Christmas in Antigua

It has been some time since we last posted. But we have a legitimate excuse. After we left Mexico and entered Guatemala our road life changed a lot. We went to lake Attitlan for a couple of days. Then we drove into Guatemala City to get the bikes serviced for the next 10000 km of driving.

Guatemala City is big, spooky, and GPS would do no good. We managed to find the BMW dealer and get the bikes serviced. But the 2 days we spent in the heart of the city were like going back to 1969. We are assured by Guatemalan friends that the city we saw is not indicative of the city in general. We did not see miles of slums or degraded conditions. It was more a feeling that something was amiss.

We got out of Guatemala City on Friday Dec 19 and went to Antigua. Those of you familiar with Antigua know what a great place it is. For those of you who do not, let me assure you that for $25 US you can find a great hotel room with parking for the motorcycle. There are scores of hotels, lots of visitors, and plenty to keep you occupied.

On Dec 20 Mary, Wendy, Annie Odinas , and Bob and Sandy Wickersham showed up for Christmas week. Marty and I moved from the Black Cat Inn ( $33 per night for 2, with breakfast ) to the Quinta De Las Flores ( $140 per night for the Casita sleeps 5 - fireplace- pool- spectacular place). This was quite the change for Marty and me. We got used to staying in some pretty modest hotels. Toilet seats are not always included!!

So for the past 6 days we have been "touring" Guatemala with the family. I have worked so many projects here and visited with Mary before. So finding something new is a challenge. But we did it. The Dec 21 celebration in Chichicastenango was pretty over the top. This is basically a Mayan celebration asserting their heritage and superiority over Spanish colonial domination. They get one day. Then its back to the 21st century and the inevitable press of Western Civilization. Guatemala is one of those countries with a very large indigenous population. Many of these people live in poverty, butothers are quite successful. Those who think that indigenous people can somehow recoup the past 500 years are living a dream. Even those who wear the traditional garb want the trappings of european life including Toyota pickups, satellite TV, and the access to information that modern Spanish affords their children. The percentage of capitalists among the Maya is about 100% based on the number of them running their own stores, stalls, and trying to sell me souveniers. Lots of self employed people here running everything from knife sharpener machines to masons.

Part of our time was spent with some Dutch people who build concrete block houses for local families. The family only pays a part of the cost. The NGO picks up the rest. But getting to the jobsite requires the mandatory ride in the back of a Toyota pickup. Marty missed this trip, and the Dutch girl Inge. If you snooze you loose.

Marty and I are off to El Salvadore on Dec 27. We hope you enjoy the photos.

By the way. We got new tires and a new windshield. It cost a little duty, but everything is back in running condition.

Chiapas

We arrived in Villahermosa on Tuesday Dec 9. All the way from Mexico City we ran into Pilgrims running with torches for the Lady of Guadalupe Feast Day on Dec 12. When we pulled into Villahermosa Marty and me were able to meet up with old friend from Alliance Lucila Negrete. Lucy found us a great hotel and acted as escort to find it.

The next morning we left for San Christobal de las Casas. Well I found a truly great place. This is one of those locations that is high, cool, urbane, surrounded by the pines, tons to do and see, and relatively inexpensive. So we spent the week here while Marty looked at some reforestation projects and I tried to find tires and fixed the bikes, again.

I am now an expert at finding welders. It takes me about a half hour to find the one shop in any town that can weld aluminium. It is a lot of fun hanging with those guys. But it is becoming time consuming. Until you have ridden on the Mexican “libres” it is hard to explain the pounding the bikes take just going through a town. Getting to San Christobal required a water crossing and 3 offroad adventures necessitated by the destruction of the highway.

Lets talk about religion for a minute. Dec 12 was the feast of Our Lady of Gaudalupe. Now significant inroads to Catholicism have been made in Mexico, but on Dec 12 everyone is Catholic. If you are not Catholic you miss the party. Just that simple. It is not just a matter of religion. It is a matter of national identity and society- literally. People organize into Pilgrimage groups that run down the interstate and highways, some barefoot, some with torches. But on Dec 12 they all pull into town. It is a great time. Lots of music, noise , fireworks, people. So religions that do not venerate Mary or the Catholic saints are at a real disadvantage, because the feasts days are party time,

We are headed for Guatamala on Monday. So I expect it will be a while before we can post again.

We Are Blessed

Well Marty and I made it to Mexico City. As you know if you are following our blog, Guadalajara was a kind of a sore spot. We had a very good experience with our Posada, and very poor experience with the motos. I thought I had a replacement windshield coming through the local BMW dealer, and they said it had arrived on Thursday at noon but I should call back at 5 after the shipment had been unpacked. But when I actually showed up at 3 it turned out the part had not arrived. You should have seen the look on their faces. Anyway, I still don’t have a windshield and really don’t care. I hope to get one for Christmas!

Then on Friday we clawed our way out of Guadalajara for 2 hrs. We thought Guadalajara was a big city. We were in for a great awakening. A great ride on good roads all day. When we approached Mexico City the reality of entering a city of 26 million people started to makes its impression. We pulled over after the last toll booth and waited for our “escort “into the northern part of Mexico City. What a ride. Traffic is absolute controlled chaos. We made it to a great hotel and parked the bikes. A great decision.

On Saturday we went to the Zocalo, the original Aztec city upon which Mexico City is now built. I report that the conquest of Mesoamerica is complete. The ancient Aztec center had a sledding hill and ice rink installed for Christmas. So we watched millions of Mexicans milling around the great square lined up to sled down a hill with man made snow and view the gamboni clean the ice where once Aztec kings ruled. Then we found an authentic Aztec priest and were blessed and cleansed spiritually at the site of the old Aztec temple. I am absolutely sure the guy was authentic because he was missing a bunch of teeth and was barefoot. The other competing priest was wearing reboks, so we were assured our guy was authentic.

Mexico City was made memorable by the hospitality of Marco Horta and his dad Fausto and step mom Elizabeth. Marco showed us around. Fausto arranged a Harley escort out of Mexico City on Sunday. Good thing too because the traffic never let up!!

Harleys are a big deal in Mexico too. In fact Fausto has what amounts to a Harley shrine in his house. All Nebraskans are familiar with the “Big Red” room some people have with all the pictures and memorabililia. Well Fausto has one for Harley Davidson in his house. Pretty impressive, and a little imposing. It could pass as a Harley store. Marty and I on the other hand are bug encrusted enduro riders missing parts and trusting that the grime on our machines is what is now holding them together.

So on Sunday when we rode with the Harley guys to Puebla we found a full rally going on. Lots of Harleys!! But they all stay on the pavement. See the picture of the guy with the skull mask!!

Anyway we made it to Cordoba tonight. A wonderful colonial city. We are in the center and the party is underway. The square is filled. Bands are playing and the parade is in full swing.
I want to report on one more incident. Last weekend Marty and I had ridden to Colima, near Manzanillo, to look at some volcanoes. As we approached home on the return ride we missed a turn and asked a federal policeman for directions. He gave them. But as we rode away a police car followed us, turned on the flashers and pulled us over. Four “federales” climbed out as we shut down the bikes. Turns out we had been give just a little wrong info. So they chased us down to make sure we got home. I should say that all the Mexican police we have talked with and army too, are very professional, polite, and helpful. But the Federal Police really went beyond the call of duty to help us out. Moreover, the police forces seem to be equal opportunity. We see so many women motorcycle cops, especially in the big cities.

That’s it for a while. Next report is from Chiapis.

Please Watch for Animals and Street Kids, Next 10,000 miles

Sorry to those of you have been following us for not writing sooner. I guess we have just been so busy and full of excitement that our blog, or at least my portion, has not been as up to date. The last week or two has been full of adventure, some good some bad. The bad is always more interesting than the good. Since I last blogged we crossed the Sea of Cortez and rode up to Durango along what is quite possibly the scariest road I have every riden. The "Spine of the Devil" may need a better name simple because that does not express the sheer terror dad and I felt while we rode the 100 plus miles of curves intermingled with semi-trucks, cows, rabid dogs, and the occational person walking in the road. But we made it to the very unlikely destination point of El Salto, a mixture of dusty saw mill town and Deedwood, South Dakota. A day later we rode into Durango, sounds like a nice place, but really not much more than a big church in the middle of town. Although Durango was the point in the trip where we decided that we could no longer spend $40 a night on hotels, with the fear of going broke, and began staying in the cheapest places possible. The difference between a $25 hotel and a $30 hotel is very obvious to us now. We had a few day before we had to be in Guadalajara to meet with the Mexican Forestry Commision (Yesterday and Today) so we decided to go to Zacatacas and then down to Chapala. We kind of got ourselves freaked out about Guadalajara. I mean what is there to fear about riding a motorcycle through latin american town of 9 million people. Well everything was going fine until the first stoplight in Guadalajara. The street kids surrounded us and were asking where we were headed. Between the street kids, the guy in the truck next to me and my dad yelling out the name of the town we were headed to I totally freaked out took off weaving in between traffic to get to the front, the left turn light turned green and I went. Unfortunately dad was not directly behind me, he had been "bumped" by a truck and was apparently pinned between his bike and another truck. The same street kids that freaked me out help dad get back up right and he made it through the light. I was freaking out thinking god only knows what happenen to him. I kept calling on my radio "Dad, turn left" with no response. I was thankful to see him make the turn, but his windshield was broken and both of our nerves were completely shot for the day. We finally got through Guadalajara and on the Chapala where we stayed for three nights. Sunday we took a day trip to the Colima Volcano, a little to long for a day trip. For some reason we've been freaking ourselves out, getting stressed out about stuff that really doesn't matter or can be fixed with money. It never ceases to amaze me that when we feel we have a insurmountable problem the solution suddenly appears. All I can say is that the Universe Provides. So Monday we drove back into Guadalajara and found our cheapest hotel yet, a point I am very proud of. We are actually not in Guadalajara but the northern suburb or Zapopan. Point of intest though is that Zapopan is just as large as Guadalajara in size, but whereas our Lonely Planet book has 20 pages dedicated to Guadalajara it has one half a page dedicated to Zapopan. Yesterday and today we visited with the National Commission of Forestry, talking about and visiting two communities that are paid to conserve their forest for the protection of the watershed. This is hopefully our first of four visits to Payments for Environmental Services programs along the the route. The visit was a success, we both spoke way to much spanish in one day. Our brains are fried, but we difinetely saw some areas of Mexico that very few visitors will ever see. Just a note to those who do not know Mexico very well, like me before this trip. There are like 30 Mexicos inside Mexico, and everyone is distinct in culture, climate and land. I would say that the represntation of Mexico on the Simpsons is most like Nogales. Manana hopefully we get a new wind shield for dad and then on to Mexico City.