Coban to Lanquin

August 13th to 15th

We roll into Coban mid morning on weary legs after a short ride from our unscheduled stop in San Christobal. The ride is just enough to get the legs moving again after being annihilated by yesterday's climb past the landslide.

We stock up on calories in a wonderful traditional 'comedor' doing local soups and stews before hitting the 'panaderia' or bakery. Coban is famous for it's cakes and pastries and it would be rude not to investigate. Never one to shirk my duty, I undertake an extensive research project, unselfishly taking samples of everything the shop has to offer.

After much retesting under controlled conditions I can finally conclude there is merit in the claim of excellence. It's all fantastic! Coban is top of the list of fine places to stuff your face silly! The chocolate is good too....

The town is a real mixture of affluent living for some and a day to day subsistence grind for others. The land surrounding it is awash with coffee and cardamom plantations providing great wealth to the few owners. By contrast in the town there is pavement market where women come to sell produce from their smallholdings....

Raggedy people in bare feet carry bundles on their heads. Others wait patiently behind pitifully small piles of fruit or flowers - all they have to sell....

A little girl chomps on an apple whilst waiting for her mother to buy tomatoes.

The dignity and stoicism of the people is beautifully captured in this incredible portrait taken (with permission) by Anna....

We visit the other half on a tour of 'Finca Santa Margarita'; a coffee plantation based right in the town centre. This is what it's all about....

Beans ripen and turn a deep red in late August/September and can be eaten off the bush, the fruit being sweet and juicy.

Panama hats are de rigueur headgear for coffee sampling. I know it looks a bit cheesy, but Sue is just too busy comparing different beans to care....

This is where the cash is, beans harvested and separated from their fruit ready for roasting....

The quality is world class and there's a thriving and profitable export market. Local campesinos also come here to sell raw product for roasting, but markets are complicated and dominated by middle men and marketeers. There is a strong feeling in the villages that too much of the cash stays near the final stages of the production chain, much of it outside of Guatemala....

We leave coffee politics behind and head out the next day towards our next destination 'Lanquin'. The area between marks an end to the Western Highlands and the moderate climbs are becoming enjoyably social. We have breath to spare for chatter as we ride....

It's work as usual for the locals. The daily commute by bicycle, complete with chain saw....

Gathering fire wood - Mayan style....

There are huge views to the south to distant green mountains covered with mogul fields, grassy hummocks repeating smaller and smaller off into the far distance. A final ridge line angles away east, gradually losing height as it marches off to join up with the 'Sierra de Santa Cruz'. We are heading for that track down the side of the ridge - the line that angles back on itself and falls into the valley below.

We drop a 1000m on a treacherous rocky path. You kind of grab brake when you can and slide the back wheel crashing and bumping over uneven stone. The nicest thing I can say about the ride is that it's 'technical'. The nicest thing I can say about the scenery however, is that it's incredible - that's the path snaking down the hill....

Lanquin is a tiny village with a cave system to explore. An underground river surfaces from the caverns, the water heavy with minerals that turn it a smoky turquoise colour. There's a space to camp right by the cave entrance, but more importantly right on the river bank. We pitch camp and test out the cool blue waters from this natural diving board.....

Nice!

Guamtemala's Most Beautiful Road!

August 12th and 13th

Another day of 2 halves! All the climbing is undone after 'Uspantan' as we drop back down to the same river we crossed at the very start of yesterday, now some 1300 metres below us. 1300 metres is a lot! The Empire State Buiding in New York is 384m in height and Canary Wharf in London is 235m tall, so one standing atop the other is but half that height! At 'Chixoy' is a bridge across the eponimously named river and then another huge climb back up to Coban. Oh and the bridge marks the end of the tarmac and a return to dirt roads just to add spice to that climb....

But for now, all we can think about is the descent. I just love going down and as always the challenge is to not touch the brakes. They were just made for wimps!

30kms of riding bliss as a distant Susy streaks and blurs down the road folded along a narrow ledge clinging to the mountainside....

And finally the river is back in view as the road angles down, down the hillside, snaking towards a collision point at the bridge that marks the turning point for the day....

A passing coca cola truck sells us a few bottles off the back of his wagon as we load up on sugar for part 2. As we expected, the river crossing does mark the end of smooth running and the black top slowly fizzles out becoming increasingly cracked and pot holed, before giving up entirely. It's back to rock and stone; rough in places, but totally rideable. There's just rather a lot of it as we look back at the climb....

It's super steep in places and Anna is forced to turn pedestrian. The day is thankfully cool and overcast, a boon to us as these loaded bicis were not built for pushing....

A rest break looks more like a crash scene with bikes and people scattered where they fell....

In parts the road is bogged down by the relentless rainy season and Sue takes an expeditionary route to test the depth of the mud. It measures high on the sticky clingy scale and mid calf on the depth-ometer....

We've been at it for nearly 8 hours, when finally, my altimeter and the altitude for Coban are in rough agreement - meaning the climb is all but done. This is welcome news as our legs are leaden and fuel tanks are low as the sun begins to sink lower in the sky. There are maybe 5 miles to go before we hit tarmac and an easy roll into town when this happens....

A picture speaks a 1000 words and Sue's sudden feeling of despondency is clear. This is not good body language! Behind her is a humongous rock slide that has totally wiped out the road. Indeed the entire landscape is scarred and ruined for hundreds of metres below as a gigantic chunk of the mountain broke free and slid en masse into the valley, miles below. We had heard about some rubble on the road, but were told we could probably walk the bikes around it.

Nothing prepared us for this!

Apparently, after unusually persistent rain last December, the land started to slip in a process that lasted over 3 months as torrents of rain deluged the land. On several occasions the mountain found a new equilibrium, only for more rain to tip the uneasy balance causing tons more rock to cascade down the slope. No one is sure how many were killed in the initial slide, but estimates range up to a hundred, mainly passengers in vehicles on the road. Many bodies have not been recovered and probably never will be. It's a tragic reminder of the devastation meted out by the capricious moods of nature.

It's now a horrible sight as we contemplate the temporary track that has been flattened to allow passage though the boulder field. It runs hundreds of metres below and we can see the snail like pace of the wagons as they struggle back up ridiculous inclines. At the very top-left of the photo is the cutting through which the original route passed and marks what would have been the summit of this day's brutal climb.

Now we have to contemplate the new work ahead....

Mustn't miss a photo op though.... Anna and Ali ride ahead and provide nice subjects for a long shot. Teeny tiny ants crawling, oh so slowly over a landscape that dwarfs them....

And this is the view from the track looking at the carnage in the valley below....

This is the steepest ride I've done anywhere - and I've ridden though the Carretera Austral in Chile and the Altiplano in Bolivia where they are not renowned for having a lot of money to blow on road engineering. No one builds roads this steep in real life and it's just an absolute killer right at the end of a tough day. Look at the angle of the truck as it dives off the edge. The next photo is of me slumped over the handlebars worrying which will happen first - a return to normal or the heart attack....

But my girl has spirit - contrast this with the previous photo of her beaten and despairing. Nothing keeps her down for long as she grins maniacally while Anna kills another impossible switchback in the background....

After much grunting and cursing, finally - the view back down onto that sheer 'S' bend and the trail through the blasted land behind.....

We reach the top and unbelievably, that same coke truck we bought cola from on the bridge this morning magically appears; engine roaring and belching fumes as it snarls us up the trail behind us. It's just like the adverts - all giddy, smiling faces and big teeth as he takes our empties off us and we set about creating more for him.

The team, enjoying a well deserved break - sugared up and victorious celebrating a return to more sane roads. That feeling you get when you know you've just beaten the big one.....

The day is over, both physically for us and temporally for the sun - as it casts a final faint reddish glow and is met by the horizon. Fortunately there is a town and a hotel before Coban in San Christobal Verapaz which saves us riding the last 10 miles in the dark. Even a puncture for Sue within sight of the hotel cannot dampen our spirits now as we contemplate showers and soft beds.

The next day is just a breeze by comparison. A return to tarmac and a cruise into Coban, a town renowned for it's coffee, it's chocolate and it's fine cakes. That and the ride to get there sound like fine excuses for a day off the bicis....

The Posse Rides Out

August 10th and 11th

We finally meet up with the other half of the team in Quiche and ride out in a posse of four. It's amazing how clean Anna and Ali look after a month back in civilization and I just hope all those baths and clean clothes haven't turned them soft. We've got a day to find out and then another ginormous day of climbing.

3 wise monkeys....

For now it's rolling hills and corn fields and it's just great to be back together - perfect riding....

There's a buzz in the air, a steady drone of insects and we are regularly bombarded by winged killers - huge, orange and mean looking. The fields are loaded with wild flowers, coaxed from their slumber by the rainy season, now well into it's stride. I brave a close up of this 2 and a half inch monster hornet, it's bright thorax just screaming warning. He must be carrying a pint of poison, and his stinger looks flick-knife nasty as he says 'this flower is mine, MINE I tell you'.

Wisely I decide to let him have it....

Maybe the bright orange acts as camouflage amongst the vividly coloured blooms....

We stop to buy fresh picked apples from a group of Mayan women at the road side. It's also a good excuse to get some photos of their fabulous traditional dress. The colours of the skirts and the intricacy of the lace blouses is amazing, and all hand made....

It's stark contrast to the modern western dress now adopted by most Mayan men. Only in the smaller, more out of the way villages do you find men in traditional garb....

We overnight in Sacapulas in the deep valley of the 'Chixoy o Negro' river. Here the road joins the main route in between Coban and Huehuetenango which the guide book describes as 'The Most Beautiful Road' in Guatemala, a bold claim given the competition.

It starts with a massive climb, as do so many scenic routes. The view back along the river valley to the now distant town where we slept last night....

The road is steep and unrelenting as it carves a tarmac scar along the hillside, whilst the land under the green vegetation is white and chalky. It is mined for building materials and cement, however, this is not any kind of advanced industrialised operation. Instead the rock is hacked from the mountain side using pick axe and shovel. Men hover on ledges with 100 feet drops below them dangling from ropes tied precariously to trees. It's hard and dangerous work....

But then so is cycle touring and Sue stops for a breather, her face aglow with the effort of the latest mountain to fall beneath her wheels....

After a brief brake test on the drop down to Cunen it's back to the climbing. Cunen is corn country and a processing town for all the corn fields we rode through yesterday. Huge tarpaulins are laid out at the roadside covered with ears drying in the sun....

We time a lunch stop to coincide with lunch at a local school and some of the bolder kids have sneaked out to buy drinks and the occasional cigarette from a local store. A small crowd gathers as word leaks out of gringos on bicis. They gather round to wind us up regarding the lack of a car and they fail to comprehend the concept that anyone could possible cycle out of choice. Confusion reigns....

Woah!!!! What is that??

John Windham was right!

TRIFFIDS.....

Spotted just outside the town of 'Uspantan'.

Reunion

August 7th to 9th

Anna and Ali, our riding buddies are back in the country. They flew in a couple of days ago and took a bus to Xela to be re-united with their steel horses after a month in Holland and we've arranged to meet in Quiche, 3 days ride away. Maybe we could be there sooner - it's only 100 miles or so, but we're getting used to the terrain now and all normal judgments of distance are irrelevant here.

It's good to be moving again after killing time by the lake in San Pedro and also in Antigua and we set about tackling the Western Highlands with gusto. We're also retracing the bus route that brought us from San Pedro - effectively 'filling in the gap' of those non cycled miles.

The road to 'Pastores' in fine, but then a 90 degree turn points us directly at the mountains and it's back to that grinding bottom gear as we climb away from the twin peaks of Volcanoes 'Acantenango' and 'Agua'; the former standing a majestic 3975m (13150 ft)....

On a high plateau the land is worked by industrious Mayans; tilling, sewing and harvesting oversize crops bursting from rich soil pregnant with goodness from ancient lava flows. Giant cabbage, radish, carrots and tall swaying corn fields as far as the eye can see...

In keeping with ancient building traditions, modern Mayans construct their road network paying homage to the steep sided pyramids of Palenque and Tikal built during the classical period. This close to Guatemala City, traffic is dense and fast flowing and we are often forced off the flat black top and down the perilously steep sides.....

The entire day is spent ascending and we finish tired and heavy legged in Tecpan at roughly the half way point.

The second day begins to mirror the first as the climb immediately resumes after Tecpan and we grind out another 500m of altitude in another series of long steep climbs interspersed by short rapid falls. The views are breathtaking....

The road finally begins to skirt a distant Lago de Atitlan 15 miles away and nearly a vertical mile below us, the huge brooding figure of Volcan de San Pedro standing sentinel.

A full day and a half of extreme climbing has taken it's toll as we wearily reach the road junction of Los Encuentros. Local rumours now tell of the 'tough' road ahead from here to Quiche and we wonder just what that can mean after the brutal last couple of days. Straight faced locals explain without irony that only now does it start to get steep.....

We decide to stop early and rest. Sue debates whether panic is necessary and the mood is sombre. It's like the eve of battle when all the hard marching is done; and yet tomorrow, the work begins in earnest. Troops are subdued and introspective as the heavens open and the world turns to water in a massive rain storm.

The next day however, dawns bright and clear - all prophesies of doom are soon forgotten as we race down the twists and turns and 6 miles fly by in a blur of exhilaration and speed.

And then we reach the viewpoint, overlooking the valley and the road to the next town - 'Chichicastenago'....

Time to suck it up as we enjoy the final couple of miles of the descent before finding out exactly what it takes for a Mayan to describe a road as steep.

This road qualifies as 'steep' according to a Mayan.....

And this is Sue joining the wagon train of supplies heading into town....

It's amazing to see what children as young as 3 and 4 are made to carry here. This young lad has maybe 20lbs of rice in a bag tied round his head. He also carries a scale down, pint size machete and finds the energy to chase after me as I rode past him up the hill. His playful jabs are all the incentive I need to climb yet another one in a series of steep hairpins. Oh those crazy Mayan kids! It is all good fun, but it does take some getting used to watching pre-school aged kids work with 18inch blades.....

Chichicastenango is a pilgrimage site for gringo travellers from all over the Guatemalan highlands. It's twice weekly markets are the largest in the country and it's a chance to buy all things artisanal. We take the bikes for a walk through the place to see what all the fuss is about and meet several of the people we saw laughing at us or just gaping in bemusement from the comfort of their buses as they passed us on the steeps....

For us though it's a repeat of what we have seen being made in the homes of countless tiny villages along the route, except here it's sold at 10 times the price of local markets.

We ride on and the locals continue to be right - the 12 miles between Chichicastenango and Quiche are also pretty tough.....

Finally we arrive in Quiche with legs of lead. A quick trip to an internet cafe reveals that the posse is in town and Anna and Ali have also just arrived. It's time for a beer or two and a catch-up, there are plans to be made and new routes to ride!