Quetzaltenango to San Marcos
Day 29, Tuesday, April 6, 2010
I was still feeling a bit weak and sick but I felt well enough to continue. Fuentes Georgina (Georgina Hotsprings) had been highly recommended. So off I went in search of this famous attraction. The puzzled looks on the locals of Quetzaltenango said it all as I went past the same landmarks several times trying to find my way out of the city. Asking for directions is only partially helpful because very few Central Americans would say "I don't know". But more often than not they might send you in the general direction where you want to go. So I tend to stop every few blocks and ask again. At one such stop, I pulled up to a little hardware store and a middle aged man immediately approached me and shook my hand. "I'm the president of the Guatemala BMW Moto Club" he informed me. Roberto and I chatted for a while and he gave me directions after helping me fix a little problem with my loose toolkit on the crashbar. I was putting my helmet back on when he told me that a few months ago another Canadian with her American husband had come through. "Their names are Taz and Joel" he said. I ripped my helmet back off and asked "with two little yellow 250's???". These are two people I had met twice at Horizons Unlimited events before. Roberto ended up emailing his club members to alert them to my presence in case I needed some help along the way. So far, the hospitality and willingness to help down here is almost overwhelming and I'm starting to have a hard time remembering who's who.
Up towards Fuentes Georginas
Up towards Fuentes Georginas
I found the turnoff to Fuentes Georginas and had to make an almost 180 degree turn onto a narrow road with a sideways slope. I thought I wasn't going to make the turn, my brain stopped working, I came to a stop with the handlebar turned to the right, put my right foot down ...onto the downslope, realized I was going down, bailed lest I get my leg whacked by the bike, ended up doing a few rolls down the slope and picked myself up. I angrily took my gloves off and smacked them on the ground. As if that would help! The first driver coming along immediately stopped and helped me pick up the bike after making sure I was OK, while two teenaged boys looked on with amused looks on their faces. At least now my right turn signal looks the same as the left, all taped up. No personal damage, aside from the ego which is so bruised and callused by now that it simply doesn't care anymore.
The narrow road twist and winds uphill. There are little patches of vegetables growing everywhere and the local people are busy planting and harvesting. Beautiful bunches of white onions are piled near the road and the smell of onions is everywhere ...delicisous! Before too long I'm now in the clouds and driving ever so slowly with my flashers going. I'm talking about pea soup fog here with no more than 20' visibility. But it was all worth it.
Fuentes Georgina was a nice little pause in the day. There's a semi natural pool, or let's call it a dammed hotspring runnoff basin. There were quite a few people there but not overcrowded. Aside from one Belgian couple and myself everyone was Spanish speaking. The local people were digging some kind of hot mud out of the cliffs and used it as facial masks.
Fuentes Georginas
Lago Atitlan
San Marcos
San Marcos
Yup, the bike came down this way
Los Hijos Del Sol
I was still feeling a bit weak and sick but I felt well enough to continue. Fuentes Georgina (Georgina Hotsprings) had been highly recommended. So off I went in search of this famous attraction. The puzzled looks on the locals of Quetzaltenango said it all as I went past the same landmarks several times trying to find my way out of the city. Asking for directions is only partially helpful because very few Central Americans would say "I don't know". But more often than not they might send you in the general direction where you want to go. So I tend to stop every few blocks and ask again. At one such stop, I pulled up to a little hardware store and a middle aged man immediately approached me and shook my hand. "I'm the president of the Guatemala BMW Moto Club" he informed me. Roberto and I chatted for a while and he gave me directions after helping me fix a little problem with my loose toolkit on the crashbar. I was putting my helmet back on when he told me that a few months ago another Canadian with her American husband had come through. "Their names are Taz and Joel" he said. I ripped my helmet back off and asked "with two little yellow 250's???". These are two people I had met twice at Horizons Unlimited events before. Roberto ended up emailing his club members to alert them to my presence in case I needed some help along the way. So far, the hospitality and willingness to help down here is almost overwhelming and I'm starting to have a hard time remembering who's who.
Up towards Fuentes Georginas
Up towards Fuentes Georginas
I found the turnoff to Fuentes Georginas and had to make an almost 180 degree turn onto a narrow road with a sideways slope. I thought I wasn't going to make the turn, my brain stopped working, I came to a stop with the handlebar turned to the right, put my right foot down ...onto the downslope, realized I was going down, bailed lest I get my leg whacked by the bike, ended up doing a few rolls down the slope and picked myself up. I angrily took my gloves off and smacked them on the ground. As if that would help! The first driver coming along immediately stopped and helped me pick up the bike after making sure I was OK, while two teenaged boys looked on with amused looks on their faces. At least now my right turn signal looks the same as the left, all taped up. No personal damage, aside from the ego which is so bruised and callused by now that it simply doesn't care anymore.
The narrow road twist and winds uphill. There are little patches of vegetables growing everywhere and the local people are busy planting and harvesting. Beautiful bunches of white onions are piled near the road and the smell of onions is everywhere ...delicisous! Before too long I'm now in the clouds and driving ever so slowly with my flashers going. I'm talking about pea soup fog here with no more than 20' visibility. But it was all worth it.
Fuentes Georgina was a nice little pause in the day. There's a semi natural pool, or let's call it a dammed hotspring runnoff basin. There were quite a few people there but not overcrowded. Aside from one Belgian couple and myself everyone was Spanish speaking. The local people were digging some kind of hot mud out of the cliffs and used it as facial masks.
Fuentes Georginas
Lago Atitlan
Posada Schumann, San Marcos
Lago Atitlan
Back down in the fog and on to San Marcos which had also been recommended. I will pass this recommedation on as well. When I rode in after a steep, windy road full of switchbacks and rim chewing potholes I was starting to become a bit disappointed. There really wasn't much there. The setting was stunning with views of Lago Atitlan with every turn of the road as you steeply descend towards the lake. When the lake first came into view I just gapsped and caught myself calling out "holy f.... s..." It was simply stunning. Finally someone told me that all the hotels and restaurants were down a footpath towards the lake. There is a little village down there with only footpaths meandering all over. Instead of using roads to go to hotels, restaurants, yoga retreats, bakery, alternative therapy centres, the public boat dock, it's all done by footpath instead. The village is served by watertaxi from the towns surrounding Lago Atitlan.It was all very peaceful and fairly inexpensive. Hotels and rooms start at around $10/night. As I was having a pizza at the local Italian restaurant I could hear the drone of some kind of meditation chanting going on. It finally stopped and was replaced next morning with insane giggling and crazy laughing coming from what I can only assume was a laughter therapy centre. It was all kinda wonderful, strange, nice, weird and interesting all rolled into one. Down by the lake there are several volcanoes along the shore. I could only see the bottom half due to low clouds.
Back down in the fog and on to San Marcos which had also been recommended. I will pass this recommedation on as well. When I rode in after a steep, windy road full of switchbacks and rim chewing potholes I was starting to become a bit disappointed. There really wasn't much there. The setting was stunning with views of Lago Atitlan with every turn of the road as you steeply descend towards the lake. When the lake first came into view I just gapsped and caught myself calling out "holy f.... s..." It was simply stunning. Finally someone told me that all the hotels and restaurants were down a footpath towards the lake. There is a little village down there with only footpaths meandering all over. Instead of using roads to go to hotels, restaurants, yoga retreats, bakery, alternative therapy centres, the public boat dock, it's all done by footpath instead. The village is served by watertaxi from the towns surrounding Lago Atitlan.It was all very peaceful and fairly inexpensive. Hotels and rooms start at around $10/night. As I was having a pizza at the local Italian restaurant I could hear the drone of some kind of meditation chanting going on. It finally stopped and was replaced next morning with insane giggling and crazy laughing coming from what I can only assume was a laughter therapy centre. It was all kinda wonderful, strange, nice, weird and interesting all rolled into one. Down by the lake there are several volcanoes along the shore. I could only see the bottom half due to low clouds.
San Marcos
San Marcos
Yup, the bike came down this way
And in through this door
Los Hijos Del Sol
Lancha leaving San Marcos for Panajachel
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