Two Moto Kiwis Arctic To Antarctic May 2012...

Nah man you will be proud of me, be very contained, no grog for 4 weeks and eating easy soas to avoid the panties shrinking in the robe.

Gotta be good, too easy to explode around the belly :eek1 at 46.

Less talk....more pics. How are the markets? You show the good stuff, some of us may just have a professional interest in the stuff much less appealing to the Norteamericano's tastes.Picky niece was down there for a while last year and she's is coming here in a month. Got to work on her tastes with pics.First stop Chinatown in Victoria....

Ok, due to Pierre pressure (above) this is what has been happening ....

Greetings readers, first off I am very happy to report that my ribs have finally stopped crunching thus I am on the mend, the difference in pain levels between crunching and not crunching is night and day and fair to say enthusiasm levels have increased with it.

So what has been happening? ... nothing extreme but still lots of cool stuff.

We had a Sabado Sushi at a local shop/cafe however the owner didn’t do much advertising so it was very quiet, coupled with that mum nature come to the party and doused Antigua down so this probably didn’t help.









Did this matter? ... hell no ... had HEEPS more Sushi for us, Gene and Neda joined us as well so we shouted them lunch just for fun, later afternoon the roof tarpaulin started ponding and the supporting (lack of) structure was groaning under the weight so we decided to vacate the “swipe “zone and the owner managed to empty the pond and avoid disaster.

Ellens sushi



The shop owner Axle



Even with the weather still going well Gene and Neda had to go so they made these stunning rain coats outa rubbish bags....I think it will catch on.



Some minor custom tailering ... sorry for the photo quality but it is hard to make Gene look good



Gene and Neda invited TMK and team Guaterider to have tea at Casa Ride DOT, Neda was doing a special dish from Croatia.

Samplings of red wine, local chocolates etc and it was a very enjoyable evening all round, Gene and I also swapped movies for the rainy days....somehow we all missed fud photos ...I think we were all to hungry and inspired by the great tucker put in front of us.



Gene and Ellen .... they look more normal than Ellen and I ... h e y Neda



Back to motorcycle stuff now, after all the brake work Maya was ready to race again, nice to see her in the courtyard playing with smaller kids.



I finally got out on Maya for a short ride nearly 5 weeks after our crash, the night prior I checked the front tire pressure as we had a problem with a sticky valve ... pressure was 20 PSI ... bit low but enough for the short ride and around on the cobled streets here.

This my friends is what a really contented look looks like after 5 weeks off her, I slithered across the seat soas no to upset anything in the rib department and the feeling to sit back on the bike was ...actually hard to explain, a combo of for joy and that funny little feeling blokes get when ya go a hot chick and things are warming upppppp :eek1



Well, 6.30am I headed out to Maya ..... front tire TOTALLY flat .... argh fook so out with the pump, good exercise anyway with the hand pump, I could feel my ribs .... tire pumped and ready to race it was a short test the brakes ride and test my body ride, so I left Ellen and luggage at la casa and Maya and I went out.

The brakes worked perfectly with new blood in their veins and new pads on the back, I ended up pulling the front system as well as we had half a bottle of fluid, the front caliper bottom piston was slightly sticky but ok but well worth the service to have everything working how it should with proper adjustment.

I wasn’t very long away but I felt ok body wise, still saw but on the improve but no double backflips just yet, during the ride I noticed the steering was out of line to the left from our binning so I undid the top triples and straightened this up.

Now Mikes favourite bunny has been playing to the audience, spotted here the bunny was giving Ellen some patting lessons .... I think she past but he has a dodgy look on his face....not entirely sure about this tongue thing



He also likes to dig .. who woulda thought eh?, note the second dodgy look on his face along the lines of piss off I am digging



With variable weather here at the turn of seasons we get a mixed bag of weather but some days after the rains we are treated to spectacular view of what Antigua has to offer.

This from our roof top where I took the previous rain and clouds shot, Antigua is stunning.



Today on my ride I passed a ute ... at least I think it was ... the bloody thing was so bent the doors did not shut and the driver and passenger were holding them as closed as they could so I got ahead of and just HAD to take a pic ... I still can’t believe this POS is on the road.



Sunday was an early breakfast with Julio and Luisa, heading outa town there was a disgruntled local who was upset about trucks so he blocked the road COMPLETELY.

Me bein a gringnotunderstandingwhatisgoingon took some photos ... well it seemed he thought I was taking photos to report him and he got right grumpy at me (so I found out later) he took photos of us (hope my hair looked ok) and he duly cleared off soas not to get dobbed in to the feds ... classic didn’t know this until we were sitting down having breaky ... Julio, Luisa and Officer TMK :eek1.



So the place we rode to had great smoked sausages, breakfast was had and sausages were bought and home we went taking back roads and going to a church on the way home to wash our sins away ... unfortunately they didn’t have enough water or trees for me and having to give away money and booze didn't hit my spot.

The LEDs really set it off for me :huh



That afternoon was a celebration of fud and bebes for Gene and Nedas one year on the road....well done guys and nice to share the occasion with you.

No pics of that either :huh .. .starting to think we are all greedy buggas

More to come ..... later.

Goodnight and luv to all

Good to hear everything is on the mend now. Its much same same from the Phills, wet season has arrived here and it feels a bit cooler now. There has been several Tropical Storms but not near us . Its been a real battle to loose the 5kg i put on back in NZ . Im riding 2hrs in morn and 2hrs in evening plus a swim every day . It is slowly coming off , my 2 regular drinking mates are away so havnt had a beer for about 3 weeks now , better have 1 tonight . Take care there and keep the pics and stories coming . Cheers Toddy

Heya Toddy

Great to hear from you mate, sounds like it is all going well there in the Phils.

Yeah losing the weight gets harder with age eh, it is the booze that really does it.

All good here, really looking forward to getting on the road again now, ribs still saw and will be for a while yet I think but able to ride Maya at least short distances and this will improve as I gain ride fitness again

Probably out of Guatemala beginning of July.

Cheers man

Page 5???? :eek1....there you go a little bump.

Will make it easier to find in the next few days when I go back to the slow Internet. Temporarily back today to the quicker one.

Happy Canada Day!

You suck
Not Ellen she's cool but you suck.
i'm going to work tomorrow & gonna make a note to stop & think how much you suck

Things finally happening again WOH HOH

Good afternoon all

With our stay in Antigua nearly to an end we are now counting the days down.

We have enjoyed our stay with raint season throwing in daily spices of super heavy rain, thunder and lightning ... here is Maya sheltered from the shower



Trying to take advantage of having to be stuck in one place we decided to take spanish Iessons.... to be fair I have had a bad run with teachers having been stood up 4 times now. :huh

The first had to go to hospital so couldn’t teach me anymore so I missed that lesson, the second was on deck for three days then her son was crook so she couldn’t turn up (thats ok) and I missed that lesson so she organised to come the Saturday morning and didn’t turn up for that one either for no reason (thats not ok) FFS.

Finally I get another teacher who could come until she couldn’t cos she went to hospital so I missed that lesson too (thats ok ...but)

Here we are at the end of our time in Antigua and I am owed two lessons (picked one up on a Saturday) so I am loosing interest pretty quickly trying to make the most of it here as far as Spanish goes, don’t want to sound like a whiner but FFS this has turned out to be a highlight for me which is great cos it takes my mind off my ribs...but I would not recommend that school to anyone.

So now that my whinge is out of the way we have had some funs things happen, firstly I wanted to get a photo of the Guatemalans blowing stuff up from the BIG cylinders .....well I got my moneys worth here cos they blew one up right beside Maya in the street outside our casa ..... just as well they did not blow the bike up.... see the dude who lit the fuse is still walking away!!





This was the beginning of a big parade down our street and Maya was parked where they were walking thus created a lot of interest and no one seemed worried she was parked there and in fact seems the lads were more interested in Maya than their parade.





We had a second Sushi Saturday which was a success and all rolls were sold bar one, the owner pulled rank and ate it!! .. why not ..bosses privileges .



While here we have had the pleasure of dining out, way more than we do normally mainly because we have Gene, Neda, Julio and Luisa for company which has been great, also Phil and Jane for a night.

On one of the nights we all went out for Friday night fud and drinks, Ellen ordered us a monster pizza with a flip top thingy and it was outstanding to say the least, I don’t think we had eaten that much cheese since leaving the USA.







I have to say if you are broken or need time out to relax and recoup Antigua presents a great option, gezz even if you just want a nice place to hang that is not too spendie then it fits the bill nicely.

On one of our walks we came across this young fella, I love Boxers having been loved by my one Tara for 13 years so a quick cuddle on the street was in order ... he was a nice lad!



A view of Antigua from the cross that overlooks the town



Our final night in Antigua was at Julios, Gene and Neda came around, Julio and Luisa had some couch surfers so another great night was had with some superb cooking by Julio, Gene and Neda did pudding duties and we were in charge of the wine.

While there I sat on Genes 1200 .... nice comparo



A motorcycle and two BMW's



Julios starter .... note Julio had noted my liking for boobies so made a special serving for me



Thanks for the big sendoff guys it was nice, that was Wednesday and I wasn’t coming back for a ride till Saturday so I missed them dearly.

The day we left started out beautifully, Ellen had an early walk with the camera, here is Volcan Fuego have a wee spit



The communal washing facilities



The stunning colour and views from in town



We left Antigua just as it started raining and snuck out under cloud cover to beat the rain ... excellent timing, our mission was to make it to GC (Guatemala City) unassisted by ambulance Police or military ... bit of ask but we completed our 37 km journey without upsetting anyone and the only thing we broke was a record of getting there alone.

Next week we head to El Salvador and our normal life will resume, this I am really looking forward to but in between times we have plans for GC and actually enjoying the city and surroundings.

Thanks Pierre ... we had lost it

Was gonna post it up earlier but we have not had Wifi since last Thursday.

Does that excuse cover it or do I need a note from the teacher (if she turns up )

Don't sugar coat it Padders come straight out with it

Nutha report coming prolly tomorrow so getting lotsa practice sucking

Fantastic news that the rest and recuperation have done the business and you are ready to resume the tour of duty! We've all been hanging out for the day.

"A motorcycle and two BMWs"! I LOVE IT!

Must be a perspective thing. I see 2 BMW's and a bodged up, shortened down, fatted out piece of orange shite that some use the acronym KTM (Killing Time with Maintenance) to describe.

But if you leave it at my place I will ride it for you.

Heya Pete, yeap FINALLY get to head away, really love Guatemala and will come back here for sure.

Next couple of days we will be off to Ele Salvador.

.. gotta have a dig when ya can

(Don't tell anyone but I sat on an F800GS Adventure here in Gautemala the other day and it tingled me in the right spots)

((Don't tell Maya ))



Still lovin Maya tho ... she is cool to ride and goes well

Keeps Taking Money .... are don't they all.

Sat on the GS, liked it then thought, it only needs adjustable forks and and and argh here we go again

Keeping The Motovation which Maya does and she sound and rides nice and the grin still get place in the appropriate place like this guy --->

I don't know if she is certified to fly over 118 degrees mate will have to check that out .. in between time we will ride her

Ha! I thought that was solely E's perogative!

Good to see you back on the road Kiwi.

Sent from my GT-I9305T using Tapatalk 2

No need for a teacher's note.....was just waiting for you guys to hit the road for a celebratory meal. Would you like potatoes or rice with the Rack of Lamb Au Jus, extra garlic (roasted) and spiced bread crumbs topping????Lots of butter in that. The best I insist on New Zealand lamb.

Mexicorn with that? Sorry out of the freezer we are short on fresh stuff. Busy day tomorrow fixing that.

Can you stop posting them happy looking people on and around motorcycles.....I find that very demeaning to the ones of us stuck somewhere earning a living and nowhere to go less we swim real good.

Better go watch the lamb....and work on my CG in an hour or so.

Love that 1st pic of the last report. Even the bike doesn't like going out on rainy days

Now that you've done the miles & been thru a few bikes what do you reckon you'd take for your next RTW? What would you do different?

I'm only asking cos i've found a failsafe system of winning the Lotto - I've been working on it for 20 years