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.