OverlandSphere
Overland Travel, Expedition & Adventure Information for 4x4, motorcycle and truck overlanders
After seven months in Mexico, we spent one month in Guatemala, one week (!) in El Salvador, and two weeks in Honduras. I wanted to write about these countries politics and past, but I won’t. It’s hard to write an opinion on these things, because they are so complicated. And it would be dumb to think I got some kind…
Even though I now carry a tiny camera, sometimes I just don’t have it on me. …like at this carnival in Los Naranjos, Honduras. in Suchitoto, El Salvador Having lunch on the beach in Sambo Creek, Honduras Spying a Juan emerging from his natural habitat at the two-person dorm room in Hotel El Mesón, Estelí, Nicaragua. That epic coconut curry…
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This past week my beloved little brother and his new wife came to join us in Guatemala. Traveling in style We spent two nights in Antigua, two in Panajachel on Lake Atitlán, two on the Pacific Coast in Monterico, and then one night back in Antigua before they went back north to California. Boot shopping in Jocotenango In Panajachel, we…
This was the road from Panajachel back to Antigua. It was like being back in Baja, but actually passable. All the overlanders seem to camp at Visión Azul in Panajachel. It’s got a pool, a nice lawn, and is next door to a fancy hotel with a helicopter landing pad. But the campground had one major bummer: sand flies that…
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Juan and I usually manage to avoid double-posting about things, but this has been a diverse week with lots to mention. The drive from Quetzaltenango (Xela) to Guatemala City was effortless and pretty, but getting out of Guatemala City was difficult. Driving at night from Guatemala City to Cobán was just awful. The road isn’t lit at all, and so…
Since we were in Cobán already, it didn’t make sense to not go to Semuc Champey, only 67 Km away and one of the most beautiful places in Guatemala from what we were told. So we went. We spent one night in Lanquin, about 9 Km from Semuc Champey, just because we hadn’t decided whether to drive there or to…
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Yesterday we left Antiqua, in the process of doing so we bumped into Julio, a well known Austrian who has lived in Guatemala for a long time, it was a fortuitous meeting as he was able to give us loads of advice on Mexico and in doing so saved us a laborious 1000 mile detour to see some Mayan ruins,…
We have been enjoying a couple of days rest here in the pretty Colonial town of Antigua, time to catch up on the admin, organise insurance for Mexico and do some forward planning, it isn’t all riding bikes you know! Antigua has been destroyed twice by earthquakes, one caused a flood after the lake on top of the volcano that…
The great thing about traveling the way we are doing it is that we are always open to change plans. Last Thursday, we were on our second day in Quetzaltenango. We loved that city, so we were thinking about staying an extra couple of nights. So there I was, having breakfast at a nice coffee shop, looking online for more…
As you can see from the title we have been busy suffering Central America’s notorious border crossings, first let me say that technically they aren’t difficult but the standing around in full bike gear sweating more than in a sauna in 40 Degree heat and high humidity makes it all a little more trying, however no point in moaning because…
Our first few days in Guatemala have been eventful. The border crossing was easy–Milo and the pony required more paperwork than either of us. I might or might not have been shaken down for 20 pesos (less than $2). I call those tourist fees. On the advice of an overlander we met in San Cristóbal, we took the long and…
A couple of days ago we crossed from México to Toyotatenango (some people call this place Guatemala) Every other car on the road is a Toyota truck. The rest are Toyota vans, Toyota Tercels, and the odd non-Toyota here and there. There are also a lot of trucks that were written off the taxes of American companies: …
After a few weeks in Guatemala we were armed and ready to cross into El Salvador. Thanks to LifeRemotely for their step-by-step instructions. (For anyone following their directions, they did get their rights and lefts confused after an unplanned u-turn). We successfully cancelled our Guatemala vehicle permit and made our way to the El Salvador vehicle permit office. We anxiously…
After only a few days in Belize, we headed to Guatemala. Guatemala is a gorgeous country with caves, rivers, large lakes, ocean, mountains, good smooth roads, and lots of really bad roads. Our visit to Guatemala started at the mother-of-all Mayan ruins called Tikal. Indeed, they were impressive, but to be honest, our favorite part was the wildlife. Tikal is…
The roads leading to Tikal were surprisingly smooth, with the exception of a few miles of teeth chattering bumps. We had heard the roads were much worse conditions than Belize or Mexico, however, so far so good. As we entered more dense growth along the way, we were excited to see the over head sign announcing we had arrived in…
After we loaded into the Landrover, we had one more stop to make. Natalie, Mckinley’s wife was flying in to Belize City from work to join us on the expedition. We will be traveling for three weeks through Guatamala and then back into Belize for another week. The airport is small,so finding her was a breeze. We loaded her luggage…
its a bit slower than planes, trains and automobiles, but we make it work… In the morning we decide to use the shade of the parking space to swap out the wrench come washer for some real washers we picked up during our drive yesterday. We get the bus jacked and are propping up the transmission when POP – our…
We pull out of the surf house and rattle down the sandy road. Eventually we run back into pavement and continue past puerto san jose and several small villages along the road all with the backdrop of large houses along the water. The streets are littered with signs advertising resorts and hotels and we cant help but wonder where the…
sadly, the boards remain dusty and strapped to the roof of the bus. I woke up with a bit of a restless tummy, but jen didn’t mind giving the toe another day to heal and the waves looked like mush anyway, so we missed the morning session… Turned out the tummy wasn’t the only thing restless..by afternoon i was achy…
We successfully made our way back into guatemala, meaning we are no longer driving the roads of mexico (illegally). The border crossing wasn’t exactly what we might call smooth or fast, but we did get across nonetheless… Despite what we’d been told, canceling our expired vehicle permit actually was no problem and things on the mexican side of the border…
After recovering from being sick and crazy tuk tuk rides, we started our first of twenty total days of Spanish classes. We met our teachers up at the office area. Nate and his teacher Juan headed down to their booth to start learning. Magdalena was my teacher and she meant business! The first day was mostly questions about our trip…
Setting out from Antigua at 11 am Daniel, Orvar, and I rode thru the capital towards Cuilapa and south to the border town of Pedro de Alvarado. On the way we were stopped waiting almost an hour at a construction zone. We met a nice couple Shimon and Veronica from San Salvador there and we stopped down the road with…
GuateRider organized a road trip from Antigua up to the Quiche area of Guatemala. We had an international team from Guatemala, El Salvador, Germany, Canada, and Australia. We met up with Megan in Antigua riding her Kawasaki from Edmonton. Frank from Germany via Bolivia and Mozambique, came from Guatemala City and joined us in Tecpan for breakfast. He was representing…
If foreign a destination is renowned for Civil war, Political unrest, corruption at all levels and tainted with violence and threats to safety, ostensibly western opinion will tend to be bias in the negative. One such nation is called Guatemala. Guatemalan history is one of great controversy. Mixed with the looming Mayan legacy, thriving culture, spectacular jungle scenery, technicolor fabrics,…
I saw my first tuk tuk in Guatemala, bombing down the road at about 30 miles per hour, just outside of Tikal. I’ve heard of these interesting contraptions before, but had never seen one in real life. I was snapping multiple pictures of one particular tuk tuk like I would never see another one again. Little did I know, I…
Now for the BEACH! we set out from Antigua in a pleasant 24, but as we drove closer to the coast it was 35 degrees. The ride here is nice and with very few of the dreaded tope. You pay a 5Q toll to cross the bridge over the canal in the mangroves to get access to Monterrico, which is…