Southern Exposure

Saturday, December 20

Getting in and out of Monterrico was quite a thrilling adventure that left me breathless and pumped adrenaline into my blood on a number of occasions. Monterrico is a beach town on the Pacific side of Guatemala not far from the border crossing with El Salvador. We were going to stay there one night to get some Guatemala beach experience and get up early the next day to cross the border.

First I have to mention that for the most part, Guatemalan roads suck. They are poorly marked; their quality ranges from perfect asphalt to a dirt road within a mile distance on an interstate (and the Pan American) highway; the crazy bus drivers run you over without even blinking; other drivers are honking constantly with utter impatience at a slight sign of others slowing down or not driving to their liking.

That said, we had a little bit of trouble finding our way to La Avellana, a town a couple kilometers from Monterrico on the opposite side of a mangrove swamp, where we needed to take a boat across the mangrove swamp to get to our beach destination. We got to La Avellana and right away were whisked onto a hand built boat that already had a car in it.

We rode onto the boat on a narrow plank and before we realized what was happening the boat was already moving. We could not put the kick stands down because the boat bottom consisted of unevenly plastered planks, so we had to sit on out bikes holding on to them to make sure they stayed straight up. I think we were both in awe of the situation, it seemed strange, improbable and hilarious at the same time. How and why in the world did we get on this boat? How are we going to get the bikes off the boat? And what about the ride back the next morning?

After about 30 minutes of sailing through the swamps we touched down in Monterrico. We had to back the bikes off the boat on the single plank, only this time we needed the help of three men to push us up to the shore. When we were finally safe on the ground I had to get off the bike, because my limbs were trembling and I was absolutely drenched in sweat.

We found a suiting hotel and hit the beach around 4 pm. The beach was very expansive with black volcanic sand. It was rather hard to enjoy the ocean, as the current was incredibly strong and the waves were rolling onto the shore with great intensity. I did manage to take a short “bathe” in the ocean after which we had some drinks at the beach bar, and went to see the turtles being released into the ocean as part of the preservation activity.

Tourists could sponsor a baby turtle for 15 quetzales ($2) that has been kept in the sanctuary for 2 weeks, to ensure it grows up and gets back into the ocean safely. Unfortunately, all turtles were taken by the time we arrived so we just watched 15 of them race a few meters from the beach into the ocean.

Later on, we had dinner at the only good restaurant in the area and headed for bed early. We had mosquito nets in the room which were pretty much inadequate because they were too short and had a slit on the side that was impossible to keep sealed. The AC in the room did not work, we only had a small fan, and it was extremely hot and humid. Needless to say we had quite a miserable night.

The next morning we got up early anticipating the nerve-racking ride in the boat and an ordeal at the border. This time, we decided to roll onto the boat backwards, so it was easier to get off. Yet again, it took a few locals to maneuver us on the boat and I was terrified of dropping the bike, because as they rolled me on the narrow plank, my feet could not touch the ground and I was afraid I would just slide off the plank which was three feet off the ground.

Coming off the boat, again, I was terrified of not being able to hit the narrow plank perfectly straight and collapsing onto the side, but thanks to the skills from the dirt riding class, managed to come off without any problems. Whew! It was only 7:30 am and I was already covered in sweat.

The border crossing to El Salvador took about 3 hours. I was watching the bikes while Matt was doing the paperwork hassle. It was uncomfortably hot sitting in full gear. I tried to concentrate on my book, so not to invite any conversations from the local “helpers” and onlookers.

Finally, around 12:30 pm we were done and on our way to meet Mario, an ADV rider and local Salvadoreño who had contacted Matt and invited us to meet up with him and his friends once we were in El Salvador.