After a long and wet week on the road I finally arrived in Poptun – the center of Guatemala. As I travelled down the main road, heads were turning in my direction. People yelled, “How much do you want for the horses!” “Where where are you coming from?” “Do you need a place to rest?” I love riding into towns like this. It is great seeing how friendly people are here.
After asking for directions a few times, I arrived at the location where the horses were staying. Jose Joaquin Rodriguez welcomed me and helped me get settled in. His uncle, Fabrizio owns the space and gave me permission to rest the horses here a few days. I met him at a horse race in Santa Ana a few weeks back.
Since Frabrizio was out of town until the next morning, Jose took me under his wing. He took me to see the town and, along with his family, we climbed to the highest point in Poptun – a hill called Three Cruzes, for the three crosses found atop.
“They say that if you climb up here you won’t leave Poptun because the view is so nice,” Jose said as we made our way up the steps.
He was definitely right about the view, it was beautiful up there. You can see around 365 degrees as mountains surround the city.
“You will ride over the airport when you leave,” he told me pointing to a large dirt runway in the south end of town.
That night I camped inside an old building next to the horses. The heavy rain at night made me thankful to have a roof over my tent. The next morning I was met by Frabrizio who hosted me like a king.
“I have been waiting for you to arrive my friend,” he told me.
Over the weekend he took me around to meet friends and family, to restaurants, bars, everywhere! He made me feel right at home. One night at a local restaurant, two cowboys gave me 100 quetzals each after Fabrizio told them about my saga. They wouldn’t believe I actually rode here horseback until I showed them the one year on the road video.
On Sunday Fabrizio prepared a special meal for me by a beautiful river. We spent the afternoon there chatting and eating. It was food for thought.
“You know Filipe, we have two major problems in Guatemala. The first is that the illiteracy rate is over 80 percent amongst our people. And the second is that around 4 percent of the population own all of the land,” Frabrizio said as we discussed the inequality in Guatemala.
These are scary stats that tell a very sad story. I have met many people along my route who didn’t even know how to write their names on the video release forms I gave them.
Fabrizio who works for the Agriculture Department in Guatemala sees the disparity of many people here first hand.
“The lack of nutrition in people’s diets due to poverty is a big problem,” he told me.
