Friday, October 19, 2007

Moving Through the Funnel

Nachos and Iced Tea, Honduran Style
Just a small update from Liberia, Cost a Rica. After we left San Marcos de Ocotopeque, we headed toward Danli, near the border to Nicaragua. While we dined in the hotel Granada, where we were staying, we met Tim from the UK. Most travelers on the PanAm route must come through here, so it becomes somewhat of a funnel. We agreed to move on as a group of four.
We crossed into Nicaragua the next morning , it went fairly smooth and we headed for the town of Granada. After a little encounter with the National Police and a local bullfighter wannabe (see Sean’s Blog, it makes me look good ) we settled on a swank hotel downtown.
Today, Oct 19, we headed for the Costa Rican border in the rain. Along the way we picked up another rider from the UK, Reg, who is on a little faster pace than us, but crossed the border with us. The Nicaraguan and Costa Rican officials and the “tramitadores” or helpers tried to totally ruin our day, but we wouldn’t let them. After 3 ½ hours we finished our processing and headed on to Liberia in the pouring rain. We are staying in the Hotel Boyeros and ordered in Papa Johns pizza and cold beer while we listen to the heavy rain continue. Aaaahhh, life is good.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Honduras

Roasting marshmallows over a camp stove (don´t worry mom, it´s unleaded gas)



The highway near San Marcos, the one in Honduras


Let me see, is the hot on the left or the right?

For the past days we have had the sublime pleasure of staying with Liz, a friend of Sean, who lives in San Marcos, a little town in Honduras. She and her wonderful friends have made these days so great. The food and conversations and roof and shower define hospitality. When you read some of what Sean and Landon have written about our time here, you will know why we plan to come back when we return through Central America. Tomorrow we resume traveling. I will miss this place.

On a trip like this, not everything goes as planned. Some of the possibilities can even wake you up in the middle of the night. Larry, a friend who likes to travel ´close to the earth´, put it well when he said that people sign up for the travel tours because they don´t want any surprises. The problem is that they eliminate most of the good surprises as well as the bad. Well, here is an example of the kind of surprise that keeps the group travel industry in business.

We were just coming out of the mountains, minding our own business, driving down the first straight patch of highway at about 45 miles per hour (which is actually a daunting speed after spending five hours doing hairpin curves) . All of the sudden I was startled by what sounded like a mower shredding a tree stump on the left. I applied the brakes and looked in the mirror. There was my left saddle bag, filled with cooking and camping gear, sliding face down on the pavement, like it was trying to pass me on the road. I felt like a parent, exasperated at such an act of disobedience but grateful that we were not being met by an oncoming lumber truck. We came to a stop, side by side, both a little worse for the wear. I´ve learned to be more careful when attaching the luggage, and I use a bungee cord now.

Perhaps the least appreciated of the senses is smell. I´ve been asked ¨If you had to give up one of your senses would it be seeing or hearing?¨ I´ve never been asked ¨Which would you rather loose, your ability to see or to smell.¨ But I´m guessing that fragrances more important than we realize, maybe because we are largely unaware of them. It´s almost like an ambush. Some experts say that falling in love has to do more with fragrance than appearance.

One of the reasons I still ride on two wheels, even after a serious accident, is because it lets you get in on the smells. We were riding through a mountain village a few days ago and passed a truck loaded with freshly cut lumber. The aroma was transporting. It carried me away to lumber yards and new houses, cedar chests, childhood toys and furniture stores. I would have missed that if I would have been riding around in a bus. I would have passed the gardenias and ears of corn simmering in uncovered pots without even noticing. I would never have known that grilled chicken was being served in the house on the corner. I´ve realized that nothing says ¨Come on in¨ better than passing a hotel smelling of PineSol. And nothing says ¨We´re getting ready to go somewhere¨ like the vapors of a choked motor.

All these are missed if the AC is cranked up and you´re looking through glass. And what the nose picks up doesn´t have to be appealing. If your on a bike even the dead horse on the side of the road still has the power to give you something. The smell has what it takes to get through with the reminder that life is short and, except for the tender mercy of God, you really can´t count on too many things in this life. In the heavenly city, with its streets of gold, I'm hoping we don´t have to take a cab to get where we need to go. We would miss the fragrance of the charcoal fires in the kitchens, the new wine uncorked for breathing, the Jasmine hanging from the pearly gates, the incense and freshly laundered garments being pressed for the celebration.

Anyway, that´s why I still ride a bike.

Enough of that for now.

The People You Meet

The highway in Honduras. note the missing guardrail and pavement
Sean and Lou bringing up the rear. In line, uphill, 10-15 mph.

Lou says ¨¡Yo estoy feliz!¨


A trip like this would be fast and easy if all you had to do was fill gas and find hotel rooms, but some days aren´t that easy.



When we arrived in San Christbal de las Casas we must have ridden through a puddle of paint, because the left leg of my fancy leather pants and my left boot were covered in purple paint. After dinner I walked by a shoe repair shop and asked if he could help me out. I ended up spending nearly an hour talking to Jorge Santiz Gomez , the owner of the Reparacion de Calzado at Nabarro No 7. It was interesting how we both tried to express our opinions, even though we didn't have a common language. I left with a little better understanding of Mexican culture and a really clean pair of boots.



When Lou's R100R started needing to be push started, I was pretty sure there wasn't too much to worry about. A short call on skype to Mikey at Martindale Motorcycle and a quick change of the regulator, and we were back in business........ until we found part two. Lou's battery had jumped out of the battery box and had been rubbing against the back tire for probably 500 miles, wearing a nice tire shaped hole in the battery case. We spent most of Monday morning walking the streets of tiny San Marcos de Ocotopeque and inquiring at more than seven businesses, only to find our best bet was a bus ride to nearby Santa Rosa de Copan. Fortunately, a local Peace Corp volunteer ,Connie, had the morning off and graciously guided us around during the morning. In the afternoon we boarded a "chicken bus" for S R. We went to a recommended auto parts store, who didn't have one, but loaded the four of us (this time Sean's friend Liz was guiding) in his SUV and drove us all over town until we found a suitable replacement. Funny how the place we ended up at reminded me of Mikey's. After buying the battery, the parts house owner even had someone drive us back to the other side of town so we could get some groceries. Everyone says he must have been from El Salvador. Oh well, he was very kind to us.



Some days the kindness of strangers is really amazing.