All the way south

It was great riding with two other people, especially two other people who were patient enough to wait for me at the Salvador border for 3 additional hours.

We drove for about 30 minutes away from the border and the sun was starting to set so we decided to follow a recommendation that Theo got from a dutch backpacker he met at the border to head to a beach house at Barra de Santiago.  We found the turn and it was an allweather gravel road for 7 km.

Earlier, we had decided that we weren’t going to take any dirt roads because of what happened to me earlier in Guatemala.  When I saw the gravel road I became very paranoid about driving down it.  In an attempt to overcome this paranoia– illogical and unfounded for El Salvador, I suggested we can give it a shot.  “We can always turn around”.

El Salvador is regarded as a much safer country than its neighbors Guatemala and Honduras.  I was positive there was no danger in this area.  I needed to get over my robbery and challenging myself with something like this what I needed.  As the cliche goes, lightning never strikes twice?

So we started driving down the gravel road.  All-weather means that the road is in good shape and you can maintain a good clip, we averaged 30mph with no problem at all.  The terrain was flat and lined with unending fields of sugar cane on both sides of the road.  The whole time I was anxious, but I kept saying to myself that it was only paranoia.  There was the occasional car or pedestrian on the side of the road.  It was just a gravel road, not a remote mountainous road like in Guatemala.

The Pacific ocean started to appear on the screen of the GPS.  We were almost there and no problems!  Success!

Barra de Santiago is a dusty little beach town.  There were gated but humble beach houses lining the main road.  As we passed people they started as if they had never seen a trio of biker-gringos before.  It was fun being the center of attention in a sleepy little town like this.  We asked a local where the hotel was and followed the directions further down the coast and eventually ended up driving the last 100 meters in soft sand.  Too bad I traded in my knobbies in Guatemala City!

Capricho Beach House was a nice little place.  Theo worked his negotion magic and knocked a few dollars off the $35/night price.  It was a steep increase from Guatemla, but it had air conditioning.

We had a great dinner of a whole fried fish and pan sautaed vegetables then went to bed.

The next day we loaded up the bikes and started driving back.  Navigating was not a problem because there is only one road out of town.  My paranoia had subsided even further because I chatted with the hotel señora and she said the road was safe.

After about 10 minutes of driving 30 mph on the all-weather road I stopped to let Theo and Bryn catch up. Snapped a few pictures and a truck where the bed was used to haul around a bunch of standing locals like livestock stopped and flagged Theo to come to the window and talk.

Not speaking spanish, Theo was eventually able to distill that there was a problem:  There were 3 people waiting in the sugar cane fields to rob us.

Crap.

The guy in the truck uses his cell phone to call the police.  The police say they don’t have a car to come help us.

We’re on our own.

This conversation was happening all without my participation.

I was chit-chatting with Bryn and started talking to two farmers who appeared out of the sugar cane field.  With machetes in hand, they started telling me how dangerous this road was and that I needed to “Cuidado”.  Heart! Starts! Racing!

The New Updated Plan which was decided by the guy in the truck was for him to drive 60 mph along this gravel road and us to stay as close as possible.

I learned of this plan when Theo screamed, “GO! GO! GO! GO!” as the truck first passed me with Theo in its wake.

As the paranoid guy who’s moment arrived, I read this for what it was– trouble.  The second the truck flew by and GO was screamed, I fired up the bike and was inhaling Salvadorian dust within seconds.  I was so terrified by the farmers’ warning that I had no problem overcoming any fear of riding 60mph offroad.  My senses were acute and I was ready to get the f’ out of there.

We cleared the remaining 5 kms in 2 minutes.

Once the main road came into view, the truck slowed down and we pulled over and said we were safe now.

Theo, the truck, and I were at the road, but no Bryn.

Crap.

10 seconds later, Bryn showed up.  Phew.

Theo, Bryn, and I had a brief screaming-through-helmet conversation of wtf is going on.  In his German accented english he screamed “Three people wanted to rob us!!”.

We exchanged a few looks and decided we needed to get out of the area.

Half an hour later we stopped and filled up with gas and talked about what happened.

We headed to Playa de Tunco, a much more developed surfer town near San Salvador, and spent a few nights there relaxing at the beach and a nice hotel.

On the way to Tunco, in El Salvador.  As unpleasant of an experience as nearly being robbed was, this drive was almost worth it.

Pregnant man buried in the sand in Tunco

The following pictures are by Theo Schlaghecken.  Please visit his blog and if you’re feeling generous, donate to his paypal account that he’s using to fund projects helping children who he meets around the world.  Most reciently he built a playground in Guatemala.  Seriously, buy a few kilometers.  I mean, it isn’t like he’s selling miles, you can afford a few KM, right?  All of his pictures are copyright Theo Schlaghecken and are only for use by his sole discretion.  Without him, I’d have no pictures of myself!

Me in Guatemala.  Check out the new shades!

The infamous Julio, aka Guaterider on advrider.  Thanks agian so much for showing me Guatemala!

Bryn, from New Zealand.  He speaks english but I could barely understand the words coming out of his mouth.  I caught on eventually, but it took a few days.  He’s in Colombia now shooting his latest motorcycle video.

Theo posing with Guatemala coffee.  This is where your best cups come from!

Unripe coffee

Traveling for 3 months through Central America is tough work.  Seriously.

Welp, I’m leaving Liberia tomorrow and I have no computer.

I thought I gave appropriate respect to “Latin American Time” in the country that is least latin of all my travels, but I apparently did not.  My laptop was supposed to be here on Monday or Weds.  Respecting time as they do here, I figured it’d be Weds.  Well, apparently it is maybe Thursday or Friday.  I’m done with Liberia.  I’m getting my money back, but there is no way to get back the time.  A six month vacation seems like a long time but it is not enough when you can burn a week sitting in one town rotting alone in a hotel room watching movies on TNT or Discovery channel in Spanish.

So now I’m going to resume heading south.  Hopefully we’re going to go to Atena, Costa Rica and stay at some friend of Theo’s guest house for a day.  THEN I’m going to make another attempt at getting the same laptop on Friday in San Jose.  The US did its part and got the laptop to San Jose on Monday AM, but apparently its been stuck in customs for 4 days.  ARGH!!@#

Anyway, I’m at a Jesus Freak of an internet cafe, so I should probably stop writing writing so I don’t get kicked out and the “iProtectYou” alarm stops going off.

So I think I fried my laptop while trying to find a powersupply for it.

I suppose we’ll see when I get back to Houston as it is on its way back to the states then will be mailed back to family once my american friend gets back home.

I’m still in Liberia tonight but am considering moving tomorrow.  I was recommend a place to go check out that had lots to do and great accomidation, but I cannot find it on the map.  I’m going to try to take another look tonight to see if I can find it.  I want to escape from this hot weather!  Paying for AC is ruining my budget.

Liberia is starting to grow on me.  I haven’t met many locals here and have only seen a few tourists (backpackers only), but have had nice chitchat conversations with several people around town.  I made friends with a tour bus driver who invited Theo and I to Puerto Limon to stay at his house during their Carnival-like festval.  This could be really exciting and impossible to do with out his help as there are no rooms in town to be found.

Like the rest of my trip, it is always great to meet another biker.  One cannot underestimate the generosity of the motorcyclist community.  Although the bike is usually parked in a secluded area (my hotel), when I have it out in the open, I find that a local biker will always start checking out the bike and strike a conversation.

While my spanish is not very good, I do have enough to practice good biker chat– talk about the condition of the bike, how fast, how much, tire selection, road conditions, best roads, places to avoid, etc.  If I were backpacking it, I don’t think I would have half the opportunities to meet people as I do riding a motorcycle.

Back to computers — I will be getting my laptop Weds or Thursday.  The computer shop thought they would have it Monday, but the owner was nice to explain to me about Latin American time (optimism) which I have already become quite familiar with since being on the road here for so long.  Even though I didn’t get the computer today, I wasn’t disappointed because I had properly managed my expectations.  Plus, it gave me the opportunity to meet a nice backpacker couple from Holland.  In talking to them, it really makes me want to spend more time in Nicaragua.  They reiterated my initial feeling that the people there are some of the nicest and most genuine in Latin America.

Pictures to come!!

Since I don´t have a computer I am unable to post pics… but atleast I am taking pics so I will have them eventually online.

Alot has happened since I updated.

• Potential robbery attempt in El Salvador
• Honduras borders are a mess
• Nicaragua has the WORST borders.  I wasn´t crossing borders in the 1970s, but I bet this is how they looked
• Nicaragua is an absolutely beautiful country with some of the nicest people
• Stay at El Club in Granada if you want something luxurious but not stuffy
• Granada is like Antigua, Guatemala but not as developed for tourism with better roads but they´re covered with horse shit
• Wind Farm in Granada??? wtf???  Aren´t there bigger problems there like children begging not for money for an ipod, but to actually buy food
• The exit procedure is very difficult for Nicaragua.  I _had_ to pay a helper on the border because he told the cops to not sign my papers
• CR is more developed than Belize and Mexico.  The roads are great here except the cops use their new trucks and radar guns to extort money from you ($11 bribe)
• I do not like resorts.  Not my kind of place filled with not my kind of people
• Liberia is pretty cool and they have the nicest computer shop ever!!!  They´re letting me use their computer and internet access for FREEE!!!

Anyway, I´m stuck here for a few more days (going to try to go somewhere else tomorrow).  I´m going to expand upon my bulleted list once I get my laptop running and I have pictures to post.

I have TONS of pictures to put online.

I lost my powersupply for my laptop, so I’m not going to be doing alot of updating until I get it replaced. 

I’m currently in Estrili, Nicaragua, heading to Grenada tomorrow.

Etyomic Research makes these headphones that are PERFECT for motorcycling in a multude of ways.  Firstly, it actually fits in your helmet.  For me with my giant ears, I have problems fitting normal ear buds (like Apple’s or whomever’s) into my ears comfortably while wearing my helmet.  The second is that when you wear normal ear buds in your helmet you have to listen to them very loudly as the sound coming out of them needs to be even louder than your alrady noisy helmet.

The ER-6 solves both of these problems and produces some amazing sound from such a tinny ear bud.  Firstly, the driver/earbud is tiny and will fit in almost any helmet.  Then… Instead of a hard plastic speaker that you shove into your ear, the ER-6 has various attachments for various ear shapes.  They’re soft gelly molded in shapes that resemble ear plugs, instead of speakers.

Since they go so far into your ear and in fact are shaped like ear plugs, they isolate you from outside noise.  If you just put them in without music, they’re nearly as effective as good ear plugs.  Once you turn the music on.. get ready!  They sound infinitely larger than the tiny little ear buds that they are in reality.  Suprisingly deep bass, great highs, it is amazing!  Since they are so isolating, you can turn the volume of your mp3 player way down.  Not only is this better for your ears, but it also uses much less battery.

After saying all these great things, my ER-6s broke.  One of the channels was nearly silent.  Yeah, I was not too happy about it.  Atleast they broke at a time when I was in very curvy roads (Guatemala Highlands) instead of straight boring roads (Mexican Coast).  I went earbud free for all of Guatemala.  While driving through the “Desert” south of Coban, I tried my backup ear buds and they were terrible.  I had to crank the volume way up to hear anything.  I ended up stopping and not using them.

After being robbed around Atilan (can I make a single entry without mentioning it??), I had a package coming from the US with a new camera and ATM card, so I decided to have a replacement set of ER-6s sent from Amazon.

I got them in today and was idly reading the directions (wow!).  They came with spare “filters”.  Curiously I read on… apparently if you have reduced volume in one of the channels, you just replace the filter and BAM.. good as new.  SO after replacing the filter, BAM.. Good as new =] .  Whats funny is that I put both buds into my ears and realized that my OTHER earbud had reduced volume, so I changed that filter.  BAM.. just like new ear buds.

So the good news is that I have two basically new sets of ER-6s, bad news:  I paid a crapload of money from Amazon and importing/shipping to get new ear buds and all I needed were new filters.  I like to have backups of critical gear.

I *HAD* a backup of my ipod, an Ipod shuffle.  However it fell out of the bike when I hit a speedbump back in Belize and unknowingly had my topbox open.  Oops.

I’ve read about the misery of Central American borders for non-CA-4 citizens and thought it was just people being on the internet and feeling like they have to complain about stuff.

The short summary of my border crossing experience on CA-2 from Guatemala to El Salvador:
7 HOURS.

S E V E N  H O U R S.

True:  Part of it is my own fault because I had overstayed my bike’s import because of the robbery and replacement passport timing.  But, the two other bikers I am traveling with took about 5 hours.  Thats about 4.5 hours faster than my US-MX, MX-Belize, and Belize-Guatemala borders.

I know part of it is because of the language barrier, but the main reason is the complexity and all the different windows you need to visit across 4 buildings.  Oh yeah, don’t forget your copies of EVERYTHING.  LOTS too.  I take 2 copies of everything and ran out.  Here is what I used (corrected for my personal problem, which I’ll talk about later).

Documents:
Passport
Vehicle Title
Driver’s License

Copies:
2 Copies of your passport (photo page)
2 copies of your title
2 copies of your Driver’s License
1 copy of your Guatemala SAT stamp (should be next to your migration stamp) inside your passport
1 copy of your “completed” Guatemala SAT vehicle import worksheet

Here’s what you can expect:
* Enter border zone on CA-2
* Have passport and SAT vehicle import worksheet checked.  Get a stamp on it
* Cross through Guatemala side past all sorts of border craziness including but not limited to
* Border helper monkeys fighting to “help” you and show you the way
* People selling fruit covered in flies
* Stange homeless looking person who drops a sock (a sock?) and when guard tells him to pick it up, he gives the f-off face and walks on (No eyesight needed, I could have smelled the whole thing… EVEN OVER MY OWN BIKER STINK!)
* Bicycles, lots of Bicycles (do bicycles need an import sticker?)
* Cows feeding in the border zone.  ?????
* Goats feeding in the border zone.  ??????????
* Lots of money changers
* TONS of trucks.  Skip past them on your speedy bike
* Come upon a bridge where you are stopped by a guard who notes down something from you SAT bike paper.  (Adds another stamp? checks passport?)
* Cross the bringe to El Salvador
* Migration official checks passport stamp. Guard checks SAT paper again (maybe another stamp?  I have tons of stamps on that thing),
* Park in front of the building that says Migration
* Walk into Migration office.  They’ll check your personal visa.  El Salvador uses the same stamp as Guatemala.  So if you have time, you don’t get another stamp for you passport.  Sorry.

Now the fun begins.  This is what we should have done, but we did lots of unnecessary steps.  I’m not going to bore you with them.
* Go to the other building (not the migration one) and go to window 4 or 5.  There will be a guy with a Guatemala SAT shirt.
* Close out your Guatemala SAT worksheet.  I think you need a passport copy, title copy, and DL copy
* Walk back to the first building and find the copy place
* Get a copy of your closed SAT paperwork and a copy of your Guatemala migration passport/SAT stamp at a copy window.  Should be $.10 or $.15 a copy.
* Next to the copy place is El Salvador Aduana, go there
* Start the paperwork for El Salvador.  He’ll ask for: Passport, Title, passport copy, title copy, DL copy?, Passport/SAT stamp copy, completed SAT paperwork copy, and a sample of blood (J/K).
* Show these to the official and if you’re nice and he’s not too busy, he’ll fill out the form for you.
* You and the official then walk to bike to check the VIN

OK, now the REAL fun begins
* Walk to the other building
* Go into the door that isn’t the jail, mock a few prisioners, hope you don’t join them
* Start at window 3 and work your way through the pipeline, windows 3, 2, and 1.
* There is a huge line, Theo told me you can just cut the line in front of the truckers.  I tried and a riot almost broke out.  More about that later
* So, TRY to cut, if not… you better do what I did =]
* Upon completion, you’ll have a print out with a fancy sticker on it.  DONE!
* Mount up bike, realize how it is much cooler in the mountians, and head towards the exit
* Get charged a $5 / vehicle gringo tax.  Yes, I’m serious.  They said it is only for non-CA-4 citizens.  They atleast provided us with a factura.  We tried to fight it
* Have your passport AND new salvadorian papers checked
* DONE!!!!!!!!!

So here’s what happened to me as I had a different situation:
I got through the to the guy who checked my passport on the Salvadorian side of the bridge.  He paged through my passport and started getting twitchy.  He then escorted me to the Migration office where he took me to the back and started asking me how I had traveled overland from the US and only had a Guatemala stamp.

I gave him my standard robbery “Tres personas con armas me roberon……Atilan…” speech.  Satisfied, he let me go with the remaining time on my passport.

Then I went to the Salvador Aduana guy and was sent to the SAT guy in building two.  I thought I was going to make it as he was telling me what I needed (copias, etc), then he noticed the date.  Expired Sept 8.  He then basically told me there was absolutely nothing he could do and that I had to return to the Guatemala SAT office on the other side of the river and get them to close the paperwork out.

I hopped back on the bike and went to the SAT office.  This is where my fun began.  Waiting.  Waiting.  W a i t i n g .   Annoying helpers tried to “help” me by trying to get his friend that was working trucks to help me.  After waiting for him for a while I just started asking all SAT looking employees.  “Tres personas con armas…” I eventually came upon a guy named Sabil or something that sounded like that.  He was sorta helpful after making me wait 3 or 4 seperat times.  1-2 hours elapse to get this answer “You need to get a letter of explination typed and printed”.  Sabil then gets some girl in an orange shit to do it for me.  She RUNS off and I start waiting for my letter.  I wait for about 45 minutes (Sabil says, *hand gesture of a small amount” momento!).  I get frustrated and start hunting for orange shirt girl.  I circle the building and find her rocking out to some Mana.

I then talk to her and realize she hasn’t done a thing.  She then tells me to have a seat and wait for grey shirt guy.

20 minutes elapse

Grey shirt guy sits down at the computer and whips me out a letter of explination.  It was great, this guy actually knew how to type!

10 minutes elapse

I get a letter written, 2 copies, FREE!!!!

Next, I work my way back to the window around truckers and helpers who cut in line.

It is now 1ish and Sabil is at lunch, so I wait for him for “10 minutes”

30 minutes elapse

Sabil is back, says I’m good to go but he needs to wait for the boss.  “20 minutes”

2 and a half H O U R S  elapse with me poking through the window every 20 minutes asking if el jefe is back from lunch that he started an hour before I got there.

At this point, I’m incredibly hot, hungry, and frustrated.

Finally, bossman, aka the guy who must have had seafood that he took a boat to the ocean and caught himself finally showed up.

10 minutes later.  DONE!  I’m legally closed out of Guatemala.  No penelties, no bribes, no problems.  Just 4 hours of my life.

Impressibely, both Bryn and Theo are still waiting for me.

Then I start trying to get my salvador paperwork done.  It is around 4pm.  Dark happpens at 7.  I’m excited because I’m in without HUGE fines but discouraged because there is NO way that we’ll be done by dark.

I do the building shuffle back and forth, get the right copies, etc etc…  I then show all the right papers to the Salvadorian customs guy.  At this point, I’m using my DaveSpan to the fullest of its ability.  Tons of awkward spanish as a second language wit and jokes I try to befriend the Salvadorian guy.  Mostly because he was a nice guy, but secondarily because customs people can make your life easy… or make you wait.  Time is not what I have at this point.

My salvadorian paperwork is inked out (needs to be typed into the computer, then fancy sticker made), I start the 3 2 1 windows game.

Theo told me to cut infront of the truckers and I try to do so.

Try to cut.

Actually cut.

Davespan…

Solo tengo una moto….

Peligrosa at night..

Begging…..

A near riot occurs as all the truckers start yelling at me to go to the end of the bench (line).  Recluctantly, I comply.  What kind of self-ricious gringo am I?

I’m sitting in this line of stinky truckers (but alas, I have a massive reak to myself too, so HA!) realizing how screwed we are.  There is NO way that I’ll be able to sit through this line, which is probably 2 hours long, and make it out of the border while it is still light.

My new friend, Salvadorian Customs Man, shows up and grabs me out of line.

We go to this little booth that has a computer, an operator… AND the magic fancy label printer.  I’m gushing with excitment and DaveSpan.

7 minutes later, DONE!  I have my paperwork all stamped and ready to go.  Unbelievable.  I profusely thanked the operator guy and ran back to Salvadorian customs to thank SCM.  I have no idea what I told him, but he was smiling, and I was yelling crazy happy things at him “Tu eres el HOMBRE!!  GRACIAS!!!”

It all worked out.  I love Guatemala, just not Guatemala time.  I’m on the Pacific coast in El Salvador and just had a fantastic meal of a pan fried fish.

Life is pretty good.  Pretty, pretty good.

After riding solo for 2 months I have now joined the ranks of a motorcycle gang.

And by gang, I mean other long distance motorcycle travels.

Thanks to Horizons Unlimited, I met Bryn, from Nelson, New Zealand. He was in Antigua, Guatemala at the same time as I was and we were both traveling solo.

What is also interesting is that while waiting in Antigua to meet Bryn, I met Theo, from Frankfurt, Germany.

So we’re now a rough and tough gang of Gringos (non-latins) with giant BMW motorcycles. By rough and tough I really mean smelly but amiable bikers.

Bryn is on a multiple month motorcycle trip that started when he bought his bike in Los Angeles. He is riding a mid-80s BMW touring bike (Bryn, which year/RT is it again? K100rt??). Bryn is a dedicated moto traveler and has toured several continents over the years. Interestingly, he’s already ridden from the US to Panama but did it almost 15 years ago when he was in his early 20s. Apparently the roads are much better now .

Theo is in month 16 of his continuous around the world trip on his 2002 BMW F650 Dakar (same bike as Heather’s!!). He is touring the world http://www.world-tourer.de with the aim of “travel and do good”. You can read more about him on his blog if you understand Germany. Even if you can’t, check out some of the pictures! Here is an article about his trip in English: http://www.world-tourer.de/press/2

Anyway, they’re both good guys (SO FAR). It is nice to have the company over the miles and new ideas for things to do. Of course it is nice to have the added perception of security too. Not that I would mention a past event in this blog post.

Quick blog update. I am able to prove my Americanism again. I HAVE A PASSPORT! Not only that, but I’m also legally stamped into Guatemala. My bike.. on the other hand… It expires today and I’m supposed to make it to the El Salvador border. Eep.

I’ve had a few great experiences during my wait for my replacement passport that I’m going to post pictures (not from my camear) later this week.

Updates to come! Oh yeah, I’m in Guatemala City.  I wish I had my camera to take a photo of all the babies at the embassy.

This is more/less the exact location
Message Details
Esn : 0-7381807
Type : Track
Latitude : 14.621
Longitude: -91.2599
Time: Sat 23 Aug 2008 12:33:54 PM CST

The google map for that location is:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=14.621,-91.2599&ie=UTF8&ll=14.624365,-91.263471&spn=0.008679,0.021973&t=k&z=16