Deep in the heart of Guatemala

Crossing the border into Guatemala was easier than we thought. After checking out ourselves from Belize (and paying the $20 exit fee) as well as the motorcycles, we drove our bikes towards the small border building into Guatemala. We saw a fumigation station and were driving towards it until we were frenetically waived at to back out. This was for cars only: thank God we backed out in time otherwise we would have been fumigated from head to toes. We parked the bikes and headed to the immigration counters: $1.5 entry fee and $4 vehicle import fee each later, we were good to go. We were even able to pay all the fees in dollars. Everyone was nice and helpful and except from a few people trying to seel us nuts or exchange our money, we were not bothered. Our first road experience was not quite what we expected: dirt and gravel for about 30 Kms, and this was supposed to be the main (and only) road from the border. Luckily, it turned into asphalt after a while.

The jungle surrounded ruins of Tikal

Shortly after entering the National Park of Tikal, we stopped for our first lunch in Guatemala and headed towards the ruins, our stomach finally content. For a country that was supposed to be affordable, the entry price of $20/person for non Guatemalans was quite steep! Anyways, we were excited to enter the jungle and see the Mayan ruins. We walked for a while in the jungle, listening to the noise coming from the trees, wondering what birds and other animals were hiding there. We finally reached the main plaza and climbed on one of the two pyramids: what a view! What makes Tikal an exceptional site to visit is that it is nested in this deep green jungle with a rich wildlife. You do have this feeling of beeing in a far away remote place but also in another time, when men were able to build huge pyramids without the help of animals, tools or even the wheel. And seeing these tall buildings still standing today, with some intricate drawing or letters sculpted in the stone is beyond understanding.
For our first night in Guatemala, we headed south west of Tikal to a little town called Flores. It is a quite unique spot well known by travelers: a charming little place on an island, or rather on a peninsula connected to the town of Santa Elena by a bridge, and surrounded by Lake Peten Itza. As we watched the sun set over the lake from the terrace of our hotel, we knew we were going to like this country.

This is what real motorcycle riders do

Our next big stop on Guatemala was going to be Antigua where we wanted to go at least two weeks to a Spanish school. After running some errands, we drove the first day to Coban, getting some rain coming from the tropical storm we had avoided in Belize, and were faced with a dilemma for the second day of the ride. The most direct road would take us through Guatemala City, which we wanted to avoid as we're heard that the drivers are crazy there and it had all the dangers of a big city. According to our map, there was another way through some back roads, and indeed back roads they were as we discovered later! We had to ask several time but finally made it to small town of Rabinal in the mountains and then we could not find the road. We asked the locals again and were told that there was a dirt road only in the mountains, 30 Kms, before we would see pavement again but that it should be doable. We looked at each other and decided to go for it as opposed to drive back to the main road.
What an adventure we went for: it was actually not 30 but 60 Kms of unpaved road and it had it all: dust, rocks, even mud that made our tires slipping and sliding. It was a fun challenge, rewarded by a peak into remote places of the Guatemalan back country and incredible views of the misty mountains. Remote as is was, the road was unexpectedly lively: we crossed and followed numerous trucks, saw all sorts of animals like donkeys, cows and sheep, and saw many locals walking along the road, carrying things on their heads or on a mule. We felt tough and strong after this ride, showing once again that ourselves and the bikes were up for the task. Needless to say, we were dirty and dusty too but happy we had taken the small roads.

A s we stopped in a tiny mountain village for lunch, kids and grown up alike were coming to greet us and check out our bikes. What we had noticed with some surprise when riding the back roads is that a lot of women here ride bikes, almost as much as men, even sometimes driving their kids around. Caroline was happy to meet and see some female riders, a testimony that there were places in the world where this was common:)

The two women preparing some food in the main square offered us some corn and chicken soup along with handmade tortillas. We sat at the simple plastic table, sharing our meal with a few other locals. While eating, we were observing the remarkable techniques of these two girls making corn tortillas with their hand and cooking them on a huge ceramic plate over the fire. Caroline asked them if they could teach her how to do it and so they did, laughing and giggle as she was struggling to shape nice tortilla without breaking or having the dough stick to her hands. She finally managed to shape one and cook it, a little smaller and thicker than it should be, but totally eatable. This was as fun as a lunch could get! We continued our way towards Antigua, our hearts still happy about the moments we had shared with the villagers, and looking forward to learning more Spanish to be able to communicate more and better with the locals.