I arrived in Antigua last night, and decided to take a day here today so that I could stay at the Moto Camp Hostel. I have always kind of had this romantic vision of what Antigua would be like, but I think that maybe my biggest let down, was which period of Antigua Guatemala they were referring to. As man of us know, Guatemala is very known for its Mayan culture, ruins, pyramids etc. I don't know why, but for some reason, I had always thought there were pyramids in Antigua Guatemala, but there are none. Antigua Guatemala is actually more like a piece of the 1500's. They have kept the buildings in tact and made a theme of it. Even the Wendy's and Taco Bell look like they were built by colonials. Now I know it is my own fault for never looking into this, but after spending the day in San Cristobal, I didn't see what the fuss of Antigua is about. Is it an amazing place? YES!, But is it so different from cities like San Cristobal that you hear about it from friends and family as well as the media? Maybe not? It is a cool place, but to me, it doesn't seem very far off from many of the other cities that I will cross through along the way. It is also fully of international visitors and feels VERY westernized with the number of chain restaurants available to the people visiting.
Anyway, the day started out slow. I needed to move all of my things from the hostel I had booked for the night, over to the Moto Camp. I opened the door at the first hostel and found two fresh piles of dog crap. I think hostels are great, but I really don't like when they have a dog that lives at them. They expect you to want it in your room and pooping outside of your door. I got my things together and moved over to Moto Camp, so that I could hurry and get the bike into the shop to have the balance issue addressed on the front wheel.
Moto Camp recommended that I take the bike the Antigua Motorsport which is just a few blocks away from the city center park. When I arrived, Cesar (an american from new jersey with jokes, that now lives in antigua pursuing his dreams of owning a very cool motorcycle shop), greeted me and got my bike on the lift right away. We were worried about a few possibilities, the wheel could be bent, out of balance, the spokes could be broken or lose, or the worst, would be that the wheel bearing had gone out. We had the mechanic (a very young mechanical genius and motorcycle superstar) take the bike around the the block so that he could get a feel for what I was feeling on the bike. When he got back we started to look at it and decided that the problem was more than likely caused by the tension bolts on the bottoms of the front forks. Kyle and I had added one to the right side, and it was causing the axle to not be balanced. The guys at the shop were able to find the bolts and tighten it all down. It did the trick and the bike was back up and running. As a courtesy they also tightened and lubed the chain, as well as cleaned the bike up for me.
When I came to pick the bike up, Cesar offered to take me around the block to do a shake down and make sure the bike was good to go. He was on an F800GS and he took me through the traffic and all around the mountain as what he called "A short ride around the block." It was a lot of fun though and I am very grateful that he was there to help out!
I am very surprised that the wheel was in perfect shape still after all that I had put the bike through yesterday. Bravo KTM, this thing has been amazing so far!
While I was having the bike worked on, a man entered the bar area of the hostel and stole the owner's cell phone. They reviewed the video surveillance and were able to track the guy down in the city. Everyone that worked in the hostel started scouring the city and they were able to get the guy! I couldnt believe it. It was incredible to see to be honest. I went with them to the park where they had the guy with the police. They confronted the old man and he was arrested!
After getting the bike all back to normal I headed around town to take some pictures. There were kids playing in the street that wanted to see the bike, so I let them all climb on the bike for photos as well. I was sad to find out that none of them or their parents had email though, so I wont be able to send them the pics!
Tomorrow I will be off to El Salvador. Thankful for lots of great people here in Guatemala the last couple of days! I will definitely be back to ride more here in the future.
Nos vemos!
you keep amazing me, such an awesome trip:)) I can't wait to start my in june. I will have to get in touch with you about border crossings and etc. :) ride safe brother
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