South America by Geezer

LOL, thanks for that. I don't know if this will ever get caught up. I think I was up to about a week behind, now I'm slipping again. Maybe I should have stayed another week or two in San Pedro.

Day 34-36 - Nov 9-11

Been riding down through the interior and have for the most part been in various versions of cold. I’m thinking to myself that I’ve been in Mexico for almost 3 weeks and have not seen the ocean nor felt the warmth of the coast. Hmmm, I’m near one of my favorite beaches so, what harm could come from taking a jaunt over to Zipolite? So I did. The trip over is great once you get into the mountains – spectacular road and spectacular scenery.


Stopped for breakfast at a roadside restaurant. Eggs, beans, OJ and a huge plate of veggies. In these remote towns, still cook with wood.





Got a little of the ride report updated – the toughest part was getting the internet at the hotel to not have a hiccup for an hour and a half or so as I tried to upload a video. Would get about 80-90% done then crap out. Third time was the charm. Videos are a pain in the ass! If I ever get this ride report caught up, I may throw in some more videos.


Had excellent Chiles Rellenos at one of the main street restaurants


To show how laid back the town is, kids want to play volleyball at night, no lights on the beach so, string the net across the far end of main street . . . not a lot of evening traffic.


Staying at Posada Mexico – took an overpriced room with its own bathroom – no hot water, don’t need it as the cold is luke warm – bed is a pad on boards, slept like a baby. I could stay longer.
Up those starirs


Covered moto parking


Random beach shot


Evening at the hotel restaurant

Day 37 - Nov 12

I don’t know why I keep doing this to myself – down to $120p. So, first stop out of town is the bank machine in Puerto Angel . . . not operating . . . Bancomer again.

Carried on to Pachutla. Waiting at a stoplight and some guy on a loaded KLR pulls up beside me and says "hi." He's heading to the bank machine also (and knows where it is) so I follow him. Turns out Chris is from Alaska – works for a tour company so has the winters off. Was also just in Zipolite with his girlfriend.

We are both going the same direction so decide to ride together. Great roads today – first Hwy 200 was real twisty for a long time. Then got real straight and real real windy - lots of windmills. Gusty then steady. Finally started climbing up in the mountains and had a great twisty road again.

In one city we had to ride through, come up to a big roundabout with traffic backed up. Lots of traffic turning around so thought it was an accident. Worked our way up and found some sort of protest or strike going on in the roundabout. Lots of yellow shirts and flags – road blocked by taxi’s all over the place. Just kept easing our way up and finally one of the striker/protesters shrugs and steps back to let us through the melee – off we go.

I had my eye on stopping in the little town of Juiqipilas as I didn’t think there was any sense in hurting body parts getting to San Cristobal – Chris decided to carry on. Plus I wanted to check out Cañon de Sumidero outside of Tuxtla Gutierrez.

Had found Hotel Las Rosas on the internet and so identified it from the maps I had found. Right down town – cool. Got to where it was supposed to be and all I could find was a pharmacy – asked the ladies in the Pharmacy and they directed me up about 10 blocks . . . then ask someone there. Did that and was sent another 2 km down a road. Got to the end where it joined back to the highway. Asked a bunch of people in a taco stand – they all want to help and as usual, will give you an answer even if they have no clue. I heard everything from go 12 km back to the last town, go 8 km the other way to the next town . . . finally one guy steps up and says go back a couple of blocks. Sure enough – drove right by it – about 2 blocks off the main road.

Great place - $350p






Go looking for a store to buy some beer. Little tienda next to the hotel – guy looks at me and says ‘how can I help you?” Huh? Don't expect to hear much English in these little towns. Mike – brother to the lady who owns the hotel.


Anyhow, Mike is real chatty. Doesn't sell beer but takes me to some other stores to find me a beer – and finally find one lady that kind of sells quart bottles of Corona out of her back door.

Went out later to find some food. Apparently the hotel’s restaurant isn’t open Mondays. Walking past Mike’s and he asks what I’m up to – tell him I’m going to get some tacos or something. He rousts one of his kids and has him take me to a friend’s place who made excellent tacos.

Wander back and Mike gets me a chair so I can sit and chat with him and all his amigos who wander by. Real character. In the US for thirty some odd years – worked at all sorts of jobs. Now has a new wife and 3 beautiful kids. Owns his little store and a few acres that he grows corn on. Grinds the corn and sells it for chicken feed.

Day 38 - Nov13

Left Juiqipilas to Tuxtla Gutierrez to see the elusive Cañon de Sumidero. Was there last winter and it was a real cluster . . . um mess trying to find the right road with the GPS. Tuxtla is a good sized city so, choosing the correct off “ramp” to get on the correct one way street is a bit of an art. Only got in the wrong lane once this time.

Cañon de Sumidero is a National Park located above the city. Get up to the toll booth to get in and . . . the frickin thing is closed . . . again! I tried to get in last winter but it was closed for weeks for road work. WTF? Go and ask a guy and he tells me it is closed for road work (again) today (like the sign says) and tomorrow. Oh well.


I do recall reading that there is apparently a boat you can take up the river/lake inside the canyon. Go find where the road crosses the river and might be a boat there.

Get close to the river, see a sign to the Embarcadero and down this ratty road that turns rattier and finally drops down on this concrete parking lot. Ask the guy there if they give boat tours – yes they do and it is only $2000p and they will leave anytime because I’ll be the only one on the boat. Jeebus – that seems like a lot for a boat ride. Well I need a little more cash so I’ll be right back . . . mmmkay? As I’m climbing back up the ratty road I notice other boats in the river with people in them.

Check out the other side of the river and find a bit more activity. Pull into one place and yes they have boats going. Get my bike secured as much as possible and head down. Have to wait for 12 people to show up . . . takes a good hour for that to happen. Finally off.

For a loading dock, just fiberglass over an old boat



Cactus growing out of the side of cliffs


Vultures – there were tons of these hanging around waiting for someone to fall off a boat






Hmmm, maybe these guys might beat the vultures to the unfortunate overboard – saw a lot of these in the canyon


I was talking to some Aussies a few days later and they were telling me freshwater crocs are pretty harmless. Really? I don’t think I’ll volunteer as a tester


And even some monkeys


What a spectacular ride. My photos don’t do the canyon justice. It twisted back and forth for about 15 or 20 kilometeres










Came to this thing on the side of the canyon wall that was shaped kind of like a tree


Got closer and discovered it consisted of a bunch of plants and moss





Then discovered the reason this was all here was that it was a waterfall of sorts. This area grew really well with a constant supply of water – had its own bio-system. Looking up - that blurry area is actually some of the water turning to mist and evaporating.


After returning, carried on to one of my top 5 favorite Mexico roads (I think the top 5 list is getting pretty long . . . ) Tuxtla to San Cristobal Libre. As we started to gain altitude again, the temperature plummeted. However, beautiful country. Didn’t bother to stop for pics as I was having too much fun

Arrived in San Cristobal and thought I’d try a different hotel. Hotel Jovel. Nice place – thought parking was closer but turns out about 2 blocks away. Lady running the lot had me park next to her little house in a hole. Was fun getting it out the next morning.

Found one of the places I ate at last time and it was just as good as ever. Get this plate of grilled meats and vegies and about 18 tortillas . . . I needed ‘em all. Damn, it’s good being a gluton!



And, damn, it’s cold here – like 11deg C (52F) – about 12degC in the unheated room. After Zipolite, I have to get acclimatized again or, just may have to go back to Zipolite . . . . .

Day 39 - Nov 14

Got up this morning and decided I’ve had enough of the cold. The forecast was calling for fog but looking out the window . . . blue sky . . . I’m outa here!

Get my bike out of the funky hole I had parked it in last night. The lady running the parking lot wanted me to park it in the carport next to the house/office. Great except you had to go through kind of a ditch to get in so was kinda parked the wrong way in a hole. Took a bit of jockeying to get it out.

Parked by the hotel - most of the streets are like this - some have more traffic. Notice the very nice smooth paving stones. Yessir, put a little water on those and you can have a couple of sphincter clenching moments going around corners. Yikes!


Since I’ll be doing a border crossing today, I wanted an early start but then I discovered my GPS wasn’t working. Took me until 9:30 to get going – a bit past when I wanted to leave if I was going all the way to San Pedro at Lake Atitlan.

Road to the border turned out to be nice and fairly fast – figured it I could get to the border by 12:30, though both sides in half hour to 45 minutes – I’d have a good 4 hours to do the 200+ km to San Pedro. Piece of cake . . .

So, on most trips I keep all my receipts that I accumulate along the way but since this trip is fairly long and could generate substantial paper, I decided to purge the paper pretty aggressively.

Little did I know that the Mexico Migracion guy wouldn’t stamp my passport out unless I could prove I paid for the Tourist Visa when I entered from the US. Of course I didn’t have that receipt figuring that the stamp on the damn Visa card was enough. The guy at the other end won’t stamp it until you present him with a receipt showing you paid for it.

So he told me to go back to the government’s Banjercito and see if they can find a record of my paying. Since the original guy had me pay at a private bank, they didn’t have a record. So, I had to cough up another $20 or so and get another receipt. Thought about just ignoring the exit stamp out but when I got to the Guatemala side, the guy couldn’t find my exit stamp and wasn’t going to stamp me into Guatemala till I showed him where it was. Save a trip back to the Mexican side.

I arrive at the Guatemalan Aduana (to check in my bike), lady said I had to do the passport thing first which was right next door. Took less than 5 minutes to stamp my passport and when I returned to the Aduana, the lady had gone to lunch.

So, now I’m about 2 ½ hours behind schedule. But I still figure I can be most of the way in to San Pedro if not all the way in by nightfall.

After working my way down about a kilometer of this permanent market madness with people, Tuc Tucs and scooters flying all over the place, I finally got on the road.


Along the way in Guatemala, typical vegetable stands along the road


Girl tending her sheep grazing on the roadside


The ride down was wild. Started off with some incredibly spectacular rugged and huge mountains. First 100 km was just an extended town – went on forever with tope after tope (They actually call them Tumulos in Gutemala) and crazy traffic that required passing. Passed a few hotels along the way but still figured I’d be ok for time . . . you can see where this is going, can’t you.

Arrived at the turnoff just at dark. Thought I had about 10km to get to San Pedro. Turned out I had 27 km to go with a drop of 2500 feet of altitude, most of which was in the last 10km. Most of the road seemed to be potholes connected by the odd bit of pavement. Uncountable switchbacks. Lots of Tuc Tucss going up and down the hill. It’s amazing watching them go through these pretty big pot holes (bomb craters) on their little 8” wheels.

Come around one corner and it was a spectacular night view of the lakes and you could see all the little towns lit up . . . a long ways down.

You may recall I have a rule about riding at night . . . needless to say, I was a bit tense when I eventually arrived in San Pedro about an hour and a half late. And, yes dear , I am an idiot!

Find my way into San Pedro looking for a couple of hotels I had jotted down. Figured most of them should be down by the lake so, just keep going downhill. I stop to get my bearings and a guy pulls up on a scooter asks what I’m looking for? And I tell him I’m looking for a hotel. He hollers “follow me” and hauls ass around the corner – by the time I’m approaching, he’s doing a power slide with the scooter and runs to open a gate and wants me to pull my bike in. Have a look at the place – it is fine – less than $10. No internet but that’s ok.

I need a beer!

Day 40-42 - Nov 15-17

Now that I survived the entrance to this great place, I can start to check it out.

Planned to stay 2 nights, stayed 4 and could easily have stayed more.

Ran into a whole whack of other riders here including Chris who I rode with briefly out of Zipolite, fellow inmate Ulyses and Justin who had stopped to say hi to me in Oaxaca. Along with these guys were quite an eclectic collection of bikers from the States and Canada. Had a lot of laughs with these guys.

Here is a pic of the place I stayed at – cost 75 Quetzals a day – that works out to about $9.50. Price is right. Some of the other guys were able to find even cheaper accommodation. Place was fine – had an extra bed for me to spread out my crap on,


Secure parking


and hot water. My first time with the infamous Latin American water heater



that’s it, just a little heater in the shower head “wired” right in there. If you touch it just right you can sometimes get a little tingle . . .

Rosa and Carlos run the place with their kids. Incredibly nice and warm people.





I think I saw one or two conventional taxis in town and it seemed like thousands of Tuk Tuks. You see them everywhere, on the sidewalks, running up and down the streets . . . want to go to the next town up that Godforsaken road with switchbacks? Grab a Tuk Tuk – they will take you there. You feel every single bump and crack in the road cause I swear they have no suspension. So, take a long ride, and you may never walk right again. Pick something up at the store? No problem – if it can fit in or on a Tuk Tuk, they will take it. Here’s an example.


Cram 4 or 5 passengers in and watch them labor up the hills in their low low gear. They are kind of like mosquitoes buzzing around, always there and always buzzing.

Many of the retail businesses are on these paved paths, just wide enough for a Tuk Tuk or motorcycle.







Since I was staying a couple more days, I decided to take a bit of Spanish. Found Casa Rosario Spanish School “off the beaten path” – well you had to go down this path after leaving the little Tuc Tuc paths to get there.






My teacher was Moxi, who like virtually all the other Guatemalans in this town, is a Mayan whose first language is Mayan, her second Spanish and unlike others is learning English. Great lady and I did learn a bit more from her - only had 4 hours. If you are coming to Guatemala to learn Spanish, it’s tough to beat San Pedro.



Here are some random pics of people around town and at the market. Tuk Tuks, motorcycles and people all compete for the same space on the streets


One of the many Chicken Busses


Lady selling dinner


Ladies at the market


Most ladies seem to carry things on their heads



While the men carry them on their back, either with shoulder straps or a big strap around the top of their heads

Wow, Great Report!!! That would be me--down there flying blind.... You're having a great ride, even with a few wrong turns. May as well go with it as it seems that it all works out in the end anyway.

I'll be hanging with this one till the end for sure. I'm liking your style.

Thanks for that Larry and for following along. It seems if I'm not making a wrong turn, I'm forgetting something so I've had to learn to roll with it and it seems to work out in the end.

Day 43 - Nov 18

After the ride down that hill into San Pedro in the dark a few days ago, I had all sorts of images in my mind about getting out of there. It's amazing what a difference a bit of daylight makes . . . the huge fields of massive potholes were not that big and a breeze to navigate through when you can see. The corners that seemed to drop off to nothing were just switchback corners, no big deal. Lesson learned? Um, yah sure . . .

Stopped at this little place where the San Pedro road joins the highway for some breakfast. Had eggs and carnitas (chunks of pork) . . . really good






See Lake Atitlan in the distance below the volcano


Small farms along the way are well organized, seem relatively prosperous and were really pretty





The roads in Guatemala are either incredible or crap. These 4 lane concrete twisted highways are a blast - the most fun a person can have on a 4 lane road. I stopped and tried to get a little video of chicken buses on the highway. (Ok, so I wasn't going to do any more video, but this is a little one) The truck is being careful of his load, the bus has something chasing him . . . in his mind.



It's hilarious to see two of these guys bent over as one passes the other on one of these corners - well, it's hilarious except when it's a two lane road and they are passing/racing and some big ol Gringo motorcycle is doing his best to create a little 6 inch lane for himself going the other way. You get the picture. Always seems to work out though . . .

Arrive in Antigua - not the smoothest cobble stone streets. Cars, Tuk Tuks and scooters all over the place. Looked for a few hotels, finally found Casa Rustica - about a block from the Zocolo. Great place - chose a smaller room on the ground floor, well organized so lots of room to spread out my crap, good WiFi in the room, secure parking - had me park in the lobby and good coffee and beer available at the front desk. Perfect! Nice setting. Was an old house converted to a hotel. Looking across the back gardens to my room.





Bike in front of the beer cooler


Went for a walk down to the Zocolo about a block away - the main street was a frickin sea of humanity - virtually all tourists. A lot of Guatemalans from Guatemala City, less than an hour away and the rest Gringos and Europeans. It was Sunday so I suspect that added to the crowds.



Some local ladies watching a Mime



Lots of nice restaraunts and clothing and artsy stores, if you are in to that sort of thing.

Went to a restaurant serving Guatemalan fare and had Pepián (Chicken in a bunch of spices cooked in a banana leaf) it was pretty good.

IN!!!! From a great laker

Looking like a great ride so far Rexbuck. The boat trip in the canyon must have been fantastic. What did you end up paying? Stay safe and I hope its warming up.
Jick

Hey Jick - Wound up paying 150 pesos . . . a lot better than 2000

Thanks for the well wishes and yes, it is comfortably warm and, nice and humid.

Welcome aboard Kevy and thanks for following along

Day 44-45 - Nov 19-20

Came back to the hotel and there is a bright yellow Ducati parked behind my bike. An extra person sitting behind the desk – turns out he is the owner - of the bike and the hotel. In fact Daryl and his Guatemalan wife own 8 hotels in Antigua which coincidentally is the same number of motorcycles he owns, here and his other home in Tennessee. Nice guy, likes to ride.

This Hotel was converted from an old house. His hotels range from 1 star (Hostel) to 4 star to accommodate almost everybody's taste and budget. Casa Rustica's webpage - at the bottom are links to their other properties. Based on my experience here, I would recommend any of the properties.

One of the reasons I wanted to come to Antigua was to hike up Pacaya Volcano to see flowing lava . For $10 a bus picks you up at your hotel, drives 2 hours to the Volcano which is on the other side of Guatemala City and brings you back about 6 1/2 hours later.

As we travel through Guatemala City, can see Pacaya in the distance emitting a decent steam cloud


Once the bus goes as far as it can, we then hike (wheeze) up a pretty steep road and trail for over an hour,


walk across lava fields


and stop on that little hump in the middle of this picture, well below the top of the peak. Can see steam issuing from the other side.


So, we walk to the top of the peak to see the lava? Uh, no . . . there actually is no flowing lava. This is it! At that point I’m standing there with my mouth agape (which is not unusual – just not drooling this time) going WTF? What happened to all the flowing lava depicted in the pictures at all the travel agents in town and the glowing descriptions of flowing lava? I even went out and bought a crappy pair of shoes as I’d heard reports of people melting the soles of their shoes on the hot rocks. No danger of slipping into molten magma (said with a Dr Evil flourish) – the greatest danger was stumbling and getting an owie on your shin from the sharp solidified lava.

At this point the guide hauls out a bag of marshmallows (and they were those crappy colored, flavored ones), produces some sticks and finds a couple of holes that are hot enough to cook the nasty little puffers and that’s it. Oh well, nice walk.

One of the “hot holes” for roasting marshmallows - I guess if I really wanted some volcano effect I could have stuck my foot in the hole . . . but decided not to.


It was a spectacular view though. Lights of Guatemala City (Doesn't look dark as the shot was taken with HD mode, whatever that is)



Neighboring volcanoes





Sunset


Here are a couple of pics from around Antigua. The modern churches and streets








One way to keep out unwanted visitors


Antigua was founded in 1543 by the Spanish Conquistadors as the third capital of Guatemala. The previous capital which was a few miles away was largely destroyed by a huge mud flow from Volcan de Agua which is one of the three volcanos overlooking Antigua. The other two volcanoes stand together and one, Volcan Fiero, is constantly active but usually just puffing away. It did have a major eruption five years ago which did not harm Antigua. Took this picture from the hotel roof of it having a smoke


The capital was moved to Guatemala City in 1776 when a couple of major earthquakes destroyed Antigua. The historical buildings are in pretty rough shape and largely consist of remnants of the old churches but are nonetheless interesting.





Fallen arches

RexBuck,

If you're still here in Antigua, come by Moto Cafe and share some stories with fellow motorcyclists, join us for a ride, or just have a beer! We can help with routes or whatever if you're looking for it.

Moto Cafe
6a Calle Oriente #14
Antigua, Guatemala
14°33'19.50"N
90°43'52.43"W

I am in Antigua, Guatemala now and headed for South America. I will be heading out of here abiyt tge 12th of December. Love to connect. My email is: donniemackenzie@gmail.com.

Thanks for the invite Catours - I'm in Nicaragua now but appreciate the offer.

I'll send you an email Donnie. I'll be pretty slow for the next couple of months so we may have the opportunity to hook up.

Day 46 - Nov 21

Had a hard time deciding whether to just head down the El Salvador coast like many riders do then take a quick shot across the corner of Honduras and into Nicaragua or take a longer ride in Guatemala and Honduras. I really wanted to see a bit more of both countries so, thought I would take the longer route. With that, I’m off to Copin Ruinias which is just across the border into Honduras. Had to go through Guatemala City which wasn’t bad but still a big City.

Stopped at McDonalds (huh?) for breakfast. Three reasons: 1) The food is edible; 2) They had armed guards in the parking lot and 3) They had coffee. This Big Micky Dees and busy. I pulled into one of the parking spaces and the guard comes over and wants me to park at the back – pretty well all the spaces are full. I argued at first and finally asked him if he is going to watch my bike? Sí – Alrighty then, sounds good to me.




Fast food joints deliver here . . .


Some really pretty country along the way


My route took me to a road identified as “Road” which usually means there’ll be no sweeping corners. It was indeed a shortcut – kind of a gravely / rocky road. Road pretty decent, lots of buses (15 psgr vans), lots of people living around . . . then it got gradually steeper, narrower and rougher. At that point GPS said about another 8km, so, just kept going. Eventually got better just at the end when it emptied into a town.

I'd kinda been goofing off along the way thinking I had a ton of time, apparently not. Figuring about an hour for the border I would be getting into Copan Ruinas right after 5 and it would be starting to get dark.

Finally came around a corner to the sight of a gazillion trucks parked beside the road. Just rode past them and arrive at a big barrier across the road. They lift it and tell me to go park in a parking lot on the other side of even more parked trucks. Finally figure out which building is Guatemala Migracion, get my passport stamped after assuring the guy about 5 times that I wasn’t coming back to Guatemala soon. Just as he was about to hand me my passport, he wanted 10 Quetzals (about $1.25). I was looking around for the Aduana and just handed it to him, not thinking and he just drops it on his desk. Hmmmm?

Went over to the Aduana to check my bike out, gave the lady my paperwork. She wanted three copies of the original document I had received when I came in to the country. I’m looking around for a copy shop and then notice there is a great big, state of the art copy machine about 5 feet behind her. I ask her if she can do it and she smiles and says sure. Then we go check the VIN on the bike, come back and she wants me to buy a couple pieces of old used carbon paper sitting on a table next to me. I just go grab a couple as there didn’t seem to be anyone too interested in selling. She puts the carbon papers between the copies she had just made for me, stamps the top one then signs and dates it. Then takes the carbon papers out, and stamps the signatures and dates on the two copies. Hands all three to me with instructions to take one of them to the guard at the barrier who had waived me through to begin with. Now, I’m officially out of Guatemala.

Finally change my remaining Quetzals to Lempiras with a money changer who had been bugging me then hopped on my bike and rode about 200 feet to the Honduras buildings. Found Migracion, wander in, they had me a form to fill out, lots of stamping going on, give them some Lempires (I think it was 60 = $3) and I’m off to the Aduana.

Guy comes over and starts asking for 3 copies of my passport (got it), 3 copies of my registration (got it) and three copies of the exit document from Guatemala (Don’t got that). He says ok, come on in. Then proceeds to carefully fill forms in, enter stuff in the computer and complete an elaborate stamp in my passport with all the details of my bike. Needs like 660 Lempiras which leaves me with 20 left over from my exchanged Quetzals. Nice guy, while he was out checking my VIN, his boss comes over and chats about my trip. Oh, and the first guy did all the photocopying needed. After all the horror stories I'd heard about Honduras Customs officials looking for bribes, these guys were a treat - very professional, helpful and friendly.

With that I’m done. I’m officially in Honduras. There is a fumigation station and I’m hoping it isn’t going to cost me more than 20 Lempiras but the guy just smiles and waives me around. Guard at the final barrier wants to see my bike document and I’m out of there. Total about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Only 10km to Copan Ruinas. Find a hotel that has the necessary parking, hot water and internet and I’m done.

Wander around town to check it out, quite the little touristy place. Lots of restaurants, lots of Gringos and Euros. Finally found a restaurant that looked good, and it was packed. Sat down and all of a sudden a pack of French people show up and start trying to put tables together. They need more space (like all of it) so, give them my table and wander upstairs. One little table left and I claimed it. Everything else was occupied, 3 small tables, one with about 12 people at it and one with about 20 people at it. One waitress. I’m figuring if she can get me a beer, I’m in no rush cause she gonna be awhile. This girl was amazing – she handled it all. And, she had to bring everything upstairs from the bar and kitchen below. Here she is with her third arm. She used her head carrying plates of food, these little charcoal filled gizmos with the hot frijoles for snacks, bottles of beer and bottles of wine.


Pretty tasty meal


The Hondurans try to cater to all the English speaking tourists with their version of English


Propane delivery

Great adventure. I'm right behind you starting mid January.
I really appreciate all the info you are posting as to names of hotels and procedures when crossing borders.
Anytime you can mention prices helps me plan ahead.
Thanks