Day 27 - Hotel Media Luna, Ciudad Cuauhtemoc

The border opened at 08:00am so we were up and ready to jump on the bikes 5 minutes before it opened. We still had the issue with the brakes to resolve and when I got on my bike to head to the boarder control, I had nothing. Absolutely no front brakes at all. There is just no way that it is safe to ride a bike with no front brakes, so I had a little freak out and had to rely on the back brake to get me down the steep driveway from the hotel, down the hill to the main road, and over to the border control. A very unnerving experience and it left me pretty worried that we might get through the border control and into Guatemala, but I would have no brakes and therefore we would need to fix the issue before pressing on. I contemplated staying in Mexico as I suspect that the mechanics in Mexico might be better than the mechanics in Guatemala, mind you, it is not like we were near a substantial town in Mexico anyway. So, following my rather hairy ride the 200’ish metres from the hotel to the border control with no brakes, and following the various inspections and checks that the Mexican officials made, I started pumping the front brakes quite a bit to see if I could get them to bite. Sure enough, it seemed to do the job and I felt a little more confident to push on. However, we really need to get the brakes sorted ASAP. The border officials on the Guatemalan side were very friendly and helpful and we did have to pass through a number of steps. First they fumigated the bikes by spraying some crap all over them. I commented to Jorik that it was probably the cleanest the bikes have been since leaving South Lake Tahoe, when in reality, they had just had a load of insecticide, or something similar sprayed all over them. Then we had to go through vehicle inspection and immigration, which came with a charge of Qs160. A Quetzales is currently worth about 7.8 to the US dollar, but we got offered 4 at the border. However, we had to pay the Qs160 at the bank and then return to the immigration guys with the receipt. This is why we stayed in Mexico for an additional night as we expected that the bank would be closed on a Sunday. Having sorted out the various steps to get through the border and enter into Guatemala, we rode through the little town of La Mesilla, which was bonkers. The main street was lined with loads and loads of little shops and stalls, leaving a very narrow width for the road. All manner of vehicles, people, animals, and just general chaos was all around us, but we were finally out of Mexico, which is gobsmackingly huge. We pulled over to a little spot at the top of the town that looked down to the border crossing to do a quick video to acknowledge a good crossing and I suppose we were pleased that the whole thing only took about an hour to sort out both sides of the border. It was also pretty reasonable in terms of the costs. We had just jumped back on the bikes and were leaving the main settlement when I spotted a chap working on a load of really wrecked bikes. So, I pulled over and asked if he could spare 2 screws for the master cylinder(s). He rummaged around in his junk pile and come up with an old cylinder that he then stripped the screws of and just handed them over. He didn’t ask for, nor did he want any cash for helping us out, so I gave him some stickers and he was made up. Result, we now had the missing part to sort the brakes out. We were aiming for a little town called Panajachel, which is on the northern shore of Lake Atitlan. It was still around 140 miles for us to travel and being in the mountains, we knew it wasn’t going to be an easy or short ride, particularly as we were keen to make it to Panajachel so that we could have the following day off to explore the lake and the surrounding areas. Jorik had passed through there on his trip in ’95 and highly recommended it, so we would be able to sort the brakes in the morning, and then have some time off to check out the area. Some of the riding through the mountains was simply fantastic. However, the condition of the road was super varied. We had beautiful tarmac for a lot of the route, but on occasion, we would come round a corner and with practically no warning, suddenly be on a gravel road. The “bumpos” from Mexico were still about, but not as severe. My theory is that the “bumpos” and the gravel sections that are occasionally in place are to ensure vehicle speeds are kept low, but also so that the local people get more of an opportunity to sell their wares, cold drinks, food, etc. The weather had been odd and the higher we climbed, it got cooler, but there was a hazyness to the sky and on occasion, we found ourselves way up and riding in the clouds. Cassy still doesn’t like going up hills, but we kept a relatively good pace up. The turn off to Panajachel from the main highway was located very high up from the lake level and we started to go down a great road, which was pretty steep in places, but had great twisties. It was a little frustrating at times as we often got stuck behind buses, trucks and cars that have to travel down the pass very slowly, and I was still a little apprehensive about my front brakes, although they had worked pretty well through the day. We were aiming for the lakefront where we expected to find a bar and ask where we might find cheap accommodation. But once we had managed to navigate the one-way streets through the town down to the lake, it was crazy busy with people and it didn’t really look like there was an option to park anywhere, we had ridden past a great looking hotel with a courtyard where we could park the bikes, and then hopefully work on them the next day to do the brakes. The prospect of trying to do the work in the street, did not appeal. So having settled ourselves into the Casa Texel, we went for a walk about town to see what we could see. The lake itself is massive, but we could just about make out the mountains on the other side through the haze. There are loads of volcanoes surrounding the lake, which itself was formed from volcanic activity. There are loads of boats moored up along the shore, a promenade that we walked along, and loads upon loads of restaurants and bars all along the lakefront. We dropped off our weekly laundry load and then took a load off at a great looking spot that had a terrace overlooking the lake and met a chap called Mike, who is from Oregon in the States. He has been in the area for around 10 years and when he was nearing retirement age in the States, he realised he didn’t have much of a pension, didn’t have much in the way of savings, and needed to make a plan. So, he sold a second hand car, purchased some land in a nearby town called San Jose, and has built a number of cabins that he rents out, but he helps out as a barman at the restaurant we were in, as well as playing live music on the weekends at some of the local restaurants and hotels. He was a fountain of information, and we had a couple of beers in the restaurant and then headed into town for some food. One observation from Panajachel is that with all the dogs about, the streets are full of dogshit. There is shit everywhere and I don’t think it is from dogs that people own, rather the countless stray dogs that randomly roam the streets. The restaurant we chose wasn’t great. I had lasagna (I know that we should be eating local cuisine, but I was hungry) and Jorik had ceviche. Mine was average, but Jorik’s was poor. Not a great experience for dinner, so we headed back to the hotel for an early night as we had plenty to do in the morning, what with sorting out the brakes.