Tony blog

Hi Tony. Sitting on Ometepe Island thanks to your excellent recommendation. We are planning our route from Panama to Columbia (South America). our plan was to go from COlon in Panama to Cartagena in Columbia by ship. This means going through Venezuela and Brazil / Amazon basin into Peru from Eastern border. We are wondering what route you took on this section including shipping etc. Would appreciate your inputs. Regards Amigos

NEW DROPBOX LINK....CHECK THIS OUT!

http://www.dropbox.com/gallery/48495432/1/vamos%20amigos?h=86c58c

Honduras (Nacoane) to Nicaragua - Isle de Cometete

We had an early start out of Nacoane to cross the Honduras/Nicaragua border. Border went quite fast...2 hours. As we're entering Nicaragua, things change a lot agricultural wise. Lots of 'real' farms with tractors etc. We were immediately surrounded with volcanos, active one! The plan was to stick to the Panamerican Highway.....it started of as an big open freeway, but soon changed to the worst ever road we encountered....check the photo's!

Ons het weer kilo's gedoen en op aanbeveling van ons vriend Tony Heath het ons laatmiddag die ferry gehaal na Isle de Cometete, dit is n vulkaniese eiland binne die reuse Lake Nicaragua.








Op die ferry...1 uur se vaar van Canona @ +/- R150 vir die 3 van ons!

Next stop....Costa Rica!

Honduras,Entrada Copan to Nacaone

It was a hard day at the office, but very lekker....grondpad al die pad! We manage to do a hefty 400km's today. It may not sound much, but we did 220km's of dirt....real dirt road. The KTMpies got an exsta mark for suspention again....Navigation was tough with roads that shows its ending in the middle of nowhere, roads suppose to be there, but ain't, but this is what we came for.

Putting raincoats on....

Vroeg oggend reeds tref ons 'n lekker paadjie van so 50km+...dit neem ons 'n vinnige 1,5uur....lekke. Later besluit ons om 'kortpad' teen die El Salvador, Honduras grens te neem...eish. Nie gevaarlik soos aankomende verkeer ens nie, maar die klein klippies, hy is! Ongelooflik om deur die klein 'villages' te gaan aangesien ons doodseker is daar was of geen of baie min westerse mense al daar deur. Almal hardloop uit die huise en groet, skree iets! Absoluut afgesonder....

Leaving Guatamala for Honduras - Entrada Copan

After leaving our best country so far, Gautamala, we struggled 3hrs+ to get the bikes through custom clearing on the Honduras side....not the sharpest tools in the shed those officials...Vrind Nic not the happiest chappie....

Ons het besluit om bietjie kilo's op te sit so veel as moontlik in Honduras, so dit was basies net 'oor draai en laat waai'

Antigua to Mataquescuintla...still in Gautamala

We started of out of Antigua and on the way to the Honduras border, but first the road and hotel to Mataquescuintla....

Ons eerste ware grondpad....en was dit nie 'n grondpad! Duisende draaie met honderde berge op en af. Daar is nie woorde om die pragtige uitsigte maar ook die aankomende busse en trokke te beskryf nie....

En toe het ons die blikkie Doom nodig...daai hotel na Antigua....

After the Tikal Ruines at El Remate on the way to Rio Dulce and then aventually out of Guatamala City....into the picturous Antigua!

First things first...before the petrol problems....

Out of El Remate on the way we slept over at Rio Dulce. We arrived late in Rio Dulce but were surprised with the nice view of the lake...supper was good. All four of us shared a room for the first time.

We fix the bike with roomies (Byron's) extra fuel pump and its running like a dream again. .Not sure if the old baby(BMW) would have done the same...ha ha

We decided to push through to Antigua and arrived after dark. We couldn't find accomodatrion as there was a festival on the go which included many weddings. Fortunately the owner of Maria's Hotel (Maria herself) came to our rescue, vasically because we were parked in her driveway and she saw the South African flag stickers on our bikes and her daughter had been to S.A. and given fabulous feedback. She put us up for the night at half price which was $60.00 per double room instead of $125.00. including breakfast. From the roof of the hotel we could see the active volcano.

Antigua is definitief 'n moet op elke ou se lys vir plekke om te besoek. Dit is 'n eietydse ou klein dorpie met strate van klip en outydse hotelle, restaurante. Basies 'n Venice sonder water....ongelooflik mooi. Dit is omring met berge (so eintlik die hele Gautamala) so dit is voor die hand liggend watse lekker rit dit weer uit die dorp was met al die draaie...

From this hotel. we went to this the following evening

Guatemala City

No pictures for this blog because it comes straight off my (Byron's) iPhone. Haven't worked that one out yet. Sitting in Guatemala City. Didn't quite make the volcanoes today since Roelof's bike is giving problems. This was bound to happen and will probably not be the last time. I think Roelof is losing faith in KTM. I am sure we will get it sorted.

Anyway. The traffic in this place is crazy. The city is huge and is only accessible from a few arterial routes since it is very mountainous. Like putting Johannesburg in place of Nelspruit.

Hopefully the next blog will be interesting.

Belize City to Guatamala - El Remate

Guatamala...jou lekke plek. What a change from slaveland! The border was a mess though....2-3 hours of jumping from this line to the next, but what a beautiful place! Its really an amazing place.

Lowergroen plantegroei, bietjie meer berge as die dele wat ons in Mexico gery het. Die plantegroei is egter iets besonders. Dit is 'n kruis tussen die Laeveld, Natal, Knysna en 'n tropiese tuin in 'n kwekery. Baie besonders. Ons was weer bevoorreg om die Tikal ruines (ook 'n Mayan ruine) te besoek. Dit is groter en meer impossant as die Chechen Itza ruines, alhoewel nie in so goeie bewaarde toestand a.g.v. die verweer van die sagte kalksteen (limestone) Ongelooflik om dit te sien en dit is mensgemaak...of nie?

We stayed over at this amazing place called 'El Remate' surrounded by a beautiful lake with primitive people still using horses for transport. The Guatamala people comes over as humble people. Tomorrow we're planning to visit the Del Fiego volcano...still active!

Just for interest sake, we pay anything between R75 to R110 per night for accommodation. At Tulum, campsite we paid R45 for our 'stand on the beach' Ok, its not Southern Sun style, but its still dead cheap...if one takes out the hot water issue!

Hou ook maar in gedagte....geen Wi-Fi...geen blog. So alhoewel ons julle op hoogte wil hou soos ons gaan is konneksie ens maar 'n probleem.

Cheers en drink maar enetjie op ons...

Belize City to Guatamala

As we left Mexico - Chetumal through to the border into Belize, it nearly felt as if we're entering an African country. We planned 2 days+ for Belize, although its a small country. The plan was to take a boat to the famous Blue Hole, but time is always an factor as the 'Hole' was quite an day trip. Coming back to the African thing...Belize is ran by African slaves, say no more....although culture is always what travelling is about, the differance between Mexico and Belize is huge. Belize City wasn't the nicest of Cities and we only spend one day..they are very friendly though and speaka da english and da boys speaka da broken english (something like an Jamaican slang)

Tulum

We decided to give Cancun a skip and cut out some distance by taking a short cut. We were addvised by a Swedish couple (also travelling by mototrcycles - she is 6 months pregnant) to stay in Tulum. Good advise. We camped right on the beach under some palm trees.

Also notable in Tulum was the Mayan buildings on a cliff in the middle of the bay area, like a holiday house.

Chichen Itza

The cultural highlight of Mexico is the ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza. It the size of a suburt with numerous buildings spread out all over the place, at the centre is the Pyramid. Interesting fact is that it has 365 stairs going up (91 on eaach side plus the top stair) representing the days of the year. There is also the games arena where they played a kind of football and the captain of the winnning team got sacrificed. Sacrifice was a big honour. There are many sacrificial altars and carvings in stone representing death etc.

There are some interesting acoustics if one stand adjacent to the pyramid and another of the building and then make a loud clap  of tthe hands. You can almost hear the sound echo off each stair going up tthe pyramid.

There are also many Mayan sites dotted over a wide area in the Yucatan province.

Broken Laptop

So, you may have noticed that we haven't posted a blog in  few days. This is because Roelof's laptop screen broke (see picture). We eventually managed to get a new monitor and are now back online in Belize at Guest House called Sea Breeze.

Coatzacoalcos to Ciudad Del Carmen

So of we went from the windy Coatzacoalcos to the stunning city of Ciudad Del Carmen. Google Earth it...stunning with huge rivers/lakes surrounding the city. We started of, believing the Mexican weather channel of plenty rain etc...nothing but a helva hot day...see the temp meter on my bike.

Byron wou goed doen om ons vir 'n vinnige afsluk dingetjie te laat aftrek nadat ons +/- 2ure op die pad was. Sy goeie daad het ons egter vinnig aan die stert gebyt. Ons beland in 'Marabastad...x10. Net Mexicane waar jy kyk en die verkeer staan doodstil. Die gevolg, al die fietse begin warm raak want ons kry nie beweeg nie en dit is 37 grade+

Sweat to the bone and we of to the best part of the day....Del Carmen. Mexico, has got problems, but water ain't one of them. We rode for 100's of kilometers alongside swamps/lakes/wetlands, call it what may, but these guys got more water than Nigerians got scally tricks. The scenery was better than NaGeo best films....green all the way. Pragtig man!

Del Carmen, lyk op die kaart amper soos 'n eiland en ons het ook 'n 3,5km brug oorgesteek om op die 'eiland' te kom. More se roete oor verskeie brue ens, lyk selfs beter.

Our overall feel of the Mexicans, especially as we take our journey down to Belize, is that they are friendly people and try to communicate when they got the chance, although 98% of them can't understand a word, neither speak da english. One thing for sure, they got nicer bakkies/pick-ups than us.

So, ek gaan slaap, my compadres is almal al in droomland. Hou julle op hoogte van more se vordering. Kyk ook na ons dropbox link...laai meer foto's daarop.

Cheers vir eers.

Dropbox link

Morning guys...we're going to send more pics to our dropbox link http://www.dropbox.com/gallery/48495432/1/South%20America?h=310547

Day 2 on the road

Going to try and do 720 kilo's today from coulcocos to Merida which is close to our first tourist destination, Chichen Itza. Google it. Rain and wind predicted for today so we may not get that far. Will then try for Merida which is 540 kilo's from here. Saludos

Veracruz to Coatzacoalcos......

Started a bit late out of Veracruz....looks like Nic have a bit of power/battery problems but other than that, it was nice leaving Veracruz.

Alhoewel dit lekker was om op ons KTMpies te klim was die rit maar sh@t aangesien ons al die pad 'hoofweg' moes hou. Hulle tolhekke is hel duur....+/- R220 vir niks meer as Zimbabwe se beste. Die oopgevoel en kilometers suikerriet lande en later bos, gelykstaande aan 'n kruising tussen Natal en Oos Kaap het egter begin opmaak.

We reached a very windy Coatzacoalcos...photo's can explain! Our new destination is like a holiday town, but with miles on the clock. We met up with a Swedish couple yesterday who told us about this nice little beach town not far from Cancun. Our plan is to cover some kilo's tomorrow to reach our new destination...Tulum

My 3 vrinne met hulle smart iPhone's het nou eers gesukkel om op die naam te kom.

Wel, nou gaan ons bietjie ernstig bier drink en kyk of ons iets anders as tortillas met iets, te ete kan kry.

Cheers vir eers!

  

Sorting out last payments, eating MORE tortillas, a nice pint of Sol beer and colleting bikes.

In Veracruz.

Sorted paperwork for bikes out, Should have customs inspection on Tuesday and release bikes on Wednesday. Celebrating with a Corona and a tequila (R80.00 a tequila shot)

In Veracruz - airport Henry organising a rental car

Breakfast at Mexico City 08h00 (16h00)

Chowing lekker Ribeye steaks for breakfast with Corona. Waiting for connecting flight to Veracruz. Been on the go for 31 hours on theb road.

In transit Beunos Aires Airport, and Nic is behind on a big poef!

Guatemala to Panama

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=216937071443155947290.0004b172eb4c4b960737d&msa=0&ll=13.443052,-84.759521&spn=4.710869,10.184326

Route taken by Che Guevara in 1953. Motorcycle Diaries.

1953 Che Guevara emarked on his epic trip through South America and ending in Mexico. The rout is similar to the Vamos Amigos route, except the Amigos are doing it in reverse and ending in Buenos Aires. Che skipped all the central American countires. And flew from Venezuela to Mexico.