Click on a photo to enlarge it.
The celebrations finish on Easter Sunday and they don´t celebrate Easter Monday here. Everyone goes back to work! So Antigua emptied
rapidly! For Helen´s birthday we dressed up and went out for a meal at a really good Indian restaurant and had some delicious vegetarian
dishes. Helen discovered that mixing the Mango and Strawberry Lassis was a very tasty idea! We stayed for a few more days in Antigua and
were sad to leave.
Helen´s birthday.
We offered to give Guillermo a lift so that he didn´t have to ride his bike through the chaos of Guatemala City. We took him as far as
Rio Hondo where he would be going south to Honduras and we would head north. Guillermo´s bike looked new as it was spotlessly clean -
he cleaned it every day! So we loaded it up inside the back of Winnie rather than trying to fit it on our bike rack.
He was very happy to get a lift with us as it saved him a few days. But even with our GPS we went wrong in Guatemala City! Guillermo would
have had a real problem getting through. We found a spot where we could park for the night and Guillermo also had somewhere to sleep. The
next morning we dropped him off at the junction where he would go south. It took a while to get him loaded up and we wished him well for
the rest of his adventure. Maybe we will see him in South America!
Buen viaje, Guillermo!
We drove to Lake Izabal where we spent two relaxing days at Playa Escondido. It was really crowded on Sunday but on Monday we had the place
to ourselves. Really peaceful!
It was extremely hot again as we were now back at sea level instead of being up in the mountains. The temperature difference was taking us
a while to get used to as we have been in the highlands for weeks. So we drove to Aguas Calientes where swimming at the waterfall was just
what was needed. Hot water comes from the top and the water is a lot cooler at the sides. So you can sit here for hours! A paradise!
Swimming at the hot waterfall of Aguas Calientes.
It only cost 3 US$ each which included camping, cold showers and entrance to the waterfall area. The next day we decided to walk from the
waterfall to Lago Izabal and check out another possible campground there.
It was only about a mile away but after about 5 minutes we heard a large caterpillar (of the construction variety) behind us. The driver
stopped and asked us if we wanted a lift! It was so hot that we climbed on board for another adventure! We also got a lift on the way
back - this time on the back of a trailer towed by a tractor! We hopped on and joined some men who were on their way to the waterfall and
drinking beer.
They wanted to know if Helen thought Chelsea could beat Barcelona in the Champions League semi final! Helen said there was no way Chelsea
would win. (They not only beat Barcelona in the semis but went on to win the final for the first time in the clubs history! Shows what
Helen knows about football!)
That afternoon we drove to Finca Ixobel - a plantation where we spent the night. We were the only ones there and Winnie was well liked by
the chickens and iguanas. They were using Winnie as shade. Idyllic! Then we headed for the border and asked a local ranch owner if we could
park on his land for the night as it was already getting dark and we wouldn´t make it across the border.
The crossing at El Ceibo is new and has only existed for
the past two years. On the Guatemalan side there was just a trailer where all the formalities were completed. On the Mexican side there
was a newly built complex of modern buildings. The Mexicans wanted to confiscate our expensive Gouda cheese from Antigua so we ate it at
the border. But they even wanted to confiscate our margarine! We have never known cheese and butter to be a problem before.
We only had 12 days on our existing Mexican tourist permit to drive to the US and fortunately they believed us when we said that we
wouldn´t need any longer. So we didn´t have to pay for a new one. It only took us 10 days. We had a short stop in Tlacotalpan, a town with
colourful buildings, and a few days on the beach along the Emerald Coast. Otherwise it was all driving. The rainy season was approaching
and it was very hot and humid so we just needed to head north.
We were hoping to find a Pemex (petrol station) to stay for the night somewhere near the border. We found a large Pemex but it was closed.
More worrying, however, was that it looked like it had been attacked! Further north we found another Pemex that had been closed down!
It was getting dark and we were worried because this is the first time we have seen any evidence of the drug war in Mexico. We were 100
miles south of the border with the US in Texas and it was obvious that there has been a lot of problems here.
We drove into San Fernando and got petrol at a small Pemex that was open. We asked if we could park up there for the night but the people
told us we should go to the police station in town! So we followed their directions and found it in the centre of town.
Another shocking experience! The police station had numerous bullet holes in the walls and they had taken out the glass panes of the
windows, filled them with concrete leaving a horizontal slit in the centre - obviously to use for their machine guns!!!
Oh boy! We have been coming down to Mexico every winter for 9 years and this was the first time we had ever felt or seen the consequences
of the war on drugs. We asked if we would be safe to park here for the night knowing that we would be even less safe if we tried to drive
in the dark to the border. The police told us that there would be patrols in and out of the station all night and we would be safe.
So we parked on their car park behind a row of vehicles, all with flat tyres! Had the tyres been shot? There was a constant stream of
army and police vehicles that night and all of the men were heavily armed. We will not be coming back to the eastern side of Mexico, that´s
for sure!
There was no problem driving to the border the next day and we even managed to get an oil change and had our fuel filter changed aswell.
The border crossing into the USA took 1 hour 10 minutes but that included standing in a traffic queue for 45 minutes!
Our Central American adventure came to an end on 30th April when we arrived in Texas, USA. Here is a summary of our trip.
Total travelling days: 186 days (28.10.2011 - 30.04.2012)
Total driving distance: 9,214 miles
USA: 8 days, 398 miles, costs per day: 45 US$
Mexico: 39 days, 3,969 miles, costs per day: 43 US$
Belize: 14 days, 366 miles, costs per day: 49 US$
Guatemala: 65 days, 1,523 miles, costs per day: 25 US$
Honduras: 9 days, 450 miles, costs per day: 42 US$
Nicaragua: 15 days, 575 miles, costs per day: 34 US$
Costa Rica: 16 days, 780 miles, costs per day: 25 US$
Panama: 16 days, 894 miles, costs per day: 43 US$
El Salvador: 4 days, 259 miles, costs per day: 40 US$
Central America is definitely worth a visit. We would also go back to Guatemala and Costa Rica for a second time.
The absolute highlights for us were snorkelling in the Belize Reef, the Panama Canal and the Easter processions in Antigua, along with
the amazing variety of animals we saw throughout Central America.
All in all, the trip was fantastic because there was so much to see, but because of our time limit it was often stressful. We could have
spent far more time here. Unfortunately we had to miss out some of the highlights e.g. the limestone terraces in Semuc Champey and the
turtles laying eggs.
Despite this, we have seen an unbelievable amount and experienced a great deal and this trip will certainly remain in our memories for a
very long time.
Viva Centro America!
