With the help of Julio, I successfully made it through Guatemala City. I got to the city in the afternoon and Julio, who Billy met through Advrider, was kind enough to meet me with his car to navigate me through the labyrinth of Guate.

Driving in Guatemala City is well.. crazy latin america big city driving. Cars everywhere, bikes every, pedestrians everywhere, and don’t forget the occasional speedbump or pothole. The good news is that they have some lane discipline, so as a bike, it is pretty easy to split lanes. It would be easier if my bike wasn’t so fat. Those side cases make it very difficult to stick with the 125cc local bikes. The hardest thing about navigating is that they don’t have any major highways going through the center of the city.

For instance, you’ll be cruising on CA-1 (The Transamerican Highway) and it just… turns into an 8 lane road with lights and the aformentioned all over the place. It splits a bunch of times and I can never managage to stay on CA-1 (which turns into Calle 10).

Guate is divided into Zonas (zones). Each zone has its own but consistant grid system of Avenidas (Avanues), Calles (Streets), and ocassionally Diaganols (can’t remember spanish word, may be a cognate). So once you find the right zone, it is actually _very_ easy to find your address.

Back to the story. I met Julio at McDonalds. Well, he went to the McDonalds that was on CA1 that he described, but I somehow missed it and ended up at another one on Avenida de las Americas. Fortunately, I have a Satphone and we eventually hooked up and had some fries. Its been YEARS since I’ve had McD’s fries. Man they’re good. Especially after eating rice and beans or chicken, rice, and beans for every meal.

He led me to BMW which I had almost passed as I was looking for the “right” McDonalds. At BMW, they were to change my chain/sprockets, change my oil, and also tighten my handle bars which became a little loose on the way south. If it wasn’t for all the Spanish, I would have sworn I was in the US. Around the city, you mostly see tiny Japanese or Chinese bikes, but obviously at BMW, all you have are BIG huge bikes. Almost every bike there was a big 1200 GS.

Guatemala City is a truly modern city. It wasn’t like in the country where I saw lots of dust, roaming dogs, people selling stuff everywhere, and just general chaos. There may be parts of the city like that, but the places that I hung out in weren’t. It was just like any big city anywhere in the world, but with a hint of Guate style. Big buildings, people dressed with style infinitely greater than my own, high end specialty stores, Landrovers, BMWs, Marriots, Quiznos, McD’s, Pollo Campero, and smoking hot Guatemelecas all over the place.

In Zone 10, which is one of the very wealthy zones, it is significantly cleaner than even the nicest parts of NYC. The streets are perfectly clean and the sidewalks are well kept. The prices reflect this, but are still inexpensive for what you get by North American standard. If you want the international big city experience, go to Guatemala City. Oh yeah, tons of people speak english too!

Anyway, Julio again led me to a backpacker hostel where I stayed the night and met some really cool people. The next day I went to the Archelogical museum with Linda, an Aussie. Whats funny about the name Linda is that in spanish Linda means cute. So she has lots of fun with that name here.

For the previous few days I was pretty sparse with the photographs. This is the only one I took in Guatemala City. It is for Mark: I found your friend in the museum:

After a false ready (they misunderstood that I wanted an oil change.. but it was ready the next day as promised before 10) I picked up the bike.

CLEAN. My bike was CLEAN. I had never seen it so clean. Not even when I bought it. I’m not really a clean bike kinda guy, but who doesn’t like a sparkling bike. Here’s a pic after it just got rained on:

The bike was so clean that when I kicked the kickstand, it flew right down to the gound. I thought they pulled off the spring and forgot to reconnect it. No. They just removed all the miles worth of grease and road grime. Not only was the bike clean, but all the work they did looked great. It isn’t like there is alot to inspect, but the oil was clean and all the other parts were nice and tight. I highly recommend BMW of Guatemala. They speak English there too.

Like the new flare?

I only stayed at the back packer joint for a night. While it was great to meet fellow travelers, it was way overpriced. I was paying $35 for a private room with a community bathroom. They had real hotwater which was a plus, but it was expensive for a shoeboxed sized room AND they had no parking for the bike.

I walked a few blocks down the street and across the Holiday Inn ($65 USD/night) I found Hotel Torres. This place was great. The first sign of greatness was when I peaked into a window there were two KLR 650s, an Africa twin, Honda Shadow, and a host of other smaller bikes. I don’t know where my camera was hiding.. but I wish I had a pic of the owner of the hotel’s fleet. He has some great bikes and other toys too.

The hotel itself was only $35 a night BUT it was HUGE HUGE HUGE! Private bathroom, giant room, cable TV with 30 channels in English, WiFi, and in the middle of Zone 10. If you’re visiting Guatemala City, find the Holiday Inn and stay across the calle at Hotel Torres. Tell George that the Texan with the BMW sent you.

I think the main reason why I’ve liked Guatemala City so much is because of Julio and his wife. They’ve been so kind to show me all over the city and take me to some really nice meals. The first night was a delicious pizza place. Guate pizza is good in general, this one was exceptional– Premium ingredients, moderately thick crust cooked in a wood fired brick oven. The second night was at their house. Julio used to run an italian/french restaurant on Lake Atilan, so needless to say the food we had was great (pasta). The third night was fondue. My previous mulitple week track of chicken with rice and beans was finally over and a welcomed relief. The food in Guatemala City is so great and diverse. The diversity is what I like the most. It is probably the thing that I miss the most in the US. I love having Mexican one night and Japanese the next. When traveling through the countryside, you just can’t do that. Much as you can’t do that in the US when in rural America. I know on my American road trips I get tired of fried food. Thanks to Julio and his family for your generosity.

They both rode with me the long way to Antigua. It can be an hour and a half ride but we took 3. We headed towards the coast to Esquintla and had a scenic ride through yet ANOTHER climate zone of Guatemala. For a country that doesn’t cover alot of square miles, there is tons of ecodiversity here.