Day 7 - Back to Civilization

 And here are the final numbers as always:

• Highest altitude:                      9,000ft  (Solola, Guatemala)
• Lowest altitude:                       0 (El Tunco, El Salvador)
• Highest temperature:               104 Fahrenheit (Escuintla, Guatemala)
• Lowest temperature:                45 Fahrenheit (Solola, Guatemala)
• Biggest lakes:                           Lago de Coatepeque and Lago Atitlan
• Number of traffic tickets:         0
• Number of malfunctions:          0
• Number of flat tires:                 0
• Number of countries visited:     2 (Guatemala and El Salvador)
• Number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites Visited: 1 (Antigua Guatemala)
• Tallest Volcano:                       Volcan del Fuego (12,600ft)
• Active Volcanoes Seen:            3 (Fuego, Pacaya, Atitlan)
• Distance Travelled:                  1,000+ kms
• Live rivers crossed:                  1
• Tunnels crossed:                       5

A great trip indeed!

Day 6 - The Magical Lake

We started a perfect sunny and cool day with a morning hike to the top of Cerro de la Cruz from our hotel.  Seeing Antigua from high above and seeing the majestic Volcan de Agua right next to it is just as good as it gets to start a day with a smile in your face.

After a great buffet breakfast at our awesome hotel, we headed out of town towards the famous Lake Atitlan.  A great ride though farms, mountains, volcanoes, rivers ... we actually rode some dirt roads and crossed a river that had a collapsed bridge ... all with magnificent green nature all around you.

Lake Atitlan is hard to describe ... the definition of nature's magic at its best.  We had our first glimpse from a high view area ... Wow!   Lake Atitlan is surrounded and it surrounds a few volcanoes (Atitlan, Toliman, and San Pedro) ... it was created 85,000 years ago by an eruption of a supervolcano and today it is 1,200ft deep.  

The view down below was hypnotizing and peaceful ... villages around the shores, the rare boat crossing the waters, water with deep blues and turquoise hues, the ripples of the wind on the water surface ... resonance.

On our way back, we climbed to 8,000ft ... fog, drizzle, light rain, slippery pavement through unending twisties, and cooooold!  Had a good stop for hot chocolate, soup, cappuccinos, and some food before heading to the city.

Today's ride back to the city was the most challenging as the traffic got thicker the closer we got to Guatemala City ... the dodging, lane splitting, swerving, dogs, other motorcycles, people, vehicles in every direction, just got more intense ... but we just filtered through, in formation, with no accidents or mishaps ... as a well-trained unit : )

On the way in, we stopped at the motorcycle rental place to return our motorcycles and headed to the hotel to rest.  After a celebratory end-of-trip dinner at the great Cielito Lindo Restaurant close to the hotel, we went to bed!

Tomorrow, we head back to the airport and back to the States with a smile in our faces. 

Good morning World!  The view of Antigua from Cerro de la Cruz

At the top of Cerro de la Cruz

The Magical Lake - Lake Atitlan - Wow!

One of the towns on the shores of Lake Atitlan

After a great ride through the innards of Guatemala

Our farewell and end of the trip dinner at Cielito Lindo in Guatemala City

Our entire route as pinged by our trusted SPOT Tracker

Day 5 - Volcan de Fuego and Antigua

After a great buffet breakfast at the hotel, we left straight west out of San Salvador towards the Guatemalan border ... a good way to wake up dodging and skirting the early morning rush hour in the city … exhilarating as always.

A nice long ride in perfect weather ... it was nice to see how we a group of 6 experienced riders managed to stay as a group through think and thin as we managed the heavy traffic and the chaos.  A few what-we-call "normal close calls" but nothing unexpected.

Today's ride was a rollercoaster through great twistie roads and natural settings ... started at an altitude of 2,200ft and 70 degrees in San Salvador, went down to 1,000ft and 90 degrees at the Las Chinamas border between El Salvador and Guatemala, back up to 3,000ft and 70 degrees in Cuilapa, down to 1,000ft and 104 degrees in Escuintla (hot!), and up to 5,000ft and 70 degrees in Antigua, Guatemala. 

It is always interesting to cross a border ... whether it is imaginary or real, it feels like things really change ... different landscapes, vegetation, people, energy, colors, vibe, smells.

Checked in at our favorite hotel in Antigua.  The Hotel Santo Domingo is an old monastery that has been renovated in a very special way ... it now has a museum, spa, pool, and it also has become one of the best wedding destinations in the world.  A very special place.

After a quick swim in the pool, we went out to dinner and for a walk around town.  Another great motorcycle adventure day through great scenery.

Back to Guatemala

Having a coffee and cheesecake break at Sarita's in Culiapa

Such a civilized place!

The Volcano de Fuego on the way up from Escuintla to Antigua.

Spewing smoke and with lava coming down the side.

Enjoying nature at its best

"The most beautiful Starbucks in the World" - in Antigua

The central plaza in Antigua

One of the new speakeasy's in Antigua

At our favorite corner table at Casa Troccoli - an old style food store now a restaurant

Day 4 - Suchitoto, 1528, and China

The view of San Salvador at first light, from our perch on the hills, did not disappoint.  After breakfast at the most renowned pupusas place in the area (El Atico Volcano) with a great view, we headed north to Suchitoto.

After a great super-tight twisty road up and down the mountain and a road through farms and small villages we finally arrived at Suchitoto ... a beautiful colonial village close to the border with Honduras ... tile roofs, white walls, cobble stone streets, churches, plazas, and great big lake right outside town.

Suchitoto was founded in 1528 and has gone thought a long and colorful history.  After the Civil War in the 1980's, people came back to turn the town into the beautiful place it is today.

We had some drinks on the terrace at the Casa 1800 hotel overlooking the lake and then headed back to San Salvador.

We also met an Italian that was scouting places in several Latin American countries for 3,000 of his friends to relocate from Italy ... which apparently is in terrible decline ... the joys of traveling!

We had a great spirited fast ride back to San Salvador ... with on and off traffic that required our best dodging and swerving skills to get through it ... challenging and fun!

The Hyatt Centric in San Salvador felt like an oasis after crossing San Salvador from East to West in heavy traffic.  A nice hotel with cappuccinos and a pool ... just what we needed.

It feels like El Salvador is a bit newer and more developed than Guatemala ... it has better infrastructure but everything is smaller in scale ... however, it has no industry to speak of and no agriculture at scale ...  El Salvador has to import a lot of things including its vegetables from Guatemala ... getting huge amount of remittances for their sizable diaspora living in the States also helps with the buying of things.

However, the reality of that Guatemala does have a higher GDP per capita ($6,500 vs $5,500) and it has 3 times the population (17M vs 6M) ... so what is it?   I think it is the lack of black-smoke belching buses everywhere like you find in Guatemala : )  

In the afternoon, we headed to the historic center ... what a surprise!  Beautiful plaza with perfectly manicured landscaping, fountains everywhere, clean, beautifully illuminated, surrounded by the National Palace, the Cathedral, and the newly completed Chinese-funded Central Library.  See pictures below.

We had dinner an a nice Italian restaurant at the top of the library and had a nice walk before heading back to the hotel.  We also visited the famous Bar La Dalia but it was closed ... this bar and billiards club apparently was visited by Cantinflas, Pedro Infante, and maybe even Che Guevara.

Another great day in a great country. 

San Salvador at dawn - another good day to ride motorcycles

The best pupusas for breakfast at El Atico

The entrance to El Atico 

Made it to Suchitoto founded in 1528 - the church and the main plaza

Inside the church in Suchitoto 

Souvenir stores sell a lot of Buckele badges and pins ... it is strange to be in a country where the majority of the population likes and speaks very highly of their president ... that is not normal : )

The main plaza in Suchitoto

The lake below Suchitoto

The entrance to Casa 1800 in Suchitoto - this is the first location of this nice boutique hotel chain

Suchitoto will soon achieve UNESCO World Heritage Site status ... hopefully

Drinks on the veranda at Casa 1800

Out hotel in San Salvador

The public library in the historic center ... built and donated by China 

The lobby of the library ... 6 floors dedicated to children mostly

Inside the library

The atrium at the library

Toys everywhere at the library

The National Palace 

The cathedral of San Salvador

Mass at the Cathedral

Is this a thing now around the world?

Perfect illumination at night

The cathedral

The famous bar La Dalia after closing

Day 3 - Big Drop and Surf City

We could not really see our hotel last night because we arrived late in the dark ... all we knew was that it was in the middle of a National Park and that the architecture was pretty cool.

Today, we woke up to a great site ... the view from my room was directly to the Santa Ana Volcano ... I felt I could touch it ... the architecture of the whole place was incredible ... modern, functional, great feng shui, with spectacular views, windows, floating balconies, all in the middle of and in commune with nature.

After a nice breakfast on a glass enclosed restaurant on a floating platform in front of the volcano, we headed down the mountains ... again from 6000ft to sea level on narrow tertiary twistie roads through farms, villages, mountains.  A very zen downhill voyage.  Reminiscent of Cuba and Romania at times (I can explain : )

The mountains of El Salvador actually drop straight into the Pacific Ocean with no plateau or flatland before the sea.  The coastal road follows these drops (ala Big Sur) around the coast with interminable turns and a few tunnels.  A nice ride with the Pacific Ocean on our right the whole way.

We stopped at Beto's (a well know restaurant with great views) for a nice seafood fix lunch.  After lunch we went to the famous "Surf City" ... apparently surfers from around the world are beginning to talk about this beach. Interesting but anticlimactic ... maybe it was not wave season : )

On our way up the mountains to San Salvador we also stopped at a well air conditioned Starbucks for a quick cappuccino to wake up and cool off.  The road up to the capital was a brand new 4 lane concrete highway apparently paid for by the Chinese.  A nice fast curvy road.

San Salvador was surprising to me.  The infrastructure was better than expected ... freeways, buildings, signage ... modern, clean ... and, of course, heavy traffic as expected any capital city.  

After crossing the city we went up the hills to the Parque Nacional El Boqueron where our hotel for the night was.  The views of San Salvador from the hills from our hotel were very cool ... especially as the sun went down and the lights began to turn on.  In these hills there is also an amusement park called Volcatenango ... ferris wheels, dragon rides, castles, hobbits, restaurants ... all with an incredible view of the city below.

It is interesting to think that a day like today ... seeing and experiencing all new places, new people, unseen nature ... on a motorcycle ... all causing you to intensely live every moment ... learning, feeling, thinking, connecting ... a full 10-12 hours of being on ... 

I wonder if there is a way for this intense connection and presence could ever be made to be on always? Is this what enlightenment would be?

After resting a bit, we walked down the street to have dinner on the terrace at one of the restaurants in the area and called it a day. Wow, again.

The view of one of the wings of out hotel (Casa 1800)

The view from my room at the hotel - this is the Santa Ana Volcano

This is where we are ?!?!

A view of the restaurant at the hotel overlooking the Santa Ana Volcano

We made it down to the coastal road - from 6000ft to 0ft - it is hot now!

Our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean

Beto's - our lunch place

The view of the ocean from Beto's

The cliffs

Enjoying great seafood on the terrace

Surf City without waves or surfers

Starbucks en La Libertad - just chiiling!

The view of San Salvador from my room

Another view of San Salvador from our hotel

Writing the blog on the "Pergola" of the hotel with the city down below

An amusement park in the hills - Volcatenango

Our restaurant for dinner

Hobbits and dragons in the woods - surreal

San Salvador as the lights turn on