the best, the worst and the strangest yet.

 One of the nicest hotels.  Diriamba, Nicaragua.

 Some of the best waves for body surfing San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua.

 The worst ride and toughest park to get to in Costa Rica. 40 km of dirt road but we like to go the long way so it was 60 km.

 The closest contact with nature.  I was 3 feet from this guy.

 The best hike, Tenorio Volcano National Park, Costa Rica

The strangest thing I´ve seen.  Does anyone know what this is?

Friends in Guatemala

 Francisco and Clemente were our Spanish teachers at the San Marcos Spanish School.  Francisco was also our motorcycle guide from San Marcos to Santigato.

 Jospeh was our guide for San Marcos.  He helped us find a great hotel and showed us around town.

Robertson served us breakfast 6 of the 7 days we were in San Marcos.  They were the best desayunos of our trip.  I have really missed them since we left.

On the Move

El Salvador offered us a pleasant stay at Hotel Santa Fe, just outside Libertad.  We were tired and testy after the border crossing and decided to give this place two days to recover and becuase everyone was so nice.  Tim is covered in black sand which took a bit of getting use to before we jumped into the surf.  It is just like sand but it is black, honest it is not dirty.

 I woke up in the night to find the neighborhood dogs barking up a storm with excitement brought on by the tipping over of a garbage can.  Too bad for them Mr. bull also heard the din and since he is bigger he got dinner.  So no more complaining about racoons in the garbage.

 

 I made friends with the hotel mascot.  Notice I am wearing my clean jeans, ha ha.  

 We decided to tackle two border crossing in one day so we could zoom through Honduras.  Both in and out crossings of Honduran borders were experiences not soon forgotten.  It is too bad we have to go through Honduras on the return trip.  To ease my self pity I took photos of those not so fortunate to have 4 months to travel on motorcycles in CA.

The first is the mass of people selling their wares under the bit of shade offered at this crossing.

Sometimes I feel like I have to stand on my head to get peoples attention at work but at least I do not have to carry the load this lady is balancing.

    The guys peddling for a living in the blasting heat have my total respect.  There was nothing pleasant about this border.  We were totally ripped off by the helpers and our mood was far from happy when we left but we certainly faired off far better than this lot at the end of the day. 

 Nicaragua was a relief after enduring 3 hours of riding in Honduras.  We figure we were stopped by the police every 25 km in Honduras.  These were not pleasant road side chats but shake downs for cash, fortuneately the helpers at the border swindled us of all our US dollars so there was none left for the cops.

It amazes me how in this modern world we live in the old ways still prevail, like this cart being pulled by two bulls.

This is a real volcano that stared down at us as we entered Nicaragua.

We found a great hotel our first night in Nicargua.  It had two swimming pools and several birds and deer living on the grounds.

Currently we are on the pacific coast of Nicargua, we are planning to enjoy the beach tomorrow and then head off to Costa Rica.  So far we have over 8500 km under our belts on this trip and still keeping the rubber side down.

 

Life in Guatemala

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I cannot talk about life in Guatemala without first mentioning the roads.  These roads with mudslides, road wash outs and unpaved cow paths are a common expereince here, there are also large 4 lane super highways but they never seem to service the areas Tim and I are riding.  These roads also twist and trun with switch backs that would make any hiker cringe.  It is a blast riding along and as you can imagine we must travel at moderate speeds, often the switch backs up hill require one to gear down to first gear to make it up and around the turn.   Remember we also share the worst and best of roads with livestock, chicken buses, trucks tuk tukks and other detrious.

This week we went back to school to learn Spanish.  Our teachers were Francisco (Camilla) and Clemente (Tim).  They taught us for 4 hours a day and gave us about 2 hours of homework each night to liven up our envenings.  Needless to say we didn´t get in any trouble this week.  The lessons were intensive and I think we are better prepared for the rest of our journey in Central America.  This turtle was my special friend at school.  I found a rotten banana for his breakfast so we were FFL. I am glad the lessons are over, it was getting tough rising every morning to be at class by 8 am.  We are making plans to move on from San Marcos Del Lago in the next couple of days but first we need to enjoy the sun and swimming in the crystal clear Lago Atitlan.

Guatemala Border Crossing

We arrived at the Guatemala border at 9 am to start the dance of making a border crossing.  First we were sent back to Mexico to check out of the country.  We were anxious to get away before the border got crowded with bus loads of people.  So we went back to 4 km to Mexico to check out.  Oh to check out we have to pay the visitors fee, oh the border bank is closed, oh we have to go back 25 km to the nearest town with a bank to pay the fee.  Now it is 11 am and we are in the line behind a bus load of people.  To cross a border with a vehicle is a bit of a process because the motorcycle and the person need to go through a process of filling out forms, going to the bank to pay fees and signing multiple copies of papers.  I am not sure but we may have signed our life fortune over to the Guatemala government by the end of the day.  At 2 pm we were on the road in Guatemala headed for Huehuetenango.  The topper of the crossing is a zoo of people, motocycles of all sorts, huge buses making three point turns on one lane roads, people carrying or pushing loads of stuff wrapped in burlap bags, children begging, stalls full of stuff overflowing onto the roads, noisey buses and trucks spewing pollution.  We felt like we really accomplished something by crossing the border.  We are not looking forward to the 10 or 12 other crossings we face.

Cheflon Casada

Today we explored Chiflon Casada, a huge waterfall south west of Comitan, Mexico.  It was a tough climb to the top and the view was worth it.  There were several viewing and rest places along the trail.  The site is very well organized and maintained with picnic tables, gift shops, restaurants and even rooms for rent as well as Zip Line ride.  The highlight of the day for myself was swimming in the cool refreshing pools below the falls. 

On the advice of the hotel owner where we stayed in San Cristobal we went to Chamula.  He described it as a quiet hill village that stilled lived a traditional culture.  Well to our surprise it was far from quiet.  We almost were run down by a raging bull that was being pulled along by the men dressed in white.  The men dressed in the more colorful costumes also had horns, noise makers and they yelled loudly and frequently.  The white guys dragged the bull into the square and the colorful guys chased it around the square.  I am not sure why this was going on but it was crazy as the square was full of  thousands of people.  The streets the bull was dragged through were also full of people, Tim and I included.  Tim and I found some safety in a small store courtyard where the women and children were huddled, eventually we made our way back to the market, bought some weavings and left.  We found out later that it was a festival.

I love have shiny boots and it´s hard to refuse this guys offer.

The old and the really old rest outside the Na Bloom Museum in San Cristobal. 

The big smile on Tim's face is because he just swam with a manta ray.  We went on a snorkling, whale watching trip from Puerto Angel.  The whales were sparse but we enjoyed jumping off the high rocks, seeing sting rays jumping from the ocean like birds in flight and watching the angel fish play in the surf.

This is the sun rise the day we left.  Hard to beat this place, Puerto Angel is mainly a fishing village but the fishermen share the bay with the beach lovers.  They are up and out of the bay before the sun worshipers are out of bed and finish when they are eating lunch in the shade.  A good balance for all sea lovers.

We just happened to arrive in Tuxtla Guteirrez as this parade was getting off the ground.  People were putting on costumes and practicing their dance steps as we walked down the road.  By the time we returned the parade was under way and we saw all the action.

The river boat tour of the canyon in Chiapa De Corzo lent for a cool relaxing afternoon.  As much as we love to ride it was nice to sit back and let someone else drive for a couple of hours.  We saw lots of water fowl, a nesting ground for turkey vultures, monkeys, and crocodiles with a back drop of canyon views.

One Incredible Ride

Yesterday we rode in the state of Oaxaca, from Octolan to Puerta Angel.   It was the best day yet.  The mountains offered challenges and thrills.  The first photo was taken outside the restaurant where we had breakfast after an 8 am start by 10 am we needed a cup of tea to carry on.  We were able to make tea in our thermal cups that Kim gave us for Christmas using the electrical unit Alison gave us in Tepostlan and the tea bags that Stephanie brought from Ontario.  We made the tea before we left the hotel knowing it would be a warm comfort later in the morning.  It was the best cup of tea of my life.  The waitress at the restaurant was impressed and surprised that we had our own tea but didn't question it. 

The following two road signs were frequently posted on the side of the road.  I counted 11 like the first, one turn signs, and 29 of the second, two or three twists signs, in a 20 km stretch.  I continued to keep score but quit when the total was over 60 signs.  Like I said, it was an incredible ride.  I am slowly wearing down the bottoms of my foot pegs on the tight turns and switch backs.

There were other livestock along and on the road too but these guys actually posed for a photo and took their good old time letting us pass.  The best part of this ride was the lack of traffic in both directions.