Day 49

Odometer  29,440 – 29, 520 —– 80  Miles (6830 Miles Total)

San Pedro, Guatemala – Antigua, Guatemala

Got up and went for the normal breakfast down the block this morning. I’m happy to be leaving San Pedro and the lake. I feel like I got my fill of it for sure. I packed up all the things and hit the road. Last night I walked the roads through the town I was thinking of taking to the main road instead of letting google maps take me down a really long weird way like last time. So this time I was out in 2 minutes as opposed to 15 to get in.

I decided to just wear my motorcycle jacket and jeans since it was super hot everywhere lately. I screwed that one up. I rode up  through a mini stelvio pass out of the lake and I had a 3 hour ride ahead. I kept climbing and climbing through mountains and next thing I knew I was at 9,000′ and it was 47 degrees with a light rain for about an hour. I didn’t want to pull over and fish my riding gear out of my bags so I just kept on riding. I got a nice view of the lake and the volcanos from up above which I stopped to take some pictures. The ride was lovely except for the weather. Nice twisty roads the whole time and they were nice paved roads as well without too many speed bumps.

Three hours later I was in Antigua. It was at 5,000′ so a bit cooler than normal which I was ok with. I went to check into my hostel and booked it for the wrong night once again and they were fully booked tonight! I rode a few blocks away and found another lovely hostel with room so I booked it. A bit pricey at $20 a night but who cares. I dropped my stuff off, did laundry, took a shower got dressed and went out to explore. I had to run a few errands today so I ran around the city getting some things done. I walked into a place that booked tours and booked an overnight volcano tour for tomorrow morning. I’m so excited about that. I took care of paperwork for insurance for my bike for Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua. A bit behind on that one! Thankfully I haven’t gotten pulled over.

I went out for some tea and snacks and met a local there. We chatted for about an hour before we parted ways. I made it back to my hostel and saw a few people sitting around a fireplace in the middle of the outdoor hanging out area. I joined them to work on my website and stay warm by the fire. Adam from Israel, Francesco from Naples, Italy and Mathilde from Montreal. We all started chatting and we found out Mathilde had the same birthday as me yesterday. She invited us all out for a salsa class. Adam couldn’t go out tonight because he was doing the volcano hike tomorrow. I gave him shit for it since I was on the same tour as him we found out but he never came. Francesco Mathilde and I got dressed, finished up our drinks and took a stroll to the salsa class. We were all terrible but it was fun. Next it was time for groups. Mathilde was my partner and I’m glad I didn’t step on her feet even once. We crushed it! We actually looked like we knew what we were doing. Well to us at least because we probably sucked. Few drinks later while looking like idiots her friends showed up and I met Jasper at the bar. He was from the Netherlands. I told him we were all going to a bar and he should join but he declined since he said he was doing a volcano tour tomorrow as well and we found out he was on our tour as well. He’s 29 and I told him I am 35 so I don’t want to hear any bullshit excuses as to why he shouldn’t come out tonight with us. Well it worked and next you know the girls are dancing on the bar while we were all on our 4th tequila shot. What’s up with these goddamn Canadian girls dancing on bars this whole trip? We all had a blast. I danced all night at the bar with the girls and Francesco was having a great time as well. Some guys came up to me yelling and hugging me in the middle of the bar dancing scene and it was the two guys from London traveling with the girl from Georgia I met yesterday at the Lake. It was so nice to see them! They were so pumped up to see me they went wild! Now we had a group of ten or so with everyone together. More tequila shots upon more shots we all got pretty drunk. Jasper called it a night pretty early. What’s up with these young guys nowadays they can’t stay out and party!? I’m so happy i met this group it’s about time i met some fun people after the last group i split up with in Bacalar.

We bounced around to a party hostel and then back to the bar we all went to first. I called it a night with Francesco around 1am and we walked back to the hostel but didnt even get to sleep much. I might be having a rough day tomorrow on the hike.

Picture in front of Lake Atitlan on my way out

Mini Stelvio pass in Guatemala
Lots of fog on my ride to Antigua

My new friends ill be spending time with for the next 3-4 days!

Of course they end up dancing on the bar.

My friends i met at the Lake that found me in the bar in Antigua!

I dunno i was drunk and it was really late!

Lake Attitlan from above with volcanos in the background. I was about to pop into the clouds on the drive to Antigua!