Tag: Motopacking

Huehuetenango to Quetzaltenango – 20220702

Today was supposed to be a short easy ride from Huehue to Quetzaltenango. Just 2 hours and I would be done. But when I was just 30 minutes out it started to pour and due to the altitude I could feel the cold creep into my torso and I soon lost feeling in my hands and then entire arms. Luckily there was a comedor just on the side of the road that I could stop at.

Due to the plastic being broken on my helmet in Mexico, when it rains I simply cannot see anything. the water splashing my sunglasses makes it impossible to see. And if I take the sunglasses off the water smacks me right in the eyeball. In case you’ve never experienced this, it feels an awful lot like getting hit in the balls but in your eyeball. And in case you don’t have balls, I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s unpleasant.

I warmed up at the comedor with hot coffee and the rain mostly stopped after and hour and I continued the last 30 minutes to a hotel called Kasa Kamelot Las Rosas. It’s not really my thing but it’s pretty comfy and was like $19. The bed is the most comfortable I’ve had in a long while to be honest. After a hearty nap I headed into town to explore a little bit.

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Of course I get Mexican tacos my first night in Gua

Huehuetenango

All hail churro lady

Quetzaltenango is kinda nice. Same old latino layout of churches and plazas everywhere. And a lot of streetfood all over the place. Plantains and churros and all kinds of tacos. Tomorrow I will head down to Lake Atitlan!

Ride from Palenque to Tonina – 20220629

Woke up around 830 and read my book outside the cabana for a little bit. I lazed around and finally started packing around 10 for 11 checkout. I got a message from the place I was going that the roads were all blocked going into Ocosingo. *sigh

Hard *sigh

So I went to the owner ladies at jungle palace and asked if they knew anything about it. They called someone and said the way was clear but I had no idea who to believe. I figured I’d give it a shot so I jumped on the motorcycle and started riding. The roads are a pain here as there is a lot of construction and they will just block things off for large periods of time. Like 30+ minutes in the middle of the day.

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Drone shot

View from the farmstay

My plan if I couldn’t get through was to head very begrudgingly to the Cancun area and drive down through Belize. I am desperately trying to avoid Belize. While the islands and water are the most gorgeous I have seen anywhere the Caribbean the spliff chain-smoking vibe was one I was trying to avoid on this trip.

Very happily, I made it all the way to Tonina and had the nicest day ever. I stayed at the prettiest little farmstay, run by a family that sell cows and rooms in their house. Casita Tonina. I caught up on some stuff on my computer and did a lot of reading. It was super relaxing and the universe gave me exactly what I needed that day.

Watching Chicken Sacrifices in a Catholic Church in Chamula – 20220626

My plan for my last day in San Cristobal de Las Casas was to go to a meditation thing recommended by my tour guide Ana(I think in like a sweat lodge). But Ana called us and said it was canceled due to the rain.

So instead I went to Chamula with a couple people from the hostel. And thank God we did, it was an experience unlike any I’ve ever had before. We rode in the colectivo for 20 pesos and it took about 30 minutes to get there from San Cristobal. We sat next to some nice Mexicans and I kept offering my bag of chicharrón to them and they thought it was hilarious, but although they didn’t actually seem to want it, they refused to say no.

Colectivo lyfe

Once we got off the colectivo we went down the main strip which was a sprawling market where you could buy anything from tacos, to fruits, to the black skirts they all wear made out of some type of black sheep. The market street led us to the main church there which was originally a catholic church, but now is very much dedicated to pagan rituals. Apparently the Spanish allowed the rituals in order to keep the peace in the area.

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Walking around the market

Never seen people so entranced
Iglesia San Juan Batista AKA creepy ass catholic church.

We payed 60 pesos to get in and as soon as we entered the church I felt an awful and strange vibe. The ground was covered in huge pine needles, The sides of the churches were covered in bloody, terrifying Jesus’s and saints, and there had to be 10,000 lit candles littering the floor and sides. There were also 2 kids playing instruments. One hitting a drum and one playing an accordion. I swear they were playing the song from the red wedding in Game of Thrones and it gave the entire church the creepiest vibe.

There were people spread around the church drinking alternatingly pox(their alcohol) and coca cola. They believe that when they burp after drinking the coca cola that that is the evil spirits leaving their body.

So many candles

We walked up to the main alter area and saw this lady rubbing a chicken all over this man who was kneeling down. Then she pressed it to the ground and snapped its poor little chicken neck. It was pretty wild. She held it there while it did some of its last movements. I breathed in thick clouds of incense as I stared in shock at the dead ass chicken on the catholic alter still twitching occasionally.

I’ve never seen anything like it before.

We then went walking around a little bit, found some tacos and headed back to San Cristobal by colectivo. We stopped at a wine bar where we ordered a wine and got sleepy and I headed to bed. My plan was to wake up super early the next morning to climb the cathedral steps for the sunrise and then leave for the thick jungles of Palenque.