Fuentes Georginas

Fuentes Georginas, located next to the town of Zunil, is a place with thermal waters, plus restaurands and lodging. A 10km mountain road takes the traveller from the main road to this place, offering very spectacular views. One thing that we noticed is that every area suitable for agriculture was used, even when high on the mountain. And people were everywhere working the land.226 geor227 geor225 geor229 geor230 geor

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Quetzaltenango, Guatemala

Immediately after the border, EVERYTHING CHANGED. In Mexico there was a dry/warm climate, flat land and an average of 2-300m altitude. But as we passed to Guatemala, after riding for about 500m, something unseen (by us) appeared: the road strartet climbing aggresively (we got to 2800m after less than 20km), and there was a jungle with some plants with HUGE leaves, bigger than ourselves. We made no pictures at that point, since it was kinda dark… plus no mood for art, since the bike was overheating every 10 minutes, as the radiator fan was dead.

The first city was Quetzaltenango, Guatemala’s second most important city so we decided to spend one day here. But even with a positive thinking, there is not much to see/do. The buidings were all covered with a thick layer of dust, no trees, no grass, almost no parks, and the “historic center” had an appaling look. But mechanics were good, so we were able to adapt a Yamaha radiator fan. Ours has been broken down for two days.219 que220 que221 que222 que223 que224 que

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The border to Guatemala

Before reaching the border, we were somehow concerned, after reading other peoples’ stories about crossing from one country to the other. Estimates varied from 4 to 10 hours of waiting time.

Once the people in the vicinity of the checkpoint became aware of our presence, they all started rushing to us. Everybody had something to offer: some guys dealt with currency exchange, others claimed to have connections at the customs office that can help us with papers, or guard the motorcycle, find a better parking location, bring food, water, sell newspapers, candy, sun glasses, sombreros, religious artifacts etc.

As we proceeded with the formalities (without accepting help from bystanders) we learned that the process is actually simple enough and can actually take up to 1 hour. No bribes were required but we had to pay $1.50 for spraying the bike with some substance that was supposed to keep disease and germs outside of Guatemala. The officials were friendly and helpful.

While we were waiting for stamps and visas, we observers a countinuous flux of totaled cars comming from USA. The people doing this were better organised than their romanian counterparts I know about, each driver being able to bring two cars with the aid of a special towing device that was attached to the towed car’s frame after having removed the bumper cover. In addition, both cars were stuffed with used parts, household appliances, electronics, clothing etc.216 border217 border218 border

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