My friend Peter, his sons and I started at 7am from Guatemala City, taking the highway to the Pacific coast. We took the road to Taxisco, which runs past large cattle ranches and fertile sugarcane fields, a wonderful picture of the wild and beautiful Guatemalan lowlands.
Here is a typical Guatemalan breakfast: eggs, frijoles, cottage cheese, plantains and tomato sauce, accompanied with sour cream, chili and tortillas..and lots of coffee.Yummy!
We reached the Salvadorean border Pedro de Alvarado before 11 am and crossed with little formality. The first 5o miles are in bad shape, lots of potholes, but that changed as soon as we hit the coastal road to La Libertad.
It is one of the nicest roads for motorcycles with lots of curves, hills and valleys, even some tunnels. And gorgeous views of the Pacific ocean to boot. There is no coastal road in Guatemala, because the farms and ranches run right to the beach.
We took off our leather jackets in the tropical heat and continued in riding vests.
At noon we reached the seafood restaurant Don Beto, 10 miles north of la Libertad. After almost 5 hours in the saddle we drank our beers.. standing up!
We met up with our friend Bernd and his wife for a great lunch. The design and setting of Don Beto is stunning, the food great! The oysters are as good as New Orleans and we had Salvadorean conchitas, a type of shellfish which must be eaten alive (just put lemon on them, if they squirm, they are fine, if not, you discard them).
After lunch, we took the road to the capital, San Salvador, and returned via the frontier of Las Chinamas. The road was good and except for some roadkill, sunburn and and one flat tire we experienced nothing special.
6 pm saw us in Guatemala City and we had a last beer with a view of the city. The return trip took 4 hours. Total mileage around 300.
A GREAT DAY!! AND BERND, THANK YOU FOR LUNCH!
The TRANS AMERICA RIDE FOR AK´TENAMIT supported by the Rotary Club Guatemala Sur to raise funds for a school for Qékchi children in the rain forest of eastern Guatemala. http://aktenamit.org/
READ MY BLOG: http://transamericatenamit.
Want to buy miles or or donate to Ak´Tenamit? See Chapter 5 of the Blog
If you would like to ride with me for a day or a week or if you would like to organize a local ride or rendez-vous somewhere along my route, contact me!
JEAN VAYSSIER
THE RIDING DUTCHMAN
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