Took a ride on my bike around Lago Atitlan to some of the smaller, less visited villages. It was a tough ride at times with no pavement but it was completely worth the views and the look into lake indigenous life. Rough, rutted dirt roads and some inside info on bandits between towns made for an interesting ride today. My God, were some of these roads steep! The worst parts were paved with siping that helped me get traction. I can't imagine these "roads" in the rainy season. On a bike like mine at about 700 lbs., it would have been crazy. I'm so lucky that my 2002 r1150 GS Adventure has anti-lock breaks because I slid down steep, dirt trails (road?) a lot of the time. I have video that I will post.
I rode from Panajachel along the lake to San Lucas Toliman and then back to Pana. I went down some one way roads in Toliman and I think the cops were after me but I rode as fast I could out of there as an ignorant American could.
I was warned not to ride the dirt road from San Lucas to Santiago involving guys coming out of the mountains in front and back with machetes. There have been incidents of highway robbery and the guy at my hotel told me that an American on a motorcycle had been killed last year between San Lucas and Santiago. I couldn't find anything online about that but I just had to trust a local. So I kept this in mind as I rode. Fuggedaboudit. If you jump out of the hills with a machete I'll give you my damn camera and tankbag. No problem. I used my Olympus TG-5 that is mounted to my tankbag with a trucker CB lanyard for most of the pics. I'm kind of impressed with this thing for a "tough" point & shoot camera. It's one of my "go to's" for shooting while I ride. Tough as nails. For video I use a magnetic Polaroid Cube Plus 4K. Those videos are soon to come.
By the way, the extra day here was well worth the views I encountered. So glad I did this today. Most likely I will enter El Salvador over the next day (not tomorrow) and will ride the "Ruta de las Flores" from the border to some town my Guatemalan friend told me about. Cisco Prahl. Thanks brother for the info - it helps me a ton.
When I returned to Panajachel, I parked by bike and went into my room to get in normal peoples' clothes to find something to eat. I bought a bunch of some carne tacos to eat on a curb alone when Mayan Anna (she says) from Pana approached me to sell me some things. I tried to tell her in Spanish that I don't need these things and that I have limited room on my bike for "cosas" (things). I think she wants to meet me for lunch tomorrow and then get married or something. I did buy a little purse she made and gave her like 20Q for food tonight. We are supposed to meet for lunch tomorrow and then get married. Who knows? I"m so confused.
Some of these pics are with my Olympus TG-5 Tough. My easiest "go to" camera that I keep on top of my tankbag attached with a CB Mic lanyard so I don't drop it completely while riding (which I do all the time). The kids in the pics, which I talked to for a little while. play with this hoop and stick as they run down the road. Next time your kids complain about something silly, remind them that there are kids out there that only have a stick and hoop to play with.
I was supposed to leave this morning for El Salvador when I woke up feeling pretty sick. Not sure exactly why but if I had to guess it was eating too much crap last night before bed. To save a little money, when I went to the supermercado yesterday I picked up some bread (not NJ bread, sorry) and some kind of cheese with the consistency of feta. I bought some local mayo and made sandwiches. I don't remember washing my hands after handling my new rear tire and inflating it. I woke up this morning feeling like death once over and said to myself that there was no way I was going to pack up and ride a whole day, cross an international border into El Salvador feeling like this. So I put on my O'Neill flipflops, walked my sorry ass over to reception and embarrassingly told them "una mas noche por favor". I've been saying this "one more night" for days now here and they just laughed since this has been repeated for so many days as I plan to leave Panajachel but never actually do.
Spent the day in bed, in and out of sleep and the bathroom, watching "60 Days In" on Netflix and a show about Doomsday Preppers. Ya know, watching these Doomsday people, I'm so glad I don't live this way worrying about something happening that may never happen. Freaks. Finally left my room around 6 PM to go down the street and get a mixta torta for tomorrow.
Tomorrow, definitely I will leave (I think). Meeting a buddy from Guat. City along the way who wants to ride with me for a while to the El Salvador border. Hopefully they let me in with this virus thing.