Todos Santos, Antigua, and El Salvador

We are now in El Salvador!  Gutaemala was a blast.  We spent a long day going up the wrong road to Todos Santos in the highlands.  We were told it would take an hour and a half at most, but an old man told us to take a back road.  "The road is good!" he said.  Hah.  6 hours later we made it to todos santos mostly in one piece.  I fell 4 times, lost a rear view mirror, broke both clutch and brake levers, and lost a quart of oil when the bike was upside down on the "road".  Paul came off a little better, but it was a very hard day of riding.  But it was worth it!  Todos Santos is an amazing place.  Most people there only speak Mam (a native Mayan dialect) and a little spanish.  Everyone wears the town uniform- red and white striped pants, blue jacket and straw hat for men, and beautifully woven shirts and skirts for women.  We were sad to miss the anual horse race, which involves the men in town dressing up in colorful costumes and racing around town on horse back, taking a drink of the local liquor at every corner, and flogging their horses with live chickens.  Last man to hit the ground wins.   

We stayed in Xela for a night which was a great town, and then drove to Lake Atitlan (breathtaking!) and I had some quick welding work done on my bike (5 minutes and 2 dollars!  See pic below...) before making our way to Antigua.  On the ride there we passed the crazy bicyclists Alex and Fin for the 5th or 6th time now, and we agreed to stay at the same place in Antigua.  So it was a fun 5 days in Antigua hanging with our new old friends, driving around town, lounging in the central park, and climbing Pacaya, an active volcano just outside of town.  This was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen... we reached the summit just after dark and the whole place was glowing with lava flows.  Really incredible.  An Aussie named Brett who we met in Antigua who is also on motorbike joined us for the Pacaya climb.  He bougt a 100cc bike in Mexico and bolted 2 suitcases to the side, and is making his way to South America!   There is a pic of his ride below.  We are hoping to meet up with him more down the road. 

We finally pulled ourselves back on to the bikes and made our way down to a little beach town in El Salvador that Paul has visitied before, and its been really nice here.  The surf is great, people are friendly, and we can see wales breaching from the window of our room!   Central America keeps getting more magical....

Next stop is probably Nicaragua.  Hope everyone is doing well!