GUATEMALA RN7W highway construction
 

RN7W from Huehuetenango east to San Cristobal Verapaz has been paved for most of its length the last few years but currently the last eastern 25km are being tackled .
Heads up to anyone planning to take this route during this construction period: be prepared for long delays as they stop all traffic for several hours at a time.For example traffic is stopped from 7 am to 10 am, from 5pm till 6pm . If you are in the zone late in the afternoon consider spending the night in either Chicaman on the west or San Cristobal on the east so you can try an early start or wait with no worry of getting into night riding.
This section is a series of steep climbs and hairpins, prone to landslides then just the hilly road through the highland coffeee growing zone. with villages .Surface is loose to packed sand - clay -rocks, some mud puddles and open sewers --.really muddy when it rains, and it rains her often.When they let traffic go they wil race away two abreast. Be at the head of the column to leave them behind or be prepared to eat their dust for more than an hour. Also be ready for the traffic coming from the other direction which you wil soon met.

road info
 

Hi Sjoerd; Good road info, not that I need it up here. Sounds like your trip is progressing nicely. Supposed to hit +4 today with lots of sun. Hmmmm Take care Neil

I found the Guatemalans would generally wave my bike around the long delays induced by road construction. Course, this meant dodging oncoming traffic for the next couple dozen miles but hell, that beats sitting still.

Areas of this road, along the mountainsides, are being drilled and then moved around with explosives. It's different than the CA1 type of construction.

The air drilling noise and dust is huge, and the plugs are cut from local wood with machete.

So far, there are no t-shirt and sticker shops on this route.....