Tail of the Dragon in Guatemala

[Captain Fin]

Good morning Spyderlovers! I wish that I had my Spyder along with me here in beautiful Panajachel Guatamala. There is a 7 k.m. streach of mountain road desending to Panajachel that is off the chain. As the people here are very poor, there are few cars so the traffic is light with an excellent road.I would love to see someone get a Spyder here and make a movie of the ryde. You are surrounded by three volcanoes with a beautiful lake at the bottom. And yes, Guatamala is very safe. Also the flower children from the 60's are alive and doing very well here. Time has not changed for them.

 

[SpyderAnn01]

Are there many decent roads for riding? I wanted to retire somewhere in Central or South America but the hubby was afraid that there wouldn't be enough paved roads to ride on.

 

[Captain Fin]

Great roads

Are there many decent roads for riding? I wanted to retire somewhere in Central or South America but the hubby was afraid that there wouldn't be enough paved roads to ride on.

Come on down. The roads here are great. Panajachel has a huge number of americans retired here and they own most of the business here. This would be Spyder Heaven. It is very safe and You can live very well here on $1600.00 per month. The year round temperature here is 60's at nite and 70's day. Its a tropical paradise with perfect temperatures. My apartment here is $20.00 Per. day and beer in the bar is as low as $1.00. Also You can get permanent residence here for about $1200.00 Per. Person if retired and on social security.

 

[GuitarPlayer]

I had the opportunity a couple of years ago to go on a mission trip to San Juan Lalaguna which is across the lake from Panajachel. It's a time I'll never forget. Beautiful country and beautiful people. I hope to go back some day.

Tony

 

[Chupaca]

What about..!!

the rest of the roads. Most tourist areas have great roads for that traffic. What about the rest of the roads. We always go off the tour areas and find the real places, the real people and many of the not seen areas but to get there is not always easy. But you could video some for us off your phone...:thumbup:

 

[Captain Fin]

Like in U.S. Not all roads are great

the rest of the roads. Most tourist areas have great roads for that traffic. What about the rest of the roads. We always go off the tour areas and find the real places, the real people and many of the not seen areas but to get there is not always easy. But you could video some for us off your phone...:thumbup:

I will make a video today of this 7k.m. Streach of road down to Panajachel and post it when I return to the U.S.. So far I have not been on a bad road from Guatemala city to Panajachel which is about 150 k.m.. A lot of the city streets here in Panajachel are hand built and made of stone and cement, but are in quite good repair.

 

[Captain Fin]

San Juan

I had the opportunity a couple of years ago to go on a mission trip to San Juan Lalaguna which is across the lake from Panajachel. It's a time I'll never forget. Beautiful country and beautiful people. I hope to go back some day.

Tony

I spent yesterday in San Juan and San Pablo. The art work on the buildings is San Juan was very beautiful. Now a Spyder on the streets of San Pablo would be a rush. Some of the streets are almost vertical. I saw a Porsche in Panajachel yesterday which I thought quite strange for this country.

 

[sls3000]

Hi,

Timely subject, I'm just wrapping up 6 months in Guatemala City, I'm down here for my wife's TDY at the embassy. The driving here in the city is CHAOS, and that is being kind, I would never even think of riding a motorcycle in the city, that being said the rest of the country is much more relaxed. One thing that surprised me is the quality of the roads, we've been just about everywhere down here, including Belize, Honduras and El Salvador driving a car and I think most of them would be Spyder accessible. I even saw a Spyder driving around Antigua, GT unfortunately, I wasn't able to chase him down and find out his story. One word of caution, even though my wife speaks fluent Spanish and the people here have been wonderful, this is not the USA. There were too cars we used for our trips, on an armored embassy SUV and the other was a Corolla with limo-dark-tinting on all the windows, except the front. This is not a place that I would feel comfortable just jumping on the bike and taking off on a cross country ride. We are very exposed on motorcycles, much more so here, the gun laws are pretty friendly for foreigners, getting a permit takes a while if you don't know somebody, but they do approve them regularly. If anybody else has any questions I'd be happy to fill you in on what I've seen.

Take care,
Scott

 

[Captain Fin]

I agree with You

Hi,

Timely subject, I'm just wrapping up 6 months in Guatemala City, I'm down here for my wife's TDY at the embassy. The driving here in the city is CHAOS, and that is being kind, I would never even think of riding a motorcycle in the city, that being said the rest of the country is much more relaxed. One thing that surprised me is the quality of the roads, we've been just about everywhere down here, including Belize, Honduras and El Salvador driving a car and I think most of them would be Spyder accessible. I even saw a Spyder driving around Antigua, GT unfortunately, I wasn't able to chase him down and find out his story. One word of caution, even though my wife speaks fluent Spanish and the people here have been wonderful, this is not the USA. There were too cars we used for our trips, on an armored embassy SUV and the other was a Corolla with limo-dark-tinting on all the windows, except the front. This is not a place that I would feel comfortable just jumping on the bike and taking off on a cross country ride. We are very exposed on motorcycles, much more so here, the gun laws are pretty friendly for foreigners, getting a permit takes a while if you don't know somebody, but they do approve them regularly. If anybody else has any questions I'd be happy to fill you in on what I've seen.

Take care,
Scott

You are correct and its not just Guatemala city but all Latín cities that I have visited that the people drive like they are on crack. Did you have a chance to see the model Spyder that was in Antigüe? I do think that if one were to plan their route carefully that they could safely navigate this country on a Spyder. I have noticed that many places that one could stop for the night are in gated compounds and some with guards. My apartment is inside a gated compound, but I do walk the streets here in Panajachel into the late evening and feel very safe. Did You get to experience the 7k.m. Stretch of dragón Highway coming into PanaJachel? My wife is from Colombia which helps and one has to be street smart. There are places in Miami I would not venture at night even in a car and every big city in the U.S. Has those areas. From my experience I would not consider Guatemala any less safe than the U.S. and I have been traveling here since 1992 mostly on my boat and chicken buses. I have never been threatened are had anything stolen. I have been threatened in the U.S. and have had things stolen.