Xela, The Weekend WOHHOH

Sabado (Saturday) was a sleep in ... no pictures of that. :evil

We decided to take the day off, wonder around Xela centro, go to the market etc and just take the place in and case it out.

It started with a choco coco .... no explanation needed, measured by chocolateonfacesmileinpublic grin <---- like this fella but brown!!



Ellen was a little more lady like



We had a great walk including finding longer screws for the top case for spacers and taking in the huge market.

Mangos ...... mangos ... argh we splashed out and bought two huge mangos for 5Q which is about 64 cents for the two, these were for the hot pools the next day.

Saw a 27.5 inch mountain bike for the first time although probably old news now I was excited to see it.

Domingo (Sunday) was almost a sleep in with breaky at 8.30 am and Fuentas Georgina lined up for the day.

Fuentes Georginas is a neat hot pool centre sitting at about 2800 metres up in the cloud and fog line.

Time to break out the moto and take a 16 km ride, out of town was hard work as most centros are but once out of town and up to the access road that was as wide a one car in places it was neat fun.



It is incredible where the Guatemalans plant crops with some incredibly steep faces being farmed.



Crops brought to the road side and friendly wave from a friendly Guatemalan ... not hard to find here at all. :clap





The hot pools (Aqua Caliente) are in an amazing setting, the first pool at the top is a little too hot to start with and you have to get in quietly and can only stay in for a short while.



The next pool down is very comfy and can turn you into a prune cos you realize how long you have been sitting in there, then there is a kids pool which is shallow.



Ellen enjoying her back being tampt by the hot water, check out the ladys look on her face to the right of Ellen :huh :eek1 .... I am sure it wasn't us



Right at the entrance there is another hot pool in a rock setting on the left hand side which is very cool so we made the most of that too.







Out treat for the day was to have the mangos from the market and they were simple beautiful providing the much needed orange ring around my mouth supported by a contented grin.

Having a late lunch there we chose the cheese burger option which come with chips and salad and come highly recommended.



Setting off for home looking like heated prunes we rode back partly through fog then popping out below the great white canopy allowing spectacular views of the valley giving us appreciation of our elevation.





One horsepower can move a lot but 100 HP is more fun :rofl



This is the town of Zunil that you take the turnoff up to the springs





All in all a great trip from Xela, not far away and very nice.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Mind you Hanmer springs in N.Z are pretty nice too,also some really nice one's on a back road(dirt) in the Canadian rockies.country over all , it looks beautiful.,

Heya mate yeap they rate highly too, very nice setup especially after a hard day trail biking or mountain biking.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Xela Week Two

Greetings people, this week has been a trial of man and machine, I thought I was a machine but nup. :eek1

The week started like every school weeks starts when you are having your mid life crisis and learning a second language ..... for fun.:huh

Although I managed to drop a few bombs in the Latin American section of ADV Merino Wool Shirts?? - ADVrider in my Merino T Shirts thread (go have a look at my expense) progress has been good.

Everyday I felt bombed in the head means I am going forward, Ellen on the other hand is flying through with honours and doing extremely well.

We are surrounded by mostly younger folk (hate saying that) ((approx 15 - 20 years younger than us)) and wanted to feel a little more sporting although most of them take their hats off to us for our trip and they too feel totally spent after each day so we don’t feel so bad knowing that. :clap

Ellen decided to ditch her grey hair and sportingly go slightly rojo (red), I decided it was time to honour my long time want of a getting a chain tattoo ... so I did just a symbol of my passion for motorcycles and mountain bikes ..... hope I never wonna buy a BMW 1200 GS !!!!



Finished pic will be posted when complete :evil

So all in all really enjoying Xela and the Spanish lessons as they will make such a difference south of here.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Xela, The Weekend No Two

Sabado (Saturday) a leisurely start, breaky and the usuals.

Game plan was to catch up with Dan and Elaine in San Pedro at Lake Atitlan.

Setting off from Xela we fueled up and looked down the road, the entire main road out of town for (as it turned out) 10 km was closed for a cycle race coming into town. :huh

Hmmmm, needed a game plan to get out cos we had no other way of getting out of town, seeing another big bike with lights on and camera gear ...hmmm ...saweeet.

We rode across the road, passed the Police and some organiser looking types with day glo jackets and proceeded to head out of town at around 40 km per hour staying close to the crowd who seemed to assume we were crowd control.

I switched on the LED lights, Ellen had her camera out so we carried on with thousands of people lining the streets and us looking like official crowd controllers staying in the right lane!!!



So we carried on looking as official as we could pushing the crowd back who respected our authority and we carried on all the way out of town, 3/4 the way out we had a Police vehicle come up behind us then beside us .... they waved at us and acknowledged the great crowd control job we were doing and carried on....too easy, these guys even have a welcome sign :rofl



It was really surreal seeing thousands of people lining the streets and we having the entire road to ourselves, the racing bikes had already headed passed us in the opposite direction so we knew we were not causing trouble and turns out unwittingly helping out, Ellen waved to the crowd and they waved back so we just ran with it. clap

So back down to earth from ten minutes of respect and royalty we carried on our merry way .... Mrs.Garmin was having a siesta and sent us AWOL, we found ourselves taking an incredible little shortcut which turned into a very steep and rutted dirt road, down to first gear and making our way up I was hoping it was not going to get much steeper as I was running out of skill very quickly.



We popped up and out onto the main road and literally had the bike length to stop in on the shoulder and given I was still up it she was all hands on deck to stop with big suspension compression and full anchors.

I headed straight across the road only to find we where heading the wrong way, Mrs.Garmin then got her shit together recognising we were on a main drag and told us to turn around .... in 6 km!!!!

We stopped, looked around, with no-one watching I lined up a plastic bottle on the curb using it as a ramped and we jumped the center island and back on track.

The rest of the trip was normal so that was easier and with the day being stunning we had epic views 3000 metres above stress level seeing for mile each side.

I missed our turnoff, was gonna do another stuntman maneuver but we had Feds watching us and given our earlier game we decided to play it safe and take the next turn off in which we rode through villages etc so quite a cool wee side tour.

Carrying on the road to San Pedro we crested the hill which overlooked Lake Atitlan, coupled with the clear day and our elevation we were wowed.



With potholes, shingle, fine powder etc we finally made it to San Pedro, fluffing around we tried to find a cafe with Wifi so we could contact Dan and Elaine so we rode up the street ..... well their she was on her way back from a tramp so we pulled up beside her and said “where do you think you are going?”



Being a non petrolhead and tired she didn’t even recognize us until we stopped so it was funny.

San Pedro is a cool wee place, very gringo but nice, this is the alleyway leading to our hotel which was 50 Q so about $6.45.



For some reason which are to find out yet some old waterfront building are in the water and half submerged.







Wifi .... yeap :evil



This place the basement is totally under!!



The "ex" waterfront still makes for great photos.



There is some really groovy painted shops there too with incredible colours.



The cab drivers seem to be having some sort of hotrod competition dressing their taxis with all sorts



On Sunday morning we walked up the hill behind the town and watched soccer game, these guys were good with some real expert footwork.

See the ball, 1/4 of a second after I took that pic the ball slammed the fence straight in front of our noses .... that is 300mm away :eek1 ... I shit myself



Leaving San Pedro the streets wee busy with markets and we found a sign, no need to say anything more :eek1





On our return home at 3200 meters the fog came in so thick we were down to first gear in places and the temperature dropped to 8 deg C

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Great report,photo's up to your usual standard.

Buenas dias de Guatemala

Good morning from Guatemala

Today is our one year anniversary having been 365 days on the road, we left New Zealand on 3rd May 2012.

We celebrate our day in Xela at our Spanish School with our other inmates over dinner and drinks

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Congratulations Andi & Ellen....One year already! Well Done! time sure flies....

I hear you with the Espagnol at our age....old dog, new tricks etc...

Keep up the good 'work' guys!

(man) Hugs from Lisa & me

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Cheers
Grif

'11 KTM 450 EXC
'09 Suzuki DR650
'00 Discovery Series 2 V8
'95 Defender 90 300 Tdi Overlander
http://gipperstravels.blogspot.ca

Heya guys great to hear from you.

Espanol gettin better s l o w e l y

Man hugs accepted and big hugs to Lisa

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Congratulations on your one year anniversary of being on the road. Fantastic job I am really enjoying your reports. Thanks

Great having you along Rob, it is really nice to know we are not writing into thin air.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Xela Week Three

Well another torturous week of espanol full on training and learning, head saw everyday so progress is good.



This week Ellen and I did half time change sides with our teachers, Ellens original teacher somewhat more fun than mine. :clap

I learnt that in spanish if someone says “es muy caliente” it is very hot, if you say “yo estoy muy caliente” (I am hot) it means “I am hot for you and want sex” :huh :evil :eek1:lol3:eek1:shog

Do I seriously need to explain on a hot day my wee stuff-up .... no I didn’t think so, lets just say gramma was not my strong point when I was younger and whaddaya know it still isn’t ... but I am learning, I should be out of jail next week. :hung

Wednesday night we were treated to a lightning storm, we were about 15 minutes late back to the casa to catch the storm on top of Xela but it did provide some neat backdrops again the mountains.

Muy bonito (very beautiful)



Just stunning watching the anger and listening to it :clap



What a treat clap





Got the mid week study blues and had to take a pic cos this is just wrong, Maya lookin lonely and me wanting to go for a ride rather than study so a severe warning to other travellers of these inherent dangers.:evil



So with a mostly uneventful week at school we were looking forward to Friday for two reasons, firstly it is Friday and our working week finishes, secondly and more importantly it was out 1 year celebration on the road so with a potluck dinner at school planned it was game on.

This is the menu board and I will explain one word which essentially you can read the entire board, each of us had to bring something and note it so we didn't end up with 20kgs of tacos with no filling, the word you need to know is Frito .. this means fried, the menu was recklessly attacked by an american :rofl .... the rest is up to you :evil ... do read it all.



Armed with a box of cheap (frito) wine, a (frito) chocolate caked lovingly baked by visa and some home made (Frito) guacamole we went to the party with our school amigos.



365 days since we evicted ourselves from New Zealand and here we are back at school.:huh

The night was an early finish (11pm) for us given Ellen had a 5.00am start and I was heading away for a ride.

Good night all, thanks to all who have followed us and supported us through thick and thin. clap

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Xela, The Weekend No Three

Sabado (Saturday).... no leisurely start today, things to do, people to meet, places to go, Ellen hopped up at 5.00 am for her hiking trip up Tajumulco Volcano the highest in Central America, breaky as usual for me though.

Meeting up with Juan (what car?? from ADV) we were also making our assault up the mighty volcano but ours was at a gentlemanly hour of 9.00am.

Leaving Xela was easy with local knowledge and we were soon up to 3000 metres looking down on the world, the road conditions pretty good with the usual Guatemalan stuntmen on the road and the weather playing perfectly into our hands.



They paint the big rocks purple with the curbing painted purple and white, something we had not seen before, purple and orange go well together :evil.



Turning off at San Sabastian we started our assault on a cobbled road that soon turned into dirt and rock, wet in places and rolly rocks wanting to steal our front wheels we had to keep our mind on the job.





Juan was obviously thinking of hot chics or something as his bike decided it was time for a break and lay down, Maya on the other hand was scared of getting her hands dirty and stayed upright.

We rode a few km up to a turning point and stopped there, the track was getting steeper and wetter and with the fog rolling in we were not going to see anything and it was almost 2.00pm by then anyway so we turned back, also the bit we are allowed to ride on finishes at the red hilux just above my right mirror ...you will have to look hard.



Views all round when the mist cleared momentarily



The two amigos



Looking back down the hill with the fog beneath us.



Juan on an easier section on the way down



The paved section only 1 km from the road


Given the time we stopped for lunch in a place call Los Vegas ....it was kinda the same as were were on the main drag.... not a bad view :evil



From there taking the coastal way home we ventured off into the unknown, although we didn’t get lost we had a very, VERY good look around with Mrs.Garmin not being as local as we wanted her to be.

Riding through some stunning back road territory we hit some mainish roads and swapped bikes so I rode the 990 Adventure and Juan rode the 950 SE, this was a great comparo back to back with the SE engine being a lot smoother in the engine..... hopefully not from low compression!!!:eek1

The SE certainly feels like a bigarse trail bike compared to the Adventure with the Adventure feeling a lot more roady like, interesting the seating position with really sitting into the SE and sitting on the Adventure, certainly with the bar risers on the SE it makes life easier standing offroad.

We hit the inland road back towards Xela bordering dark then hit the fog in the dark .... this slowed progress a bit, for the first time I got to really appreciate the power of the Rigid Industries lighting which is outstanding in a very black night that just stole the OEM headlight so very grateful for these, also for nasty Guatemalans who didn’t wonna dip their lights they had the floodlights poked in their face ....that made em dip.:clap

We eventually hit town again and I rocked in the door at 7.45 pm with a grin and a half like this guy -> , slightly completely stuffed.

Huge thanks to Juan for local knowledge and just having a dudes day out riding.

Domingo (Sunday), Tarea (homework) for most of the day until Ellen got home at 2.30 pm then off to the cafe to post this stuff.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

We had dinner in an Indian restaurant. The asian restaurant we were going to go is closed on Tuesday.

Anyway, I have to say the Indian restaurante is really nice.

We invited Juan as well, here is the photos to approve.


I have to test Andi's shaved face, he did a good job



dinner with Juan

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

I wanted to hike in one of the surrounding volcans in Xela, finally chose to go with Kaqchikel - a local tour company to do a two day hike.

Saturday 6am I meet other hikers at the company’s office. Two chicas from spain and one chica from Germany, todos las four chicas! Our guide Jose is a 26 year old local boy. I know what Andi would say about him : the lucky bustard. But if he knew what Jose had to carry, a backpack loaded with tent, water, food and cooking gear over 35kg, he might change his mind. We set off on a local bus to get to the bus station, then changed to a chicken bus from Xela to San Juan then another chicken bus to the bottom of Volcan Tajumulco.

It’s my second time on the chicken bus, they don’t leave until it’s fully full. The seat is comfortable to sit two people, but in Guatemala they fit three. Now I know why it called " Chicken bus."

It took us two and half hours to get to the entry of the park, then we start to climb. The hiking itself is not difficult, but with my backpack over 15kgs, it’s pretty hard. We stopped mid way having our lunch. I knew Andi and Juan would come up this way, so I was keep looking back, hope they come in time I really missed him then (for the right reason).

The same place Andi took his photos, unfortunately we were about an hour earlier.



The "lucky" boy



After lunch the fog/cloud started to roll in. We also meet a big group of people from US - They are talking pretty loud, we could hear them from a distance. I preferred our small group and I practiced my Spanish as well.





After 4 hours hiking we got to the camp site. There was a big local group up there as well. We set up our tent a little bit further away from the main group so we can have our “tranquilo” camping for the night. We boiled some water for coffee and then Jose cooked us spaghetti for dinner. I was really tired, maybe because the altitude is very high at about 3900 meters so I went to bed about 7:30pm.

toilet in the camping site



Quarter past 4.00 am I heard Jose calling out: “chicas” so we all got up put our head torch on and started to climb the last 300 to 400 meters to the summit. It was dark and cold, my icebreaker leggings and tops saved me. Jose carried sleeping bags for us, we only took a little bit of water. I have to say it’s much easier not to carry big backpacks.

When we got to the summit, the sun was just about popping out of clouds. Although we aimed to watch the sunrise the weather conditions were not up to it. We can see the volcan next to us, but not Mexico and the pacific ocean, they are all hidden behind the cloud. We managed to take some photos then came down the camp for breakfast.






Walking back down was my reward. Firstly, my backpack was 5 kg lighter, I got rid of all the water and food, secondly, the sun was shining and the view was incredible.







Morning is definitely the time to be in the mountains to see beautiful vista. In the afternoon, you can only see cloud.

The trip to volcan Tajumulco is the highlight of my time in Xela, I really enjoyed it.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere