Masaya, Nicaragua

On my way south from Leon, I found that I was going to be heading right past the active volcano of Masaya.  What made this even more exciting, was the fact that you can drive to it.

In Antigua, Guatemala, there are numerous volcano treks offered to see an active volcano there erupt at dawn when you're drinking your morning coffee.  These were two day treks, and anyone I talked to that did them said that it was grueling, but very exciting to see an active volcano.  These excursions sounded hard and I had a boo boo on my foot and it was at 4000m above sea level and my knees hurt and I didn't do it.

Masaya was more my style.  You could only park at the top for 5 minutes...I think so that if it erupted, they'd only kill a few tourists.

Also got stopped by the cops for "speeding".  They're much cheaper than Mexico.  Roads are better too.

Leon, Nicaragua

Leon, Nicaragua, is hot.  Really hot. All the time.

I parked Vandrew without incident in a parking garage across the street from the hostel that I was staying in.  The town of Leon has a lot to offer.  Good restaurants and cheap beer.  It's times like these when I'm happy that I'm not a connoisseur of beer, and can enjoy a cold brew that others might balk at.

One of the big attractions in the Leon area is something called "Volcano Surfing".  There is a specific volcano, Cerro Negro, near Leon, where sliding down the volcano is possible because the prevailing winds and the direction of the eruptions mean the large rocks are thrown onto one side of the mountain, while the finer ash and smaller stones land on the opposite side.  This means you can slide down volcanic sand that's only slightly coarser than beach sand.

Coming from Canada, this was like reverse tobogganing.  Instead of cold it's hot, and instead of white it's black.  Other than that, it's pretty much the same....except much, much dirtier.

Halfway up

Almost to the top

Top of the Volcano!

Survived the ride

Santa Ana, El Salvador to Leon, Nicaragua

I didn't see anything close to my route in Honduras that appealed, so I decided to drive straight through the country without stopping.  I crossed the El Salvador/Honduras border at around 10am (after a "helper" gringoed me out of around $150US for a $60US border fee).

Got through the Honduras/Nicaragua border without incident, and without the use of a "helper"

There were approximately 17 000 potholes in the 131km of Honduras road that I drove.

I managed to avoid 6 of them.

Santa Ana, El Salvador

Antigua was a real highlight of my trip.  Spending time with my new friends was fantastic, but I was ready for some time on my own.  I drove out of Antigua alone for the first time since Puerto Escondido, Mexico.  Just me and Vandrew, on the open road.

And the roads were good.  Like most secondary highways in Canada, although most of the time with much smaller, or nonexistent, shoulders.  I drove to the border of El Salvador with no issue, got there in plenty of time, and was accosted by a man who wanted to "help" me.  He wouldn't take no for an answer, and ran from building to building with me keeping a watchful eye on my passport and driver's licence.  After a lot of waiting, and a lot of  back and forth, I was through the border.  It cost me $40US, and I was happy.

Unfortunately, the light was going, and I had to drive the last two hours in the dark.  I was stopped a few times at police check stops, but they were more intent on actually looking for contraband instead of shaking me down for cash.  They looked over Vandrew with more detail than every before, but let me go without incident.

The city I was heading to was Santa Ana, and I found it to be a very progressive city, nice roads, not too much traffic.  The address I had for the bed and breakfast that I was staying at was a bit criptic, and I was directed to an intersection in a residential area of the city.  I wandered around the area, and asked someone on the street.  After a bit of confusion, I was directed to a house a few doors down.  This is where I met Aminta, the proprietor.

Aminta, Vandrew and I outside her home

Aminta said that she couldn't put up signs, otherwise the mafia would come asking for protection money.  Nice.  I was also told that the police in El Salvador weren't very corrupt, but the politicians were as a crooked as a dog's hind leg, and that's why the roads were so nice, "they can get money (kickbacks) from roads, they can't get money from education or healthcare"  I'd never thought about it until then.

I was in Santa Ana for 3 days.  I was not robbed or threatened.  I did watch Star Wars: Rogue One in the Cinema.  Maybe it was the fact that the official currency is the US dollar, but, at least in Santa Ana, it seemed like a very Americanized culture.

El Salvador....or Calgary?

The lake was nice, but the beer for $1.25US was BEAUTIFUL

Antigua, Guatamala

So, at the last minute, Natasja decided that she wanted to go to Antigua, rather than stay at Lake Atitlan like she'd originally planned, so the two of us jumped into Vandrew, and I'd arranged for Filipe Mechanico to drive us up to the highway, as I was still suffering PTSD from the drive down.

As it turned out, Filipe thought he was just driving us out of San Pedro village, so it was up to me to drive out to the nice highway.  It ended up being no problem...it's a lot easier in the daylight, going up, when you know what you're in for...but let me tell you, the video does not give you any idea how steep the road is!

Once we made it out to the highway, things were pretty smooth.  Although there was the lingering issue of the carbon monoxide that was slowly poisoning us.  Even though there was nobody in the back, and the windows were down, we still had to stop four times on the three hour journey between San Pedro and the town of Antigua.

We made it in to town in the early afternoon, and went to a hostel called 3 monkeys.  The manager at the hostel directed me to the tourist police yard where he said I could park Vandrew for free.  The down side to this arrangement was that the doors closed to the tourist police yard at 10pm every night.  I paid for a bed in one of the dorms, but would leave before 10 most nights to go and sleep in Vandrew...oh I had missed sleeping in Vandrew!

Occasionally, I would stay out too late and have to stay in the hostel dorm.  This was okay, if I'd had enough to drink that I fell asleep without being disturbed by the snoring and general disturbances of the other patrons of the dorm...I usually made sure that this was the case.

Two days after Natasja and I arrived, our friends Cherry and Linzy arrived at the hostel.  A day or two after that, Carmel and Paola showed up.  As we were all sitting in the bar area of the hostel, Holly (a girl that we met at 3 monkeys), asked how we all knew each other.  I explained..

"Well, I met Carmel in Puerto Escondido, Mexico a few weeks ago.  She and another girl left the hostel we were staying at and went to another hostel, and while they were gone, Cherry and Linzy showed up, and we had a good time for a couple of days, and then they wen't to San Cristobal, and after they'd left, Carmel returned to my hostel.  Then her friend Paola arrived (they'd met a while earlier somewhere else in Mexico), and that's where I first met Paola.  Then Paola and Carmel and another girl went in Vandrew to Mazunte, and that's where we left Paola and the other girl, and Carmel and I went to Oaxaca, and then on to San Cristobal, where we met up with Cherry and Linzy.  That was the first time Carmel met Cherry and Linzy.  That's where the four of us met Natasja.  Then Cherry and Linzy left, and a couple of days later, Paola showed up in San Cristobal with another guy.  That's where Paola and Natasja met.  Then Carmel, Paola, Natasja, another guy and girl and I left San Cristobal in Vandrew and went to Cometan.  That's where Carmel, Paola, and the guy left us and Natasja and the girl and I went to Lake Atitlan, Guatemala together.

Then we all came here."

When I said it out loud, It occurred to me how special it is to travel in the time of facebook.

L-R Carmel, Linzy, Thomas, Cherry, Me, Paola

Paola at the lookout point

During my time in Antigua, I didn't do a lot of exploring.  I did, however, get my brakes repaired for the third time in three towns.  The place I went to was pretty fancy...it had a waiting room...and a roof.  They told me that there was a small leak in the brake lines and that was my problem.  They got it fixed that very day, and it cost less than they had originally quoted!

I also, just for a laugh, had the exhaust pipe repaired.  It cost about $30CDN, and was also done the same day that I dropped it off.

Vandrew, cobbled streets and a volcano

Random Guatemalan Christmas dog.

Lake Atitlan, Guatemala

The next morning, we set off on foot to explore San Pedro and figure out our next move.  We found a hostel to go to with reasonable rates, just a couple of blocks drive from where Vandrew was parked.  There was also a parking lot area just a few meters down from the hostel where I could park Vandrew for a week for 100 Guatemalan quetzal (around $15 Canadian).  Excellent!  Things were looking up after a stressful drive the night before.

We took a shortcut back to Vandrew, and headed for the parking lot.  Some of the roads were very tiny, and I couldn't make the corner in one go, so I had to hold up the tuk tuk traffic while I shuffled around those corners.  Edging towards our goal, the roads got smaller and smaller, until we got to a dogleg in the road that Vandrew couldn't physically fit through.

I had to back all the way back to where I'd started, with Aya directing tuk tuk traffic, and Natasja guiding me backwards around the corners like a rockstar.  We got halfway back to where we'd started that day when Aya noticed that there was green fluid pouring out of the front of Vandrew.  Coolant.  It looked to me like Vandrew had blown a hose.  Fortunately, we were just at the front of the local schoolhouse, and there was a point that I could back into and not hold up traffic.

A tuk tuk driver then told Aya that he knew a mechanic, so Aya and I went off  in his tuk tuk to visit the mecanico, while Natasja started moving stuff from Vandrew to the hostel (it was only a couple of blocks away).  After a bit of waiting around, Felipe the mecanico showed up.  He filled up the coolant and checked for leaks....there didn't seem to be any, and I think engine just overheated with all the uphill backwards work.  I still wanted Felipe to look at the brakes, and he said that he would.  He also said that I could leave Vandrew at his shop for the week.  He drove Vandrew out of the tiny streets of San Pedro to his shop, then Aya and I got a tuk tuk back to the hostel...I was ready for some rest!

The "street" in San Pedro where Vandrew doesn't fit.  The tree behind the red roof is where we're trying to get to...

A couple of days later, Natasja and a couple of guys that we'd met in San Cristobal who were staying at our hostel decided to do a sunrise hike up indian's nose.  I thought it would be a good idea to join, even though the thought of getting up at 3:30am wasn't appealing.  The hike started with a drive up the seismic wave road, then a small hike in the dark up to the top of the nose.  The view was good though.

Indian Nose

Indian Nose from the top

Aya and Andrew, sitting by Lake Atitlan

One day, Aya and I took a water taxi over to the town of Panajachel on the other side of Lake Atitlan.  There was a nature preserve there where we could see monkeys and do some ziplining.  We didn't see monkeys, but we did see some tree animals that are closely related to raccoons...can't remember their name though.  There was also a little butterfly sanctuary, and ziplining!

I think there was something on the lens of the camera....kinda makes me look like a superhero though...

Mexico to Guatamala

It could have been worse...

The border crossing into Guatemala went very smoothly.  Canceled the temporary import permit for Vandrew in Mexico, then got the temporary import permit for Vandrew in Guatemala.  We had some street meat from a local vendor for lunch, along with a sweet milk beverage that everyone seemed to be drinking. The road out of the border town was narrow, and we had to drive slowly to avoid running into people, vendor stalls, or other vehicles.  Once we hit the open road, it wasn't bad at all.  There were some potholes, but not as many speedbumps as in south Mexico.  We were slightly behind schedule after the border crossing, but we should be able to get to our destination of San Pedro before dark.

Then things started to go wrong.

"The exhaust smell is getting worse back here", says Natasja from the back.  Apparently, the piece of exhaust pipe that I lost back in Mexico was kind of important...we wound down the windows and tried to keep an eye on Natasja to make sure she didn't fall asleep, and pushed on.

After a few hours, carbon monoxide was filling the whole van, and even with the windows open, we had to stop to get some air and let Vandrew air out.  We stopped by the road for a while, then pushed on.  By this time, it was dark, but we were getting close to San Pedro.  The road we were on was one of the best I'd seen since the toll roads of Mexico, and we were making good time.

....that's when Google turned on me.

Now.  Google and I had been through a lot together by this point.  The comforting Google voice had guided me through the crazy streets of Guadalajara and Mexico City, and I really thought that she liked me.  I don't know what I did to make her so angry with me, but she directed me off the beautiful PanAmerican highway, and down the STEEPEST ROAD I'VE EVEN SEEN.  Straight down.  No switchbacks.  Tiny village roads.  In the dark.

We slowly navigated the tiny roads of the small villages around Lake Atitlan, then onto a small dirt track through a farmer's field.  Then back onto a paved road, but very steep and twisty.  Then Google gave up and tried to send us back the way we just came.  We wouldn't fit down the road any further, and some locals that Aya talked to told us to go back up the mountain and come down a different way.  Natasja had a different offline mapping app that agreed, so we decided to give it a shot.  The only problem was, just as we were getting to the bottom of the first steep bit, Vandrew's brake light came on again.

We crept back up the road we had just come down, then turned onto a road that Natasja said effectively looked like seismic waves.  I pulled on the emergency brake, and with the resistance of the E brake and some steady pumping of the brake pedal, we made it down the road.  Natasja was calling out the turns like a rallycar navigator "the next one's going to be tight so you should take it wide", "this one is a long straight bit", and we eventually made it to the bottom.  The hostel we were going to stay at was in San Pedro, so we entered the tiny town with the steep streets and followed google.  We were about five blocks from the hostel when I saw a hotel with a large open gate and parking in front.  We stopped there and decided we would stay there for the night, and find the hostel in the morning.

Parque Nacional Lagunas de Montebello, OA

By the end of my time in San Cristobal, there were five other people who wanted to head in the same direction as me.  We decided that a trip to Parque Nacional Lagunas de Montebello would be a great step in the right direction for all of us, and Carmel, Paola, Natasja, Aya, Chuy and I all piled in to Vandrew and set off.

Unlike the drive to Tonina a few days before, the drive to Lake Montebello was without incident.  where we had a nice little hike and swim in the frigid water.

After an explore of the lakes, we headed back to the town of Comitán de Domínguez where we found a nice little hotel and parking for Vandrew.  After a few drinks at a little pub, we settled in for the night.



The next morning, after a nice breakfast in the town square, Carmel, Paola, and Chuy set off to explore some more of Mexico, and Aya and Natasja and I jumped into Vandrew, pointed ourselves in the direction of Guatemala, and pressed the accelerator.

Tonina, OA

Before leaving San Cristobal, I decided it would be good to take Vandrew for a test drive.  there were some Mayan ruins relatively close by, and there was some interest from people in the hostel to go and visit, so we planned an excursion to Tonina.

I started by taking a test drive with Javier to make sure that the brakes were functional, and then we packed myself, Carmel, Paola (she arrived the day before, met her in Puerto Escondido), Chuy (arrived with Paola), Rachel (American, met in San Cristobal), and Natasja (Dutch, met in San Cristobal) into Vandrew and we were away on our day trip.

The road from San Cristobal to Tonina were very windy, potholed, and generally quite horrible.  The 100km google said would take us 2 hours, took closer to 2:45, and we arrived at the Tonina ruins just after 3pm.  The benefit of this was, because it was so late, we only had to pay half price.  The drawback was they closed at 5.

We had a decent enough roam over the ancient site, and it was a good way to enjoy the company of new friends and old ("old friends" referring to someone I've known more than two days)\

It's okay, there's an escalator around back...

A view from the top

On the way back we stopped for a meal together, and all in all, it was a great day...I just didn't enjoy the drive.

at all.



....but at least the brakes worked!

San Cristóbal de las Casas, CP - Fixing Vandrew

The town of San Cristobal is listed as being 2200m above sea level.  That is approximately the same elevation as Mexico City.  During the days, it is quite warm, but at this time of year, the nights can dip down to approach freezing.  In Canada, we leave the cold outside, but in San Cristobal, I didn't see any heating in any of the buildings I was in.  If it was nearly freezing outside, it was nearly freezing inside too.

The other thing about San Cristobal was that Carmel and I were booked in at a hostel in the old town.  Old town = narrow roads, and there were a few corners that seemed like Vandrew wouldn't fit.  We couldn't stop in front of the hostel, but we found a parking lot nearby, and managed to maneuver down a steep slope, around two narrow corners, and parked safely.  When we got to the hostel, we asked for a recommendation of a mechanic.  Luckily Rudy, the owner, had a friend who was a mechanic, and he called him up.  In a few hours Javier arrived, and Carmel and I took him down to the parking lot to look at Vandrew.  Javier knew no English, and I know no Spanish, but Carmel helped out as best she could, and we determined that we needed to take Vandrew to Javier's shop.  We jumped in and set off, but before we made it more than a couple of meters, there was a nasty sound...

Someone moved the wall...that's the only explanation!

After 100 pesos paid to the wall owner for damages, and Javier in the driver's seat, we were off to his garage.  He told me I could leave Vandrew at his garage (really, just an open dirt area between buildings, but it was fenced) until I left, and that he would fix the brakes for me.  Two problems solved!

The next day, some of the people from the hostel went to visit some caves that were close to town.  It was a fun little outing, although if you've seen one cave, you've seen them all in my opinion...

L-R Amber, Some Guy, Aya, Carmel, Natasja, Chris, and Zoey

tire stairs

Two days after I dropped off Vandrew with Javier, he showed up at the hostel...carrying my drive shaft!  He told me, as best as I could comprehend, that the clutch plate needed to be remachined, and it would be unsafe to carry on without this done.  He said all four brakes would be fixed, and the clutch machined for 4000 pesos.  Around $250 Canadian.  Needless to say, I asked him to go ahead.

While I waited for Vandrew to be fixed, I spent time wandering around San Cristobal, visited the movie theatre to watch Hollywood movies that had spanish subtitles, and bought myself a new scarf.  The town is great.

Parque Nacional Cañón del Sumidero, CP

The Canyon at Sumidero is impressive, but filled with garbage...Carmel suggested we stop at the national park on our way from Oaxaca to San Cristobal in the state of Chiapas.  As we were leaving the petrified waterfall, the brake light came on again.  As we drove the windy mountain road, the brakes were having trouble, and eventually we only had front brakes operational.  This meant very slow travel, and we reached the town of Tuxtla Gutiérrez after dark.  As we entered the city, there was a routine police stop, and I was reaching for my wallet (I know how this goes by now), Carmel started talking to the police officer, who was all smiles and very helpful.  Carmel is convinced that it was because of her womanly charms, but the officer just smiled, asked us where we were going, gave us direction, and sent us on our way!  My first free police stop!

We arrived at the gate for the park entrance at about 7pm to find it closed and locked.  We had read that we would be able to camp in the parking lot for a small fee, and this was really putting a crimp in our plans.  A business owner from across the street offered to phone the park office, and soon after she left, a night watch guard appeared and let us in.  We were shown where the bathrooms were, and set up camp for the night.

In the morning, we had a nice breakfast in the on site restaurant, and then boarded a boat down the river.  The whole tour was in spanish, but it was quite interesting all the same.

A crocodile in the plastic infested waters

The dam at the far end of the canyon

A shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe 

After our tour of the canyon, we drove to the next town, San Cristobal, to continue the adventure!

Hierve el Agua, OA

Hierve el Agua is a petrified waterfall.  The falls are formed by an oversaturation of  calcium carbonate in the water, depositing over a long period of time.  Basically, they are gigantic stalactites.

We arrived in the dark, and met a group of 8 Canadians and Australians who were driving a modified bus down from British Columbia.  After a brief chat, I went to bed, and in the morning was greeted with a very interesting sight...

Oaxaca, OA

So, because of the mechanical problems to Vandrew, instead of staying in Oaxaca for two nights, we stayed there zero nights.  Carmel really wanted to go to a restaurant that she heard about from Anthony Bourdain , claiming to be the best food in the entire universe, or something like that.  It sounded cool to me, as I enjoy eating food, so we decided that we would spend the night to the east of Oaxaca, after our evening meal.

We wanted to see the city of Oaxaca though, as we'd heard good things about it from other travelers, and would like to see if it's the type of place that we should come back to visit in the future.  As we got to the center of the city, I realized that parking was going to be an issue.  We drove around and around, like one would in any city center, looking for a place that could accommodate the 10ft tall Vandrew.  Eventually, we found a street parking spot, and walked into the city center for an hour or two.

Spicy grasshoppers anyone?

After a couple of hours walking around Oaxaca, we had to hit the road for the restaurant, that was located in a small town to the east of the city.  The restaurant closed as 6pm, so there was not time to lose.

We made it to the restaurant 10 minutes before closing time, but ti was quite a long wait for anyone to seat us, serve us, or bring the bill.  The food was quite good, but I would have to say that Mr. Bourdain and I don't have the same idea of what the best food in Mexico is.

It was a really interesting building though.

After supper, we headed to a petrified waterfall for the night....I didn't even know you could petrify a waterfall...