In the morning I filled up the tank and took the short ride to San Ignacio, a bustling small town centered in tourism, and the home base for innumerable outposts and outfitters. I´d heard that these tours are great and unforgettable, but they were way over my budget, and required me to remind myself that I'm not a tourist. When people ask though, I call it a vacation, for lack of a better word, and many of these people don´t speak much english. I got some amazing breakfast burritos and papaya juice from a taco stand with a guy who gave me props for the Leatherman tool that´s been glued to my hip the past 2 weeks.
On a recomendation, I took the little hand-cranked ferry across the river to see the local Mayan ruins. They were neat, and I got to climb to the top of some. The difference between these and the last
two I´ve been to is that the signs were written in english, so I could read the history of the excavation and overhear some of the tour guides with their groups of rich Americans on family vacation and retired couples traveling the world.
It was only about noon when I was done, so I decided to go to Guatemala.
The Border Crossing:
The first person to approach me at the border was an unofficial currency exchange guy. He told me where to go to check out of Belize and to come to him afterwards, because there is a 37B exit fee. That was the only number he got right. I paid the exit fee, got my passport stamped, and came back to him to change my Belize dollars to Quetzales.
Although I didn´t realize it at the time, I now see that although he didn´t screw me, he did milk me. Some have said the exchange rates are unfair, or the calculators are rigged - I don´t think this is true. He bought a BZD for 3.2Q. This makes sense since BZD to a USD is 2:1 and Q to USD is 7.5:1. He also clearly punched the keys and showed me his calculator the whole time. He got me with quantity - he took it upon himself to scare me into thinking that the crossing was going to be so expensive that I had to change every bit of cash I had. He started spouting off numbers - ¨20Q for you, 80 for the vehicle, 35 per day for insurance, and how long are you staying? 3 weeks? There are no ATMs until Flores, and you need hotel and food¨and so on. This worked on me. I changed the 100 peso note I had been keeping, all my Belize money, and an extra 40US out of the emergency stash I hide on the bike. When I get to an ATM, I´ll have to replace that, although it will be in Quetzales.
On the Guatemala side, I was immediately hounded by even more money changers, all claiming to have the best rate. The Guatemala customs agents were all very nice, laid back, and tolerant of my
poor Spanish. The passport stamp cost nothing, the import sticker 40Q (about $6), and insurance isn´t necessary. In fact, the closest short term insurance dealer is not until Flores, the first large town a few hours away. The officer at the gate didn´t even look at my passport, and I was let through to Guatemala.The road was terrible. It was much like the road I ended up on at the top of Belize - bumpy, potholed, and rutted - this one with a few big puddles that got me and big mama covered in mud. After a few miles it smoothes out and becomes mostly paved, with bumpy perpendicular unpaved strips usually about 10 feet wide. And alas, the overwhelming joy that is the tope in Mexico and the bump in Belize exists here as well, but I haven´t yet figured out what they´re called here (NOTE: I now see that they're called Tumulos). Coming near Tikal, one of my must-sees, I
saw a sign for a resort that offers camping, so I rode the few miles on the really bumpy road, then the half mile offroad to find that the place is actually very pretty and nice, on a large lake. I had some food at the restaurant and talked with some English speakers there who know Guatemala well and helped me find a good route to Quetzaltenango and some things to see along the way.When I went to set up the tent, one of the poles broke. There´s only 2, so it´s important to the workings of the tent. And last night, my flashlight broke - the bulb blew (at least it didn´t happen inside the cave). When I get home, I´m going to write a colorful letter to Mountain Hardware - it´s a brand new tent. A couple of the men helped fix it temporarily, with some string, so it will work for tonight, but I´d really like it to fit in my saddle bag like it used to.
When I went to do some work on the bike, some leaves and twigs were falling on it. The owner who speaks some english said ¨the howler monkeys like your bike¨. I look up, and there´s a family of howlers way up in the tree! Looks like I´ll be serenaded again tonight.
Tomorrow it´s Tikal, where I´ll probably spend the whole day. I have high expectations and have heard a lot about this place. Hopefully the road getting there will be alright.
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