13TH - 16TH MAY 2008
Left the hotel with the police escort in the front and the tourist board behind. Started off on a good road into the mountains through the pine forests. Then the road book went a bit off and chaos prevailed as the local police stopped some of the cars taking the prescribed route! Lots of radio calls and we all ended up parking in the centre of PATZUN to wait for everyone, causing quite a stir amongst the locals
Finally hit the mountain road – beautiful – described in the book as a precipitous descent. Had the video working all the way so not many photos guys – can’t do two things at once.
Around
Used the time whilst we waited to take some photos – just as well because once we got started again we were in the police escort and motored through all of the other towns, Panajachel, Chicencastenango and Solola – all of which were mentioned in the guide book as interesting places to stop!!! (No stopping for us – this is not a holiday!!)
The road just goes on and on today up and up – definitely over 2000 metres at least in some places. Some of the towns we passed through were not in the road book so we had fun driving round and round, up one way streets and shouting at locals asking for directions – they must wonder what on earth is happening. Jus as well Coxy can read a compass and has a great sense of direction, otherwise we could still be riding around Solola! After another stop with Joyce and Stephens’ Lotus (Harry White – if you are reading this take note!) we decided to stop for lunch with Paul and Nikki – no chance – just a we pulled up we heard on the radio that there was a landslide ahead and that all of the classics were stuck!! Worried about whether or not we would all get through by nightfall, we stopped at a local shop to get in some provisions. Three bags of rice, ten mangoes, packets of tortilla crisps and soft drinks. I think we would definitely have needed the help of the miracle worker to feed everyone, particularly as between us we had four plates, four knives and forks and four cups!!
When we finally arrived at the scene there were lorries and small trucks all over the place – no sign of the classics but lots of sand, flying dust, diggers and scrapers. Finally spotted the Rover being towed up one steep hill! This is definitely the time for Paul and Coxy to have their fun after chugging up hill and down dale all day today, watching the classics zooming along . Now the 4 x 4s can play in the sand.
As darkness fell, we had no idea how far we were from the hotel - we estimated we must have done about 20kms on this road. Visibility very poor and now fully understand the statement “Eat my Dust”…..
Stopped to fill up with diesel. The vehicles were all covered in thick dust from the road. They looked like ghosts trucks in the dark.
The hotel, once we got there was much better than anyone expected considering its loation. We got there around
The main issue was how the classics had all fared on the road, it was too dark and they were too dusty to check for damages. It would all have to wait until morning.
The morning after......
On the road again. The trip today should be better just a bit of gravel to get over – or so they say. We drove through the rolling fertile land around Coban where they grow coffee and cardamon – at one point we could smell the cardamom on the air. Stopped at a roadside Tienda for drinks – the owner couldn’t speak English or Spanish – must be some Mayan dialect and allowed David to go inside and get what we needed
Along the road we kept seeing a road sign NO CORRO NO MATE. Checked in the dictionary – translated as NO RUNNING NO COMMITTING SUICIDE!!! Found out later from one of our Spanish speaking ladies – SPEED KILLS.
We have a river crossing today at Sayaxche. 15 queztals for car and passengers around one pound – cheaper than North Sea Ferries!! JC was first aboard but had to sit in the middle so that the raft remained stable until others boarded. No safety railings around us, people swimming and washing their cars in the river as well as passenger ferries milling around. There were children on board selling oranges and frozen coconuts – who were very interested in us!!
The "Ferry"................. Waiting to board.............. One of our fans..................
Got to the other side and watched some of the others come across. Good job we didn’t all arrive at the same time or the queue would have gone back for miles.
Nikki and Paul arrived on the next boat and the girls had a bit of a rest in a hammock. This would be good for your deck Faye!!!
Changing my feelings about
Made it to the Hotel with no breakdowns today!!
After an early morning start we JC and I set off to visit the Mayan site at
The road to the ruins goes though the jungle for around 5 kms with signs all along saying – CAUTION ANIMALS CROSSING – see if you can guess what they are……
Thankfully we didn't see any!!!
Fantastic site – much bigger than Coban. Amazing how they keep the jungle back it must be a constant job.
Despite the shade from the trees by
Left hotel the next morning heading for
Entry to
Very different atmosphere – more Caribbean and very colourful houses. As we passed through the border we ran alongside of the river where the women were sitting doing their washing – much cooler than filling the washer in the utility room!
We entered
After leaving our vehicles at the Radisson hotel we headed for the boat and our trip to Banyan Bay Resort.
Our leader lost his hat as we arrived and promptly dived off the jetty and swam off to sea to find it. Unfortunately he was going in the wrong direction and was swiftly followed by Paul to much jeering and shouting from the rest of us.
Welcome drinks on arrival before we all settle in to the lovely hotel located on the edge of Ambergis Caye.
JC looking very business like...... Around the hotel..............................................................
Banyan Bay hotel and resort..................... - looks good to me............
Planning to have a relaxing couple of days – aside from trying to replace some of the information on the website of course!!! – Got to keep my readers happy.