Attempt to reach Lake Atitlan in Guatemala is harder than expected |S6-E64|
Look who came to say hello. Hey, Dylan good morning buddy Good morning Internet, it is 8:30 in the morning and welcome back to the channel Welcome here close to Volcano Pacaya here in Guatemala. First show you what the plans for today. So I am now right here, just south of the capital Guatemala City and in fact.. oh Dylan, what are you doing? Come, come Don't drink out of the toilets. Go, go Out, out Come, come Pick up the rope, yeah pick your rope. Okay, I'll come play later.. okay don't worry. First my plan
was to ride to Guatemala City because you know I always use the map to indicate where I am but as you can see this map ends with Mexico, so a little bit of Mexico is indicated but then nothing else so this map I brought before I started season six but I don't have a map yet for Mexico So I thought I have to go into Guatemala City look for a bookstore, I wasn't really happy with it but I was like okay, I have to do that. But then yesterday, I was speaking to the owner of this place and like.. yeah, do you know bookshop and stuff in Guatemala City? And he said, oh I have maps.. a lot of maps of Mexico, you can.. you know take whatever you want. That's great so now he gave me a good map
of Mexico so that means I don't have to ride into Guatemala City which I'm pretty happy with because It's just going to be a very big city with a lot of traffic and there's not so much to see So instead my plan for today.. is I am 40 kilometers from Antigua which is one of the highlights, I guess or one of the most famous places in Guatemala so I'm gonna ride through Antigua 40 kilometers and then I'm going to continue to Lago Atitlan which is a lake, which is just right over here. So the total distance of that right is just under 200 kilometers, so yeah it's not very much but hey Guatemala is also not a very big country Dylan, come then Where is your rope? Where is it then I'll take the stick Stick, stick, stick One, two.. Oeh I don't know where you put your rope buddy. Where did you put it? See all the horses are ready to go up the volcano today He is a beauty, hey? Good horse - Yes. - I love it So this is what I got for breakfast, some toast, scrambled egg. This is platano
This is cheese, I think and then some black bean paste, so quite a traditional breakfast Okay Let's get this show on the road Thank you, thank you for everything. I had a great time, thanks take care. Bye Bye Let's go. I didn't put the right track yet.. 160 kilometers It's even a little less than I thought That's perfect because I left a little bit later as well because we were talking and talking And before you know it's 9:45. Oops, so it's really time to get going now It's probably gonna get a lot hotter again as I descend. It's so nice and cool up here Let me see where am I.. I'm riding through a town I'm actually not sure what it's called But you can see all the women are wearing uh.. traditional clothes here
This church It's a really, really beautiful.. embroidered clothes. Really colorful as well It's already.. no, it's not Antigua yet Santa Maria de Jesus See that skirt? How beautiful, wow Church, I think I have arrived in Antigua and look at this amazing blossoming tree. Wow.. beautiful purple So Antigua this place used to be the capital of Guatemala But in 1773, there was a huge earthquake here, that destroyed pretty much the entire city And instead of rebuilding the capital here they moved the capital to what is now Guatemala City Where am I going now? I think now, I'm just kind of on the outer wall of the city Trying to find the entrance now. So most of the buildings of Antigua they're all from the 17th and the 18th century so that was rebuilt after the earthquake but the layout of the city that remained the same and the layout of the city is according to what they call Italian renaissance style and that means that the streets are laid out in a north, south, east, west grid Okay, now I'm entering the city The town is dotted with churches everywhere and plazas. Oh look, at this. Let's have a closer look
Probably also a church or a monastery.. I'm guessing Looks like church I don't think it's in use anymore.. looking at all those pigeons Oh wow, I completely missed the building on that side. Alright, let me go back
Just drove past it Look at this That is stunning. I wonder if those are still the original colors? I'm thinking, yes Oh wow, oh wait.. I gotta check out that Every street here literally is amazing but look at this building It almost looks like a castle with those pointy things on top. Surely, it's probably not the church Very cute this And you know like, one of these Volkswagen vans really fits the whole street doesn't it? All these different colors, some seems to be really beautifully restored and then others kind of remain.. ah like this for example. You can still see kind of the skeleton.. on the outside
Wow, this is gorgeous I think there was another church. How many churches are there here? It's all cathedrals, churches Welcome! - Thank you Do you know how to pay for the parking? - No When you enter with a vehicle, we will give you a ticket And when you leave, you pay over there where it says parking Actually, I'm not going to park, I'm just going...woooo.. A circle.. one minute and after.. - No problem, welcome - Thank you Wow, look at this one. This is the San Francisco Cathedral Some ruins, maybe I should park Where did he go? Ah, I changed my plan - Yes? Yes, I'm going to park and walk a little - Okay, give me a second Let's have a little walk around here Where do you come from? - From The Netherlands - Okay But in motorcycle? - Yes, on my bike Excellent, long journey - Yes Very long Perfect - In case of any questions, I'm here - Ok, thanks! Motorcycle parking Ah, wow This is the Quetzal, the symbol of Guatemala. The coffee tree as well, look
How much time to make one? - 15 days I have them in these soft colors or strong colors too, look This one is small You also make your dress? - Yes, also This is a lot of work or not? - It's the same The same? 15 days? Wow, incredible - Yes Ah, a bird! Oh nooo! - Yes, it's a bird There are a lot of them here Alright, let's have a closer look at the ruins And maybe the cathedral.. maybe I can go inside, let me see Okay, I just had a little peek but there's a lot of people inside the.. .. church at the moment so it doesn't really feel good to uh.. film them. Anyway, let's check this then The ruins Here it is really quiet, there's nobody here So these ruins must be.. well, I'm guessing this must be from the 16th century then Ah, look at that It's all the way there. Ah, can't believe that this wall is still standing. Look at this
Incredible. This goes to the library From here you get a good overview also how big it is Ah, this is the library Look at that.. amazing. That looks really, really old Look, it's the Bible.. genesis in Latin
Ah, so this used to be the kitchen in the old days. Guess the smoke from the fire could just go out.. out of the roof there How amazing Infirmary This was the hospital Imagine that.. hundreds of years ago this was a hospital That was very interesting.. really, really cool to see hey? This town is just dotted with history everywhere, it's incredible Let's see what else we can find Okay, okay Careful, and all the best - Always, thank you. Nice to meet you Wow, there's another really amazing old building here. Look at this It feels really like a very, very peaceful place Boy these cobblestones are terrible if you're in a wheelchair That must be really tough There, another church Look at all these bikes I love it There is just no end to stunning historical buildings. Look at that one
Look at this Ah they're renovating it, I think or restoring it So the style of the architecture of all these buildings around here is called barroco antigueño And it's a kind of adaptation of baroque style that was very popular and trendy Is this a two-way or one-way I think it's one way. What was I saying? I'm getting distracted. Look how beautiful it is here and then another tree with purple blossom. Amazing um.. yeah so in Europe at the time this, baroque style was.. was trendy.. was in and that's the style that.. that was used here as well.. a little bit adapted Barroco antigueño And of course, what you see at the background there. I don't know how well you can see it because it's a bit cloudy but there is a huge volcano there and I don't know which one that is Um.. there's a volcano here which is called the fire volcano. One of the most active volcanoes in Central America but I don't actually don't know if it's that one.. it can be
but there are so many volcanoes everywhere. It's a bit hard to tell which one is which But the fact that Antigua is again kind of in the shadow of a big volcano that's.. that's for sure Or maybe that's the.. what was that one called? Ante.. Atecalpo I can't remember. I read about it but I forgot I think I've now arrived at the Central Square Oh, there's a wedding Working on the cobblestones. Look, the bride.. with the purple dress Like a princess Ah, this is also an incredible building. Built in 1764, this one here
1764, so that was just before the earthquake so that means this one must have survived it. They probably restored it This looks amazing as well.. very nice. There's all these modern cafes and coffee shops now.. .. In here.. even Wendy's! Oh, that feels very out of place But okay What a life eh? Anyone need a hat? I think she has a lot. Look at that.. amazing Am I right here? I think so Wow, this is amazing. What a place right? I bet you didn't know this existed in Guatemala
And another square with another church Oh, I love all these plants here Okay, I just went crisscross through the whole of Antigua. And I think now I've reached kind of the ring road if you call it that. So now I'm going to continue towards Lake Atitlan Look at this.. this is brand new tarmac Very smooth It's quite nice to ride Sand in the corner Oh, this is a lovely, lovely route. I think I'm kind of heading now in a straight.. .. Straight direction towards the lake Must be Oh, what's happening? Oh.. the bridge was destroyed I saw a sign saying ' Puente Destruido' I got yourself a little water crossing Well, if they can do it Alaska may.. should be able to do it as well huh?
Easy Peasy Looks like some landslide here I am now in a town called Santiago Atitlan and the next stretch after this town. There is a stretch of a couple of kilometers which is actually quite dangerous. It's very notorious for robberies What they do is.. they hide in bushes and then if you pass They will hold you at gunpoint and then rob you with machetes. So as they say in Dutch those are
'struikrovers' quite literally and they had.. they chose this specific spot because it's It's unpaved and it's quite steep so you can't ride very fast so that makes you an easy target So I'm going to now in this town.. look for the police station and ask them if it's safe or not It's already in first gear Okay
2022-05-01 20:14
