Honduras - Tela

The guide book said that Teal was one of the 2 most beautiful beaches of the country. Surely something changed since... It could indeed be beautiful, nature having done a good job, but it is now covered with garbage all over. Really disgusting.

Talking to the owner of the bar on the beach, it is just a matter of attitude and resposabilities that got forgotten. Locals throw away their trash, and the authorities say nothing. No money is spent by the town to clean it up, or change anything.

The hotel we stayed in was also one of the worse. I was tempted to build the tent inside the room. The showers didnbt work (we are used to only cold rustic showers but at least water comes out of them) so they gave us a jar of water to clean up.

Teal, not a place to be until things change.

Honduras - Copan Ruinas

The little town of Copan, next to the ruins :




With Palenque in Mexicco and Tikal in Guatemala (my favourite), Copan in Honduras are the 3 main sites for Mayan history. There are actully dozens of sites all over the place. Copan is less impressive regarding its architecture or size, but shows another side of the civilzation by displaying more artistic items and god-related statues.

We were initially welcomed by those beautiful perroquets.

El Salvador - Lago de Caetepeque

El Salavador is the smallest country of Central America, with a sad history of civil war and war with Nicaragua.

At our first stop we met this young kid all excited about the bikes. He looked pretty smart at the same time, for his age. He gladly played the motorcycle gringo.

We spent our first day at another crater lake, in a hostel that had the right spirit. Beautiful and relaxing place. Simple comfort and good attitude, which is all we need. Kagan stayed there 2 days, while I escaped to visit Suchitoto a bit further east.

Guatemala - Gerardo

Leaving Lago de Atitlan towards El Salavdor, we met another rider. This time a local. Gerardo is a lawyer in Guatemala City and was intrigued by the 2 of us and our bikes on the side of the road.

He rode with us for a while and invited us for lunch (it had been a while we hadnt got a proper lunch) . We had a very pleasant conversation and we really apprerciated each other´s company. So well that he invited us to stay in his house in Guatemala City ! Our plan was to go straight to El Salvador, but his kindness made us change our plans. His house out of the city is gorgeaous. Huge and beautiful. He has many bikes and cars. We made his lovely wife, who was initially a bit struck by his invitation, but then showed adorable welcoming and explained a lot about the political and economical side of the country. We joined them for a friend´s party in town and slept in their house. It was the one and only time we were invited in a private house by a local, and we could not have found nicer and more interesting people than Gerardo and his wife.

Gerardo came with us to the border of El Salvador in the morning (1 hour and a half away, good excuse to ride his bike) and helped us for the initial paperwork.

Guatemala - San Pedro and its volcanoe

Lago de Atitlan is beautiful lake formed in an old huge volcanoe crater. Right next to it is another newer volcanoe, San Pedro, that offers a beautiful view from its top. After a fairly hard hike though. The price of the parc entrance (13 dollars) includes a professional guide that brings you to the top and explains to you the vegetation. My guide was a teenager or young adult who apparently wasnt too motivated, and left me after 20 minutes (on a 3 and a half hour hike to the top, then 2 hours to go down). This mother fucker was just too lazy. Other groups I met had proper guides, but it wasnt to be for me. So I did it on my own. Being the last climber of the day, I was the last one at the top, and the last one to go down. Very steep and no proper view before the top, so it´s everything or nothing. I made it in a reasonable time, enjoyed the view, and came back down to see my guide having a beer with his buddies. Asshole.

Guatemala is full of those 3 wheeled taxis. A small motorcycle engine, in a cage frame, awful suspensions. A piece of fun.

Guatemala - Walking on an active volcanoe !

Pacaya is an active volcanoe just an hour and a helf away from Antigua. It was good to get off the bikes and take a mini-van with other tourists. Any coutry in Europe would close the access to such a volcanoe but here they make an attraction out of it. And it is so worth it ! We had a good guide and were able to walk on the lava ! We could have stepped into hot lava if we wanted to. Simply amazing. No a good time to have the laces undone.

The village down the volcanoe and the people living there were going on with their everyday life, kids cutting stuff in the woods, people on those mini-horses they seem to use a lot in guatemala.
It is amazing what Guatemala has to offer.

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