Update Day 29, 375 Miles

February 8, 2008

It was a sad day. Even though most of the people here were freaks it was still nice just to hang out and do nothing. I know, I do nothing at home but, here no one told me I need to get off my ass and do something.

I left the hotel at 9am and finally got out of town about 30 minutes later. In my few days off I must have forgotten how to ride and navigate because I made every wrong turn possible trying to get out of a town that is no more that a square half mile. Anyway once out of San Pedro it was a tight twisty road that turns back on itself about 50 times as you rise out of the valley. It was a little rough for the first part of the day but I survived. It was really nice once on the main road as the temperature was cool and the sun was shining. As I got near the border of Mexico the elevation dropped and the temps increased.

By the time I reached the border at 12:45 it was 95 degrees and I was not looking forward to waiting in lines. As I got to the border and the building to exit Guatemala it was very crowded with people but lucky for me they were just locals. I took 5 minutes to exit Guatemala and another 10 minutes to enter Mexico. That’s right, I said 15 minutes total. I could not believe it but I was not going to question in either.

From the border it was bout an hours ride to the town of Huixla. Here it was time I had lunch. As I rode along you could smell all of the food cooking on the grill by the side of the road. I stopped off and had some great Chicken Asado and actually got to have some real hot sauce with it now that I am back in Mexico. After lunch I made my way towards the town of Juchitan and arrived as the sun was going down at 6:30.

I found a decent hotel, checked in, took a shower and hit the town. I found the town square which is where all the activity is in every town here. I walked around for a little while and finally decided to eat some tacos. It was some kind of meat but I can’t be sure what it exactly was but it was good. I tried to do some updating but every place was closing down for the evening and so did I.

Text Message Update 2008-02-03

In Guatamala. In the mountains at a lodge type hotel. First hotel witout tv and it is Superbowl. Will be in Lake Atitlan tomorrow.

Update Day 23, 312 Miles

February 2, 2008

It was a nice morning in Esteli and the temperature was hovering at a cool 68 degrees, perfect conditions for leaving Nicaragua. I was up a little before 7 so I could take advantage of the breakfast included with the room. I had what they call The Americano which is scrambled eggs with ham and toast. It is not great but it is more than enough to get me started for the day. I was on the road by 8 and heading for the border of Honduras. The whole way there I have been going over in my head all the things that can and probably will go wrong.

I arrive on the Nicaraguan side at 9 and I am through with that by 9:15. On to entering Honduras. This border on my way down was the quietest one that I dealt with and this time it was the same, I was the only person there. I walk up to the building and it is locked. I find out that they stepped out to get a bite to eat. I hang around for 5 minutes and he returns. I start of by saying “hello” and asking how he is doing this morning and he seems to be in a good mood. I handed him a copy of the old Honduras permit hoping he will just stamp that one and send me on my way. No such luck! He tells me I need to get a new one and he starts the paperwork. He asks for my Passport and then for the bike documentation. I hand him the cleanest color copy of my registration that I have and continue to talk to him to possibly distract him that it is not the title. 20 minutes later he takes my $30, shakes my hand and gives me the permit. I’d like to think it was my rugged good looks and my charismatic attitude that helped him along but I think he just did not want to be difficult or he did not know any better.

It’s now 10am and I am heading down the hill to Choluteca. As I descend the temperature is climbing fast. By the time I hit the valley floor it is 95 and windy. At that point I headed towards Tegucigalpa the capitol of Honduras. Lucky for me they put it up in the hills where it is much cooler. It is winding roads all the way and they like to pass much more aggressively here. I can not count how many times I came around a left hand turn only to find a semi truck in my lane and heading right at me. There were a couple close calls but I am sure they just felt a lot closer than they were.

I got a little bit lost when entering the city but stopping for directions has continued to work well for me. I even had a guy have me follow him for a few miles so he could make sure I found the right way. Most of the day was heavy traffic and passing many slow vehicles but the last 50 km was great with hardly anyone else on the road and great mountain scenery. I finally pulled into a town by the name of Santa Barbara. I found an OK hotel for the night but all I need is a bed so it will do. I did not take any pictures today but it was pretty the whole day. The first half was all mountain pine trees and then it turned a little bit more to tropical greenery. Tomorrow I think I am going to stop by the town of Copan and see some more ruins. From what I understand they are supposed to be the best around but I am sure I will say, you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all. After Copan I hope to cross the border into Guatemala.

Update Day 15, 275 Miles

January 25, 2008

Today was an early start. The night before I had spoke with a few of the guys who were planning on riding to Guatemala and then returning to Panama and I decided to tag along with them. We met for breakfast at 7 am in the local town square where we reintroduced ourselves. The ring leader of the group was Paul on a KLR 650, a resident of Panama for the last 15 years, I think. He is a transplant from the States who at one time was in San Diego and a desert racer. Next up was Norm he is originally from England and has been in Costa Rica and Panama for the last 6 years or so and he is riding a Honda Valkyrie 1500. Norm´s bike will play a neat roll in the days to follow. Then there was David who is on a BMW 1200GS who has been living in Panama for the last year and a half. Last but not least is Ken from Missouri. He has flown down to buy a 92 BMW 100GS from Paul and Paul has agreed to give him a tour of Central America as part of the deal. And now there is me as the fifth wheel.

After getting acquainted for a bit it is time to ride. It is a nice 30 minute ride over the mountains to the ocean. This is the same road that we did last night but it is much better when you can see the surroundings. Once we regroup at the Pacific we break off into three groups because we are going on a dirt road and the dust is bad. First to go is Norm. We gave him a bit of a head start because he is riding a cruiser bike which weights in excess of 800 lbs. Next are Paul and me. We went together because we would be riding at a faster pace and then it was David and Ken. The road was crowded with cars and trucks so there was a lot of passing to do but Paul and I had a good time anyway. At the other end we had planned to meet up at the gas station which we thought everyone knew. As it turns out Ken never got the info. We waited at the gas station for an hour before Paul went to find him. Of course soon after Paul leaves Ken pulls up. He said he had ridden past where we were two other times before he saw us or we saw him. Shortly after Paul arrives and we are all together again.

Now that everyone is refreshed we go on. We make it about 2 miles and we come to a bridge we have to cross. It is small so we have to wait for traffic coming the other way to go first. We cross with no problems and move on. Another mile down the road David is slowing down. As I get close to him I see his rear tire it flat. It turns out he had something puncture his tire when crossing the bridge. Lucky for us, or planned for them, there is a tire repair shop 100 feet from where we stopped. 10 minutes and $2 later we are rolling again. We stop once for lunch and then we make it to the Nicaraguan border with plenty of daylight to make it to our destination for the day, or so one would think. We all get through with ease except for Norm. He is having problems exiting Costa Rica and has to wait until 6 pm for the shift change to get some paperwork filled out. $60 later and at 6:10 he is in Nicaragua and the border is getting ready to shut down for the evening. He makes it thorough at 6:50 with 10 minutes to spare but it is now well after dark, again. When leaving the border area you have to show your paperwork to another person before leaving. Paul has done this many times and has found out that there are many things they charge you for with no authority. He tells us this when we go past the last inspection because they want you to pay a $1 local tax and will be waiving at you to stop but then tells us to keep on going. Sure enough as soon as we cross they are waiving us down and running in the streets trying to block us but we keep on moving and saved ourselves a whole dollar! Another 30 minutes goes by and it is 7:45, we are now at The Hotel California in San Jorge Nicaragua. The hotel is owned by another former US resident by the name of Frank, a nice guy who just got tired of the rat race and is living a nice quiet life running a hotel. We also met two Canadian brothers who have been traveling for a few months named Andy and Darryl.

Update Day 9, 273 Miles

January 19, 2008

Surprisingly enough I started the day right where I ended the last, Antigua Guatemala. It was another early 7:15 start for me. I started by using a few tricks I learned from Caesar. Whenever he would not know which direction to go he would pull up next to someone and shout out the city name he was trying to get to. They would point and we would go for a few blocks and repeat until we knew where we were going. So this morning I was trying to get out of Antigua which is a old Colonial town with confusing one way streets. I asked about ten people for directions and was soon on my way. So there I am out on the open road feeling good on how I did when 5 mile down the road I hit my first road block, literally. The road was washed out and closed so I had to backtrack about a mile and take another route that was not marked as a detour. I asked and was pointed in a direction which seemed about right so off I went. I found myself on a long smelly dirt road but it was going in what appeared as the right direction. A few miles later I find out I need to go back. Then it happened. My new baby hit the dirt. It was not bad just a tip over when I lost my footing turning around. The only problem was I could not pick the bike up, it is just too heavy. As luck would have it here comes someone who helps me get it back on two wheels and then agrees to let me follow him to get me going in the right direction again. All is well again, until he gets me to the correct detour. They have all of the traffic detoured to a dirt road just wide enough for two semi trucks side by side and a piece of paper in between them. I cut as far to the front as possible and then it takes about 1/2 hour to go the next 200 yards or meters as they are called here. Once clear of that it is on to the border of El Salvador. It was just your average ride with nothing to mention except the view of a few volcanoes.

Having done this border thing once or twice before I know I should refuel myself before the attempt is made. I grab some eggs, rice and tortillas at a little shack and have a nice talk with the father of the lady cooking my meal. No, it was not that talk. You know the one, "What are your intentions with my daughter". He is just an old man who sat down at my table and started talking. Feeling good now I head for the border. It took me about 20 minutes to exit Guatemala and the next 1:25 to enter El Salvador. It was not that difficult just time consuming walking back and forth across the street from window to window. Off again.

So far I can not complain about the riding down here at all. It has been fantastic! So who would have thought that El Salvador would not disappoint. The first 30 miles were flat and straight with potholes. Then the road hits the Pacific coast with fresh pavement and long sweeping turns. The kind that motorcycle dreams are made of! The next 50 miles was the best yet. 60 & 70 mph sweeping turns one after the other all with an ocean view. I stop about half way through and eat some great shrimp on a cliff overlooking the ocean all for the low, low price of $6. Full again I hit the curves some more and then for the last 50 miles of the day it was straight and crowded. I made it to a hotel in San Miguel, El Salvador at 4:45. The town was large and did not look very tourist friendly so I locked myself in my room for the night and watched some HBO with subtitles to brush up on my Spanish.

Update Day 8

January 18, 2008

I had a feeling today was going to be different, and it was. I know a lot of you will not believe this but I got up early. It was 6:30 in the AM. I got up and packed the bike without waking Mike. I thought about just leaving but that would not have been right. As it turns out he woke up as I was putting on my jacket. We said goodbye and I was on my way, it was just that simple. I topped off the bike with fuel and headed for the border at 7:30. It was a cool 42 degree start and quickly dropped to 38 due to the altitude. After an hour or so it was in the high 60´s and all was good. The road was fast sweeping turns through more pines like Angeles Crest which makes some for great riding. I made good time to the border and got there at 10:00 straight up. Now after doing my research I was told that I do not need to stop at the Mexican side of the border. Technically you are supposed to deregister the bike out of the country and when you return reregister it. As others have found out you just don’t stop when leaving and returning and all is well. So I pass up the Mexican side and head for the Guatemalan side which is about 2 miles ahead. It is an absolute zoo up there. It is a small border crossing and is only one lane wide for coming and going. Now this is normally not a problem but there are vendors set up on both sides and walking in the middle. So I push my way through to the gate which looks like the borders you would see in the movies with East Germany and they raise the bar. The first stop is fumigation. Basically they spray something on your tires to kill whatever you picked up in Mexico. Then it is off to Immigration. I walk in and the old gentleman asks for my passport. I hand it to him he fumbles through it and hands it back to me and said I did not get an exit stamp from Mexico. Apparently the people who gave me the info on the bike forgot to mention that part.

So back through the masses of people I go back to Mexico. As I pull up to the Immigration building I see another rider on a KLR650 and we meet, his name is Sonny. Turns out he is from LA and headed to Argentina. We briefly talk and decide to ride together. Before we finish here another bike identical to mine pulls up with two people on it. We introduce ourselves to Caesar and Patty who are from Mexico City and going to Costa Rica. Again after more conversation we are all going to ride together. Up to the border we go and are through it in about 30 minutes. All in all I spent 1:45 there but it turned out to be well worth it.

So now the ride continues with a group of three bikes with Caesar in the lead (on the same bike as me and his wife on the back), Sonny in the middle and me in the rear. All of a sudden I find out that my dealer that sold me my bike totally screwed me. Apparently Caesar’s bike has a turbo that my dealer did not tell me about because he is gone. Actually we are keeping pace with him but it is at full speed. Going through towns where the stores are all of about two feet from the road with kids and dogs we are still doing 60 mph. As you come in to each town there are speed bumps (Topes in Spanish) or as Caesar calls them, jumps. We actually had a great ride but I did not take any pictures, in fact we never stopped. We were in fast sweeping turns and tight twisties all day but the tight twisties were still fast. He did show us one trick. At the construction sites when it is one lane they will stop one way and let the other go. The motorcycles get to go right by the long line of waiting cars without stopping which really clears the way.

We did stop for a late lunch on Lake Atitlan where it is surrounded by three volcanoes but the clouds were low and I did not get to see them. As we were at lunch a guy came up to us named Henry and he told us his story. He lives in England, flew to San Francisco, bought a bike just like mine and is headed to Costa Rica then will ship his bike home. The only difference is he is taking 6 months. Anyway, after lunch Sonny decided to stay by the lake so Caesar, Patty and I headed to Antigua. It was a fast tight twisty 1:30 ride and we arrived at dark. Once in town we parted ways because they will be here for another day and I need to be moving on.

I searched around for a hotel and finally found one that was in my budget and had hot water. I check in and decided to take a shower when I discover how the hot water is made. How I am still here typing this I will never know.

Tomorrow it is on to El Salvador!