The 5th and Final Border

First thing the next morning Byron’s brother, Jose Juan, came to look over our problems and agreed to help. He seemed very knowledgeable and also had good English, Axel contacted us and the mechanics did their mechanicking. We discovered that Axel’s guy in the city had readjusted our brakes making them over sensitive but hadn’t told us and as they were newly built brake shoes on an old 2 ton van in the mountains, we inevitably had problems. So we spend all morning in the huge warehouse workshop, evidently a great guy and full team of handy lads that set about solving our problems. Franky was back up on jacks, wheels off, in spaceship mode. They cleaned everything up and resurfaced the parts, our brake fluid was black and even though only a week old was thoroughly changed. They looked into the sensor issue and went over the parking brake cables and generally poked about making sure we were looking good. Franky was yet again charming them, Jose Juan didn’t charge us any labour but was happy enough to send us away with kindness and reassurance. After a lap around town to break (haha!) things back in we paid up in fried chicken for the team, who run a great workshop all week but ‘weekends are for cars we want to work on and enjoying ourselves’. Fair play to them and a huge thanks to yet more fantastic mechanics!

We left town at lunchtime, the last part of the road the steepest, a 1000m drop in altitude in just 20kms and a few corners to say the least! It did mean the views were fantastic and the landscape again very different with thicker forest, coffee plantations and lots of produce on the hillsides. Halfway down we paused in the small town to save ourselves a repeat of the day before. Brakes on fire but no dramatic concern, we got some bargains at a 30p a piece second-hand clothes store run by a 10yo girl and her little brother and pulled into the local carwash for a full once over ready for the border. The whole family mucked in to wash Franky down top and bottom, shined the wheels, cleaned the windows in and out and hoovered the floors. They took great entertainment by me helping the clean, doing the solar panels and reaching the out of reach windows, we left with yet another bargain and Franky looking the sharpest we’d ever seen, down the hill we went.

Late afternoon we pulled into a small campsite outside the town of Malacatan, the owner just leaving for church, he left us setting up in his lovely garden that happened to have a pretty sweet waterfall swimming hole out back. Grateful to be half an hour for the border, boiling hot again now back in the lowlands and now with a day spare until Monday, we spent a relaxing couple of nights at the end of the weekend. We did try to go for a Sunday lunch to the only restaurant close, after a drink we asked what was meat free, maybe some rice and bean, they laughed and pointed to the name of the place, Carnitas, translated to ‘meat specialist’, so quite literally meat, with a side of meat! That night we cheered to Guatemala, the fantastic journey it had been, we had felt its unique energy from

start to finish and absolutely loved it. Such variety and beauty but the history and culture of the people was the most amazing part, it was deeply set within them and the daily way of life. We were leaving feeling like we could have spent much more time there, exploring the quieter corners and mountain villages entirely removed from the ‘modern’ world, it felt good to want more. Guatemala, we’ll be back!

Monday we got away early, ready for the Mexican border. Only hearing of difficulties we wanted to be there before the heat of the day so arrived at 8:30 as the customs office opened. Swiftly out of Guatemala, over the bridge and into Mexico. The border was small and not for truckers so the process was quiet compared to others we’d seen and a couple of hours of inspections and paperwork later we were into Mexico and away without a drama (until the quesadilla lady ripped us off!). The road ahead was going to be long, if we thought Guatemala had taken some time to get through we were in for a ride. The first part of the journey was going to be a 2 day drive to get to the first city. On top of that we were in the lowland desert, cactus on the roadside, topes (speed bumps) that

rattled your brain out, mountains in the distance and incredibly hot, with thousands of immigrants walking the road to America and police or army check points every 20mins, it felt hostile, apocalyptic even, welcome to Mexico! It was still beautiful with huge open skies, we drove until we were cooked and pulled into a small town to park on the river side and sit in the shade. Totally pooped, we had intended to camp there but were advised against it by local intel, we listened and moved a little closer to lights and houses just in case and had a chilled night’s sleep. The following day was similar but with a 40km side wind and a near miss at a fake checkpoint. Just before the state border there was a checkpoint set up with traffic cones, a moveable tope, white 4x4s and 20 men in khaki. I slowed to cross the speedbump but didn’t stop, a couple of guys shouted and walked after the van, hoping I was pulling in but the vibe was all off and nothing had official signage, I sped off and pulled the windows up and we got away fine but the next 15mins on the bypass road felt unnerving without another car in sight.

No drama until the end of another long day, 10mins from our destination the road had been closed by the locals due to political tension and traffic was backed up. We had heard these were

happening and nothing you could do to get through (other than the usual bribe) so pulled off the road and killed the engine to wait it out. There was movement so we went to rejoin the traffic, but Franky refused. I went through the usual battery checklist and a truck kindly offered the jump, the road had opened and we were able to finish the long hot day on the road, pulled off the highway, 5kms down a dirt track to an absolutely stunning huge beach, sand dune on one end, white sand and crystal blue seas, backed by a wooded lagoon and a palapa shack bar on the point. We killed the engine assuming we’d have an issue the next day but not caring! A cold beer and another camper couple spending the night was reassurance enough and we enjoyed a beauty of a sunset in the middle of nowhere.