Guatemala and Disaster

Disaster

The Day started very good with a big breakfast in San Cristobal and then on to the Guatemalan border . We had wanted to be at the border by 9am , by the time we buggered around it was not until about 1pm that we arrived . Well it was like stepping back in time and entering a Medieval Village , it started about 1km before that border and went for about 2km after . There were people every where all just doing business on the side of the road and only leaving enough room for 1 vehicle to pass through at a time .

The border was very easy and we had no trouble at all (after all the stories you tend to hear , it some times makes you wonder if they are just that stories ).

With the bikes all cleared, off we go heading to Quetzaltenango , it would be very hard to get lost as there is only one road out of town and the border . All was good and them it all turned to shit and a new unexpected adventure .

About 20kms from the border I got side swiped by a pickup and went down , not that hard but somehow I landed wrong on my Left Leg so the new Adventure begins

After about 5 mins on the ground and about 30 people all looking at me and wondering what planet I came from, Damon and Jaime got me into a taxi and off to the local clinic for an X Ray .

Well I think that the Xray machine was the first one ever built and took ages to do its job . With that done and about 20 Mosquito Bits (as the clinic was full of Mosies) the doctor arrives and says that my knee is only dislocated and that I should get to the next Town( Huehueitenango) 1 hr away to have it put back in . When the taxi driver heard that my knee was only dislocated he says his brother can put that back in , we quietly refuse .

An ambulance is called and it was not quite what you would expect , it was a Toyota Station Wagon (I would say about 20yrs old ) and they put me in the back with all my gear and strapped me down with car tiedowns onto a mattress , then off we go flatout on a very windie road Huehueitenango .

On the way my thoughts are of a nice hospital and no Mossies (wrong) . We arrive and they backed me in and get me into bed in my cell with a steel door with a string to open it . Then it is to the Xray Room (cockroach's and mosies everywhere) well this is no2 Xray machine that was ever built, with this done the doctor comes and tells us it is badly broken. Also that I need surgery and that no worry he can do it tonight , because it needs to be done within 24hrs to stop any complications . Again we quietly refuse without trying to offend the guy because the last thing we want was for him to through us out in the nite . We had no cell phone coverage or Enet and me with a broke leg that needs to operated on within the next 24hrs . Lucky for me Jaime was on the job and found a girl with a Cell Phone that worked and borrowed it from her .

He then arranged a plane for the morning to fly me to Guatemala and Hospital , we all spent the night in the cell block (lucky I had a can of fly spray) and were up early to go . Jaime checked the plane in the morning and with that arranged another one to come earlier and a $1000us cheaper to pick me up a 7am ( it cost $1500us to fly me out .

We had by now been in touch with the Travel Insurance Company and they were doing all they could to help .

Jaime and Damon had to leave early because it was an 8 hrs ride to Guatemala City , so I was left in my cell to wait for the plane and it was pretty scary . The plane was 3 hrs late due to weather , I was in a panic thinking shit the plane is not coming , Jaime and Damon are going to be 8 hrs away and to top that, I have a Doctor who wants to have a go at my leg in his garden shed and shit nobody speaks English . But all was good and the plane arrived and I was airlifted out ,and arrived in Guatemala about 1hr later , into a beautiful Hospital (what a relief ) . I had the operation that night (it took 4hrs, including a bone graft to my knee).

The guys stayed and helped for a week and arranged to get the bike shipped to the Hospital, then they were on there way , Damon and Jaime were fantastic and I wonder where I would be without them. They fussed around me like a couple of old women (and I loved it )

In the mean time through Horizons Unlimited (a biker web site) I got in touch with Julio Hartmann , he has been fantastic and has arranged every thing about the bike . He has arranged for it to be sold rather then sending it home (it was just to expensive to send home ) . He has been in touch every day and has taken me out to his house for dinner with his family and a day trip to Antigua and tomorrow we are off for breakfast somewhere .How is that for hospitality !!

I am so very lucky to have meet so many nice people on this trip . Especially people like Julio ,Damon, Jaime who even though I have only known them for such a short time , they really put in the time to help me and it very much appreciated . I really feel that I have made alot of new friends for life on this trip .

I have been in Hospital now for about 2 1/2 weeks and have been treated like a king and have been lapping it up .

Wednesday the 3rd I fly back to NZ and to Ruth and the family and I can't wait it will fantastic.

THE NEW ADVENTURE

This is not the end only an interlude , I often think that maybe in am luck to have broken my leg , because if I had not, I would not have meet all the fantastic people in Guatemala.

I will be back next year to finish the trip , if I didn't it would leave a big whole in my life . To have planned the trip for so long and not to finish it, would just not be right .

So thank you very much to all those people who I have meet on the way and all those people that have followed my blog and to all those that have helped along the way with there kindness .

I will be in touch

I THANK YOU VERY VERY MUCH

I will update the blog as to my progress with my new adventure, every month or so .

Photos

1. 2 .3 Me a village and Damon and Jaime on the way back from Palneque

4 . 5 The Border Mexico / Guatemala

6. Me being air lifted to Guatemala City and Hospital

San Cristobal to Palenque and Back

After a lot of buggering around with bikes and what ever we were finally off to Palenque .

We had a great time in San Cristobal , the food was great and the beer even better . There was a lot of tourist and also a lot of ,how would I say hippies I suspose . I would go as far as to say Cristobal was my favourite stop over city wise in Mexico .

Anyway off to Palenque 211kms and we thinking 3hrs (wrong when will we learn) , it took us 7 hrs again over some beauitful mountians an very windie roads , mostly in very good condition with only a few washouts . We had a stop off to visit the Azul Falls , just before the Falls the road was blocked by some rebels (cant remember there name ) but we had to pay them 25peso each to get through .

Next was the kids , as soon as we stopped they came out like bees on honey and all saying the samething

"Mr I watch Moto 10 pesos" , "Mr I watch Moyo 5 pesos" , "Mr I watch Moto 2 pesos" , and so it went on . Anyway this kid about 4ys old was there so "I say 2 pesos you watch my Moto" , he says "si" . Then I made the big mistake I gave him 2 pesos and then he was gone , I yelled out "hey what about my Moto" . With that he just smiled and keep on walking (little bugger).

The falls were ok but not that great, it was hot so with all the gear on and time running out , we were on our way .

We arrived in Paleque found a hotel and had another great meal (Damon loves his food), we all bunked together at a cost of $10 each .

Next day to the long awaited Palenque , I had heard a lot about this site and it proved to mostly up to my expections . The only dissappointment was that it has had alot of it rebuilt (even though they only say 20% )

. We did get sucked in though by a local boy with promises of hidden temples and the like deep in the Jungle . We paid him 200 pesos and we were away ready to see what no man had ever seen before (we were excited and all felt like Indiana Jone's) , but he took us about 50 yards into the bush and showed us a few rocks and that was about that . When he walk away we all just looked at one another a laughed , we had been shit on and from a great height.

We were very lucky that there was a lot of howling monkeys in the trees which gave us much entertainment with all the howling . The whole site is very well done, boarding on beautiful rain forests and well worth the trip .

Back to Cristobal

We were told by a taxi driver to take a different route back (through Villamosa) as it would be 3 hrs quicker (wrong again we must be thick ). It was 395kms and took us about 9 hrs , it rained a lot of the way and at places the road was very slippery , we also had some very high passes to get over with very narrow roads and quite cold at times with heavy cloud cover it made it very hard to see . We wound our way over mountian after mountian after mountian , stunning absolutey stunning , the amazing thing is that you maybe at the top of some mountain in the middle no where and there will be a village this is a very special peice of the world

. I had a near tumble on diesel , it was almost like someone had just tiped a bucket of diesel on the corners . But also it was another one of those great rides scenery wise, road wise and of course the adventure , we never got back into Cristobal until about 8.30pm (and very dark) and more great food a few beers .

Next Guatemala and DISASTER with a BIG D

Photos

1/2 Palenque

3 Azul Falls

4 Outside our Hotel San Cristobal De Las Casas

The New Beginning Oaxaca to Junction de Zaragoza to San Cristobal de las Casas 1110 2010

Damon and I left Oaxaca, the day after Ruth had gone home . We were headed for Juchiton de Zaragoza approx 300kms . Our first stop was to see Tequlia being made in some little town approx 1hrs from Oaxaca and then on into the Mountians . Just before the Mountians we had a lot of very strong winds and I mean very strong , it was scary watching the trucks as we passed them , they were on such a lean that I thought that they would blow over ( I came very close to a knock down myself ).

The road through the mountians again was great with nicely banked corners and some great mountian scenery .

The truck and bus drives are just crazy and you have to be very careful not to out ride the corners ,as when they come around the very tight corners they take up most of the road . It is not uncommon to see them passing on very blind corners . I saw a bus pass a truck with so little room and on a blind corner that the mirrors smashed together , I was just amazed and this happens alot . Not long after this we came across a fuel tanker off the road and just about to roll down a steep bank . We stopped and saw the driver was ok and then we run , because we were not waiting around, any minute we could see another truck roaring around the corner and running into the petrol truck . After leaving the mountians it started to get very hot again and memories of Acapulco started to come back , it did get very hot but not so humid

We arrived in Zaragoca late , found a hotel and were up early for the trip to San Cristobal de las Casas approx 400kms .

The road again was very good (well for Mexico , still alot of Potholes and only a few 1000 Topes ) . San Cristobal de las Casas is probably the one of the nicest cities in Mexico I have seen , we stayed 3 nites , had great food ,great coffee and a very nice hotel at only $150 pesos each ($15NZ) a nite (Damon and I share a room ) .

On the second day we came across a young Mexician Guy ( Jaime Sandoval 24) on a BMW in the main plaza , we started to chat . Only to find out that he was on this way down to Brazil with his uncle , at the Guatemala border he found that his passport was invaid . So he had to back track and get a new passport in Tuxtla (about 50kms from San Cristobal ) the next day . We arranged to meet a few days later and cross the border into Guatemala together .

The next morning( we had planned to go to Palenque) just as we were about to leave I started the bike and noticed petrol leaking from the motor . So that was that we were off to Tuxtla with Jaime to go see a Suzuki shop and get the fuel problem sorted out. We took the back road to Tuxtla , another very windy road but again very scenic and over some great mountian ranges . On the way we came across a village that was flooded from all the resent rain and looked like it was about to stay that way for a very long time .

Tuxtla was just a big city full of crazy drivers and not that nice at all , but we found a hotel and the next day Jaime got his passport and the Suzuki Guy found the problem . It was a leak from the hose from the tank to the motor , I will try and get a new hose in Panama . The Suzuki guy did not have a replacment, so he just switched the hose and said it should be ok , till we get to Panama ) .

That afternoon we rode back to San Cristobal , then it will be Palenque with Jaime to come as well , it is great to have a guy that speaks Mexician along, but also Jaime is a real nice kid and great company to have along .

Photos

1. 2. The floaded Village just out of San Cristobal , they have had some of the most rain ever lately

3. 4. San Cristobal de las Casas

5. The Truck off the road

6. Making Tequila

7. Leaving Oaxaca

Oaxaca 5 10 2010

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Ruth Returns Home to New Zealand

It was a very very sad day Tuesday 6th, my Wife Ruth , Best Friend , Navigator , Health & Safety Officer, Organiser , Dictionary ,Love of My Life, had to return home, she will rejoin me later on down the track at some point .

So we have spent a week in Oaxaca organising the trip home for her and also for me to wait for a Kiwi Guy (Damon Good , I met up in Montana) who is travelling around the world to catch up , we will be travelling together for the rest of the trip (He has a BMW bike).

Oaxaca is an other very Colonial city and a nice city to spend our last few days to gether before Ruth went home , great weather and very interesting just to wonder the streets and enjoy to City .

Next stop San Cristobal De Las Casas , it should take us about to days to reach there .

Photos

1. Ruth just about to leave for Home

2. 3. People at the Plaza Oaxaca

4. Another photo of Jango

5. 6. More peole at the Plaza Oaxaca

7. Ruth with a bottle of Katsup , what we call tomato sauce

8. Church Oaxaca