Central America or Bust!!!! H3 -2003

[machete]

I just remembered, we actually made a stop in honduras for the night, and the hotel owner, was very cool. actually confirmed for us the sentiment of the Nicaraguans, he says that they expected things to be given to them, after the war. that's what they were used to during that time. the hondurans he said, had to work for a lot of what they had. the guy was slowly building up his motel...out of his home. very cool, fed us, and it was cheap. like 15 dollars for the 3 of us.

some more pics. of el salvador. busted out the black and white around here to mess around with it......mackey, feel free to critice.


here's paco, posing next to this tree....we're on the coast and stopped for a break.

 

[machete]

Arie, feel free to critice as well...ah, shit, whomever...this is with 35 mm, and I have no clue what settings I had the camera on....but i really like the grainy look of the photos......there is some moer of mexico up the way...even some in color that have that grainy look, and I've tried to recreate it to no avail...oh, well.

a shot down the plaza that juts up to the waterfront.

 

[machete]

here is one of the pier with all of the fishing boats laid up for the midday lunch or something....

 

[machete]

one of the bike....I dig this photo. makes me miss my bike even more. Motherfuckers!

 

[machete]

a random door frame......

 

[machete]

we moved on towards Guatemala, and here's us at a stop for gas, and water/sodas.

 

[machete]

going to bed. will post more this afternoon. thanks for viewing.

 

[2legs2wheels]

Arie, feel free to critice as well...ah, shit, whomever...this is with 35 mm, and I have no clue what settings I had the camera on....but i really like the grainy look of the photos......there is some moer of mexico up the way...even some in color that have that grainy look, and I've tried to recreate it to no avail...oh, well.

a shot down the plaza that juts up to the waterfront.

Very nice picture especially cuz it is in black and white.....good top frame, lots of details and activity ...a good streetish picture. (http://photo.net/learn/street/intro)

 

[Lester Green]

wow,
awesome trip glf. thanks for letting us live vicariously thru you.
I have a question, I hope it doesn't sound to stupid. What are the hashers? Is it a group like ECM, very curious? thanks

 

[dlow]

great write up&pictures!thanks

 

[pelikan]

Awesome read!!!! I am going on a similar trip this June and your story just gets me more & more excited.

 

[machete]

so where was I? Oh, yeah, we were moving north towards guatemala...took a few black and white photos. thanks for the comments. beetlejuice...the hashers, are part of the hash house harriers, a "drinking club with a running problem" established in 1938 in Kuala Lumpur by some british expats, tired of drinking in their "hash house" (called that because of the food/grub the got there...like in corned beef hash and shit) and started this group to keep in some shape, socialize and remind themselves that they were still young. following a paper/flour trail, one person sets it, and then 10 - 15 min. later, the rest of the pack chase him down. with beer stops in between, and generally a good party at the end. this is the scaled down version. over the last 68 years, it has flourished into a group that spans the world, many of it's members here on this board........but I digress......

we arrived at the El Salvador/Guatemala Border to some paperwork, and saw a Triumph Tiger moto. parked at the checkpoint, with German plates on it. we started our paperwork, and then ran into the guy that was on the triumph. looked like a kid, no more than 18 y/o. his name was Udo, and he was from Germany. He shipped his bike to Rio de Janeiro 2 years earlier, and had been tripping thru south american and making his way to Canada, before heading home, for the last 2 years. freaking awesome. I wish I could do that instead. We all hung out, and since we weren't going anywhere past the border that night, we all decided to split some rooms, and get dinner together, trade some stories, and adventures.

here's a shot of Paco and I on the side of the road, for a quick photo op. volcano in the background.

 

[machete]

Udo was in his late twenties, kind of vague as to how he made his money for this trip....which I would be too, but paco was curious and was asking a bunch of questions. we sat down for dinner after we all cleaned up, and enjoyed a kickass dinner, under a huge palapa (banana leaf covered restaurant) while the rain pounded the surrounds, and the cool breeze made it bearable to eat, while the local soccer team played on the black and white tele. very cool. it seems Udo, spent the last year and a half, tripping thru south america, parked his bike in columbia, and went for a month long boat trip up the river...holy shit. i was thinking to myself, if I looked that white, and that blonde, I wouldn't be caught dead in the jungles of columbia, but he had the photos to prove it nonetheless...very cool. he spoke, english, german, and spanish. very helpful, and was riding solo........the next morning, we emerged from our little notel motel....which the night before, when we got the rooms, I had to explain to the guy, that YES, we wanted the rooms for the whole night, and not just a few hours. Also, we wanted two beds in each room...not one....goddamit, we must have looked pretty brokeback at the time...before there was a brokeback look. this is pacos bike, coming out of the inner portion of the motel.

 

[Lester Green]

Hey thanks for getting back to me. Keep up the trip journal I think it's awesome. ECM is also a drinking group. At least I was half right.

 

[machete]

before we took off, we talked about our route, and it seems that Udo is going to head into the interior of Guatemala. When the locals say they're going to Guatemala, they usuallly mean the capital city. so we looked on the map, where Udo would break off, and said our goodbyes and shook hands that morning. we also stopped and had one of the local dudes, take a parting photo of us. very cool to look at now adays.

Udo on the left, riding a Triumph Tiger.
Paco on his F650GS
Myself, on the HD springer softail
and
Squeely on his BMW K75

*edit*(one cool thing to see in that photo, for me anyway, was the license plates: Germany, Florida, Texas and Wisconsin)

it was wet, as it rained the night before, and the whole inner courtyard, was flooded. our bikes were sitting in a pool of water up to the wheels, so we packed while standing in the water.

the jeans I'm wearing, have only been washed once on this trip. (in san jose, costa rica) before that, they went 9 days, without wash, thru mud, rain, crash, sweat and, well, you get the idea......


this is one photo, that I wish I would have had a digital camera for, to get all of the details, and to have been able to blow it up, to frame.

 

[machete]

Hey thanks for getting back to me. Keep up the trip journal I think it's awesome. ECM is also a drinking group. At least I was half right.

haha, cool. yeah, I get strange looks when i tell people that I run for beer, and drink the beer during the run...sometimes we do up to 7 mile runs and shit. lots of fun. and not as hard as most might think.

I'll put up more photos.

(on a side note: what Udo told us, was that in his early twenties, he worked in business right out of college, in germany, then invested his money very well, and saved up enough to ride for 2-3 years) his monthly budget was 800 usd, which seems reasonable when in the latin countries. hell, that's only 9600 dollars a year. including everything, border crossings, shipping, foods, lodging, entertainment and such.
this is a closer view of Paco and I on the side of the road. yeah, that's my front fender strapped to the back of the bike, and the rear tire is looking pretty shabby. It was brand new, when I started the trip. maybe 15 miles on it.

 

[machete]

Hey Pelikan, dude, let me know what your plans are. How far south are you going? If you have any questions, let me know, maybe I can help. I still have all of the maps and such. Take lots of photos dude. I wish I would have taken more, and with better quality. Just means i'll have to go back down south. Do you speak spanish?

 

[machete]

caught a photo of Paco passing on the line. Many times, we would just go for it, ride the center line, even if cars were coming, and if we were moving pretty fast, cars generally saw us, and moved a bit to the right and the oncoming cars would move to their right also. no-one that I can remember tried to hit us, or block us. on the contrary actually, they usually made enough room for us to move thru without much problem.......it was fun too, got the adrenalin pumping.......most of the time, we wouldn't even slow down while doing this. some might think it stupid, but then again, you have to be there, to make those choices on how you will ride. I like to ride faster and take a bit more risk than the average person.....so I had a shit eatin' grin on my face the whole time.

 

[machete]

we made the border that evening, and had plenty of daylight left to move into mexico. this is us arriving at the guatemala side, at Tecun Uman, of the guatemala/mexico border. stopped for a photo, before getting into it with the border personnel to check out of the country. actually wasn't that bad....then we just had to deal with the mexican side.

 

[machete]

on the mexico side, the guard said that it was illegal to be taking photos at the border, but then he went into full lazy mexican mode, and said, just be quick about it....i don't think he really cared, but if more people would have noticed, they would have hassled us for it. too funny. so we took this photo.

In Mexico lately during this time, and a lot more now, border checkpoints and road checkpoints are run by the Mexican Military. They are usually young men, from very low income areas, and ways of life, and the military has given them some means of living. The military is not looked upon as well as the military is in the USA. and before anyone says anything, what I mean by that, is that one can go into the military here, and make a good living, and be mostly respected in the community...down there, it's like the bottom of the totem pole...not very favorable to be in the military at all.

anyway, they were mostly curious about our trip, would sometimes check the bags, or make us unload a bag or two, check the passports, and maybe ask for a cigar, or a lighter...an american lighter...hell, anything american....we didn't like to make it a habit, but carrying something that shows the USA would be good to trade these guys. Kind of like saying, "yeah, take it, no worries, it's just a lighter to me" but to them, it's an "american lighter" which they will use to brag to their friends. I tried to remember and realize that these guys will never get out of their area, or travel the world, or visit anywhere else....so my dollar lighter would go out the door. not a bad trade. oh, yeah...the photo. and the duct tape is still holding up.