Guatemala! What a trip! My husband (
coyotetrips) and I were
there for 12 full days in January 2024.
We rented motorcycles from
Motorcycle Adventure
Guatemala (MAG). Stefan got a Honda XR 250 Tornado and I
got an old Yamaha XT 250. I am 5’ 4” (162.56 cm) with a 29”
(73.66 cm) inseam, and the Yamaha was a PERFECT fit for me. The
owner of MAG had prepared a lowered Tornado for me, but it felt
WAY too tall. I'm so glad I went with my instincts and took the
Yamaha - I think being able to easily touch the ground with a
foot at a stop is essential in Guatemala (I sometimes had to
walk the bike as well, and never could have on the Tornado).
We once again packed super light: we each took a large dry bag
and our helmets and whatever will fit in them.
Over our 10 riding days, we rode for more than 1000 kms. We rode
from Antigua to Panajachel (Lake Atitlan), Chichicastenango,
Santa Cruz del Quiche, Huehuetenango/Zaculeu, Santa Maria Nebaj,
Coban, Lanquin, Salama, Pachalum, Mixco Viejo (Jilotepeque
Viejo), Montericco and back to Antigua.
Here is our
route.
During our trip to
Belize in 2023, we crossed
into Guatemala, staying one night at Flores and touring an
entire day at Tikal, so we didn't visit those sites on this
trip, nor did we visit any of Region VIII, also known as Petén
(that section of the country in the north, that looks stuck on).
It was a journey with mostly paved roads, and those paved roads
were in excellent condition, but all roads were mostly very
steep, with incredibly sharp turns. We also did some dirt and
rocks (I wouldn't call it gravel) and even sand at one point.
With all that said, I believe you should
not be a
beginner rider before you try riding a motorcycle in Guatemala.
And you should be comfortable with VERY steep, hairpin turns. I
knew Guatemala would be harder than
Belize, where we went last
year, and probably harder than
Baja
California, Mexico, which I did with my own motorcycle, a
KLR 650, back in 2019, and I was right.
Some folks warned us that the drivers were "crazy", but I found
a kind of order amid the chaos - people in Guatemala are pretty
good drivers and look out for each other, for the most part. It
felt at times like drivers and riders cared more than here in
Oregon.
I have a list
of hotels where we stayed and what we thought of them.
I also have a
list
of sites we saw in Guatemala (over two trips) and
that I recommend.
Here are all of my photos from this adventure.
Also
see photos from coyotetrips.
Why Guatemala?
In January 2023,
we toured Belize by motorcycle.
It was
amazing. It was one of the best trips I
have ever taken. It was Stefan (
coyotetrips)'s idea. I
have
all
of
our
information about the Belize trip on my web site - where
we stayed, where we rented motorcycles, where we toured, what I
recommend, what I don't recommend, and on and on.
Almost as soon as we were back, Stefan said he wanted to do
another international trip in a year - and he choose Guatemala.
Is this trip for you?
Guatemala should not be your first motorcycle riding experience
abroad. You need to be able to ride very sharp turns at
incredibly steep inclines, and sometimes dirt and gravel (not a
lot, not if you don't want to) and not be prone to panic. Even
if you avoid dirt and gravel roads, you are still going to have
to ride such when roads are being constructing or has washed out
and is being repaired, and you are almost always going to have
frequent, sharp uphill or downhill hairpin turns that will take
your breath away and you are going to have some moments where
you need to make quick decisions. That said, I hate sharp
hairpin turns with every fiber of my being but on a small
motorcycle, I managed these quite well (once I had a meltdown
over the first one).
I think a woman by herself would be fine in Guatemala, with
taking appropriate extra measures (as we women do all the
freakin' time), such as making sure the hotel is a good one with
plenty of women on staff, making sure the door to your room has
a great lock, making sure the lobby is staffed 24 hours, always
checking to see if you are being followed, not going out at
night, not being alone in a remote area with a male guide, etc.
The only city I felt uncomfortable in, even with my husband, was
Salamá (we never went to Guatemala City except to fly), and that
was because of groups of guys on motorcycles that looked like
they were out for trouble.
Itchy Boots
rode in Guatemala by herself (in fact, she was there years
before her motorcycle ride, on her own, studying at a Spanish
school in Quetzaltenango, also known by its Maya name Xelajú or
Xela, pronounced Shay-La), other women visit Guatemala by
themselves, with and without motorcycles... if you are already
an experienced foreign traveler, DON'T let any motorcycle rental
person tell you that you can't because you are a woman alone (as
ours apparently did to a woman motorcycle rider a few years ago
when she tried to rent from him). And BTW, here are
my safety tips
for women travelers.
My inspiration as I rode in Guatemala was the women, in both
cities and countryside, a huge percentage of which are
motorcyclists by necessity. My respect for them knows no bounds.
They ride 125s and 150s with street tires and no formal off-road
training and their riding abilities put mine to shame on dirt
and rock roads. They ride off road like it's nothing. They do
what they have to do work and survive in this country, and that
often means riding a motorcycle every day in incredibly
difficult conditions. I frequently said to myself, "They do it.
You can too." And the reality is that the riding Guatemala is so
much easier on a smaller bike.
We didn't do a guided tour for a variety of reasons: we don't
always like what others want to do, we frustrate others by how
much time we like to spend at historic sites, I like access to
flushing toilets (which were oh-so-easy to find in Guatemala, by
the way - even in remote areas, far easier to find public
toilets than in Portland, Oregon), we sometimes decide to stay
an extra day somewhere, I'm slower than most really experienced
motorcycle riders, etc. We felt we could do Guatemala on our
own, per watching a few videos of others doing it and reading a
lot, plus our own extensive motorcycle travel experience, and we
were right.
Street Dogs
This was the hardest part of the trip for me: the conditions of
the dogs. It's every bit as bad as I had been warned. It was as
bad as what I witnessed in
Romania and in
Naples. It
was worse than in
Afghanistan. You will see
dogs in various stages of neglect, starvation and abuse. You
will see dead dogs. Antigua was full of dogs on our first day -
12 days later, when we returned, they were all gone, and the
deaths of dogs in such government-run purges, from what I've
read online, is not quick. If you fall apart at the sight of a
dog suffering, Guatemala is not for you. If you go, please put
some protein in your pocket at every meal, and put some out on a
sidewalk for the dogs (never approach a dog to feed it).
Here are three organizations that seem to be legit and would
welcome your financial support to help spay and neuter dogs and
encourage responsible ownership:
Ayuda
Para la Salud de Perros y Gatos - focused on cities on
Lake Atitlan.
Unidos Para Los
Animales - focused on animals in Antigua.
Antigua Street
Dogs - focused on animals in Antigua.
What's So Great About Guatemala?
If you just want to know what cities and sights we saw and a bit
about what we thought of them and if you should go or not,
I have this list of
sites.
This is a very detailed account of the trip, more than most
people will want to know. But I like writing a detailed
account, mostly for myself, because when I read it years
later, there are all these details I had forgotten, and
because reading a narrative takes me back in a way that even
photos can't. Also, there are some folks out there that
actually like to read these!
- Part One:
Problems before leaving, arriving in Guatemala, first days
in Antigua and at Lake Atitlan, anxiety over the
Presidential election.
- Part Two:
Q'Umarkaj Mayan ruin, Santa Cruz del Quiche, Zaculeu, Nebaj,
Coban, Lanquin and Semuc Champey.
- Part
Three: Pachalum, the Mayan ruins of Mixco Viejo, San
Martin Jilotepeque, the Pacific Coast village of Monterrico,
our last day in the country, the chaos to get out.
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