to El Ceibo: Green hills to the border

July 1, 2017

There are some hills that look steeper from a distance or even seem to disappear once starting up. Other hills look steep and are steep. Then the graph of the road that looks relatively flat isn’t. Then there are rolling hills of constant downhill and uphill, sometimes benefiting from the downhill to get up part of the uphill. That was today.

It is cloudy when we get on the road at about 6:00 and it stays overcast almost all day. Nice because it keeps the temperature down. We start with a couple of steep short hills, then the road undulates down a wide green valley, the road lined with trees planted as a living fence. On both sides of the valley are steep rounded hills. There is little traffic on the road, just a couple of cattle trucks and the occasional passenger bus. We stop twice for cold drinks and make good time. About 20km before El Ceibo is a junction; we turn west towards the border to Mexico. Part of El Ceibo is along the main road, but the downtown area seems to be down to the north. As recommended by the Shaw’s, we find the hotels on the main road. The better looking one is Hotel La Roca but there are at least three more. Ioverlander recommends a place we suspect is down the hill in the main part of town, but we don’t want to drop down there. The room is okay, AC and TV, but no Wi-Fi or hot water shower. Cost is 200Q, or about $26. In general accommodation in Guatemala has been more expensive than expected. It is just noon and we eat the tamales we picked up from a guy selling them along the road.

After enjoying the AC for a while we have a taco lunch at a small Comedor next door, and then walk to the border to find out what their opening times are. We had conflicting information on their hours, ranging from open 24 hours to only between nine and six. Turns out, the border is open at 8:00 tomorrow. We walk through the shanty town that has been built below the main road, mainly to house a hundred shops that all sell the same kinds of clothes, must be to Mexicans crossing the border for a good deal.

Today was tougher than expected, the unrelenting hills got to us by the end. Tomorrow into Mexico, the next to last country on this trip.