13 December 2017 – I ate a hearty breakfast, loaded my bike
and departed for the bank. I stopped at two banks Bancomer and Banamex and inquired
about purchasing Guatemalan Quetzel. It was a quick no from both banks. So I
got back on my motorcycle and left town heading toward the Guatemalan border. I
can tell you that Tuxtla Guttierrez is a large town and very modern. Everything
was there: McDonalds, Domino’s Pizza, Holiday Inn, Marriot Hotels, Walmart,
Sam’s Club, several very large plazas / shopping malls and God know what else I
didn’t see. I was on the Autopista and it still took about an hour to get out
of town.
Once I got out the city and driving South on Mexican Hwy 190
it was like driving through the South Dakota Black Hills. The pine trees looked
the same. Some town I was driving through had a blue Catholic Church. I thought
it looked nice and took a picture of it.
I stopped in another town, Las
Margaritas, about 37 miles / 60 Kilometers from the border. I stopped at
another Bancomer Bank and asked about Guatemalan Quetzel. Again, the big no.
Although the lady said you could purchase Quetzel and gave me a location
downtown. Not an address, but a location. Just at that time a gentleman walked
up and said “may I help you?” I said I was inquiring about purchasing Quetzel
here at the bank. He said “you’ll have to purchase that at the border.” I
showed him the location the lady gave me and he told me how to get there. He
was a nice guy, spoke good English and was a tourism pilot. He flew tourists
over or through some scenic area for a living. I don’t know where though. So,
off on another adventure.
I drove in to town per the pilot’s instructions. I was
waiting to make a right turn and this guy walks up to me and says he’s a biker
and would like me to come into his restaurant to eat. It was 3:30 p.m. and I
wanted to purchase Quetzel if it was available. He said he rode a 1200 BMW. I
declined his invitation to stop in and eat. I was under time constraints
getting to the border. It was mostly mountain driving with switch backs and I
did not want drive mountains in the dark. He said the border didn’t have any
quality hotels so you might as well stay in town. A tempting offer, but my goal
was to be at the border today. I finally had to say, I must leave Sir, shook
his hand and left. I almost had to be rude to get away from him. In a different
situation I would have taken him up on his invitation to eat with him but today
was not the day.
I did find the location of the money changer. Imagine that.
I didn’t purchase the Quetzel because of the poor exchange rate. I’m going to
the border with no Guatemalan Quetzel and that scares me. I will have to deal
with these money changers and I have heard they will swarm on me like bees.
The
last 3 miles / 5 Kilometers was road construction into Ciudad Cuauhtemoc. It
would have been horrible if I would have driven that in the dark. I arrived
safe and sound and stayed at Hotel La Benediction De Dios. It was a nice hotel
and especially looked nice at night with all the Christmas lights. The best
thing about it was the Wi-Fi. It was better than some of the more expensive /
fancier hotel I have stayed in. You didn’t even need a password to use it. Anna,
one of the ladies who works here was quite helpful. I got a couple extra
blankets because it does get cold at night. There was only a sheet on the bed
when I checked in. A good day all in all. I went to bed.
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