Sunrise over Lake Atitlan

Leaving the Hotel Laura

Church in Chiquimula

"Our best shot"

It started to rain in San Cristobal, and we weighed the advantaged and disadvantages of waiting out the weather or moving on. When we heard that the rain could last for ten days, we saddled up our rides and moved on. It was wet all the way to La Mesilla, on the Guatemala border. After finishing our paperwork, we decided to stay at the locally recommended Hotel Laura, owned by an Mexican who had lived in San Diego for 18 year and drove long haul trucks across the US. We enjoyed the place and the food. The hot tub was the temperature of the rain, so we decided to pass on it.

The next day it continued to rain all the way to Lake Atitlan. We and our gear got soaked. Landon´s map was not up to par, so ended up in a small fishing village on a cow path of a short cut that the locals said was passable. We gave it our best shot, but ended up taking a sidewalk back into town and backtracked to the main road on Lou´s map. We arrived at Santiago Atitlan at dark, negotiated a hotel room (actually three hotel rooms) and ate supper on the plaza. It seemed a somber little town, especially in the rain, but the zocolo was alive, and we enjoyed our meal a lot.

This morning it was clear, for the first time in days. We dropped out of the mountains to the CA2 highway along the coast. Then we went through Guatemala City with its traffic and smog. It took almost two hours for us to make an escape on the CA9 to the north and east towards Chiquimula. We like this town. It seems like the whole town was aware of our presence within a few minutes of our arrival. We have a hotel room with a balcony on the square and a fresh pineapple in the bag. We´re so glad to be here and to be dry.

Hasta luego.