I did not know this until a few days ago, but the middle section of Mexico has a tropical climate and the area is very green and beautiful - it looks like Hawaii. And, along the coast, heading south from Puerto Vallarta, are some of the nicest and most scenic twisty roads I‘ve ever ridden.
Anyway, we left the small town of Melaque around noon which was our latest start yet. We seem to be on Mexican time now which is to say that we don’t know and don’t care too much what time it is. So, we hit the road with no mileage in mind for the day - we decided to stop riding 2 hours before sunset and look for a place to stay. But we only rode a bit over a hundred miles when we saw a small campground sign and wanted to check it out. What we found was absolutely the most incredible campground either of us had ever seen - a little utopia - a small slice of heaven…. and, its in Mexico. Who’da thunk? Not me! But, we liked this place so much we stayed an extra day just to relax and enjoy it.
So, we spent the next day trying to make up for the day we took off from riding - we rode for 30 hours. It’s hard to break old habits. But, it was all good until it got dark. Ok… we shouldn’t have been riding at night… I thought we weren’t going to do that any more… oops! Anyway, at around 9:00pm we rode up on a traffic jam out in the middle of nowhere. Actually it was more like they turned the road into a parking lot. There were cars and trucks stopped on both sides of the road, and many of them were empty. There were more cars and trucks parked along the shoulder and even further out from the road in what appeared to be dirt fields. So, we weaved our way through the sea of vehicles for a half mile until we came across a large group of people blocking the road. It appeared to be a strike or demonstration of some sort. And they started getting vocal as we rode up. So, we stopped and turned off our bikes. A few people started whistling and shouting. At this point I was getting just a bit nervous. So, we got off our bikes and started asking if anyone spoke English. After a few tense moments, an older man stepped forward. We told him that we were from Canada and the U.S. and asked if they would let us go thru. He said a few things that we didn’t understand, there was some conversing between folks in the crowd, and then he motioned for them to let us thru. The people in our path stepped aside to let us go by. But, the atmosphere seemed a little tense. And, we got the impression that they wanted us to hurry. I felt a bit relieved as we rode thru the crowed of people but we we’re not quite through just yet. There was another group of people about 20 meters down the road, blocking traffic from the other direction. Again, we stopped, shutdown and dismounted our bikes, and started asking if anyone spoke English. Again we told them where we were from and asked them if they would let us go thru. In an attempt to communicate with them in Spanish, I said “Possibla Permeso Moto’s?” - not even sure if it was correct. It was pretty dark and there were a lot of people there. But, I think the same older guy that we had talked to before told this group to let us pass as well. Again, there were a few people talking about us and some were whistling. But, again they stepped aside and let us pass. So, we quick got back on our bikes and rode thru parting crowd. Feelings of relief and then gratitude came over me as we made our way through another half mile cars and trucks. I don’t know if they let anyone else pass thru there that night - but, Im glad they let us through.
A little while later it started to rain and it was pouring down. So we pull into a gas station, that was closed, and park the bikes next to the pumps to get out of the rain. Larry says he’s going to get some sleep and he takes out his air mattress, blows it up, and lies down on the ground, next to his bike. Sure enough, a short while later and he was sound asleep. Now remember, it is pouring down rain, we are at a gas station (outside next to the pumps) and Larry is sleeping as soundly as if he was at home in bed - remarkable! So, what the heck, I’ll give it a go. I get situated comfortably, using my jacket as a pillow. And I lie down next to my bike. But, I cant seem to fall sleep. Maybe it was the traffic, or the construction workers that pulled in next to us to protect the materials in the back of their pick-up, or the dog that came over to bark at me, or the rain… who knows but I cant sleep so I just lie there and wait… several hours later, it stopped raining. So I woke Larry and off we went.
Met up with a couple more riders at the border to El Salvador. Brian and Patrick had met a day earlier and I had actually met Brian 2 months ago in Astoria Oregon when I stopped at a coffee shop on my way down the west coast. He had his bike shipped from London to New York and ridden to Alaska - he was on his way to South America then. But, I was headed home for a while before leaving for South America. Patrick had his bike shipped from Ireland to Anchorage Alaska and ridden south from there. So, now there are 4 of us riding together: Brian, Patrick, Larry and me - an Englishman, an Irishman, a Canadian and an American.
Guatemala was our first border crossing, besides U.S./Mexico. And, it was an eye opener - go here, then go there, get copies of these, then come back, go the he Bank and pay for this, then come back, get this stamped, get more copies. AAAHHHHGGGG! They tell you this in Spanish which I don’t understand very well. So, there are mobs of people right at the boarder just waiting to help you thru the process - for a fee. Problem is that many of them just want to milk you for as much money as they can get. On top of that, there are so many “official” hoops to jump thru that creative folks can easily rip you off getting you to jump thru hoops of their own creation. No problemo… only 10 or so to go.
One thing we found fairly consistent between the central American countries we have visited is a vast disparity in the standard of living among the people. The very poor make up quite a large percentage of the population - at least from what we have seen. And, the sight of their plight gave me reason to ponder and reassess my own station in life. Another thing that is very common is armed security guards. And, they don’t carry pistols, they carry shotguns.
El Salvador was nice. Because of the general census that it is a very dangerous country, we weren’t going to go into El Salvador. But, we couldn’t find an easy route that bypassed the infamous little nation. So, we proceeded with caution and found ourselves in a posh hotel on the coast. The cost of the room included breakfast. And, the security guard carried an Uzi.
Patrick and I both got sick in Nicaragua. After two day’s with raging diarrhea, we believe the it was caused by the bottled water. So, we are going to try using iodide in our bottled water.
We’re in Costa Rica now and it is really beautiful country. The vegetation seems quite unusual as it includes so many different types of plants all contributing their own shade of green make an incredibly beautiful landscape. Although, it is substantially more expensive than the countries we passed thru earlier, it is also much cleaner - it also seems very westernized.
I’ll wrap this up on a funny note. We stayed in a campground last night. And, as we were setting up our tents we heard a loud, deep howl, unlike anything any of us had ever heard. What was that! Some of the other folks staying there probably got a chuckle out of our reactions as we investigated the mysterious noise - it was a monkey. They live in the trees surrounding the campground.
Here's some pics taken over the past few weeks...
