Volcanoes in the mist....

"San Simon, patron saint of alcohol and tobacco"

After a visit to San Simon, the Mayan saint of tobacco and alcohol, for a blessing to help us on our way it was finally time to leave Xela behind. One last hike to the top of the local volcano was a fitting way to end the stay and a 4.45am start saw us on the summit by 10 to witness the spectacular sight of neighbouring volcanoes spewing smoke and ash. The early start was worth it as 30 minutes after reaching the top the clouds rolled in and visibility dropped to 50 meters. Suddenly the top erupted in song as various Mayan-Christian ceremonies began. The singing, carried on the mists, accompanied us as we made our descent. The following morning as we packed the bike we discovered Beth´s wallet with her passport, credit cards, ID´s and vacinations record had been stolen, sometime within the previous two days. Obviously a bit of a setback so a visit to Guatemala City and the U.S. embassey would be needed. We had planned to avoid the capital but now we had liitle choice.




We decided to stay in Antigua, about 45 minutes from the capital which provided a respite from the roads which are still in terrible condition since Hurricane Stan hit a year ago. Antigua is beautiful, old cathedrals nestle alongside earthquake damaged ruins. Cobbled streets converge upon a town square that hasn´t changed in centuries, each street and avenue holds endless surprises. Traditional food stalls, contemporary restaurants, an artesan´s market and architectural wonders all set between 3 towering volcanoes. It provided a good base from which to resolve the passport problem. For some unknown reason Central American cities have a strong aversion to signage so although it only took 45 minutes to reach Guat. City it took another hour of suicidal driving to reach the embassey only to find they are closed on Mondays so we had to do it all again the following day. Any excuse to hang out in Antigua for a few more days was more than welcome. In the end it only took two hours to issue a temporary passport so before long we were back on the road. Couldn´t resist another hike up another volcano, this time a fully active one.



A short drive from Antigua is Volcan Pacaya with a road taking you to within 2 hours of the crater providing you don´t have any Dutch people on the hike, 3 hours later we were as close to the crater as you´d want to get. A matter of footsteps seperate lush rainforest dripping with moisture and a moonlike surface of hardening lava and acrid fumes. The contrast is remarkable but one is totally dependent on the other. We were able to get within a meter of a lava flow, molten rock bubbling up from within the mountiain. Occasionally a larger chunk would break off and tumble down towards us, we were reassured by our guide that only ¨some people¨ had been killed on these hikes.

It was now time to make up some time and distance so we hit the road early Thursday and the next few days were a blur of border crossings and long hours in the saddle. We were behind schedule so a night in El Salvador on the shores of the incredble Lago de Coatepeque, only 4 hours in Honduras, two of which were spent at the borders doing paperwork and we found ourselves in Nicaragua. The border crossings require a good deal of patience, lots of practice of our broken Spanish and plenty of small bills for greasing palms at each part of the procedure. On pulling up you get surrounded by guides and fixers who assure you you won´t make it through in less than 4 hours without there generous help for only a small fee. At the Honduran border seeing the lines of trucks and people with armloads of paperwork convinced us that this time some help would be a good thing but in retrospect there is no reason we couldn´t have done it on our own. The day was wearing on, it was hot and humid and the prospect of being on the road after dark was not appealing so we paid over the odds and got through in just over an hour. Wish we´d done a little more research on that one.

So now we are in Granada, southern Nicaragua, another beautiful colonial city on the shores of Lago de Nicaragua surrounded by Volcanoes. Decided to stop here for a few days over the weekend to give the bike an oil change and enjoy the festival currently taking place. Think it´s more of a politcal rally but the streets are filled with music and everyone is in good humour. The central plaza comes alive in the evening with people, birds and music. It´s very hot and extremely humid so there is nothing else to do but grab a cold beer and watch the world go by. We are now halfway through the journey, a month on the road and realising it will take more than another month to get there so may get to Chile by the end of November