Thurs, March 26 Mazatenango, Guatemala to San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico

It's been a good day - I got to see Xela one more time, cross a border, and get some good riding in all along the way.

On my way to Xela, all of a sudden my front brakes started acting funny, and the bike wouldn't go any more. When I pulled over and touched the left front brake rotor, some of the leather on my glove burned off and stuck to it. The rotor and calipers were piping hot. Fortunately, it was cold out. In fact, I had forgotten how cold Xela is in the mornings - I needed to put on my fleece under my motorcycle jacket. When they cooled off a little, I took the seemingly unharmed pads off, and let it all sit and chill out for a while. The right disc and brake was perfectly fine, as was the rear. Perhaps I was just in fifth gear too much on these mountainous (and volcanic) roads, because when I put it back on it was fine, and didn't give me any problems the rest of the day.

Xela was just as awesome and beautiful as I remembered it from a week ago. I had breakfast at one of the temporary stands off the side of Parque Central - 10Q for a huge omelet, beans, rice, hot tortillas, and hot chocolate con leche. At the cyber cafe near the spanish school, I talked with the guy (if you're reading this, sorry I forgot your name) who helped me with some info, directions, and will hopefully spread the word about this blog. He's got a great resourceful site with everything about Xela, called Xelapages. In fact, I think this is how I found out about ICA Spanish School.

For the first time leaving the town, I didn't get lost! 100 miles or so of some nice Guatemala mountain riding, ending with some really huge canyons with nearly vertical walls on either side of the road, and I was back in border-land.

Border Crossing:
This one was confusing - I didn't exactly know what I needed, since I already had a vehicle permit and passport stamp that might have still been valid - I hadn't cancelled either at the Belize border.

Besides all the people selling stuff, trying to change my money, or trying to help, the Guatemala side was easy. I easily found the guy for the exit stamp - this time no fee - and also the guy to take back the vehicle permit. Everyone seems to know I'm travelling on a motorcycle, even out of sight of the bike. Maybe it's the bandana, sun-glass goggles, and padded, reflective motorcycle jacket.

Across the gate in Mexico was a few stations along the road with signs I didn't recognize - the fourth in line was agriculture something, and they had me stop there to have the bike sprayed. They asked if the spray would harm the rotors or the engine, and I said it might since it's all so hot. It was no longer high altitude country, instead desert mid-afternoon. They didn't spray the bike, but I had to pay for it anyway. It was 50 pesos, 40 quetzales, or 5 bucks (I used USD's because I used most of my Q's and didn't yet have P's), and I got a reciept that I was never asked for anywhere else. A few kilometers down the road was Mexico Immigration, where I filled out the form, got a stamp, and went to the bank to pay the 262 peso fee. At the bank I spoke up and asked the guy if I really needed to pay that, since I already did it coming in from Texas and never got it cancelled. This was all in Spanish, so he might not have exactly understood me. His answer, basically, was that it doesn't matter - he showed me a list of locations where I can pay this fee, the whole time hinting that it's really not necessary, since I already have my passport stamp. This is cool, but not applicable everywhere - at the Texas border, I needed to make a copy of this reciept and turn it in. That was it - no gates or anything, and I'm in Mexico. There was also no place to buy insurance - maybe that's not required after all, and the companies only want you to think so.

A couple miles up the road was the most thorough military check yet - I had to open each luggage case and the bags inside and say what each thing was - good spanish practice.

Some beautiful, easy riding through a few neat little towns which reminded me how much I like Mexico. At the same time, it's also so different from Chetumal, where I left, that it's still new. I'm at a really nice 150 peso hotel (well, nice considering that it's 150 pesos) in San Cristobal de Las Casas, a cool historic city with lots of life. I sure miss the food here, and the beer selection as well - it will be a nice evening.