Lobsters to Llamas, Maritimes to Argentina

Hey Dwight,

Glad to hear you're over your bad day, and things are looking up. Enjoy the warm temps, it was -13 in YSJ this morning with a cold north wind.

I am thoroughly enjoying this RR, and really admire what you are doing. Takes a lot of guts to take off and head into unknown countries not knowing the language so far from home by yourself.

Enjoy the adventure, and thanks again for taking us along. If you find yourself in a bind and need some cash send me a note, be more than happy to help out. I'll know where to find you when you get home.

Alive, well Del Tunco, El Salvador with two other inmates. plan is to ride as clopse to Honduras as possible tommorrow then storm the border in force.

IN nd out of Honduras in one day!

Lets see how that goes?

I rolled in Playa del Tunco, El Salvador, not knowing a soul as usual, and I met Stephanie. Sshe is a beatiful young lady, 23 from Calgary Alberta, here solo on her bicycle!

Wow! She has bigger nuts than I do, not that I've checked. We were both starved for English conversation and have had a wonderful time hanging out together. We have become friends. I admire her tenacity. I think of how far I have ridden and she has done it all on a bike.

She is riding to raise money for a school in Nicaragua. I said " The inmates will admire the hell out of you, Steph" They have some money and I'm sure some will help. Here is her ride report link. Please check it out. I will post a picture of Steph later.

Stephgoescyclingforacause.blogspot

The amazing Stephanie

Calgary to El Salvador (so far) solo on her bicycle. Muy Loco!

I owe my readers an update. Sorry but I have been chilling out at Playa El Tunco. I'm so glad I met my friends Steph and Wilson. What nice people. Just what the doctor ordered to get my spirits back up.

First here are some pictures from Antigua Guatemala. It is a city that preserves it's history. I enjoyed walking around and taking photos. Lots to see.



















































Chris, who owns the Moto Cafe








These four were staying in El Hostel with me. Grace, with the dark hair, is the only name I can remember, you meet so many people when you travel...





Cafe No Se

Good spot!




Two guys from Brazil who loved my bike. They took so many pictures of me and the bike I felt like a movie star




Rat Bike Mike and his friend Peruko (sp)




Pere and Sigred were both from Sweden, staying at El Hostel. They just met there. I had a nice breakfast with them one morning




This gent was great at a gas stop. Very friendly, loved my bike.




These guys were Guatemalan bikers I saw at the Salvador border. I did all my own paperwork at the Salvadorean border. Took about two hours without "help"



Tunco Beach






Awesome beef stir fry at Tunco. Best meal of the trip so far. $6





Mike and Dawn two tourists I bumped into a few times and who helped me find the other inmates in town




Wilson

One of the nicest guys I ever met.



Steph

Hard to imagine she peddled her bike to El Salvador from Calgary solo!!!!

I sure enjoyed meeting Steph. A great person. We had a lot of laughs.

She teaches Scuba diving on Little Corn Island Nicaragua. That's where she's headed. 9000 kms down, 875 to go.

I crossed into Honduras today. I'm in San Lorenzo about 100k from the Nicaraguan border. It was hard to leave my friends in El Tunco. Wilson was styaing because he lives there of course but Steph and I had to move on. I thought a lot about that poor girl in the heat today. I don't know how she does it. I couldn't. I was roasted on my moto.

Steph is already talking about making a bike trip across Canada in a couple years. I hope she does and drops in to see us in Shediac.

I crossed into Honduras, I had two "helpers" they tried to rip me off. They inflated the price for the permit and even had a fake receipt. I knew what the price should be thanks to this website and I told them to make the price right. They soon did as I walked into the Aduana (Customs) office and demanded to know the price.They quickly dropped the price for $95 to $38.

In the end I was through there in about two hours. Not bad for a border that has a terrible reputation. I'm in San Lorenzo, ready to hit another border early tomorrow and make some miles. I still have 1400kms to go to Panama and want to be there on the 6th.

At El Tunco Steph and I went for a walk one morning looking for a place called Sharkeys. Did we ever get lost. We started down the highway, took a couple back lanes realized we had been walking in circles when we passed a store twice, aftre buying a pop there the first time. After a hour and 15 minutes I saw a bar through the trees, thinking it was Sharkeys I was disappointed to find out it was a bar we had been at before about 5 minutes from where we started walking.

We went out to the beach.

Steph had no shoes on. She walked on these big rocks and they were burning her feet. It was HOT!





She got a thorn in her foot at one point. OUCH!

Then we got off the beach and came to this beautiful house.




Check out the view!





The owner, I forget his name, mercifully gave us a drink of water. We were roasted. We had asked several people, previously for directiosn which of course we only half understood. This guy was very nice and gave us English directions.




With his help we finally found Sharkeys after a two hour walk. We met a young couple there that gave us direction back to El Tunco and it took us 7 minutes. I don't have a clue where we went wrong!!! I was so tiered I never even took a picture of Sharkeys and we never even stopped for a drink there.

Here is a picture of Chris one of the other two inmates we met.

He and Steph talked about routing and their trips



I thought I had a picture of Boris, the other rider but I don't seem to have one.

My bike today at the Honduras border




I don't know what I was thinking when I posted the other day I was about to turn over 35000k on the KLR. It actually happened today. I was so tired the other day what I was actually turning over was 34499




Cute kid





local character in Tunco





Wilson's Neighbors who were really nice

Good to see you are back on your way Dwight.

Travel well.

Great talking to you today on Skype

Thanks Len

Kedgi

Thanks for tor reading. What a kind offer.

For me the language thing has been the toughest.

Last night for example I pulled into this motel and it has a restaurant. It never opened. Who knows why? It's too difficult to ask.

I walked to the closest store to try and get some yogurt and nuts etc for supper. No luck, they wouldn't take American money. I never changed any money at the border because Honduras is only 140kms long at this point and I had hoped to make it across before dark. I got stopped twice by the military and that slowed me down so I had to stop. In the end the hotel sold me three Corona nd a bottle of water, I paid for it with an American $20, which they were willing to take and I got some local change. I thought about going to the store but it was getting dark and the dude guarding the parking here has a shotgun. I decided to drink my Corona and worry about eating in the morning.

Just a few words about Stephanie

She is only 23 yet she seems to have an amazing handle on life. She is beautiful, smart, unbelievably brave, witty and funny. I consider myself lucky to have met her. On top of it all she is riding her bicycle 10,000 kilometers to raise money to help a school in Nicuaragua help little children. We should all have a grip on life and charity the way she seems to.

With Christmas and the "season" of giving coming if you feel the urge to help her and give to a good cause I'm sure she will make absolutely certain your money does good work. Just a few bucks will help, if you can. I have given up on the Paypal idea for my own ride, but maybe the readers of my ride report can help Steph. I received about $200 in donations from readers. I have already helped someone. Steph can help many more.

Just copy and paste this link, below, into your browser to find out more


Stephgoescyclingforacause.blogspot

I mentioned just above about the guy guarding the motel having a shotgun. I'm sure most readers reading this ride report take their personal security pretty much for granted. People in Mexico and these Central American countries can't do that. If you come down here be very aware of your situation, don't ride at night and keep a low profile at night. It's an awesome ride and I have had some wonderful times and met many very kind and generous people but I want my readers to know it's not like riding around North America.

Kedgi

i read all these ride reports, your's is great!.... this is the first time i've actually seen someone say that the third world is not 'mr. roger's neighborhood', and that you better be careful.... somebody mentioned 'packin' in colebatch's thread, and we all got kicked off pronto.... not to get dark, but there's alotta clueless people, and the sharks and carnivores always look for an easy meal, you dig?.... but then again, i guess that's just darwin, and the lions gotta eat something, so.... i'd just rather it not be me.....

Thanks

That's all I want to do too. Is make people aware, this is not like home.

Kedgi

Still loving the ride report. Keep the good stuff coming. Unfortunately your words of caution ring true just about anywhere nowadays. Heck I wouldnt walk around Orlando at night and there are plenty more cities that have the bad guys loving the fact that too many of us take our personal security for granted. The key is to be smart and be safe wherever you are, even at your neighborhood market. Sorry, but I just had to throw that in. I've heard so many people tell me I'm crazy for moving my family to Colombia. But unfortunately I couldn't find Mayberry before leaving the US.

hey Dwight. Glad to hear you're making your way along the coast... sounds like Tunco was just what you needed. Keep truckin and I'm looking forward to more updates.

Cheers,
Chris

Read some of her blog. She is quite the gal and you are right, years beyond her age. Sent a few $$ her way.

You're making great tracks! Once thru Panama, the real fun begins.

Dwight:

I love the way you can meet people along the way. Takes away a bit of the loneliness in a strange country not being able to speak the language. At least for a few hours, or a few days you can converse in English and perhaps forge future friendships when you return home.

It's amazing what people do, and amazing for Steph to ride all the way from Canada, and alone.

I am glad you are sorted out and in a better frame of mind. Thanks for bringing us along and also your impressions (and feelings) of what you see along the way

take care
bob

Really appreciate it, Thanks

Steph will work wonders, I'm sure, with any donation s she receives.

Thanks again

Dwight

Steph and I were instant friends the momnet we met, we just had so much in common, so far from home

Dwight