Tecpán, Iximche and the Rental Car - The Rough Road to Quetzaltenango, Guatemala - 04.25.22

A final day in Antigua was for resting the body. Food runs and tracking down a rental car. Transportation is ample here but I’m wanting some freedoms that revolve around time and spontaneity. I took one pic the entire day and ‘solo ser’ (just be).

I’ve spent more time in Antigua than I had in my casita in Española, NM. As I was walking around, locals that I had met would wave and smile. I so adore that… it reinforces my thoughts on the importance of a supportive community and having a home base to return to. Also, it means I’ve been here too long and the boy can’t sits still…

I now have the freedom of a car so I picked a place on the map that’s within a few hours drive, Quetzaltenango is the town… it sounds cool, secured a place to stay… did next to zero research and don’t know squat about it (cuz that’s my thing) and plugged in the route and began to drive.

I was on the same road a few days before as a passenger and that gave me a feel for the driving scene. There’s not a ton of cars on the roads because having a car in this country is a luxury. For the most part, drivers seem to be controlled and not crazy like you may hear… except the chicken bus drivers. They are eff’n nuts! The things they do with those giant school buses… it’s like they picked up driving by watching ALL of the MadMax/RoadWarrior movies. Kinda like Colorado drivers… it’s true… own it!

Driving out of Antiqua is a slow going process. Very bumpy cobble streets and huge speed bumps. It’s congested traffic but it flows. I stopped at an intersection to plug in my route and a funeral precession pulled out. A couple/three dozen motorcycles with dudes all dressed the same, in black suits with white shirts and thin black ties. Epstein and Bourrillion Esq(s)… you have new instructions added to my Viking funeral request. A few blocks down they all stopped and set off a percussion canon. I happened to be driving by at that very moment and it will wake you the fk up.

Anyboom, the canons had been going off all week and I don’t even know what was going on. I should google. There were fireworks for 2 nights and I had seen a car precession with 2 high end SUVs with blacked out windows and surrounded by police cars and motorbikes carrying automatic weapons. They must be in charge of bringing very important snacks to town.

The open Pan-Am highway is easy driving with the exception of the sporadic wheelbarrow size potholes. In towns it’s dodging street dogs, chickens, goats, tuk tuks, carts, bicycles, kids and kids with street dogs and chickens.

I made a random stop at a road restaurant near the Tecpán Pueblo, for a break and lunch snacks. It was a swanky place but they were catering to a local peoples foods. I had Pepian tradicional and it knocked my socks off. Google it… and wow!

I searched for something to do in the area as I gobbled my food… the Iximche ruins site was near so I headed that way. It’s off the beaten path and I had to drive through Tecpán. That was very much a gauntlet of things to dodge. So… turn up the music, squint, put arm out window to direct beings out of the way, and forward I go… and zen.

At the Iximche site it costs 50QTX to get in… I parked and was pleased to see it was a place being enjoyed by the local population (and one blue-eyed boy). Mayans visiting Mayan ruins. Cool. The info/map board was in 2 languages… Spanish and K’iche (a Mayan based language written in the Latin alphabet) just 🥰…

The site was lovely and it’s totally my thing so I enjoyed just being there… until… May begins the rainy season and the land of Tecpán is not waiting for the month of May to rain. Little pellets of hail were landing, and I know that pain so I started to stroll back to my car. Then… one big ass rain drop hit my glasses. It was like someone hit me with a water balloon. And the skies opened… by the time I made it back I was soaked. All my gear was in the trunk so I just stripped off my shirt and began to drive. My thoughts were that the people, dogs, kids on bicycles and any other moving obstacles, would be inside so I could get through town quick like.

Yup… and that’s how it went… but it was raining so hard that the streets were flooding and debris and possibly small children were floating down the street. There were two other cars following me and one chicken bus out in the soup. I visualized the chicken bus driver laughing like the evil antagonist in a movie because he rules the town now.

And yes, I drove the entire time without a shirt. Two more hours. There were uncomfortable flashback moments of being 16 and driving in my blue-collar neighborhood.

Anymoo, I made it through and it was a long curvy, foggy, pothole filled drive to Quetzaltenango. I found my mountain cabin which is all kinds of cool. It’s supposed to rain all week so a little reading, writing, painting time is in order. And zen and snore.

#thatwasamouthful