Trans Americas 2009 - The Blog

At breakfast, Kevin announced he was off to check out the hotel in advance of our arrival, but 10 minutes later he was back, saying he couldn't get out of town as there was a big procession coming down the road. So we all went outside to see what the fuss was about, and there it was, the most colourful, noisy procession I've ever seen, with bands, dancing girls, flag bearers, acrobatic groups, people dressed in fancy costumes representing the Spanish (including some with bull heads) and groups from different school classes, including oddly, mathematics (the young adults carrying placards with sums on) and art (the young adults painting pictures and pottery as they marched). Once again, the vibrancy of the colours and the lively dancing and music gave this small Guatamalan town a great atmosphere, and made for some great photo opportunities. I must have taken around a hundred pictures, but here's just a select few to try and share the experience...

















One of the great things about the Guatamalans being so small is that we can stand behind them and take photos over their heads... these are 2 fully-grown women, and Aaron, and no, he's not standing on a box, and he's only a little bit taller than me...





The parade lasted a full hour and a half, after which we went and loaded up the bikes before heading out from the hotel up the winding road to the main road, and then along another section of the twisty dual carriageway, the going much easier now we could see where we were heading. We took a detour at Tecpan to go and visit the ruins, but the crowds just out of town meant we couldn't get close and in the heat we decided to skip it and continue on our way to Antigua Guatamala. Entering town with a map to help us find the hotel we rode down more narrow one-way cobbled streets desperately searching for any indication as to the road we were on, and then spotted Chris stood by the roadside, outside the hotel we were due to stay at – seems my lucky navigation skills hadn't deserted me... but the news was that Kevin had changed hotels, the one chosen on recommendation from the guide book not being up to standard, so we're in a different hotel, just one block from the one we're due to be at for 2 nights from tomorrow (hope you're keeping up here...). So we rode round the corner and parked up, checking in to a lovely little hotel with bright courtyard and clean room, and with wi-fi in the courtyard so I could finally upload the last 3 days blog entries...

Once my chores were attended to, and the bike parked in a secure car park round the corner, I wandered into town in search of the square. Antigua Guatamala was the original capital of Guatamala before Guatamala City, and is a bustling complex of narrow cobbled streets with the old part of the town, the main square, jam-packed with people preparing for the Independence Day celebration tomorrow (15th). Running round the city are groups of youngsters with flames and whistles, and the atmosphere is full of life, with smiling people everywhere and of course bright colours, the blue and white of the flag the most predominant.

Later that evening when I met up with Richard & Karen, Max & Christine, Al and Nick for a beer and dinner, we stood in awe as a marching drum band appeared making the most amazing noise, thumping out a great rhythmic beat as they marched towards the arch in the centre of town where they confronted another drum band and then both bands joined together to hammer out a fast beat,. The whole town seemingly crammed in to the square to watch them...





The beat was too much for some, who, overcome with emotion, took to dancing in the street, much to the amusement of the locals...





When the band stopped playing we enjoyed a great meal, entertained by a local magician who wandered from restaurant to restaurant doing tricks for tips...





The other news is that Jeff has managed to get Gerald's bike back together, hammering the panniers back into some form of shape and fixing the mountings, although there is a big kink in the subframe where it was twisted that will probably need welding. Hopefully he'll be back riding again when we head for the Honduran border in a couple of day's time...