Panamaniacs

Our adventures continue, leaving San Juan del Sur for the nearby paradise of Coco Playa. Where San Juan had been a ballin' party full of opportunity to make bad decisions, Coco Playa was the opposite. A row of maybe a dozen houses and hotels on a beautiful, untouched piece of beach. In fact when we arrived there were more cattle than people on the beach with a grand total of 5 cows. 

The place we stayed at was kind enough to let us just pop up tents or what have you for a fraction the price of a room. My hammock and bug net ended up hung under a palapa about 30 feet from the high tide. When the tide was in I could, and did, literally throw rocks into the ocean from my bed.   

Being full of little aside from the odd cow or puppy, the beach made for some incredible beach combing. We found lots of interesting shells, and even this beaut of a sand dollar. 

When we made our way down to the water to check out the surf, however, we were greeted with a strange, foreign and unexpected sight... snails. Thousands, hundreds of thousands of little snails. Each one buried down into the sand until the surf would pull back past them. Then they would emerge from the sand, with their two little feelers pulling whatever snails pull out of the water as it rolled by. Everywhere we looked there were these snails. I've never felt as if I was accidentally commiting xenocide by simply walking down the beach before. 

 

If you look at the above photo you'll notice a ton of little pockmarks in the sand, each of those is a snail, and this extended down the entire beach and as far as the tide went. Simply bizarre.

 

After a lovely evening full of eating Ichiban noodles on the balcony as our gracious hosts plied us with cups of Kahlua we enjoyed a lovely Pacific sunset. Shortly after this we walked down the road to a protected area where turtles breed. Mere minutes after our arrival we were lucky enough to bear witness to dozens of leather back turtles hatching and making their way down to the ocean. To say the least it was an incredible thing to see, as these tiny animals made their own incredible journey.

Unfortunately for you, photos are not allowed as it is thoroughly dark when this occurs and flash or white light would impede the turtles, so you're stuck with a photo of the sunset at Coco Playa as we wait to go see the turtles so you'll have to take my word for it.

After leaving Coco Playa, making our way to Puntarenas, Costa Rica, Patrick's liberal application of a hatchet to try and repair a fairing came back to bite him. Apparently striking a metal housing repeatedly with a small axe has a propensity to break the small fragile pieces contained within. So there we have Pat, mere kilometers from a warm, safe place to rest our heads, when his headlight fails. With limited other options, a Petzl head-light is re-purposed as a Petzl headlight and an advertisement proposal is in the works. 

 

The very next day, as Bill heads inland to Alajuala to pick up Anne; Colin, Pat and I head across the Nicoya Gulf towards Montezuma. A reasonably uneventful day proceeds until during a short stop situation, Colin gave Pat a little kiss on his backside, sending Pat into a ditch. A ditch which was comprised of a steep ass seven foot drop and was occupied by a small stream. As Pat's bike took a nap in the creek, damage was accessed and Colin's bike was righted. Thankfully there was very limited damage to both bikes, with Patrick's so called "muffler" taking the brunt of the damage. As Pat's muffler has been a constant source of headache; literal and figurative, for the duration of the trip there was speculation that this little kiss may not have been wholly accidental. At one point it was rumored that there was photographic evidence showing otherwise with a 12 meter long streak of melted rubber as Colin locked up his rear tire. This photo, however appears to be missing, once again opening the case to speculation.

 

Arriving in Montezuma, bruises rested and heads settled, the time to explore came near. One of the few activities in Montezuma which could be done for free was to hike up to a nearby waterfall to enjoy the deep pools under each of the falls.

The largest fall, about 60 vertical feet, had a beautiful swimming pool and rock formations that allowed us to swim in behind the falls and hang out before jumping through the falls into the water.

 Shortly after enjoying the largest set of falls we found out about two more sets of falls just upriver from where we were swimming. These set of falls held the promise of even more fun, so after packing a picnic we made the journey up to the two higher sets of falls with some friends.

 

Just below the highest set of falls was an awesome rope swing, which provided minutes of fun, diving/falling into the water over and over. After a light lunch the real fun started. You see, between the highest falls, the pool with the rope swing, and the lower falls where we'd been swimming a few days before there was yet another waterfall. Measuring in at 40 feet it was the second largest set of falls, and no slouch either. So we jumped off it. Now this clearly goes against ones natural instinct, as as an individual who takes to heights like a cat to water, this was a simply terrifying proposal, but after seeing a couple people do it, and receiving some Imperial courage I was on the ledge, then quickly, oh so quickly, in the water.

  

From a rock at the top of the falls you could jump and fall, ever so gracefully into the pool below, reaching; according to Pat, who mathed it out with science, 85 km/h.

 

For reference, this is the set of falls we launched ourselves off of. You may be able to make out the people at the top enjoying themselves.

Unfortunately, as safe as this activity sounds, there are accidents. While we were at the falls we did suffer one tragic loss as Colin dropped his GoPro into the water below. A sad moment, and a moment of silence was had.

 

On a happier note, we shared the area around the falls with all sorts of birds, lizards and even monkeys!

Once my glorious week in Montezuma was over the time finally came for me to be reunited with my girl. Kate flew in and after a night in Alajuela, we mozied on towards San Jose. Two people on a KLR is effort, two people with all their gear is work. Unsecured our bags were nearly as tall as Kate. Thankfully everything packed down to a reasonably small package and with our gear and my precious cargo we were able to have a comfortable, cozy little bike.

 We met up with the others in San Jose where we were lucky enough to be there for the annual festival of lights. A strange mix of Christmas, Disney and corporate interest kept the town excited for most of the evening.

The next day with Anne on a bus, we took off bound for David, Panama. A damned long drive two up, so Kate and I planned on stopping in Neilly, Costa Rica and continuing past David to Boquete the next day to enjoy the cloud forest. As the day progressed, making good time the turn-off for Neilly came and went as we decided to stick with the group and try to make it to David to meet up with Anne. Shortly here after a local suggested we take the northern border crossing as it would be significantly quicker. This might have been the case had it been anywhere we could find, or not raining incredibly hard. The rain came harder than we've seen since we left, and the road arched back and forth through the mountains, all but halting our progress. Somehow we found ourselves back on another road to Neilly after a few hours of detour through what was actually a very beautiful national park which Panama and Costa share. 

Arriving in Neilly, wet and in the dark I was done riding. So Kate, Colin and myself stopped and got a couple rooms at a very nice little hotel and had a lovely supper of chinese food in the dry. Meanwhile Bill and Pat drove to David to meet with Anne. 

 

The next morning, somewhat dry and in much better spirits, the three of us made our way to the Panama border, a relatively quick and simple border. Within two hours we were in Panama, cruising down a gorgeous 4 lane divided highway towards David, and then on to Boquete. Boquete is a lovely little town. Very eco-tourism and old people. After being ranked the number one retiree destination in 2001, the population seems to have grown a few grey hairs. That said it was an incredibly beautiful little town, nestled into a mountain valley high up in the cloud forest, it wasn't hard to find a breathtaking vista. Panama, you make a damned good first impression. Then we went to the grocery store to find supper.

$0.60 beer? You make a good second impression too! With local beers being so inexpensive, and imported beers like Guiness being only $0.75 cents we couldn't pass up the opportunity to try a little bit of liquid culture.

We were even able to rep some Huskie pride with the beer cozies my mother ever so lovingly sent down for Christmas.

The following day the three of us made our way across the street for a little zip-lining adventure. A three hour tour through the cloud forest, traversing 13 lines awaited us.  As we walked towards our first platform our guides were able to show us many different species of plants: orchids of all shapes sizes and colours, rhubarb with leaves well over 2 meters across and many more. Then one of the guides gave each of us the stem of a flower and suggested we chew on it a little. OK, deal. And in it went. The strange stemmy bitterness of the plant was quickly replaced with a strange facial numbness as traditional anesthetic did its job, numbing our tongues and lips. 

The numbness was just starting to wear off as we got to the first platform. Buckled up and off we went. Flying through the forest with the grace of a monkey, which needs a seat belt and training wheels.

Regardless of aesthetic, or testicular comfort, it was an awesome experience, and a great rush flying through the canopy at high speed. With lines up to 1200+ feet you definitely got some sense of flying, albeit backwards and upside down, and when you zipped out from the canopy for a few moments you instantly and acutely became aware of just how rainy it was. 

Finished with Boquete we have since moved on. We are currently in Portobelo waiting for our ship to set sail for the San Blas, the weather seems to have broken, but more on that, and the rest of our adventures in between to come from Columbia! 

Bray

Nicaragua: Volcanoes, Beaches and good times abound.

Where our story picks up again is in the town of Gracias, once the capital of all Central America and an overwhelmingly unmemorable town. Yes it was slightly colonial, no there was nothing going on.Most memorable of our time here was that there is no bank that will accept any Canadian debit cards or Visa. And after using the majority of our cash at the border crossing, and having the good luck of the Copan Ruinas ATM being broken, we were broke. So tapped out that we could not pay $5 each for a hotel room. Thankfully there was one hotel in town that accepted credit, so we had a fancy ass night in a nice hotel. It's amazing what $60 does for you. Nice mattresses, coffee, free breakfast. All nice things. The next morning, all slightly grumpy we left with the intention of going to Tegucigalpa, the closest BAC bank according to our Lonely Planet guide. 8 kms out of Gracias karma kicked our ass again. More specifically Billy as we picked up an extra bolt. Right through his rear tire. The bolt was long enough to gouge the inside of his rim, ruin his tube and tire and also our morning.  Thankfully Billy had a spare set of tires and tubes from the previous owner of the bike and with some quick wrenching we were back on the road.

About an hour from Tegu we had a brilliant stroke of luck. A bank. More specifically a BAC, the one central american bank that will accept Canadian debit cards. A brand new mall popped up like an oasis on the side of the highway and we pulled over to once again have some liquid capital. Having not eaten a real meal for a little over a day, and having Wendy's in the parking lot, we gourged. As a guy who doesn't even like Wendy's, I had no idea a Baconator could possibly taste so lovely. It didn't matter that this was one of our most expensive meals since leaving Canada, a real hamburger and a full belly was priceless. 

Finding this bank also meant we didn't need to go to Tegu. A godsend in itself as there is no such thing as a nice big city in Central America. We instead stayed in Comayagua, the former capital of Honduras, and that is about all I can say for Comayagua. It was a real do nothing town and after two days of chilling in our hotel room trying to steal internet from the nearby bar, and walking around the over priced market we'd had enough of Honduras.

 

At the Nica border of Los Manos we met the largest Russian I've ever met, at least 6'7" and 250-300 lbs. Yes that is him on a Goldwing Aspencade and he made it look like a small bike. He was heading from the states to Panama and back and gave us some good suggestions for roads and which borders to hit.

We also met Christian from Washington at this border. He was riding his KLR to Argentina, familiar story. So he rode in to Leon with us and hung out for a couple days at Bigfoot before moving on. 

We arrived in Leon fairly late and were able to set up at a hostel called Bigfoot for the better part of a week. Billy had happened to bend his rim on a pothole so that had to be repaired. Apparently those BMW's just aren't built to the same exacting specifications as the KLR... While we waited we did the typical tour of the city. A very colonial old city with tons of big old churches.

 

We were happy to find that BAC's are much, much more common in Nicaragua than they are in Guate and Honduras, and also were lucky enough to have a supermarket one block from the hostel. The produce was incredible and lucky us, Nica's like their fruit green. I guess all the fruit is harvested pretty early, so green bananas and mangos are whats sold there. By the time they are what we Canadians consider ripe they are usually on sale. This means that a papaya the size of my leg cost about $2.50.

 

Yes. That is in fact a papaya. No, it was not the largest one, but yes they were delicious.

 

Novelty size papaya in tow, we met up with the Quetzaltrekkers, Leon branch, for a day of volcano bording on Cerro Negro. After hiking up this immense pile of black rock we were able to tour the crater of this active volcano. Our guide assured us that we were most likely safe, but Cerro Negro was overdue to erupt....cool. The crater was pretty neat , off gassing steam and sulfur from the rock. A few inches down the earth was hot enough to cook with, if you don't mind a like sand and sulfur in your meal of course. Once we'd seen all there was to see inside the volcano it was time to board down it.

 

Yellow coveralls and welding glasses in tow it was time to hit the slopes. The plywood toboggans was pieces of linoleum at the back to reduce friction and down the 50-55 degree face of this volcano you get moving pretty damned fast. We didn't have a speed gun, and we were certainly not going this fast, but people have been clocked going 87 km/h on these boards. Tons of fun and crashes to be had. If possible I suggest you check out this lovely video Billy made of our descent. 

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150384888065897

 

After a quick healthy snack we climbed the volcano again for a second run and some sweet ninja kick photo ops. Then lunch at the ranger station of some delicious veggie burritos.

 A few more stressful days including Billy having his rim fixed with a hammer and proceeding to lose a wheel spacer, we were stuck in Leon for a few more days as the part shipped in from Costa Rica. After talking to the coordinator at Quetzaltrekkers we decided to head to Las Penitas and relax at their beach-front hostel, Quetzal Playa. Just a beautiful little hostel, where $6 a night got us an ocean front room and all the coconuts we could eat/drink, provided we climbed up the trees to get them. The volunteers at the hostel were all really sweet and made the stay really nice. We also met another couple of overlanders from the great white north. Mike and Nastaja pulled in after seeing our bikes and stayed for a few days to enjoy the ambiance.

 

While the folks at Quetzal Playa made some fantastic suppers, we usually had lunch down the beach at a little comedor. The best thing ever was on the menu. Seafood soup, essentially a giant bowl of fish and seabugs to feast on until you're ready to burst. One bowl would have 2 lobster, 2 crab, a fish or two and about a dozen shrimp. Lunch has never felt so gluttonous. And all for about $7.

 

For some reason or other there was most often a reason to celebrate every night and with Kendal, Cindy and Natasha, the hard working volunteers there to hang out with it was always a good time. A Canadian favourite, Slam, got real popular, especially with a ten year old boy who played with us. Fresca in hand, of course.

 

After not enough days relaxing on the beach it was time to head back to Leon so Bill could put his bike back together. Upon arriving in Leon we found out that the part had been held at customs and Billy could either go to Managua to get it or wait 4-5 more days for it to be processed. As Billy went to Managua we were once again stuck in Leon to party with the Quetzaltrekkers. They even invited us back out to the beach to enjoy a traditional thanksgiving dinner. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy. I'm not sure I have ever been so full. And then Banoffee pie for dessert, a British delicacy consisting of a graham cracker crust, covered in toffee, then bananas, then whipped cream and finally chocolate.

After leaving Leon, again, we were bound for Isla de Ometepe, an island formed by two volcanoes in Lake Nicaragua. After a short ferry ride we were on the island and headed for the Monkies Island Hostel, where yes, we did see and hear monkeys. On the way the one road turned from lovely brick laid road to this gravel monstrosity that was once something resembling a road.

Once arriving at the hostel, some dainty, gentle repairs were need on Patrick's bike. Some jerk on a BMW accidentally ran into Pat's bike with a pannier and when it fell over the whole front fairing and headlight mount were bent. So there Patrick was, gently convincing his fairing brace back into place with a hatchet. His fairing is now more or less straightish and despite not having a low beam, he does have a strangely offset high beam that works well.

 

With absolutely nothing to do but swim in the lake, we decided to hike up the smaller on the two volcanoes, where a 180 meter waterfall ends in a small pool where you can swim.

 

After a long, hot hike the cold water of the waterfall felt fantastic. It was pretty cool to stand under a waterfall.

 

After dealing with a ton of bees that magically appeared on all our clothes we prepared to hike back down. We arrived at our hostel and Patrick decided to finally deal with his bed mate. You see, Patrick, being the ever giving person he is, had shared his bed the previous night with this little girl.

This proud mama still had all her babies riding around on here back. Dozens of them, and they had resided the night tucked gently between Pat's mattress and bed. Not a nice morning surprise.

After one more night of terrific food at the Monkeys Island we took off, through herds of cattle, back to the mainland and headed on towards San Juan del Sur. We got here last night and low and behold met up again with Mike and Nastaja. Small world I guess. More updates to come. I'll update at least one more before Kate gets here on the 9th.

Bray

This is madness... This Is GUATE!!!

Arrival into Guatemala was anything but uneventful. From the moment we reached the border there was either a kid asking for money or a man doing the same in exchange for helping us through our paperwork. The only solution for this seemed to be to take on a dude to show us the ropes and equally importantly keep everyone else away. This turned out to help a fair bit in streamlining the process, that said it did take a full day to get through the border. And then came the rain. We reached Guate just at the tail end of the rainy season, so a true downpour, while not unexpected, did put a damper on us getting anywhere. This coupled with it being 6 pm and 3 hours to our destination we decided to stay at the border. This in itself was a strange experience. The entire town had rolling blackouts for the duration of the night so as we were out trying to find supper the power would periodically go out leaving us in total blackness... A reassuring feeling to be assured.

The next day we drove the 60 kms to Xela. Yes, it is a mere 60 kms as the crow flies from the border to Quetzaltenango (nickname Xela), the road however is closer to 170 kms and the drive is a solid three hours. This ride took us over a mountain, through clouds and eventually back down into Xela, which at about 2500 meters gave some stark difference to the hot and humid coast we were accustomed to. Namely it was cold. Yes family and friends back in Canada, I know it is colder there, but it is still a bit of a shock to wake up to 10 degree when you're used to waking up to 25. Again, yes, I know. Poor me.

Upon arriving in Xela we met Gladys, the woman who runs the school as well as our surrogate family. All great people, very welcoming. There were several other students studying as well and we met a fair number of them. They were all really great people and we ended up spending nearly every night out with them for either coffee or drinks and of course a little studying and homework... For the week we'd be at class by 8:30, like the good academic minds we are (We weren't even late once mom!). And after our four hour stint, one on one with a teacher we have a little break before we would have the option of doing an activity through the school.

Day one after our classes Eduardo took the four of us to look for motorcycle parts (Billy and Patrick), and then toured the historic center of town. Some great history and really beautiful old colonial style buildings all throughout the central park as well as the adjacent streets.

The second day, I was the only one feeling chipper enough to head out for the activity. This day Cindy took myself and Brandon, a student from the States, to one of the markets. This was my first time in a real busy market like this. It was incredible to see the bustle of people, the heaps of fruit and vege, the unmatched piles of socks, shoes and clothes. We also saw people making ornate scarves and blankets, hand looming every inch of it. Strange I know, but standout among all of these things were the carrots. I have never seen carrots like this, such a bright orange and about the same size as my forearm. Had my mother fed me those as a child she'd have definitely turned my orange more times than she already did. 

Soon after this we went to what Cindy explained to be the oldest Spanish Church in Central America. It was pretty incredible to see the old hardwoods borrowed from the other colonies as well as the simplicity of the church itself. The outside mouldings were of fruit and the faded plaster really gave the church the look of an old man. Worn and proud.

Leaving the church Cindy suggested we stop for Frutas. I thought, “Great, I can't wait to try some of that lovely, fresh produce,” but I was wrong. She took us to a small house nearby the Church where a woman, in a small drum under her sink was making a liquor out of fruit (frutas). The woman brought us out a cup of the liquor as well as a plate of the fruit used in its creation. The drink itself tasted much like a winecooler, but it kicked like hard alcohol, and the fruit was even stronger. Naturally a bottle was necessary, and for the price of 20Q (about 3 dollars) I had a bottle of my own. We also stopped by a place that made and sold egg liquor. Another stop and taste test was necessary and another 20Q spent.

Wednesday we decided to skip the activity so we could go try and find money to pay our hosts, unfortunately it appears that the city of Xela has given an atm monopoly to a company called Cajero 5B, and 5B does not accept Canadian debit cards, nor does any bank branch there. Thankfully our Visa's worked to withdraw cash. That is everyone but Colin, who was forced to live off the kindness of others for that week.

Thursday Eduardo once again took us on our little adventure, up a mountain, through many farms to a place called Los Vahos. Los Vahos are a series of natural hot vapour vents created by volcanic activity. The Vents have had buildings built around them, creating a series of hot, steamy saunas. They then fill the vents with herbs which creates a really unique smell. A great reward for the long hike up. 

Not having enough of the hot and wet, Friday we went to a nearby town named Zunil. Zunil holds the largest agricultural market in Guate and also happens to be home to a series of hot springs which were ceded to Xela decades ago. So the four of us, with Eduardo and two other students, Brandon and Franziska hopped in the back of a Toyota Hilux, with what can only be described as a birdcage on the back, and rode up this mountain. The ride could be described as precarious at best, with sections of road washed out by recent floods and two way traffic on a one lane mountian road, it was an experience. Upon arriving at the pools we enjoyed dips in both the medium pools before deciding it was time to take on the hot pool. The hot pool is the biggest of the three, yet for some reason during our entire time there we did not see anyone dip more than a toe in. Other than us that is. While everyone stood around the pool, dipping in toes and hmming and haaing about the heat, genious me decided that the best way to get in would be just to walk right in. So in I strode until I was neck deep. I then had time to turn around and put on a brave face before I knew I had to get out, NOW. I spent maybe 20-30 seconds in that pool and my legs felt tingly for a couple hours after. The other guys then decided that they must feel the full body warmth as well and jumped in and out about as quick as humanly possible. At Colin's suggestion I left my watch in the pool to check the tempurature. My watch maxed out at 45 degrees celsius. If you're curious why on earth they would make the biggest, nicest pool the one that is unusable, the one that you could poach fish in, it wasn't always that way. Apparently a landslide in 1998 opened up a new vent and increased the heat in that pool a fair bit. 

 

That night was the night of the infamous Halloween party and a bar aptly named Beer and Pool. We went there with a bunch of the other students. And while Guatemalan's do not traditionally celebrate Halloween as much as day of the dead, that didn't stop them from partying like there was not going to be a tomorrow. Thankfully, but unfortunately, we'd agreed to go to Lake Chicabal at 6 am that morning with Eduardo, so after a couple hours sleep, 6 oclock came and myself, a very ill Bill and Brandon and Franziska hopped a microbus towards the lake with Eduardo. A microbus is simply a 15 seater van that has had all the seatbelts removed and is apparently capable of carrying X number of people. We got up to 21 and the drivers assistant was still yelling for more people. After what felt like hours we arrived at the base of a volcano. We then proceeded to climb said volcano and damn was it steep. After a few hours of climbing we found ourselves looking over the edge of the bowl of this volcano and down inside of it was one of the most pristine lakes I have ever seen. Surrounded by lush jungle and not a ripple on the water, it was truly incredible. From this ledge if one turned 180 degrees we could also watch the most active Volcano in Guate errupting for us, belching smoke into the air. We then climbed the 615 steps down into the crater of this lake to get a closer look. We walked around the entire lake, looking at the mayan shrines which each correspond with their respective sign on the mayan calandar. All in all it was a pratty exceptional hike and some incredible views. 

 

After taking the rest of the day to recover we took off Sunday with a local not for profit, Quetzaltrekkers, who organize hikes and use the proceeds to fund a school for street kids as well as a group home. They put us on a chicken bus, a converted school bus with a roof rack, and drove us two hours to a big truck where all of us climbed in and rode to a tiny little town where we were able to take part in a temescal, a traditional mayan way to bathe. Essentially it is just a small cement doghouse that three people climb into along with hot coals and a tub of hot and cold water. Think a smokey mixture of sauna and sponge-bath, in the dark. Check another thing off the list I suppose.

In the morning we hiked up the tallest non-volcanic peak in Central America, a fun hike with some fun people that ended up with some incredible views looking out over the clouds. I don't think I've ever seen sky that blue. After stopping by a lake for lunch we climbed down and ended up in the small town of Todos Santos (All Saints). We got into this sleepy village around dusk and only had time to eat and change before heading out to the Peacecorps Halloween Party where I was lucky enough to run into my dad's friend's daughter Leah. Small world. As fun as the party was, it was nothing to prepare us for what was to come. When we woke up at 8 on Monday morning, this sleepy little town had turned into the craziest place on earth. 

Todos Santos is famous for its horse race that it holds every year on day of the dead, also known as All Saints day. Yes the town is named after the day, and they are the center of celebration for Nov 1. in Guate. This horse race consists of men in traditional garb racing horses up and down a 1/8 mile track for 9 hours straight... Oh. And they do this while piss drunk. Stepping outside our front door in the morning we could see the racers heading to the start line, still drunk from the night before. None of them were capable of directing their own horses, so they had a guide walking their horse for them, some of the riders were even passed out on their horses on their way to the race. 

 

You see, in the times of the Spanish conquistadors, the Spanish would not allow the mayans to ride horses, so one day a year they would race these horses piss drunk to show that they could. A giant middle finger to the Spanish. What could make this race more crazy you ask? How about riding without any hands? Its also good luck for someone to die during the race. Needless to say accidents happened. Lots of people fell off, a few were trampled, one had his horse collapse through the fence and pin him to the ground... and then four oclock comes around. During the last hour some riders are given a chicken in place of their whip. A live chicken. I don't know why. No one does. But it just takes the race to next level crazy, to see men at full gallop, so drunk they can barely stay conscious, with no hands on the horse and a chicken in one. It is simply beyond explanation. There is nothing I can compare this race to.

Once the race is over things don't calm down either. There is dancing of Marimba and drinking and more drinking. I have never seen that many people passed out on the street or in the mud, but they sure don't let that put a damper on their celebrations. While Pat and Colin were enjoying the company of some of our newly made friends, Billy, myself and a few more UK gentlemen walked around town. Billy and I ended up meeting a very friendly Guatemalan who insisted he give us beers and dance with us.

The next morning the party continues at the cemetery with a bizarre mixture of partying and mourning. Tears and alcohol, music and dance. It felt incredibly strange to be there as a tourist but I was definitely worth seeing. Definitely an experience to remember. 

 

After two more days in Xela, getting things sorted and saying our goodbyes, off we went towards Guate City to meet my cousin and her boyfriend there. The people were lovely, but Guate city will not be remembered fondly by me. What we saw was largely a huge, predominantly ugly city. Poorly maintained with little real feel to it. Then again after two days I'm not sure its fair to make that assertion, but I'm in no hurry to return. I left feeling like I'd been smoking to packs a day and had a stress ulcer from the traffic.

From Guate city we moved off towards Honduras with a splendidly unexciting ride through some beautiful mountains. The only hiccup occurred when we rounded a band to find that a bridge had been totally washed out. So with our first chance to see how our bikes took to water we were able to drive across with little fanfare. The border built on a delightfully dull day, being the fastest and most painless border crossing we've had since the States.

That brought us to En La Manzana Verde, In the Green Apple, a hostel in Copan Ruinas where we spent two days acclimatizing to Honduran life with some other travellers. We also checked out the ruins of Copan, apparently the Paris of the ancient Mayans. It was pretty impressive, no arc de triumph though. Despite the lack of massive roundabouts it was very impressive to see the buildings, the statues and the ball court. Our tour guide even explained and show us carvings that suggest that the Mayans had figured out that the earth rotates around the sun back in the 700's. It was really interesting to see how the ability of the craftsmen became more and more refined through the generations of the dynasty, creating amazingly complex pieces of stone using only a stone chisel.

While we were at in the Green Apple we also met some German girls and another girl from California, all great people so we decided it would be nice to all cook a big dinner of a vegetarian orientation. This made me feel incredibly healthy until the after dinner 1L (6 cent) cigars came out for their rounds. Eventually we got told to go to bed, probably a good idea as we were the only ones of our group that would not be waking up for a 6 or 7 oclock bus. With noone interesting left at the hostel, and having seen all of Copas Ruinas we decided today to continue on our weary way, making our way to Gracias, the one time capital of all of Central America. Gracias is a really pretty little town with a lot of colonial influence. Not much going on here though so we venture tomorrow towards Tegucigalpa and then on towards Nicaragua! Another update will come when, like tonight, I have tubes capable of accepting both text and photos at the same time.

Bray