South America 2008

We finally made it to Panama City, the end of the road of sorts because from here we either get on a plane or a boat to Colombia. Central America has been great and I’m a bit sad to leave but South America awaits!

Wandering the streets of Panama City we ran into this motorcycle which apparently has been going around the world for 10 years

The smallest internet cafe we could find

Dirty boots in Guatemala… so I had some kids clean them… they were trying to hustle me for every penny I had

On our way out of Guatemala we made a bunch of wrong turns and found some cool landscapes and we had to do a puddle-crossing or two but it was nothing like the river crossings we later had to do in Nicaragua

Our beautiful hotel in Antigua, Guatemala

The view from the terrace of the hotel  in Antigua

Ramon, Roar, and Lucila planning our off road route in Guatemala City

On the roads from Guatemala City to Escuipulas, Guatemala

It’s common for people to get their vehicles decorated in Esquipulas so we tried to blend in, too. I rigged up this plastic folder so that I could easily look at the map, which came in handy many times. For the next trip I plan on getting a real tank or handlebar mounted map holder made for a motorcycle (although I’ve been told that “maps are for gays” (inside joke)). It’s a necessity.

The road from Gracias, Honduras to Esperanza, Honduras along La Ruta Lenca. Too bad we couldn’t snap photos of the sketchy detour around a bridge but we both had our hands full trying to keep from crashing.

People look at us all the time as if we were aliens. Looking at this picture I can see why. Here, in Esperanza, Honduras we took a short break and got the biggest, widest smiles from the locals. It was nice.

We had bumped into the Swedes a couple of times that morning. Shortly after this picture was taken we took off and ran into the Swedes (also riding through town) for about the third time that day. Without saying anything to each other we rode together for about the next hour before taking a bathroom break by the side of the road. We all rode at about the same pace and it was fun riding together but it was kind of funny how it happened. We didn’t talk about riding or hanging out together. It just happened naturally on its own…

We’ve done a lot of miles by now and I’ve found out that…

Traffic lights and road markings are only suggestions… I’ve run more red lights, gone against more one-way streets and ignored more ‘rules of the road’ in two weeks than in my entire life so far. The crazy thing is that is works! I guess people expect the unexpected so they don’t freak out. Cool!

You can pass a pickup truck full of police in Mexico going 110 in the 80 zone (km/h) without being pulled over… Nice!

Colorful buses in Guatemala are driven by madmen and are very dangerous… let them pass… Peligro!

Guatemala has a lot of wonderful roads with excellent pavement and tons of twisties up and down the mountains… no tunnels so far… Great fun!

Obstacles in the road so far have been a bunch of cows, some horses, two donkeys, hens and chickens, a rooster or two, a peacock, a sheep cadaver, some unidentifiable cadavers, a million street-dogs, some goats, a staggering drunk man with a half-empty bottle of booze in his hand, a staggering drunk man with a 2-foot long machete in his hand… I think that’s about it…

People are almost always nice and will return a smile with a ear-to-ear grin… probably because we look strange with all our gear… Lucila has been especially nice and we can’t thank her enough for taking care of us in Guatemala City… without her we may still be driving around looking for a hotel

We’ve been lucky with the roads, the weather, people, the gear, just about everything… I hope it will continue… and I hope I didn’t just jinx us!

This internet connection is pretty good but I forgot my USB cable… no pictures now either…. I have a ton of cool photos but… más tarde amigos…

I’m in Esquipulas right now where the main street about 7 blocks long with a median with trees and stuff… there are tons of scooters with one or two or three passengers, quads, tricycle-taxis and other vehicles… going round and round like a racetrack! It’s fun to just watch.

Getting here from Guatemala City we took mostly dirt roads and WOW! I’m exhausted but it was fun! Thanks Ramón for helping us plan the route! We didn’t take too many wrong turns… hehehe… I love GPS!

Tomorrow we head for the border to cross into Honduras and the Copán ruins, I’m looking forward to it.

Peace Out!

P.S. Jim! I hope you’re keeping my Suzuki warm while I’m gone… hit some twisties at A.C.H. or something! Hehehe…

The pace of our trip has slowed considerably. Initially, this was supposed to be an entirely South American motorcycle trip but we had to change that. From the beginning I just wanted to get through Central America as fast as I could so that we could spend more time in South America, but I’ve changed my mind for a few reasons.

As my friend, John, asked just before we started, “Is the trip about the journey…or the destination?” When you are focused on the goal of heading far into South America it’s easy to lower the priority of seeing and experiencing the places that you are actually in. There’s a lot to see in Mexico and Central America and it’s worth the extra time to check them out.

The blistering pace we took through Mexico really started taking its toll once we hit Guatemala. The riding, traveling, partying, and sightseeing takes a toll on your mind and your body. The fatigue just doesn’t go away. You have to make time to rest and recover. It gets to be too much.

We’ve spent a lot more time in Guatemala than I thought we would but it’s been a pleasant surprise. The people have been really friendly, the country has a rugged beauty to it’s green mountains and volcanoes. The only negative so far has been the dangerous roads. The truck and bus drivers are out of control!

In Antigua, we made a couple of friends from Guatemala City, Mario and Lucila. We arrived in Guatemala City yesterday (February 22nd), bought some new rear tires (Bridgestone Trail Wings) at a huge moto store, took them and the bikes to a bike shop, and met up with Lucila, who introduced us to her friend, Ramon.

Ramon has been riding motorcycles his whole life and has ridden pretty much all of the good and bad roads of Guatemala. Together, we planned a ride using as many unpaved roads (read: FUN!) as possible from Guatemala City to the border with Honduras, near the Copan Ruins, which every person we’ve talked to has recommended.

Today, we’ll get on Google Earth so we can plot some waypoints in our GPS’s and buy some things we’ll need because we can get them here. It’s not so easy to find things in the smaller towns. Last night was a lot of fun partying in Zone 10 and I expect that tonight will be more of the same.

I’d like to give a special thanks to Ramon, Mario, and Lucila, for their time and for their help in giving us expert local knowledge and helping us plan this part of our adventure….

Torg has made a Google map for us, thanks Torg!

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=113455286385524778856.000446cf73facb6624db9&z=5

And as far as partying and riding goes we don’t party too hard when we’re riding the next day. In any case, Guatemala  shuts down at 1 am so we’re in bed by 2.

(Note: A lot of these full size pictures got chopped. To see the full pic just click on it.)

We’re currently in Antigua, Guatemala, a picturesque colonial town with beautiful, old buildings with huge, garden like courtyards and bumpy cobblestone streets. We’ll be here for a whole day (no bike riding!) of rest and relaxation.

Here are some pictures from different parts of the trip….

Me and the luxurious accomodations aboard the ferry to Mazatlan

Five adventure motorcyclists exiting the ferry in Mazatlan

Guadalajara, Mexico (these police were on standby for a mild demonstration and a live outdoor concert in this plaza, everything was peaceful and nothing happened)

This is what it’s all about, no? Guadalarja, Mexico

This could have been taken anywhere in Mexico as Pemex is the only place to get gas. This was taken on the road from Acapulco to Puerto Escondido.

We stayed at the Le Petit Hotel in Puerto Escondido. It is owned and operated by a French expat and the place is extremely charming and a neat place to stay. I highly recommend it.

View from our front entrance. We had the deluxe suite for 60 bucks a night. We had a front veranda with a table for six and this view.

The view from my room. Yes, I did jump from the balcony into the pool. No, I was not drunk when I did it.

Los Pyramides de Teotihuacan (northeast of Mexico City)

San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico. For some reason the pesky vendors would always home in on Roar and not me. I wonder why. This little girl hounded Roar for good while and I couldn’t stop laughing while taking this picture.

Lago Atitlan, Guatemala

Normally, I say no gracias to the bothersome sellers of knickknacks but this one got me with her friendly, funny sales pitch and a wide smile. Plus, Roar and I were looking for some stuff to put on our bikes anyhow, so it was perfect timing as well….

I’m going to change my focus so that we can all stay in real time. I’ll write a quick overview of what we did since Mazatlan and then, when I have time, I’ll write some detailed stories of interesting parts of the trip. I might have to post pictures in separate posts, too….

We spent the day and one night partying in Mazatlan. It was a dead Sunday and I never had a good impression of Mazatlan.

The following day, Roar and I said goodbye to David and rode out to Guadalajara, which I’ve heard a lot of great things about. It was a beautiful, modern city with a lot that reminded me of the good parts of Mexico City. The people seemed modern, cultured, and were very polite. We spent a second day in Guadalajara to rest up after the blistering pace of our Baja trip.

The next day we rode a huge stretch out to San Juan de Teotituacan. The toll roads were boring so we took a side road to Mexico City. It took longer but was more fun and interesting. Unfortunately, we found ourselves in the northern suburbs of Mexico City right smack in the middle of rush hour traffic. After stopping to ask directions about twenty times and enduring stop and go traffic for about 20 miles straight (Mexico City is HUGE) we ended up in San Juan.

Early the next morning (7 am), we toured the Pyramids of Teotituacan. It was my second time seeing them but they were still just as amazing and awesome as before. After a couple of hours we left for Acapulco. Another long, exhausting day of riding but we arrived in time to stay in the same hotel that Steve and I stayed in a year and a half before. The place was packed at night and we stayed out until 4 in the morning.

The next day we didn’t get up so early. We started out for Puerto Escondido at about 1 pm and it was a fun, frustrating, and frightening and beautiful ride, all at different times. We arrived at Puerto Escondido at 9 pm. Yeah, it was dark and the last couple of hours of night riding fried my last nerve.

We stayed the whole day in Puerto Escondido. Well, actually, we took a short ride to a nearby beach for some fish, great stories, and chilling out for a couple of hours. By the end of the day I wondered what happened to our rest day since we ran ourselves ragged again. Sometimes it’s hard to slow down once you’re at that level.

The next day we rode south along the coast without any real idea where we would end up. We slowed down our pace considerably which allowed us to ride a healthy distance without being totally exhausted and stressed out. Our trip to South America is like running a marathon. This first part we sprinted, stopped, rested, sprinted some more. I won’t be able to sprint 100 meters at a time for a total of 26 miles without taking even more time. Now, we’re jogging.

It was one of our funnest and enjoyable rides of the trip. We stayed in a scummy town called Juchitan on the Mexican Pacific coast.

The following day we headed out to San Cristobal de las Casas. Amazing riding to start out with, we ended up getting there by 12:30 pm. We had the whole afternoon to sightsee! It was great. I didn’t enjoy the dirty hippies or the pretentious, super culturally aware American and European tourists but I did enjoy this picturesque, European type town and its inhabitants.

Today (can you believe it?), we started out at 8 am, rode a few hours to a chaotic, but small border crossing in Guatemala. Fortunately, the paperwork wasn’t too bad and we made it through in an hour. The riding here is much more intense and makes the stuff in Mexico seem like a Sunday drive. The truck and bus drivers are a lot more impatient and riding the roads is a lot scarier as vehicles are constantly passing each other around blind curves leaving you just a few feet to avoid them. It was a long, scary and exhilirating day of riding. In Central America, we will need to get used to it.

Tonight we are at Panajechal on the shore of Lake Atitlan. We’ll enjoy the scenery for a morning and will head for Antigua tomorrow. We need to buy new rear tires (they’re pretty flat in the middle). That way we can kill two birds with one stone. Antigua is another one on the list of 1000 Places (along with San Cristobal and Lake Atitlan) and we can check it out while we get new tires…..