Poptun and Coban

I left Yaxha and headed back towards Santa Elena, making a turn towards Poptun, a small railway town with a farm called Finca Ixobel. It is apparently well known and has been a halfway stop for backpackers since the 1980s. I opted for the campground and set up my hammock again. The only other people were a couple Charles and Christine who were on a two and a half year trip (so far) from Argentina heading north in a Toyota Landcruiser with a special living module built onto the back. 

They were great to talk with about countries, border crossings, attitude of authorities. The same type of conversation I have with other motorcycle travellers. They are definitely the same type of travellers, just on four wheels. They stayed two nights and I ended up staying three, spending the last day chilling by the beautiful pond/swimming hole behind the camping area. It was a stunning and peaceful spot and I could see why it has a good reputation. They provide a kitchen with a great menu including home made bread and vegetarian options. The food was delicious and plentiful, and great value. The three nights with meals cost me $50. The second night Anna from French Guiana arrived and camped in her hammock and we swapped details so I have a contact when I get there. When the others had left a young British woman travelling alone turned up and we spent quite a few hours talking life and philosophy. Good luck with the budding law practice Shahnel! Sometimes I just forget to take photos!

I had two options. Go to Semuc Champey and see why everyone was raving about this place. I had been given a tip for a great place to stay called Utopia. The other option was Rio Dulce, a beautiful river where you can take a boat to the seaside town of Livingstone. They were in two different directions so either way I would be backtracking. I decided to go to Rio Dulce first and see what it was like. It was a pleasant ride with a mixture of mountain curves and long tropical straights and it was easy to see that the coast was not too far away. When I arrived in Rio Dulce it was gridlocked with traffic and markets. It was hot and humid and the middle of the day so I decided to duck out of the main street and take another road I had seen leading to the river. This led to a small town with more shops but all of the access to the side of the river was blocked with private property. There was only one place to access the river but they wanted Q15 for parking and I was only there for a quick look. I decided that Rio Dulce wasn’t going to work for me so I took a road that led to Coban.

 It was actually a giant loop of several hundred kilometres to go right around to Coban then back to Semuc Champey and I hoped that this road that split through the middle of the loop would save me some time. Wrong. It started well with normal paved roads through small towns then there were some rocky gravel roads that became more frequent. These led to some nice stretches of concreted road surface, which in turn suddenly ended and became rutty, rocky climbs and descents into the mountains. Recent rain caused small streams and ruts and puddles across the road in places, then as the road continued, I found myself climbing on narrow rough gravel roads with a drop to my right and cars and trucks coming the other way. 

I realised that I was now on the exact type of roads that had beaten me in Copper Canyon, México. These same roads that had caused me to go back I was now finding not too bad. I was relaxed, Ziggy was handling everything well and it appeared that my riding has improved so much since the early days of the trip only a few months ago. I started to enjoy it more, realising that I was facing the fears that had stopped me before. The whole trip went for over 100kms with a good eighty on this type of rough mountainous track. The last twenty kilometres was a crazy climb through two small towns high up in the mountains, culminating with about ten kilometres of concreted road.

 I came to the turnoff south of Coban and enjoyed the winding descent on highway to the city centre. I looked around for accommodation and ended up finding a large guest house/hotel that had been operating since 1880. It had a beautiful garden, long established by the owner’s grandmother, with comfortable beds in large and well appointed rooms, including a shower with pressure AND hot water. All for $20 a night.

Sometimes I just don't get the opportunity to take photos.