Sin Topes Oaxaca: In Guatemala, a pair of underwear costs 5 Quetzales (or about 70 cents).

Guatemala. Taking rear wheel drive conversion vans where they have never been before. And probably shouldn't go. I feel like we have entered this country a month ago instead of a week ago.

One of the few the few spots on the map we knew we wanted to hit before we left Portland were Antigua and Tikal, both in Guatemala. A good friend, Annie V. had lived off and on in Antigua a few years back and had slipped me a note to give to the bartenders once we arrived. I knew it'd be good for making a friend or two and and perhaps a few stiff drinks;) Well it worked! It worked so well, they stapled the note to the back of the bar. Annie must have made quite an…impression. Its a must see if one finds themselves in Antigua. They make their own Mescal and celebrate the depraved. Visit if you can- cafenose.com (thats Cafe No Se, not nose..)

the note

Nothing beats a 3:30 wake up knock by the hotel help during a Mescal and cervesa induced sleep. Nothing. Something about tres hombres and corre, and ventana and I knew it wasn't good. I went down to check it out and discovered the rear window broken and our three big duffel bags gone. Errr…? All our clothes (except the ones on our backs and those garments jammed into the cabinet in the van), all our jackets and cold weather gear, and all our underwear/socks! Gone! I got Linds and we guarded the now very vulnerable van until morning. Over coffee and some breakfast we got over our loss fairly quickly. These were just "things," easily(though costly) replaceable, and no-one was hurt. The bigger problem was the van, our home had a huge hole! Its an older rig- a 1994 and a conversion van at that…I thought for sure that we had just booked another week in town waiting for parts.

dang!

A long story made short- after pulling into the first carwash we came to and explaining our plight, two complete strangers (and immediate friends) dropped what they were doing and spent the next six hours with us collecting parts and somehow wedging a window of a different size and shape into the rear of our van. Unbelievable. Linds and I bought the crew some fried chicken and watched in amazement as they widened the hole with a metal grinder and fabricated a fix. They even took us to a tint shop after the window was in so we could match it to the rest of the van. We were blown away by the kindness of these strangers.

Thanks Edwin!

all better.

The following day we woke up early and jammed north, hoping to make a tiny town called Lanquin near a national park called Semuc Champey. As if the prior day wasn't exciting enough, I hit a small bus with the van about halfway there. It was the most exciting thing the folks of Sacapulas had ever seen. It wasn't major, just a scuff really, but it was our fault so we had to see it through. After hours of negotiating we gave the driver $421 Quetzales and an American twenty and were on our way. At dusk. And a little shaken. And then we met THIS GUY!

Amedeo Urizar. Make sure you get gas from him in Ustpatan.

This man was awesome. He not only let us sleep at his gas station, but he gave us a killer tour of the town and took us over to his sisters house for dinner. We even got to check out the towns underground (literally) radio station after dinner. Thank you Amadeo Urizar.

Illegal radio.

river going underground

Semuc Champey. A natural limestone bridge formed when the Cahabòn River goes underground in a narrow canyon only to reappear 300 meters later. What really takes this place over the top are the pools formed on top of the bridge by springs that flow from the sides of the surrounding canyon. Our "Drive The Americas" book explained that the place was reachable by a 20 kilometer "dirt road." It did not tell us that is was a one lane muddy trail that descended over 2500 feet. Talk about a white knuckle affair. We drove/slid down this road at dusk the following day and hoped that this place was as good as we'd heard as we might be there until a 4x4 pulled us back out to the top. It was awesome. We camped near the park and swam the morning away as the sun dried the road and made the way passable for our poor, battered van.