Mexico and Guatamala

Wow, do we have some updating for you.! Ok so lets backtrack here abit, we were on our way across Mexico, at least that was the plan when i last blogged. But traveling is funny that way, just when you think you have a plan, you meet someone, and it changes. In our situation that is what happened. We were at Jaultuco and we met this young couple traveling north back towards Quebec, they were going home the same way we had come. They had been all the way to Panama so we exchanged infor and travel stories. We said goodbye in the morning and came to a fork in the road. We had to make a decision, continue on our plan to cross over, or to head for Guatamala. We all agreed,... Guatamala it was.! We headed to the border town and stayed in a hotel parking lot. It was a super fancy hotel called the Loma Real. We were not allowed to use the pool or playground unfortunately, i think they took one look at our crew and decided they didn't want their "overpaying" guests to see what they had allowed in!! No big D, we had some dinner and went to bed. In the morning we headed the 20 minutes it took to reach the border at Talisman. Now i've crossed borders before, and so had Mark but nothing could of prepared us for the crossing at Talisman. Before we actually got their we were accosted by several men (and boys really) trying to get us to pay them to help us have a smoother crossing. We, very politely were trying to tell them "no thank you", however, they were not taking no for an answer, they were hanging off our mohome, literally and being very agressive, we finally shook them and thought we had rid ourselves of them. We went into stamp our passports out of Mexico. We had read in our book about crossing the border and remembered that it said we did not need to give up our tourist cards, which was great because we did not want to have to pay for 6 more when we came back to Mexico. This became an issue because the guy we were dealing with took them and would not give them back. We ended up conversing with these 3 men behind us that offered to help in the translation regarding our book and such. Finally we were able to keep our cards. We thanked the 3 men and in exchange one of them gave Mark a "Guyo" hat and told us it was great Guatamalan beer. He said "enjoy the country" WoW, maybe things were about to change for the better. We came out and were again accosted by other men trying to get us to change our money with them, they had set themselves up right in front of the mohome. We finally exchanged some money and headed up the road 100m more to go through the border, we were stopped again by the same guys that had originally jumped on our bus. They told us we had to park in this big lot and they would take us where we needed to go to get through the border. By this time we were feeling a little nervous. I stayed with the kids in the lot and Mark went with the men. While he was gone other guys were coming to the motorhome trying to wash it for money, wanting to buy a bike off the back, wanting to know if we had any shoes to shine, it was a zoo. We kept the doors locked and waited. Mark came back about an hour and a half later. He still hadn't gotten us through. The guys that he had originally left with gave up on him after he repeatedly told them he had no money to pay them. So he was on his own. Finally after about 3 hours in total we got our tires sprayed (they had to fumigate them before we crossed) and we were on our way. Both Mark and i with pits in our stomachs wondering if we had made the right decision to come into this country. Our goal at that point was to get as far away from the border as was possible. We checked the map and decided to head to Quezaltenango for the night. Unfortunately as we were heading out of Ayutla, which was one of the first little towns we entered we passed a fork in the road. We took the upper road, which was the wrong road, which we realized much later. It took us up to the highlands of Guatamala. The roads became very steep, narrow and winding. We went through little villages that were beautiful, rugged and primitive. The children and women dressed in traditional Mayan dress, and shyed away from us as we passed through. The kept going up, the motorhome started to get hot and the break lights came on. We were worried. It started raining, and getting very cold the further we went up. Finally we pulled off the road when we felt we could not push the motorhome any longer. Mark and i got out trepedatiously, with nerves knotted up in our bellies, the kids, oblivious to what was going on grabbed a soccer ball and played together. Children up on the hill, peered at us from behind trees. We waited......Half hour later we once again set out. When we finally felt like we had reached the sky the road started down...down....down. The rain stopped, but the mohome once again started to heat up, the brake light once again came on. We headed into a town called San Marcos, and the brakes stopped completely. We pulled to the side of the road. Mark ran back and up the road looking for a mechanic. He appeared a few minutes later with a guy. Together they went over the brakes, bled the breaks, topped up the break fluid and we waited. Dusk was apon us and we were getting worried about making it to our destination. We headed through the town of San Marcos, it was crazy.! The streets were narrow and we had to turn on a 90 degree radias more than once, it was an amazing accomplishment for Mark. He did so great. We hadn't one centemeter left to spare in those turns as we were right up to buildings. We made it out of San Marcos and headed towards Quezaltenango. Our next mission was to find a spot for the night. Our books do not have alot of info on this part of the world when it comes to rv spots so this was a challenge. We had all eyes out looking for a suitable spot, finally we went to a gas station to ask the locals in our broken spanish. While dialoging with a gas jockey and getting nowhere, i heard a man speak in english from out of the night. "Follow me" he said, "I maybe have a place for you ya". We trusted his words and in moments were in a big truck yard that was fully fenced. He talked to the tendant at the front gate and they allowed us to park for the night. Turns out he was a beer rep, a beer rep for Guyo beer! WoW, the universe works in peculiar ways, someone is watching out for us up thier! So thier we were, locked into a truck yard, farrow dogs barking in the distance, We ate and went to bed. Rry and i stayed up talking well into this night, for i had insomnia from nerves, and she was so excited about the adventure. ahhh to be young. Next morning we were optimistic, we pulled the blinds and saw the world alive around us. The truck yard was packed with people getting ready with their goods for market. It was bussiling!! Mark had gone off to get some supplies from the "taller mechanic" and came back with some as well as the "taller mechanic". They went over the motorhome together, topping up this and tightening that. When all seemed a go, we set out. We were now on our way to Lago de Atitlan. Which in english just means lake Atitlan. It was promised to be beautiful, an we needed to rest for a couple of days. The roads looked better, still abit steep, but not as narrow. We had read in our book that their were 2 routes into Lake Atitlan, one was through a little village called Salola with narrow streets and a steep decsent, especially in the last 6km. The book emphasised that if your breaks weren't trust worthy to use the later route, which was longer, but safer, we opted for that route. Just before our turn off we stopped at a look out point, and started chatting to some folks that had rolled up and immediately started speaking to me in english. We had some travellers talk, discussed where we were heading and where we had been. When we mentioned we were taking the 2nd route down to the lake the one guy said "well let me just check with someone and make sure it is safe for you". The gentleman that he spoke to said "no, es mui pelligrosso" which means, Dangerous! OMG, now we were back to square one. Luckily for us their were police officers close by that got in on the conversation and agreed to escort us to the lake. THank GOD! As we descended, our brake lights once again came on, no problem, the police found us a "taller mechanic" and he looked at them, said they were too hot that we should pull over and rest them for half an hour before continueing the descent. Great, the police found us a great look out spot and we waited, them beside us with their guns, the little kids collecting bottle caps, Teaghen feeding random stray dogs, and poor Rryla in the mohom with cramps.! Just than the cops got a call and had to go, we waited out the remainder time and continued down to the promised beauty and tranquility of Lago de Atitlan. When we were just about to the bottome we came across this bridge, now i can't exactly explain it to you because words cannot do this thing justice. We had a bus in front of us, loaded to over maximum, they let out half the people to walk across it and than, they themselves crossed over. We, being wider, and perhaps a little longer, had a crazy time getting over this thing. Could we just get their!!!! I was starting to frey at every last seam. Finally, our destination was at hand. And honestly it was gorgeous. It was everything the book said it would be and more. And to improve things, there were about 16 other motorhomes thier as well. It was a caravan tour. It was called the "Panamerica tour" The people were from Europe, mostly Germany and Switzerland". I was so happy to talk to them, the guides were lovely people and made us, well mainly me, at ease about the rest of our journey. In my defense, i was on day 3 of very little sleep, so things seemed abit desperate for me at times. The kids were having a great time, swimming in the lake, jumping off abandoned boats into the water. We loved the little village, with all the merchandise. At night fireflies danced around under a starfilled sky. The little ones rode thier bikes and continued collecting bottle caps, The Gallo caps were becoming Aidans favorites, because he was finding so many of them, probably had something to do with his dad and his choice of beverage?! The European travellers were heading the same way as us, so that was very comforting as well. We made it through Guatamala city without too many wrong turns, which was a blessing. It is a massive city, sectioned off by zones, good zones to be in, and bad ones, luckily we managed to stay within the good boundaries.
We are now in Rio Dulce, at a beautiful rv park. Right on a lake. Thier is an amazing pool for the kids and even a playground (that we can use) Thier is a resident goat, that the dogs have already chased, and some fascinating people that we have had the pleasure of sharing a drink with. In fact we have been invited to their farm. It is via boat access only, they have cows, horses, chickens oh, and 2 kids as well. They are originally from Austria, but sailed here 7 years ago and bought some property. The older girls are excited about going horse back riding, the little ones excited about playing on a farm with Noah, thier 3 year old, the dogs are excited about chasing the animals, and Mark and i are just happy to of met someone our age and converse in english with them.
Our journey has been full of surprises, some good, others not so good. I believe we are all learning about conquering our fears together, and that no matter what we are in this together. You really realize that you are only as strong as the weakest person, so it is important to make sure everyone is happy and healthy. We are a team, "Team Willmot/Healey/McIntosh" and we are living a dream.
The day, yet overcast, is warm, and unfolding in front of us, as it should.

All our love to you all. Thank you for your supportive words, and your continued love.

xoxoxoxUs