South America and back on a 250 Super Sherpa Minimalist Adventure

John:


I think it's better to be behind. Now that I've caught up reading, I have to wait in line . . .

enjoy your day. Can't wait to see the Jams with Flames with you in it . . .


bob

Ah bob, even Alain's toddler is covering her eyes.

Stay well Juanito, looking forward with anticipation.

Hi John and fellow lurkers:

I am wondering how the showers work at Alain's and the other hotels where you have been staying? I woke up this morning and tried to take a shower at the US chain hotel where I am staying and as usual the EPA restricted stream barely got me damp. The toilet did not flush very effectively either, but that may be a personal problem related to too much pizza last night.

So anyway--back on topic. How is the quality of life in Mexoco these days overall? Is Mexico a better place to live than the USA, while the USA is a better place to earn some pesos? I remember a couple of times in this ride report where you have met men who worked in the USA for a while, only to return home. Many other men that I have met on job sites in Texas live in the USA and send money home to family in Mexico. Perhaps this is a great strategy that a few of our fellow ADV inmates are already using--earn money in the USA/live in Mexico.

I think John has a lower cost of living than many of us since he has arranged his life rather frugally in Basset, NE. Anyway... this is just a small thread hijack to allow general thoughts by John about life in Mexico vs. life at home.
I could see myslef living in Mexico some day, especially if the showers work. Mexico is home? If so... what part of Mexico? I am really torn between beach bum and lobsters vs. mountain twisty roads.

Hi Bob,

Pete's right. Like lipstick on a pig, jams with flames on a Nebraska contractor who has been in full gear for 6 weeks and 7,000 miles with a tan to match is not a pretty sight. I didn't take my camera to the beach since the pawn shop in San Antonio was out of 20 dollar waterproof digital cameras. You will be tortured by your own mental images I'm afraid.

Suerte,
Juan

Hi RA,

The toilets at Alains are old school 5 gallon and flush like when I was a kid. He has hot water heaters and the showers work fine as well.

Mexico is improving each time I come down here. Even since two years ago there are more decent places to stay. The thing is the prices have risen to match. What used to be a 150 peso place is 250 now. That may not sound like much but Guatemala is way cheaper than Mexico.

You have to travel to an area and see for yourself. I personally enjoy traveling and I like working and being useful at home as well, so a semi-nomadic lifestyle suits me fine. The hobo lifestyle gets old for me after a while and I like going back to doing creative construction to earn enough for the next trip.

This just isn't possible for most folks with a job and family responsibilities. The only way I have found is to keep a low overhead cheap paid for home in Nebraska with dirt cheap property taxes and shut it down when I leave.

Living in a foreign country sounds good on paper but it gets old for most people after 6 months or so. I suggest people go rent a place in the foreign country that interests them and see for themselves before making any big expensive lifestyle changes.

Saludos,
Juanito

Took it easy today relaxing in Bacalar. Took a stroll down to the beach again this afternoon as a storm was moving in. Here's the old stone Spanish fort down by the waterfront with cannons long silent:



It's nicely restored and built for strength. It could have taken some hits from pirate ship cannons no problema. The moat around it is about 15 feet deep. Never held water just a defensive obstacle. This would have been the view the pirates had heading up the hill from the beach with cutlases in their teeth:



and hopefully some pretty dang tall ladders. Here's the view out to where the pirate ships would have been anchored:



Walking back towards town I saw this guys work everywhere. Very distinctive thin stones pressed into mortar joints. He was a busy guy. There was a lot of his work around town and others that tried to copy him but lacked his style. At first I didn't like it but it's growing on me after two days:



This guy is another story. He tried to hide his really awful work with carefully done fake mortar joints. This would have taken him longer than doing a good job in the first place:



One owner liked his fake mortar joints so well he painted them school bus yellow for a spiderman effect:



like swimming trunks with flames on a Nebraska contractor or 400 pound people in short shorts at Walmart, some things you see in life are less aesthetically pleasing than others.

I went down to the market around the corner and bought some fruit:



to tide me over until the hamburger guy opened up his cart down the street. He opens at 7PM and does a brisk business. Last night I had a 2 hamburguesas con papas fritas y una coca (2 hamburgers with fries and a coke) for 57 pesos. First hamburger I've had since I stayed with Throttlemeister in Oklahoma way back when. I am heading down there again right now.

I will have spent 207 pesos or $16.56 today on food and lodging.

Buenos noches amigos,
Juanito

Jdowns: "Living in a foreign country sounds good on paper but it gets old for most people after 6 months or so. I suggest people go rent a place in the foreign country that interests them and see for themselves before making any big expensive lifestyle changes." THIS. I've lived in a few 1st world countries, and enjoyed it, but if you don't speak the language and make friends fast, you get lonely... IMHO. A rental in a foreign country for 3 or 4 months, then running back home would be ideal. My goal is to have a few rentals in the States, run away for 3 or 4 months, then bounce back... take care of business. I find the US of A to be about as cheap for the quality as you can get... people just want and expect too much, and often, you can't find that for cheap in other countries.... Mexico included. Quality and safety cost... I live in a house that cost me 48k, 4 years ago in a somewhat ghetto neighborhood, close to Atlanta... they stole my 1997 DR650 in April... part of the cost you pay... this place has saved me over 38,000 dollars in rent/mortgage over 4 years versus my intown house that I now rent out... the moto was valued at 2k and got me to the Copper Canyon and back last December... In a few years I plan on renting a place ON the beach in Central America, probably Honduras or Guatemala, for a few months and just laying low, and riding out when I feel like it.... JDowns, thanks for your RR, they are hard to do and keep up with. My RR to Copper Canyon was decent I thought, but it was really, really tough keeping up with it.... http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=745618 you are doing a great job and keeping us entertained to boot! Thanks! Ride Safe and keep on Writing! Gentri in GA PS I traveled in Mex. Central and S. America for over a year solo, backpacking... curious to know how good your Spanish is and where you learned it... I've read a lot of your RR, but may have missed that. G

being further south I cannot wait for you to catch up! great ride report!
Mike

Hi Gentri in GA,

I think you have the right idea. Monthly rentals are cheap on tropical beaches in Nicaragua and Honduras. Most people forget that maintenance on a tropical getaway is quite high. Let someone else do it. When I lived in Hawaii and did landscaping new semi-retired people were always surprised to learn that the bouganvillea hedges grow a foot or two a month. Some would come back the next year to their vacation homes and the landscaping would be growing over the roof.

The cost of living in rural Nebraska is lower than anywhere I have seen down here. And you don't have to lock your doors in Bassett. There's something to be said for a safe home base surrounded by friendly people who speak the same language and get your bad jokes.

But in the winter if you want to lean into corners all day, check out ruins of ancient civilazations, hang out on beautiful sandy beaches in 80 degree weather, and catch some waves in warm aqua waters, Nebraska is not the place to be.

So I like your idea of spending most of your time in Georgia and heading south for the winter to a sunny beach in Centro America.

Thats what a lot of retired people do down here. After Thanksgiving with their kids and grandkids at their home in the U.S., head south and hang out until Easter somewhere in the tropics.

Kindest regards,
John Downs

Hi miguelitro,

I look forward to visiting the beaches in Equador. It's only about 1500 miles as the crow flies. Which means probably 5000 miles the way I seem to wander around. I should be able to make it to Equador this trip if the bike keeps running and I don't run out of money. We'll see.

Saludos,
Juanito

Had a restful day hanging out in Bacalar yesterday. The weather in Belize doesn't look good. So my current plan for today is to double back and head down to Guatemala. Belize will have to wait for another day. You can't see everything on a single trip. I have only scratched the surface of Mexico riding 4000 miles all over the place in the last month. And Mexico is so close to home it is an easy place to travel.

I am still looking for this dangerous Mexico everyone talks about back home. I sure haven't found it. I'm still looking. All I have found is friendly helpful people, lots of great mountain riding leaning into curves, interesting historic towns, ruins of ancient civilizations and beautiful tropical beaches. But I will be back to Mexico many times more hopefully so maybe I'll find the dark side someday. Not this trip though.

OldPete was kind enough to send me a PM with a link to post #206 on this ride report:

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=810189&page=14

Looks like a fun back way to Tikal. I think that is where I'll head this morning. So I checked out the exchange rate today and it is around 8 quetzals to the dollar. Which is easy to remember. A quetzal is worth about 12 cents or 50 per cent more than a peso.

The currency hasn't changed since last trip two years ago:



the green 1 quetzal bill is worth 12 cents, the brown and purple 5 quetzal bill is worth 60 cents, the red 10 is a buck 20, dark blue 20 is $2.40 and the maroon 100 quetzal bill is worth 12 bucks.

You don't want anything bigger than a 100 in rural Guatemala when you change money. Also they are really picky about ripped and slightly torn bills in Guatemala so you have to check every one people hand you in change and give back the ripped ones or you will have a hard time using them.

The coins look like this;



The coins in Guatemala are much easier to tell apart than the Mexican peso coins. the one Quetzal is worth 12 cents but I just think of it as a dime even though it's bigger than a quarter. The 50 centavo coin I think of as a nickel. The 10 centavo is a penny and anything less I don't care about.

So as soon as this place gets unlocked its time to book out of here and see what the jungles of northern Guatemala look like. I doubt if I'll make it too far since it's 300 miles to Tikal with a border to cross.

more later….

Saludos,
Juanito

Glad #206 was of some help Juanito. I like quiet crossings into Mexico.
I haven't crossed since 2000 and really liked Tecate but I was told it did close for awhile.
Guess they had to build it up after The HSA of 2002. Used to be just a big phone booth. It is reopened BTW.

I'll continue to forward any current info I read as you have little time, like hours, to read RRs.

Best Regards,
OldPete

edit: This is in the background as I read jungle rides. It might relax you at night... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOBzSxFK8E0

I like your stone mason outlook on architecture. It sets this report apart from others that have traveled the same places and took pictures of the same structures. Your more focused on the details most don't even notice. Thanks for sharing.

Hi gbacque,

Glad to have you along and nice you enjoy my unique perspective on travel.

I try to throw in information that I would find useful if I were reading this report. But I do tend to go off on tangents.

Kindest regards,
John Downs

Buenos noches mi compadres,

I left Bacalar over on the Carribean coast of the Yucatan this morning and rode west through Quintana Roo, and Campeche. It was a long and rather straight ride. After 170 miles I stopped for gas in the lovely town of Escarcega (Ess-car-SAY-ha). As I pulled into the Pemex station the back tire pulled to the side. Yikes! another flat. Well not really flat but getting there. Very fortunate to happen in the biggest city along the way. So I aired it up and whipped around to see if I could find a better tube than the cheap chinese spare I bought in Bacalar a few days ago. There was a repuestos de moto shop just down the street with a V-strom parked out front. Not a sight you see often down here. He had a heavy duty Kenda for 230 pesos. Still Chinese but I figured the patch job Joaqin had done lasted for several hundred more miles than mine did so it was time to splurge on a decent tube. And no doubt riding like hell in a straight line on hot sunny straight roads all day and pounding over the macho topes of Campeche hadn't helped the poor patch out too much.

Tires and tubes are waaaay expensive in Mexico. Not a great country to get caught out. So I paid the equivalent of $18.50 for the tube and it almost tapped me out, I had been planning on making it to the Guatemalan border on my last few hundred pesos. Hah! Fat chance.

So I rode down to the nearest Cajero Automatico (ATM) and withdrew 1000 pesos figuring that I would have to spend the night somewhere since dicking around and changing the tube had cost me an hour.

I continued on another 150 miles through the states of Campeche and Tabasco. Just inside the border of Chiapas I turned towards Guatemala on state road 203. A two lane patched paved road typical of backcountry Mexico. I looked in my Guia Roji Mexico road atlas this morning and this road I'm on turns to dirt and ends before the border according to them. So apparently it is a recent improvement with a relatively new aduana and banercito at the border in El Ceibo. I'll find out tomorrow..

After turning onto 203 I hit the town of Emiliano Zapata after a few miles. Here's the bronze statue of E.Z. on the edge of town:



Land and Liberty. Sounds good to me. Nice friendly folks these Zapatista revolutionaries. Industrious too. They were tearing up the sewers and the detour took me away from 203 somehow. You need to take a right somewhere that isn't marked but I found it after not too long wandering around. The sun had set and it was dusk. This is the country road heading out of E.Z. at twilight. I lightened it in iPhoto so it would show up:



It headed along a huge river wider than a football field. At first I thought it was a lake. It got dark quickly on the way to Tenosique (ten-oh-SEE-kay). They have the road torn up so it was interesting riding. Hopefully it will be paved by the time you ride to Tenosique in the dark. The city is much bigger than i was expecting considering it is in the middle of nowhere. The prices for hotels are high though. I checked three and they all wanted over 300 pesos. So I chose the Luz de luna since that is what I rode in on.

There doesn't seem to be anything from the Guatemalan border through the jungle for the first 100 miles or so. I'll let you know what I find tomorrow. Hope to get an early start before the alleged narcotrafficantes are up and at-em. So far it looks like a neat, quiet, hassle free back door border crossing to Tikal.

Tricepilot PM'ed me that I need to man up and do the Indiana F'n Jones hike to El mirador through the jungle to the ruins northwest of Tikal. I think he's right. So my plan as of this evening is to go check out Tikal ruinas and then see if I can find a poor mans route to El Mirador. It's only 20 miles each way so not sure why it should take 5 days hiking on mule trails. I sure can't afford the 280.00 gringo price. But I think if I show up at the trail head in Carmelitas with food, water and gear I can find a local guide cheap and stash the bike for a few days. I'm looking into it this evening and I'll let you know what I find out.

The internet is slow as molasses out here so I will spare you the other photos of long straight roads that continue to the vanishing point.

Hasta mañana mi amigos de aventura,
Juanito

Good job John.

Please don't ride after dusk.

You know in September I hit a cow in Baja and have two broken hands, no riding until next year.

Be safe. Be good to yourself.

Sorry about your manos. No wonder you hate cows. I remember weaving around the black cows out on the highway for some evening warmth down south of La Paz. And yes it is not a good idea to ride at night south of the border. I don't recommend anybody try it. As for myself, well, riding at night is dangerous anywhere. It is dark 12 hours of the day down here. I only sleep 6. I'll try to dick around on the internet more and ride less at night.

Saludos,
Juan

I love riding at night in Latin America. I get off on it actually. The fact that people say "you should never do it" makes it all the more fun. The most exciting was in Nicaragua riding in 7 hours of darkness getting to Managua. I almost got kilt about a dozen times, and it was fun! I saw shit there that would make Austin Vince cry like a little bitch.

Its not for everyone, but I love doing it and it keeps me on my game. What doesnt kill you makes your stronger right? Or what doesnt kill you just hurts really, really bad? Fuck all that bullshit that people tell you. Live your own life. Ride your own ride.

Good on ya Juanito. Cabron, you are livin the dream amigo. Que le vaya bien, puta!

Oh I'm a Daredevil, just a Daredevil with two broken hands. Do what ever you want...if you don't mind someone having to wipe your ass for a while