netherlands joined us. They had set out in the fall to travel on motorcycles from Alaska to Ushuaia. Shipping issues with their bikes resulted in them never making it to Alaska and now they only expected to reach Panama in the 6 months allotted for the journey.

It has been a common thread among the long term travelers we have met. Even the best laid plans go awry and itineraries change continually. There is a lesson to be learned from that: Don’t waste time planning everything down to the smallest detail before departure. The time is better spent preparing in general – gaining knowledge, learning languages and acquiring/honing useful skills. It will help you adjust as you settle into your journey.

We left town early to make good use of the pleasant morning temperatures. Good roads wound their way through the mountains. Only on the outskirts of Guatemala City did we encounter traffic of any significance. We reached the border to El Salvador at noon. Again we had picked a small crossing with minimal traffic. Everyone was friendly and helpful. Katrine was assigned with the paperwork while I kept an eye on the bikes. The whole process took about 2 hours and the total cost was 50 cents for some copies.

This was our 3rd Latin American border crossing and I feel we are getting the hang of it. The trick is to find a quiet crossing, show up early, well fed and watered, wearing comfortable clothes and prepared to show patience – sometimes the procedures are a bit cumbersome (or outright studpid), but getting annoyed about it doesn’t help. Being polite and having some Spanish skills on the other hand really help move things along!

We checked into a charming motel in Concepción de Ataco, a small mountain village on “Ruta de las flores”. 
The rest of the day was spent exploring the village. It was a great first impression of El Salvadore. People were smiling, friendly and curious. We had some interesting conversations with the locals.

The next couple of days will be spent learning more about what to see and do in El Salvador.