Saturday, April 5, 2014

Guatemala-Seen One Volcano, Seen 'Em All

Guatemala-The last country in Central America for me to tackle. I had only visited Guatemala once before for a two day side trip to see the ruins in Tikal (while visiting the neighboring country of Belize) in 2002. 
Guatemala is debated to be the poorest of Central American countries (challenged by Nicaragua at times depending on whose statistics you read) but is often referred to as being the most cultural. All of Central America felt very gringo-ized to me though. 
The route that I traveled through Guatemala was the second shortest distance (196 miles/316 kms) of any country in which I rode. I ended up staying in Guatemala seven days by spending an extra night in a couple of places in an effort to get to know it better. Sadly I don't feel like I was successful in knowing it. I believe more of the culture is found in the mountain regions and I did not peddle through there. Someday I will return, not likely by bicycle, but I believe I will go back.


At the border there was a long line of trucks waiting to enter El Salvador as I was leaving. I am not sure why there would be such a line except I imagine that processing paperwork takes longer for trucks carrying cargo. There was very little paperwork for me though since Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala are all part of a special agreement called the Central America-4 (CA-4) Border Control Agreement which shares the same visa requirements. What that means is that once I had a visa to enter Nicaragua (issued at entry point), I was able to travel freely amongst all four and vice versa. The visa is good for 90 days under that agreement.
I thought it funny that the tricyclo (three wheeled taxi) drivers were part of a sindicate. The sign on this tricyclo states that this driver is a member of the union of triciclo drivers in the city of Pedro de Alvarado affiliates to C.G.T.G (whatever that is) number 46.
Patricio, or Pato-his nickname, was traveling from Guatemala back to his home country of Argentina. He had five gallon containers that he had modified into panniers. They were durable and waterproof and inexpensive.  He also showed me that the metal frame on the back was to hold some sort of makeshift blender where he could stop and make fruit juice somehow. I didn't quite get it all because we were speaking exclusively in Spanish. For as light as he was traveling, his choice of things to carry was odd, but as the saying goes, "different strokes for different folks." Or should it be in the cycling world "different spokes for different folks?"



I had not ever seen this type of tree in person until now. I had only seen a photograph of these trees in a gallery in Honolulu and fell in love with them then. They are called rainbow eucalyptus, Mindanao gum (Mindanao is an island in the Philippines), or rainbow gum and are commonly used for their wood pulp.
Another lovely room in Esquintla for 60 quetzales (Guatemalan currency)-$7.75 included bathroom and fan.
Possible electrical shock while showering was free of charge.
These were Alaska sized radishes!

I know this looks like the same volcano over and over again, but I promise these are all different perfectly conical-shaped volcanoes! It did seem like I was less likely to take photos of volcanoes by now but I continued just because it amazed me how many existed so I had to record it somehow! I actually didn't get tired of seeing them in spite of my blog post title.
Roads with big trees like this are a joy to ride along because of the shade they offer and their beauty.
Rubber tree farm. The cups are to catch the rubber, just like syrup from a maple tree.
Close up of the cut and cup

The cuts in the rubber tree guide the white rubber to the cup.

 Roadside stop for shrimp ceviche. It wasn't the best I had eaten. It was a little too much like a shrimp cocktail.

The Dolphins ceviche stand, literally roadside.


Central America was starting to get redundant. The scenery was very similar on the route that I traveled, the towns were very similar, I think I would have enjoyed it more if I didn't have to wake up at the crack of dawn and then pedal my butt off to try to make it to the next town before my face melted off!
Was it a sign?

I don't remember the name for these in Latin America and it may have varied from area to area. I remember in Thailand these are known as tuk tuks. It was interesting to see the different types of public transport in each country and to see something that was very popular in Asia here in the Americas. I hadn't seen a lot of these and it made me wonder about why certain things exist in places and by what basis they are brought into popularity. Is it supply and demand? Is it indicative of the wealth of a country? Is Guatemala just poor enough that people will hire a tuk tuk as a taxi where Mexico has evolved in infrastructure to a higher quality of transport?
Buses were used by locals in Chile and Argentina but people used vans for local transport in Bolivia. There were a lot of motorcycle taxis for local travel in Peru and Colombia but none in Ecuador/Bol/Chile. For long distance travel the people in South America from Peru northward used buses. In Mexico there were buses and minivans. While in El Salvador lots of people were transported in backs of trucks standing up and in Costa Rica there was nothing like that. Things that make you go hmmm...


I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.
I loved seeing signs for Mexico!!

This is a map of my route through Central America ending in Guatemala and corresponding with the last photo (above) near Coatepeque, Guatemala. As usual the orange line indicates where I rode my bike and the black line is where I took boats.



This blog brings you up to date on my travels through July 11th, 2013.
Photos and blog posts to come:
Eureka, Mexico! No, Wuh-ha-ka, Mexico!
North to Alaska and total bike trip statistics