The day started off well. I got up early, packed, lugged everything out to the bike, and headed off. I consulted the map in the lobby of La Casa De Don David and ascertained that I was to take the route that took me through San Francisco. Before I got there, however, there was a sign that said Guatemala, so I took that. Road signs are few and far between in this country and it’s best to follow them when you can find them.

The parts of the drive where the other drivers weren’t trying to kill me were beautiful. Twice semi trucks were passing other cars as I came into view. The first time the driver wrestled his truck back into his lane but the second time I had to move to the shoulder to let him pass in my lane. Through the mountains there are passing lanes on the up-hill parts but the downhill drivers are just as impatient and use the middle lane to pass drivers downhill! A truck passing six semis passed me in the middle lane. The second time this happened I had just passed a slow truck in the leftmost of my lanes. As soon as I got back into the rightmost lane a car rocketed past in the middle lane going the opposite direction. If I hadn’t seen the previous guy using the middle lane to pass in the opposite direction I might not have been so vigilant in staying out of it.

I crossed a bridge over the Rio Dulce and stopped to take pictures. Below was a man in a boat who was alternately bailing water and rowing. It seemed to work well for him. I also came across a power line pole that had fallen into the road. The cable hadn’t broken and was supporting the weight of the pole. Someone had put an old sweater on it to make sure that drivers noticed it was in the road. As I was taking pictures of it a bus came around the corner and almost hit it. I also found a Texaco selling Cheetoh Puffs for 1.5 Q (0.21 USD). Had to resist the urge to stock up and bring them all home.

Once the other drivers stopped trying to kill me the weather started up. There’s a part in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance where the narrator talks about stupid mistakes or missed signs. I definitely missed the sign for the coming storm today. The sun retreated behind some dark clouds but it wasn’t until 30 minutes later when I saw the first of the lightning that I realized what was happening. There were several accidents, a mudslide, and many police officers directing traffic that all held me and the other drivers up for a considerable amount of time. The lightning was nearly constant (I couldn’t count to 10 before seeing another strike) and made me feel pretty scared. I stopped at a small town and asked if there was a hotel but there was none (and they had no power due to the storm). I went on towards Guatemala City in the dark and was elated when I finally got to habitation. There were no hotels to be found, however, except the occasional autohotel (an hourly hotel used primarily for sex). I drove towards the center of town and found a fancy hotel called the Grand Tikal Futura… $160 a night. Not going to cut it. The storm was over and the only real problem was the dark, but it wasn’t getting any darker and the city drive had been fine—no cows to watch out for there.

I stopped at a Puma gas station and bought a Twix and an apple nectar & cinnamon drink and asked the way to Antigua. I should note that this was after driving around Guatemala City in the dark for a while looking for anything that said “Antigua” on it. The directions I got were “dereche aqui” (turn right here) and a point out the window. I finished my snacks and went onward. That street fed into a bigger street which fed into a freeway. I finally saw a sign that said Antigua! And then two signs with other cities, each corresponding to a split in the freeway. Since neither sign said Antigua I just guessed and went right. 20 agonizing kilometers later I saw another sign that said Antigua. I was right! This is what a lot of driving is like in Central America. You get one road sign every so often, and sometimes the city you are going to is not on it even if it’s large and fairly close.

The pass to Antigua is fairly steep and many drivers passed me. I assumed they’d driven it before and knew all the turns. Antigua proper is a massive maze of one and two-story buildings all painted in orange and yellow pastels. The streets are ancient cobblestones mixed with bumps of every size and shape. I drove around for awhile looking for an open hotel but all of the doors were closed. I saw a couple come out of a door marked “Guest House” and asked what they were paying for the night. The woman told me that I didn’t want to stay there—that the owner was crazy and had just kicked her out for trying to leave so late at night. I continued on and turned left down a street that looked promising. An open door! I parked and walked in and the proprietor offered me a room for $35 USD. I made sure it was on the first floor, took a look, and then drove my bike into the lobby and unpacked. Once unpacked I left in search of food. I found it in the guise of a steakhouse just around the corner from the hotel. I sat down and was given a menu. I was also shown the specials and before the waiter could get another word out I said the special would be fine.

I’m not sure what it was (is lomo lamb?) but it was the best meal I’ve ever eaten.

Some thoughts on Tikal… It was definitely fun to have someone to go exploring with. Chantal was very excited about the park and I think that kind of energy helps you to enjoy an experience more. It’s infectious. We climbed Temple V and enjoyed an amazing view of the other temples from the top. You can see the route we took to the top in the pictures above, it’s the temple with the very steep wooden steps to the left. I kept trying to imagine what the temples must have looked like when they were in use; what the inhabitants looked like and what they wore. The rooms of the temples don’t really give away what they might have been used for. Many have graffiti from today’s visitors scratched into the wall. You can see someone named Henry’s signature in one of the pictures above. Contemporary graffiti should probably be kept to contemporary buildings.

During the drive today I kept hearing a Neil Young song, his Like an Inca. “We can build such beautiful buildings/ to house the chosen few”…

Explored Tikal today with a woman from Holland I met named Chantal. We took a lot of pictures and climbed a lot of temples, and I will write more about it and upload pictures tomorrow night.

Belize is a very interesting country. It used to be a British colony and the official language is English. Everyone I talked to spoke English, most with an accent that is closest in my mind to Jamaican. As I drove I noticed many of the stores were Chinese and many of the signs were also written in Chinese. There appears to be quite the contingent of Chinese people in Belize.

An aside: This reminds me of a conversation I had over dinner at Hostel Quetzal. A British girl was talking about how Chinese people were “the worst drivers ever” and basically showing herself to be daft. It was weird to see a traveler so willing to spout stereotypes. An Irish lad called her out on it and said, “casual racism looks good on you.” Well done.

Back to Belize. I ended up in Belize City at the Chateau Caribbean Hotel. Recommended. Old-timey atmosphere, good service, not shockingly expensive, and I was able to bargain them down. Not sure how to tip the bellhops I’ve encountered so far. They run out of the room as soon as they drop the bags.

I ate in the hotel restaurant. I’ve been craving cheese cake since I left the US, it was on the menu but they were out. Vanilla ice cream had to suffice.

When I left the hostel in Tulum Joaquin said, “let me know when you get back from Mars!” I have heard people say that I look like an astronauta now many times. At Chichen Itza a Mayan man tried to sell me one of his coworkers (in jest). She told me I looked like an astronaut too.

The border at Chetumal went pretty well. I paid $20 USD for an exit stamp in my passport and then another $20 to get my Mexico tourist card back, stamped with doble entrada. I think this will make it easier when I head home and enter Mexico from Guatemala next month. I didn’t cancel my motorcycle’s temporary import because I’ll be back to Mexico. The immigration building was tiny and unmarked and I only found it because a group of travelers got off a bus and queued up outside of it.

Once I was out of Mexico I still had to get inside of Belize. A younger guy waved me over to the insurance building (a tiny shack) and introduced me to the man inside. I got setup for a day of insurance at $12 BZD, or $6 USD. Belize Quetzals are 2:1 for dollars, Guatemalan Quetzales are 7.35:1. I miss Mexico’s 10:1 already. When I went outside the guy who had waved me in was marveling and swearing at my bike. “Two mufflers?! Modafucka!”

With insurance in hand I continued on to the fumigation shack. I paid 30 pesos ($3 USD) and watched the man spray the underside of my bike with some chemical. I then went to the “departure hall” and got my passport stamps. I think I paid a fair amount of money for them both. I got an “in transit to Guatemala” stamp instead of a full temporary importation with vehicle sticker, so maybe that made it cheaper. When I first pulled up a “porter” walked up and told me I had to bring my luggage inside. I told him that I’d rather go in and make sure first and of course they did not want to see it. There are always people hanging around at borders trying to make money. When it was finally time to leave I got on the bike and headed to the gate. There was a young tattooed guy manning the fort and he didn’t ask to see my passport. He just said, “did you go inside already?” When I said yes, he lifted the gate. Welcome to Belize.

Just after the gate there is a T intersection. I turned left because a group of men started yelling and running towards me. I think they were just money-changers. (Cambioneros?)

I ended up driving through Corazal. There was bright blue ocean to the left so I knew I was going the right direction. There were pieces of sugarcane all over the road the whole drive. As I drove farther past Corazal I began to wonder where the hell I was. The road disappeared and because a gravel track through fields and fields of sugarcane. I passed two bicycling Belizeans and asked them if Belize City was this way. Yes, they said. Eventually the dirt track met up with the larger highway to Belize City and I started to make good time again. Belize seems fairly expensive as far as gas and lodging go. I passed a Best Western and inquired within, they wanted $134 USD for a night. Pass.

When I was all settled up at the Chateau Caribbean I began to think about how I was no longer in Mexico. I missed it, I had grown used to it. There are no yogurt drinks in Belize (nor have I seen them yet in Guatemala).

When I filled up this morning I talked to a few Belizeans. The guy who filled my tank said, “you’ve got a whole house here!” A man pulled up on a bicycle with his shorts below his ass, flaunting plaid underwear. He asked me about rain, about how long I’d been gone and where I was going. When he saw that my bike was a BMW he said, “ah, this be one a dem journey bikes!” An older rasta man gave me directions to Guatemala when I stopped to setup the camera to record a video. He asked me how old I was and I told him. “You be talkin to a mon who’s fifty-tree! Go like I tol you, rasta.”

In the gas station I saw this headline on a newspaper: “GUN-RUNNERS USE PORT OF BELIZE TO OPERATE?” I made good time to Belmopan. I received many peace signs and honks as I drove on. Near the border I crossed a wooden bridge over a river filled with people swimming and remember being kind of scared that I’d fall through and get stuck. Met a nice guy from Bellingham when I stopped to get a Gatorade at the Chinese supermarket.

When I finally got to the border I was helped by a money-changer who told me where to go. Exiting Belize was fairly easy, I had to go to the customs desk for people entering Belize though to get my motorcycle stamp cancelled. I paid $30 BZD ($15 USD) to leave the country. No charge for cancelling the motorcycle stamp.

Getting into Guatemala was a little more of a process. The first stamp was easy, the stamp for my bike required a taxi trip a couple of miles away to get copies of all my documents as all the closer stores with copy machines were closed. I changed $20 on one side of the border and got a 1:6.5 rate. On the other side of the border I changed another $20 and got 1:7. At the hotel they change at 1:7.15. I bet the bank rate is even better.

The worst part was driving through the automatic fumigator. Even though I bombed through it I still got chemicals on my hands and the lower half of my face. Definitely should have driven through the pedestrian ramp. Had to buy some water and wash myself off when everything was done.

For some reason when I went to pay my vehicle import ($40 GD) at the cashier’s window an army guy came over and put me at the front of the line.

I was reading about Guatemala’s past problems with Belize last night and I think a concrete example of this is the road from the border to Tikal in Guatemala. The first 15 miles are gravel, varying from dirt with sparse rocks to a full covering of inch-sized rocks that were hell to drive on. At one point on this road I saw evidence that it may get paved soon (large piles of gravel in the middle of the freeway). I passed a work crew who had setup bushes on the freeway instead of traffic cones. I also drove through the middle of a herd of cows, kicking myself for not taking a picture now but I was covered in dust and eager to get to Tikal before dark. My back hurts from all of the bouncing around. Once the gravel was done the road graduated to pavement with gaping potholes. I though for sure that I’d broken something a couple of times. Learned to slow down and give myself more room for them pretty quickly.

I saw a sign for La Casa De Don David and remembered the name from a recommendation someone had written on the Internet. I couldn’t remember anything about it but the name stuck for some reason so I stayed here. It’s very cheap and very nice. The view in front of my room is stellar.

Going to head to bed now (10pm) so I can get up early to head to Tikal. 5:30am is supposedly the best time to leave the hotel here for the ruins. Rubbed my foot raw on my shoe the other day so not sure how it’s going to hold up. Charging both camera batteries tonight in preparation. Very excited, Tikal is supposed to be the ruins of the largest Mayan city.

Just remembered I was also scared to death of bot flies in Belize after reading about border crossing the other day. Apparently they are common in the jungle areas there. If you don’t know what they are be glad.

Here are some bonus memories from Mexico. I remember driving under a pedestrian bridge as a man led his burro over it, loaded down with gear. At one point I came around a bend in the freeway as a goose was walking calmly across the road. Near Tulum I stopped on the side of the freeway to inspect the bike and a man stopped and asked me if I needed help and invited me to a local biker meeting. Sadly I didn’t get to go. In Tulum at the 7-11 I talked to a Mexican man with a USA hat on about BMWs, he has one as well and was telling me about his clutch problems. I was following an empty flatbed trailer (one of the long ones) to Chichen Itza and the driver didn’t see a speed bump ahead; he locked up his brakes to avoid hitting it too fast and the back end skidded ~10 feet to the right. First time I’d seen a semi truck lock up its brakes.

I made it to Guatemala without too much trouble. No wireless here but they have a computer with Internet access. Going to try and type up something longer tonight and then upload it with their computer. Took a lot of pictures today, will possibly get to upload them tomorrow.

Pictures from Tulum, Cancun, Chichen Itza, and Belize.

Well, it’s been a long time since I updated. I went back up to Cancun and stayed again at Hostel Quetzal. On Monday I got my front tire and oilchanged at Mayan Motors. They washed my bike too, and in the process lost the three plastic strips that protect my paint from the tank bag. They also broke both of the keychain loops on my keys, which resulted in me having to basically tie them to my keychain. I will take a picture in case anyone else has a broken BMW key. Aside from that they were very nice and professional and did a great job. The tire was shockingly expensive but the labor was very cheap so it somewhat evened out.

Tuesday I tried to go to Chichen Itza but forgot to visit the ATM and lacked the money to pay the toll 70 miles into the trip. The nearest bank is also coincidentally 70 miles back the way I had came. I was quite annoyed and so treated myself to Iron Man at the Cinepolis VIP theater. It’s 95% as good as the Arclight in Los Angeles (plush leather seats, assigned seating) but tickets are only $6.20 USD. I loved the movie and it elevated my mood considerably.

Wednesday I took the free road to Chichen Itza. It takes considerably longer (and is filled with speedbumps) so I got there an hour before closing time. It worked to my advantage as parking and admission were both now free and there were only a few people left in the park. They also let me stay well past closing time. I took many pictures which I will upload soon.

Last night I went out to a club called Bulldog’s in the hotel zone with some British kids who were younger than me. I stayed out too late and was very tired this morning. I almost stayed another night but the hostel was already booked. I came back down to Tulum to the Posada de Manchago (I think, I’m always forgetting the name) and I’m in the same room I was in last week.

Tomorrow morning I’m supposed to play some music with Joaquin and then I’ll be heading to Belize City.

This is a song Joaquin and I made up last night. I’m on guitar and he’s on bass and vocals. He’s got a blue Ibanez SDGR.

You can also download the song here.

I’m in a very rustic room at a hostel in Tulum near the archaeological sites. By rustic I mean that there’s a lot of rather large and menacing bugs. I went to all of the hostels in town and this was the best of the lot but it was a little pricey, though by the time I came back the gentleman at recepcion told me he had talked it over with his mother and offered me the room for 30% off which matched the lowest offer I’d found.

I’m terribly sunburnt on my arms from riding without the top half of my suit on during the hour and a half ride from Cancun. I’ve got to go back there in the morning to get my tire changed because today, May 1st, was a work holiday for most.

At the supermarket I saw suntan lotion for $20 USD and there was no Aloe Vera to be found anywhere. The liquor store had a much larger selection of suntan lotion than the supermarket but it was still all overpriced and the highest SPF was 20.

The owner of the hostel in Cancun took a picture of me with her cell phone as I left this morning and it reminded me of another story: As I was driving into Acapulco a car passed me and a younger man put his head out the window and gave me the international hang loose sign and seemed very excited about my bike. I nearly caught up to them at the toll plaza and a mile or so after it they were parked on the shoulder, waiting for me to drive past with their cellphones out to take pictures. I should have stopped and said hello but it was getting dark.

When I went out to the market earlier I used a bicycle (and headlight) the hostel provided. It was mildly terrifying to ride on the freeway at dark so I found a parallel trail and took that. When I got back there was a cat sleeping on my bike.

Joaquin (the owner’s son) has an electric bass and mentioned that we should play together when he saw my guitar; I am going to hold him to it tomorrow night.

PS: In nerd news, I enabled lazy loading of images. This means that when the page first loads it won’t load all of the images until you scroll down to look at them. Let me know if you have any problems with it.

Aside from being the subject of my favorite palindrome (“A man a plan, a canal: Panama”) Panama will also serve as the end of the first of what I think will be three stages for By Land and Sea.

One of the great things about our planet is that it’s so big no one could possibly fault you for not seeing it all at once. I’ve decided to go back to Seattle after Panama, work for a year or so, and then commit to seeing South America and Africa. To try South America now would probably leave me stranded near the bottom with no money to get home.

With that news out of the way, I can report I’m enjoying Cancun—or at least enjoying the hostel. I’m at Hostel Quetzal, owned by a woman named Monica who was born in Holland but grew up in New Jersey. She told me when she was 5 years old her very first boyfriend was named Beau. Her house used to serve as a theater for dinners and dancing but Hurricane Wilma ruined almost everything except the walls. It’s looking much better now and I’ve got “the posh room” according to a guest staying here who hails from England. There were two guys from Belfast, some Australian girls, and lots of people from England. I hung out with three girls from Denmark and they gave me some Danish music to listen to.

To sum up the last week or so: I went from Puerto Escondido to San Cristobal and from there to Campeche by way of Palenque and Sabancuy, both of which I decided not to stay at. I almost ran out of gas between Sabancuy and Campeche and have a new record for a single tank—195.4 miles. I have a new love of yogurt-based fruit drinks which are very popular in Mexico and can be found in any store that sells snacks.

On the way from San Cristobal to Palenque I met two bicyclists who started out in Alaska—they have done over 8,000 miles so far and you can read more about them here. I saw them round the corner as I was taking the video of the chicken and the view you can see below. I took a picture of the two of them that I’ll link to when they put it online.

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately which led to a lack of writing or rather a kind of writing paralysis. It’s hard to write when you’re thinking about the big questions too hard.

Tomorrow I’ll head to Tulum to see the ruins and beaches but first thing I’m going to head to the BMW dealership here to get my front tire replaced as it’s been with me for 17,000 miles and is starting to develop small cracks between the treads (even though there appears to be plenty of tread left). I think the bike is weighted so far to the rear that the front tire wears much less quickly.