Trans Americas 2009 - The Blog

The day dawned bright and sunny, and with a relatively short ride of just 140-odd miles ahead, the day promised to be quite relaxed, as we head to San Cristobal to get within striking distance of the Guatamala border. After attending to the usual early morning requirements (I'm getting bored of writing about showering and blogging!), we started getting ready to head off, Nick, Al, Andrew and I, but Andrew forgot something and sat in the heat was too much so the 3 of us left anyway.

The road out of Palenque was tight and twisty as it meandered up and round the mountainside, with some spectacular views over a beautiful looking Mexican town, typical of the towns hidden in the mountains...





As we continued to make our way to the waterfalls at Aqua Azul, the road twisted this way and that, with many of the bends hard to read and a few tightening up unexpectedly. The road surface was good, though, and our pace slow enough for us to cope, but not everyone was so fortunate. When we were at the waterfalls, we discovered that Gerald had had a spill, running out of road coming out of a left hand turn and deciding to let the bike go in order to save himself. He ended up with a pulled muscle in his groin and minor skin rash from where his trousers dragged on the ground, but his bike fared worse, the rocker cover splitting and spewing out engine oil, as well as extensive damage to his panniers. The full extent of damage to the bike will have to be assessed when time permits, and so for the time being, he'll be riding in the van, which is once again full with 2 bikes and associated luggage inside (although Danielle's wrist is healing well and she's contemplating riding again soon). Hopefully Jeff will be able to work his magic and get Gerald back on the road again soon, the poor soul being rather fed up at having his first ever road accident (and he's been riding for many, many years). At least he's a tough old fella...

The waterfalls themselves were billed in the route notes (and Jeff's descriptions) as being a great place to swim, but with an elbow infection and the side-stream feeding crap from the nearby shops and cafes, I decided against it. They were pretty, though, and quite photogenic, extending high into the surrounding tropical forest (too high for us to walk in motorcycle boots and 98% humidity)...








When I was ready to leave the waterfalls, Nick and Al were still wandering around, so I set off alone, riding through the rainforest and along the winding mountain road as the scenery changed once again as we gained height, and the forest changed from damp and humid to drier pine forest. We reached a height of 2,100m on the way to San Cristobal, the weather still hot but with the reduced humidity much more pleasant. It was during this ride that I encountered a new phenomenon, a sound much like a helicopter, but there was none in sight. Then rounding yet another steep downhill hairpin, I encountered a massive truck doing close to 0 mph, crawling downhill and making the most incredible racket. Engine brakes... you may see signs in the UK stating that these must not be used, and now I know why – the sound is deafening. Basically what they do is simply stop injecting fuel into the diesel engine, letting the raw compression act as a brake, slowing the vehicle down and saving the brakes. With hills as steep as these, it's not an uncommon sound, and a good early warning that there's likely to be a traffic jam just around the corner as cars, pickups and other trucks queue to get past the crawler... still, makes passing them on a bike relatively easy...

Arriving in San Cristobal I caught up with Max & Christine, which was just as well, as the Max's London-riding expertise came into its own as we hit town and complete chaos, a large traffic jam of cars, pick-ups, buses and people crammed into the plaza. Filtering round the outside, with inches to spare between panniers and barriers, people, walls and other vehicles was great fun, and once again I was howling with laughter as Christine covered her eyes, not believing Max could negotiate his GS with it's huge Metal Mule panniers through the tiny gaps (he did, so I followed...). Soon we were clear of the chaos and riding down the narrow cobbled one-way street to the hotel, parking up next to Kevin and Julia's bikes (they'd set off early and gone straight to the hotel in order to prepare the route-notes for later). Once checked in I called Tracy on Skype before sitting in the courtyard updating the blog, and then joined the others for the evening's entertainment...

First up was the “Gold Star” awards, which this time went to Al, for his part in the heroic rescue of a drowning Andy at the Caribbean, and for his thoughtfulness on a couple of other occasions. Well deserved, too... Then it was time for Danielle's humiliation, it being her birthday... her presents included no less than 3 different hats – a Sombrero (naturally), a natty little “Harley Girl” bandana affair (similar to the ones given to Edwina and Al) and a lovely viva-Mexico hat with pigtails, but her best present was without doubt the tee-shirt with the surprised cow on the front, in recognition of her “GS up a cow's backside” incident...





Following the giving and receiving of presents, we got on to the serious business of discussing the border crossing tomorrow, and running through what we needed to do, whilst once again Kevin re-enforced the message that Guatamala is a degree more chaotic and potentially dangerous (from a riding perspective) than Mexico... should be fun... One thing that got a huge cheer was when Kevin mentioned that Guatamala doesn't have the dreaded topes (sleeping policeman)... this was followed by a groan when he told us that in Guatamala they're called tumulos.... (but they don't have as many, thankfully!)...

Once done, Nick, Al and I went in search of a money-changer to get some Quetzals (Guatamalan currency) without success (though I did find a faster $Gb SD card for my camera for the princely sum of £11.50), and then grabbed a pizza and an early night... with a 6.30am departure in the morning, and a long border crossing and 250-mile ride, we're going to need all the sleep we can get...