We got an early start on Thursday - we probably left Santa Rosa de Copan around 8am. The early start is key when you're motorcycling through Central America in the rainy season. We had a beautiful drive! The scenery was amazing.
We were headed to the ruins at Copan, a trip which should've taken us two or two and a half hours. Unfortunately we missed our turn and were well on our way to the Mosquito Coast before we corrected our course. When we drove through the town where we were supposed to turn west toward the ruins, there were no signs indicating where to turn or even the names of the roads so I missed the turn. My gut was telling me we were in the town where we needed to turn, but I ignored my instincts and kept on driving.
Soon after the town where we missed our turn, we came down out of the mountains and into the plains. The road was straight and flat and lined with cattle ranches. It was a really pleasant drive until we stopped, asked directions, and turned around to begin backtracking. All told, our little detour probably cost us two hours. This lost time would become fairly significant later.
Having found the right road, we made it to Copan Ruinas (the town half a kilometer from the ruins) about noon. We stopped at a Western Union to use their ATM and got directions to Comedor Mary from their shotgun toting security guard. Comedor Mary has good food! And, as you can see from this picture, they don't have a guy at the door patting people down.
Following lunch, we grabbed some cake at Cafe Welchez and then headed to the ruins. Almost as soon as we got to the ruins it started raining!
The ruins were nice! Not nearly as huge and impressive as Tikal, but nice. There were lots more intact carvings too.
Evidently the Mayans built temples on top of temples and at Copan, a few of the earlier temples are still in really good condition inside the newer temples. They're excavating them and there are two tunnels that you can go into and see the older temples underneath. Pretty cool, but they clearly weren't built with gringos in mind!
We got back on the road again with a Plan A and a Plan B. Originally, we had planned on staying in Zacapa Thursday night, but with our early start, we had a change of heart. Our new Plan A was to go all the way back to Antigua. The only reason we were going to stop in Zacapa was to break up the drive - not really anything we wanted to see there. If we pushed all the way through we'd have more time in Antigua with the Gilmores. Plan B was to stop in Zacapa if the going got rough.
The border crossing back into Guatemala went pretty smoothly. The only difficulty was the huge line of semis we had to maneuver through once again.
We stopped just shy of Zacapa for gas and the attendant told us that from where we were, it took a bus 4 hours to get to Guatemala City. He thought it would take us even longer on a motorcycle. But he didn't know that I drive that little 200cc Chinese wonder like it's a real motorcycle! It was (I think) about 5:15pm when we left the gas station.
As we sailed through Zacapa, we resolved to make it to Antigua! The road from Zacapa to Guatemala City is called something like the Atlantic Highway, I think. It's supposed to be a highway, but it goes through about a million little towns each full of speed bumps. And there was lots of semi traffic. It was slow going, but the speed bumps are actually pretty good places to pass people. Everyone's going slow and you can zip around them on the motorcycle!
Anyway, we eventually made it out of the villages and into the mountains. There was still lots of traffic, and by now it was dark. We were 70 kilometers from Guatemala City cruising along until suddenly, we heard a disturbingly loud noise and the bike lost power. The engine was running, but when I gassed it, nothing happened! I pulled to the shoulder (thankfully, there was a shoulder) and hopped off the bike.
I was afraid that the transmission had quit on me. I'd been pushing the little bike pretty hard through the mountains and I was sure that it had finally given up. I was laboring under this misconception when Nealy noticed that the chain had come off the gear on the rear wheel! It's a good thing she noticed too, cause I was about to hop back on and gas it again - which could've really damaged the chain. I was so glad it was just the chain! I managed to re-seat the chain, and after Nealy took her sweet time getting back on the motorcycle, we were back underway.
Not gonna lie, I was super nervous for the rest of the trip. I was afraid we were gonna throw the chain again - an especially unnerving prospect once we got into Guatemala City. Not the kinda place you wanna have pull over and make a repair after dark, in the rain (yes, it started raining again just as we made it to the outskirts of the city). Every bump we went over, I could hear the chain smacking against it's guards.
But she held! And we didn't get lost! I'd traveled through Guatemala City enough times that I was able to find the way this time! And, to top it all off, it only took us three hours to make it to the capital from Zacapa!
Once we made it to the southwest side of the city, it was a short ride to Antigua where we picked up a Pollo Campero feast and made it back to the house safe and sound! We were also incredibly sore after about eight or nine hours on a dirt bike that probably wasn't intended for cross country tours :)
All-in-all a fantastic trip!
Tomorrow morning, I head to Lago Atitlan with Sioned, my Welsh friend, so you may not hear from me for a couple of days!
Then I must be good at sex!
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