Rough Day to Good Night

With a need to close out one project and possibly interview for a second, Ken booked a quick trip to the states...it happened to coordinate well with my good friend Liz coming to Guatemala, so just one trip to the city! We decided to go up the night before Ken and Liz's flights to make it easy.

We woke up and had some wonderful local granola and decided to get a fairly early start so we could reach the city with enough time to put the finishing touches on a proposal due the next day. Good plan at least.

Ken went up to the FJ to separate it from our trailer while I finished packing some things to stay overnight. When I got up to the FJ, we opened the back gate and started loading when I noticed a stinging sensation on my foot...I looked down to see that I was standing on an ant hill and they were pissed. I jumped a few feet away and started swiping them off my feet when I heard a thud and groan from the front of the FJ.

Ken wasn't making a sound, bent over in silent agony but I could see a nasty bruise, bump and gash on his shin. He had slipped on the sidestep of the FJ and fell with the full weight of his shin into the side of it...leaving a disgusting amount of skin behind.

I felt nauseated and pretty powerless to do anything about his intense pain. I suggested we put off leaving and go back to our place to clean it up but he wouldn't have it. He wanted to press on.

I offered to drive, not just because he was hurt, but because I wanted to be confident in the route when I drove back with Liz the next day.

The first 30 miles or so until you get to the Panamerica Highway is rough...not as rough as our all-night drive, but has its fair share of potholes, hairpin turns, and narrow passageways. I was glad I would have some practice at it.

We stopped briefly for lunch along the way, and found ourselves entering the outskirts of the city about 2:30. The traffic coming out was very slow and I took note that the next day I wanted to grab Liz and get out of there as quickly as possible!

It was relatively easy to find our hotel, La Inmaculada, with our Google directions (yes, we still use it, but we skipped one of the steps using our own logic and local signage.) We found a parking spot about a block away assuming we would come back out and re-park once we found out how the parking worked.

Bad news...the website said parking available...but all the spots were taken so we would need to park on the street. Not a good idea, even in Zone 10. We decided to head out on foot and look for a nearby hotel with parking. Great idea...until 4 blocks out the sky opened up and we got hammered with a thunderstorm. We tried for a couple blocks to push through, but eventually sought the refuge of a hair salon overhang. While waiting out the rain, we realized we were just a block from a shopping center we visited last time we were here, so we decided to make a run for it.

We made it to a coffee shop, logged into their wifi, and continued our hotel search online. We found one we liked and tried to book, but it didn't go through. Meanwhile, the rain slowed so we decided to make a run back to our car and drive to finish the booking in person.

On the way to the car, we spotted a parking lot advertising night parking for about $3.That was our answer. Great idea but they had no extra spots. They did have another lot, not far away but the exact location was muddled in translation.

When we got to the FJ, we went out to hunt for it. It was now 4 p.m. and the city streets were beyond busy. We pushed our way into the slow crawl of vehicles and hoped for the best. We eventually ended up back at the original parking place. This time the directions were much more clear. We found the other place just as the sky opened up again. I recalled seeing a person along the street in the earlier storm that was holding a simple trash bag overhead to keep dry... and we happened to have a box of huge sturdy trash bags in the back of the FJ. Wish I had taken a photo of our self-designed trash bag raincoats, but you'll have to just imagine.

Ken went with a simple cutout at the top for his head because he didn't mind getting his hair wet. I opened up one of the seams and went with a hood approach. I'm sure we both looked ridiculous, and I'm equally sure we were too dry to care. We did happen upon a couple other people doing the same thing and we all nodded with smiles as we passed.

We half jogged the 8 or so blocks back to the hotel, thinking nothing of running through deep puddles by this point and sheepishly announced that we would take the room after all.

We got in, got warm in a luxurious modern shower, and grabbed some yummy food from a restaurant practically across the street. Then the real treat of the night...the place is known for it's coffee bar, so of course we stopped in for some fuel to attack that proposal, but maybe one of us got wine instead. The fruit and chocolate...amazing. Not a bad way to wind down Ken's last night in Guate for a week or so.

Matehuala's Swinging Resort

After helping out our new friends the Gargola Biker Club family, they invited us to stay and have dinner and rest overnight at their home in Saltillo. Despite the lovely offer and the unique opportunity to stay with the locals, we decided we ought to move on. After spending a couple days on the border, we were somehow feeling behind, even though it was our own timeline. ;-)

So we got them to Saltillo and got onto the road again. A couple hours later, we pulled into a "Pemex," the only gas station company in the country because it's nationalized (and cheaper!) to re-fuel and I got to try a pretty fancy paid restroom. I felt a little odd about taking a photo, but you all are worth it. You put your 4 pesos (about 30 cents) into the slot in front of the turnstile and whaalaa!

After our quick stop, back on the road to make up well-spent time. The drive was gorgeous, lots of big sky and beautiful cactus.

Osa even found a spot Ken created for her behind the passenger seat that allowed her to take in the sights along the way...until she got tired and crawled into my lap.

After about 450 km (sorry, not good at translating that, but it was a good long way) we were getting tired and the sun was getting low so we pulled into the town of Matehuala.After driving through the very small town and back again, we found a great resorty place called, "Las Palmas."

We asked to see a room and a very friendly guy walked us over to a mid-century duplex that could be ours for the evening. Growing up in Palm Springs, it felt just like going home. This place was probably pretty swingin' back in the day. Not exactly what you expect to find in such a small town, but it was going to be cool for a night. And, we didn't have to hide the cats. :)

We settled in with the cats and went over to the restaurant, choosing to eat outside by the pool because it was such a nice night out. It was a long day, the road was starting to wear on us, and it felt very, very far away still from Lake Atitlan. But, we were in a great place and relaxing for the night at least. We even took a walk around and found a put-put golf course, rv park, and this cool bike path for the bikes you can rent from the hotel.

And they had the most amazing Joshua Tree Cacti (don't use the plural of that very often!) and cool artwork in the two-room duplex. 

The next morning, rested and ready to attack the road again, we set out. 

Mexico Day 1 and 2 - We Made Some Friends

If you read my post about our last day of driving, you may understand I believe we over-extended ourselves because of how easy the previous week of driving through Mexico had been.

We set out on Saturday, June 7th from Del Rio, Texas where we had a great stay at the Ramada for a couple days, trying to get ahead on some client work before the trip. We were pretty well rested and ready to go.

At the border, about 5 miles from our hotel, we weren't sure what to expect. We definitely got their attention with our packed FJ, trailer, and quad. They asked that we pull into another section so they could inspect and we could fill out some paperwork. Apparently, most of the traffic going through that crossing is very localized, Texans going shopping or to restaurants and such.

I waited with the FJ and the cats while Ken went in (he has MUCH better Spanish.) At some point, I had to go in as well and sign some things. While inside, we had a great view of the border check and Ken took a photo with his camera - big mistake. Apparently it's a federal crime and we spent more of our time at the border with Ken explaining why he took the pic and deleting it for them. In and out in an hour though, and darn it if they never even asked about our cats - the thing we were most stressed about since our health certificate was dated more than 10 days prior.

The first day we drove until just before dusk and then played it safe and comfortable with the Holiday Inn in Monclova Mexico. Not a lot to report, it was a little nicer than your average US Holiday Inn. We snuck the cats in with towels over their cages which seemed ridiculously obvious to me, but they allowed us in, so yay! The next day, Sunday morning, was a great brunch and I was introduced to a wonderful Mexican breakfast dish I need to find out the name of. Essentially it is nachos with long strips of tortillas chips, green sauce, chicken and cheese. All yum.

We also figured out a better way to sneak our cats in and out of hotels - Costco and Sams IKEA bags with a towel on top! We knew it would work great for Osa who ever meows and for Belle, well it would depend on her mood.

We got off to a relatively early start for us, 10 a.m. It took us about an hour each morning and evening to unpack and pack for a secure night for our stuff on the trailer and in the vehicle. I was feeling good about how much we could accomplish that day, especially because the roads were so good. We were taking toll roads (cuotas) where we could, but even the regular roads were much better than expected. No cartels in sight, no police with hands out for bribes. ;-)

About two hours into our journey south, we came up on some motorcycle folks stranded on the right side of the road and really didn't hesitate to pull over to help. It was pretty desolate desert, not somewhere you would want to be stranded.

Were we a little nervous? Sure. But it became quickly  obvious we had nothing to fear. This was a very cool multi-generational family who like to go out on rides together and found themselves in trouble. They had a set of training wheels for one of the kids and one of the wheels on it went flat. They needed to take the training wheel attachment off the cycle and had no tools. Then they needed to find a way to get the attachment to their hometown of Saltillo, about 200 km away. Luckily we offered both. Ken brought a ton of tools for our vehicles and we had our quad trailer and easily added it on top. Bonus was that the town was on our way.

You could tell there was a lot of love between them, a lot of kidding around too. They were so sweet and so grateful. They gave us a t-shirt, pin, and window sticker from their biker club, the Gargolas, and we proudly put it up on the Fj's back window. We also connected over Facebook and are regularly in touch.

Here's a photo of all of us together after loading the training wheel attachment:

So we didn't get as far on the map as we thought we would that day, but we both agree we had a pretty successful day. With all the warnings we received and all the concern that folks had for us, I have to admit it had the effect of an ongoing low-level anxiety in the back of our minds. After engaging with some real people though, I felt a lot of that fall away. It reaffirmed a basic belief that we are all the same underneath it all.

Thanks to Google we drove all night

This post is not in order and covers the last day of our trip to Guatemala, but I wanted to write this one so I didn't forget a thing. Sorry it's so long.

It's Friday the 13th on a rare full moon and we wake up early in Arriaga, in the Chiapas region of Mexico so that Ken can get a few things done for a client before we head out. We talked the night before about how close we are to Lake Atitlan and how we just need to make it happen the next day.

As the morning went on, it was clear the client work was going to take longer than expected. I went down to the restaurant in our hotel hoping to catch the Mexico v Cameroon World Cup match. It was so exciting to watch it in a room full of people who love the game. The place erupted with Mexico's goal, which turned out to be the only goal of the game. It was awesome.

About 2 p.m. we set out on the road to the border, expecting about a 4 1/2 hour drive. About 40 kilometers from the border, we ran into a speed bump/check point and a man named Roberto who had official ID from a Mexican bank approach the car. He explained that we needed to go back about 5 km and check in at the immigration building to get our vehicle deposits back. He offered to get in our vehicle and help us get through all the paperwork.

After interacting with two different groups of Mexican immigration officials and a lot of questions about our quad, we were on our way about 7 p.m. When we got back to where we picked him up, Roberto mentioned going with us through the Guatemalan border to ensure we didn't have any problems and he happened to live in the border town on the Guatemalan side so we could drop him off after. Because our FJ was literally packed to the roof in the back, he offered to ride sitting on the arm rests between our seats in the front. Sounded fine to me, Ken was dubious about his intentions and they way he talked his way into our vehicle.

When we got to the border at Tailsman, I was so glad we had Roberto with us. Like characters in zombie movie, the car was literally surrounded by people wanting something from us, very intimidating. Roberto waived them off and yelled at me to keep going, so I did, nervous that someone was so close I would hurt them as we drove past.

As we approached the border, Roberto motioned for us to drive into a large gravel lot filled with vehicles. He then motioned for Ken to go with him to fill out the paperwork. By this point, another group of men had crowded our car where we were parked. As Ken opened the door and they saw one of our cats, they started meowing loudly, trying to get our attention - pretty annoying. As he and Roberto walked out past them, Ken spoke gruffly to them, not to touch the car and to move away. Ken looked back at me one more time..."are you sure you're okay with this? If you feel threatened AT ALL, just honk." I reassured him more strongly than I felt it that I was fine.

I was somewhat relieved to see that the men assumed Ken was the only one worth talking to and followed he and Roberto out of the lot. I was there sitting in the car with the cats while the sky got darker and darker. Paranoid that someone might be getting into the items on our trailer, I kept checking the side mirrors. A teenaged boy approached and motioned authoritatively to me that I was to move my car into a parking spot - which would have left me pretty vulnerable and trapped if someone were to pull up behind the spot.

So I pulled up my big girl panties, summoned my North Highlands grit, and forcefully shook my head "No!" while making direct eye contact and looking as tough as I know how to look. I was pretty shocked to see that he quickly gave up on me, deciding I wasn't worth the effort for whatever he was trying to pull.

It was 9 p.m. before we finally got through, with Ken almost physically fighting with the man operating the gate at the lot when he tried to lock me in, and Roberto running back and forth to each office to get us okayed, even riding with a friend on his motorcycle back to Mexico to get some things photocopied - yeah, I guess they didn't have any copiers on the Guatemala side. SOOOO worth having him along with us, even with the $100 "donation" he suggested.

As we dropped him off, he and Ken reviewed the route Google suggested and it seemed we were on our way, expecting to be there in 2-3 hours. For the next hour driving in the dark, the Google Map woman's voice telling us to turn left in 800 meters or to continue straight (we always correct her and say "forward, not straight") was comforting.That was when we liked Google Maps. Here's the map:

Soon, the Google Map lady told us to turn off the main highway, which seemed strange. It was a much smaller road - but maybe Google was sending us on a shortcut and we would get there even quicker!

A couple of miles into the new road, the foliage on either side seemed like it was moving in, creating less and less space to drive. The road started to get very steep, and then the "road" turned into dirt...very rough, washed out, canyon-like dirt. We had a choice to make. We didn't make the right one and I went back to that moment many, many times throughout the night.

We kept going. It was narrow, it was steep, it was difficult to turn around with a trailer, and we are optimists. We kept thinking, it's just this part of the road, it will get better.

Ken was amazing. Even after the long, crazy day he had, he was aggressively but carefully attacking the road ahead. At each point, our mood about the journey became more negative. The road was horrible - worse than any that we've driven before and we drove some crazy roads in Costa Rica before their recent investment in infrastructure. As we slowed to get through each hazard as gently as possible, we cringed to hear the creaking of our trailer, imagining the tongue finally taking too much stress and cracking.

It got more and more rural, varying between steep canyon-like dirt roads, rocky roads (!) and roads that were more pothole than road. It was taking MUCH longer than we or Google expected. Their 3 hour prediction never changed. It felt like we were never getting any credit, never moving the dial despite the challenging progress we felt we were making.

At about 3 a.m., we were still moving along the road and some Guatemalans were beginning to start their day. One driver who came up from behind us fairly aggressively in a mini-truck with the back filled with kids on their way to school warned us that the road ahead was very dangerous. That part we knew. Not 10 minutes went by that we weren't wondering at the horrific conditions ahead of us.

But we had come pretty far and wanted to get to our place so badly, so we pushed on. At 4 a.m., we came to an intersection we were having trouble turning into, and two more people pulled over to tell us that we shouldn't go any further. We decided that was too much to ignore but we weren't sure what to do. We could take the quad the rest of the way, un-hitch the trailer and come back for it, go forward anyway or turn around and go back the way we came.

We decided to take a nap. On the side of the "road." In our car. Perhaps with a little sleep our brains might come up with a new idea. Unfortunately, I was again paranoid about our trailer and spent the time checking in mirrors and windows. Luckily, Ken went to sleeep immediately. I can't convey enough how exhausted we both were and how many times I tried to re-arrange myself in the confines of the passenger seat to try to find a position comfortable enough to sleep. Not sleeping for so long was literally painful - my body was aching and it seemed like I was having trouble regulating my temperature - swings of cold to hot and back again. I would have given anything to sleep.

When Ken woke close to 5: 30 am, we came to the realization the only smart thing to do was go all the way back and we were going to, except when we tried to turn around, our FJ got stuck....very stuck. We were literally spinning our wheels as the village men in the area started to gather. It was embarrassing, and with the lack of sleep and a night filled with anxious driving, it would have been easy to assume the worst about their intentions. But Ken got out of the car and using all the Spanish he could muster after the lack of sleep, he and the men were able to work together and get us going again.

Here's a look at our speed of progress on the Google route:

Here are some photos along the route that we were taking for a second time to get back to the highway.

When we got into a town large enough that it had a restaurant and we knew we were in the clear, I had the best breakfast of my life. I love the traditional Mayan breakfast of eggs, black beans, queso fresco, plantains and tortillas - the best! Especially after the night we had.

Journey to Guatemala Continues - Tucson AZ to Fort Stockton TX

After 3 weeks, yes, 3 weeks in Tucson, we finally received our DMV paperwork. I have to begin with a huge thank you to Ken's parents. While we would have liked things to go perfectly and to be in Guatemala by now, it was great to have such a wonderful place to call our temporary home.

While we hoped to take off Monday night, we didn't have it all together until about 1 -p.m. Tuesday...so we said good-bye to Jan and Ken (Sr) and set off into the 100+ AZ heat.


Our route, selected to do as much of our driving in the US as possible, takes us through New Mexico and into Texas. For the first several hours we saw....more desert. Osa (our gray kitty) was pretty unimpressed, even when we crossed the state line into New Mexico.

 





We did see this..old timey gas pump at the station in New Mexico where we refueled the first time.




And then we saw Las Cruces - what a dramatic burst of mountains that seems to come out of nowhere. We hit it at the perfect time...near sunset.



We took the opportunity to get the cats out of the car and let them roam a bit...on some harnesses and leashes we picked up for the trip. Cats and leashes...not a great start, they didn't really get the whole walking thing....but it did keep them from taking off. Both enjoyed a great roll in the dirt.

 


One of the cool things about New Mexico are their rest stops - each one offers a series of little shelters with a table and fire pit or BBQ grill so that families have their own private space. Interesting concept!

This is the view from one of the shelters looking out onto another one on the left and those beautiful mountains in the far background with the city of Las Cruces at their base.



Some more photos of the shelters, yes I was completely charmed by them.






We should probably have stayed the night in Las Cruces, but well, we were anxious. In our minds, 3 weeks behind and in a hurry to get to Guatemala, and knowing we would be fairly comfortable driving at night here in the US, we kept on going....

Into Texas and through El Paso - which was a MUCH larger city than I imagined based on Google's depiction on our map. It was dark, but El Paso and Mexico's city literally across the freeway, Juarez, went on for miles and miles and miles. It was a very odd feeling to be driving the freeway there, that dividing line between countries and fates.

We set our sites on Fort Stockton, Texas....but didn't really think about the whole time zone thing. We passed through 3 different zones on our way, making our arrival very, very late. We also had a cloth carrier on our roof which kept making strange noises so we had 3 stops with poor Ken trying to figure out how to quiet our ride. And the most challenging part of the trip? Our cats,  or should I say cat. Osa is a wonderful little traveler, but Belle, not so much.  We even got a prescription for her from the vet for Xanax (yes, cats can take the human med) but I forgot to crush it so it took longer to kick in and once the negative vibe was set, we were doomed. She was so awful you had to laugh...when you weren't the one she was hissing at or biting. ;-)

About 2:30 am, we pulled into pet-friendly La Quinta Fort Stockton and grabbed their last room. Wish I had grabbed a photo of the chair in the room, truly the dirtiest piece of hotel furniture I have ever seen. But we were there to sleep....and we did.