We’ve been in Guatemala for about three days..maybe four. It’s like that on the road. Feels like we’ve been here three weeks. We started by exploring Tikal, the ruins of a 2000+year old Mayan city right on the border with Belize. Stunning stuff, and even better that we got to camp, right in the midst of dozens of coatis, sort of like a pointy nosed monkey. For once I was not the only one scratching myself in public.

From there we rode up into the mountains and to Semuc Champey, an area with limestone caves and waterfalls. The ride down was epic, a rough rocky mountain road so steep that when we stopped I had to use both front and back brake to keep from sliding downhill. By the time we reached our camping spot the sweat was literally dripping out of my jacket sleeves. We stumbled down the dark jungle path and found the falls and pools to be just the cooling solution we needed. However, the next day’s ride out of the site was…a disaster. Both of our bikes have electrical problems, meaning that if we stalled riding up that hellish road we had to turn the loaded bikes around and push start them downhill…not easy. So not easy that I got pretty bad heat exhaustion, and long story short we gave up and hauled the bikes out on a truck. Lesson: riding a bike on a mountain path while dizzy and having tunnel vision is not a good idea.

We then met up with Richard and Suzanne (picture by Victoria below), fellow riders Victoria met online. The riding community is pretty awesome…they met up with us, we had lunch, and they drove us to the fabulous Earth Lodge overlooking the colonial town of Antigua.

I thought I’d take a few week break from the Menno part of Menno Moto…but when we arrived at the lodge we were served Mennonite farmer sausage for lunch. Turns out there are a few Swiss Mennonite villages nearby…so I’ll go see if I can find more cousins, though it’s unlikely given it sounds like they are all of Swiss origin.

Victoria shows the road who is boss

Semuc Champey waterfalls

Semuc Champey waterfalls

Camping in Tikal. Works well when you have a cheap tent.

Tikal Mayan ruins.

Semuc Champey waterfalls

Tikal

Semuc Champey waterfalls

Richard and Suzanne

We are taking a writing day, and this is the view from our desks (photo by Victoria)

Follow