Hi, we are Alex and Andreea and we are traveling to Argentina on our motorcycle Gunnar, a Suzuki DL650.

Our trip started 2 months ago in Montreal and we've been to Alaska and now are heading South.
For some reason we did not start a Ride Tale here (figuring that there are many others which are more interesting than ours). But we thought that at least we should dare post some pictures from the H.U. meeting in British Columbia.

So here it goes, as written on our blog:

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For around 4 days, we wouldn’t move our motorcycle much from it’s parking lot but still we would get to reach far away places by following the stories of others.
We are not the only ones planning not to move the motorcycle for a while

Right, I will start by confessing something that probably will turn away the male have of our audience (after the female have of the audience probably fled already after reading that this post will be about a motorcyclists meeting). OK so this motorcyclists meeting didn’t had “interesting” ingredients as “almost-naked-female-passengers” or wet T-shirts contest or rock concerts with lots of booze.
So hopping that not everybody is gone, I should continue saying that Horizons Unlimited Meeting is basically a pretext for long traveling motorcyclists and other overlanders to meet and exchange ideas, stories and pictures. Hmmm still it was my first motorcycle meeting so I was quite curious how it will go…
During the day there are presentations about the journeys, places and people meet on the way.
Also there are sessions with useful information organized for the newbes (like me). For example how to change your tire. Or how to fix a flat.
One session that I was really looking for: how to pack light. Life in 12 kilos… yeah right… we are so far away from that. yet…
And beyond all the presentations the most useful part for me was that I got the chance to meet all these people who were like-minded. I could tell the guy next to me that I am planning to go to Argentina and he wouldn’t think I am crazy. If anything, probably he would even give me some advice as he was already on a similar trip. That is just awesome.
In the “parking lot’ there were all kinds of contests happening. Like “slow riding”:
The atmosphere is relaxed and you basically could talk with anyone, exchanging ideas about bike modding, camping gear, what works what does not. And you had the chance to take a lot of pictures. Which I did.
There is a monster lurking :

Hope you enjoyed it!

Great to hear you enjoyed it! You two were a HUGE help, very much appreciated!

Looking froward to hearing more about your travels, stay in touch, and keep posting,

all the best, Grant

For some time now, our journey took us in Mexico and so the third part of our trip started. I am thinking to start posting here with regularity the episodes from now on in the hope that the words, or at least the pictures would provide some "let's go" inspiration to others as well

For those that would like to read also the first parts of the story, I arranged the posts on our website:

Part I: Getting across Canada and exploring Alaska
Part II: Going South through Canada and the United States. The above episode from H.U. Meeting in Nakusp is also from this part

For the more "online socializing inclined" of us, we can connect, like and comment on Facebook as well.

See you soon with the first posts from Mexico

Bienvenidos a México!: 1-3 Octomber
Route:
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The morning cool air is hiting my face but I am not closing my visor. We are heading for Douglas and I feel like before a big exam. You learned and you feel prepared to pass the exam. But still, the teacher is quite crazy so you never know. Well, we have all the documents we should be OK and pass. But still… “the teacher”…
Douglas, the last U.S. town in our journey. We stop to fill up with gas (bad idea since “on the other side” the gas is cheaper), we buy water, some stuff to eat… hehe, as if we were getting ready to go in the desert. OK, we are ready, where do we go?
For Mexico, make a right turn. Really, that simple? We say good bye to the United States. And say “Hello Mexico!”
We stop at the first customs checkpoint, where a young lady, in a too tight uniform (by my humble opinion) is asking us something in a very crisp but rushed Spanish. Ohhh I guess it is time to see if all those hours of Spanish audio books on Alaska Highway will pay of. “Perdon seniora, no entiendo Espaniol muy bien, puede repetir?”
OK, that’s better. You want to know if we have visas. Oh yeah we have them, from Naco. And why are we here then? Well because they told us that you might help us with a motorcycle permit. OK, I park the bike in the back parking lot, leave Andreea to guard the bike and go inside while praying that when I’ll be back I would still find both the bike and wife. Inside I find 3 offices. At the first one a customs officer is working. The other two are unattended as the two ladies assigned to them are busy watching a movie on a TV. I get in line at the only desk where somebody was doing something and smile. Great, already feels much more like home.
When my turn comes, I am out of luck again. The VIN number is not recognized here neither. “Problem!” Cual problem, no problem por favor! The guy is willing to help but doesn’t know what to do. So he goes for the jefe! The boss comes, has a look over the papers and says “fill up the VIN by hand and let them go”. Once we have the green light from the jefe, it is all downhill. I am out in no time with the permit and free to roam in Mexico!

Immediately we feel that the World has changed all around us. Houses lively colored but build in a certain disorder, as the architect intended to match the chaos on the streets.

Anything with a motor here is put to good use, no mater how old. And everything with a motor can carry people. No matter the safety measures.

The streets belong to everyone

From the septic Canada and United States, where everything has a place and and order, we are thrown in this big pot of passionate but dangerous living. Parts of this new movie we are in seem familiar from back home, but still, everything seems so new.

Adam told us that the road signs in Latin America are more or less for decorative purposes. Still, newbes as we are, we try to follow the speed limitation signs. Bad idea. Even dangerous idea as some trucks pass us in a swift and crazy manner. Imagine driving with 25 miles/h in a 25 miles/h zone and big trucks passing inches of you with 55 miles/h. We quickly adapt and follow the rule (and the speed) of the traffic.
Everything is different. After a long time, we travel with all our senses alert! The times when my passenger was sleeping in the back are long gone. Now, everybody with eyes on the road!

We take a short break for hydration and we notice the huge crickets that are all over the road. Oh, so these were the “things” that kept hitting us while moving.

God knows why they prefer the asphalt but the were everywhere.

And a lot of them where dying due to the traffic.

And where are dead things there are also vultures…

And these birds are very little respect or fear for humans and for cars. They take of at the very last moment and if one is not careful it might run into them.

We continue through mountain small villages. Before entering Mexico, a lot of people warned us about the potential dangers of some places especially near the borders.

We are positive thinking and optimist people. But we do not want to be foolish people so we decided to heed the warnings and stop as little as possible in the border areas. We do however observe very interesting details from the places we pass through.


Come lunch time and we turn out to be much as the vultures. The hunger wins over the fear and we decide to stop in a small restaurant. A nice old man greats us. OK, seems fine. We are happy!

We find out pretty fast that our Spanish is not yet sophisticated enough to… order anything else than tacos. The guy tries to explain what he has and since we didn’t understand much he does an amazing thing. He takes us both in the kitchen, and shows what is in the pots on the burner. Ha! Imagine that happening in the U.S. !

We order some stuff by pointing to different pots and then, while waiting for the food, we figure to go out and take a bottle of water from the motorcycle. When we came, we were the only ones there and we parked just in front of the restaurant. When I went out now I had a shock seeing a big army truck parked just near Gunnar.

Suddenly all the stories with drugs, drug gangs and the fight against them becomes very fresh in our minds. After we finish eating we leave wishing good luck to the soldiers.
The drugs and the drug cartels who produce, transport and distribute their product are a very real thing for these parts of the world. But the majority of the Mexicans are honest, hard-working and full of life people, who are trying to go on with their lives, navigating through these battles and struggling to keep a sense of normality. We hope to meet only these guys.
On the side of the road we see also a lot of horses. And it seems that here their are still used as a viable means of transportation.

We salute the other riders, with big smiles!

Our goal for the day was the small village of Banamichi, Sonora, where Tom was waiting for us. Tom is an American in love with Mexico and he decided to move with his wife here, building a hotel in the mountains. It was hard work but the place looks amazing as you will see later on. Reaching Banamichi is quite easy and the roads are by no means “secondary”. Still, Tom told us that we might have “three or four wet crossings”. Hmm I wonder what those might be?

Well, why to go through all the trouble of building a bridge when you could just let the water cross over the road? Luckily the monsoon season was over so most of the crossings were dry. But not all of them…

So we get the “chance” to get our feet wet.

We reach “Los Arcos” as the evening sets in.

The stop at Tom’s was exactly what we needed after a very intense first day in Mexico. The place is a oasis of peace and quiet and we liked it so much that we decided to stay one more day.

I get a haircut, Andreea gets a massage which proves to be a very professional one. She deserves it after 3 months on the motorcycle. We relax in the purest Latin meaning of the word.

Time goes by fast when you are not doing anything and soon we have to say good bye to Tom and Lynn.

Tom rides with us for a while to make sure that we are on the right path (in fact I think it was just a pretext to go out there and have some fun on the mountain roads, eh Tom?) Then we shake hands and we say good bye. See you somewhere, someday! Thanks for everything!
We had lots of conflicting thoughts before entering Mexico. Good friends, having the best of intentions and basing their worries on real facts, told us to think really well if we want to go there. And, especially once in Mexico, we totally understand the worries. The struggles between “good and evil” as well as between “evil and evil” are very real. In what measure they might affect a tourist visit and if it is worth the trip, this is to be decided by each and everyone who considers going.
We chose to dare and continue our journey. And we hope to stay safe and enjoy the wonderful things the Latin part of the New World has to offer.
Feliz viaje, dear traveler, where ever you might be!

Next time we are enjoying remote mountain roads but end up forced to stop unexpectedly. Stay tuned!

Roaming through Sierra Madre mountains: 4-6 September
As after 2 days spent at Tom’s hotel in Banamichi, we were feeling relaxed and somewho more accustomed with the idea that we are in Mexico now, it was time to press on and start exploring. The first major destination was Barranca del Cobre (Copper Canyon) which, ironically, it is said to be bigger than the… “Grand Canyon”. But as that target was quite far away, we were planning to explore and enjoy the Northern part of Mexico in Sonora and Chiuhuahua.

Not to wide, not to much traveled by other cars and very winding, these rodes prove to be full of surprises. Of the first one we were warned by Tom. “be careful, the road has no bears”

Haha, no bears on the road. My my, but that is excellent. Of course, a joke made by a very persistent Mexican ( almost all the signs on route 20 were like this) based on the similarity between “SINUOSO” (winding) -> “SIN OSO” (without bear). Still, joking aside, the other part of the warning is very well founded: “extreme caution” was necessary as after almost every corner a new surprise was awaiting. Like turkey vultures flying out from the pavement in the very last minute.

Or the encounter with a veritable legend of our childhood: The Road Runner!

The real one might be small but he is as fast as the ones from the cartoons. Andreea just managed to take the above shot before he disappeared in the bushes. We smile in our helmets thinking that maybe we should also expect to see The Coyote setting a trap near by. But we see no one. Literally, we found ourselves surrounded by green and blue and no trace of humans around.


Strange feeling. The only prove that other humans have been here is the patch of tarmac and it’s yellow lines. But even the road is not in the best of conditions. First we see more and more stones on the drivable area.

The tarmac seems to fade away, and the road turning into a two track.

And on the side of the road, we see the marks of time, passing over that which was once alive.

We stop further away, near a gorge, from where our eyes can roam far away.

Around us is complete silence. It is hot. The feeling that we are very alone in a desolated place settles in. We are in Mexico, we are on a remote place in the mountains and we have no idea where the road will take us and where the evening will find us. Strangely enough, these thoughts do not trouble us. Rather they just make us very aware and we realize that this journey is really happening. This day is real!

I turn the key and Gunnar’s engine starts to hum, it’s sound like a redemption. We leave that place, leaving our thoughts behind. I feel Andreea in the back and I am glad that I’m not doing this trip alone. Sharing this with someone is so much better. The curves come one after the other and soon enough, we find the first sign of “civilization” afte a long time. And what a “sign”, a big semi-truck. On this road!!

I had no idea what was the driving doing with that big thing on such a bad and remote road. But sure enough it was quite hard to pass him. We manage with some help from the truck’s driver and we are “free” again.

And speaking of help, while back in the U.S. Adam told me that most of the mexican truck drivers are nice enough to let you know when you can pass them. “Oh they do the same in Romania” I tell Adam. “Really, in Romania the drivers signal left when you can pass them?” hmmm that doesn’t sound right. “No, they signal RIGHT when it is safe to pass”. Turn out, that the “system” in Mexico is totally inverted from the one in Europe.
Sure, one might wonder, how could you distinguish a left signal meaning “you can pass me” from a left signal meaning “I will pass something”. Well, you are right, it is not easy and it is confusing. But fear not, the Mexicans have came up with an efficient solution: most of the times, they do not signal when they want to pass. In this way you avoid the above confusion. Hmmm…
We leave behind the truck but we go in some traffic. A traffic of a different kind than the one from big city.

A sight very similar to what we were used to find on Romanian roads. So we are not very surprised. But on the other hand, we were not at all used to this:

In the small mountain village there were some games going on and horse racing. So everybody was coming out with what he had best in the… uhmm stables.

And the ones who were not racing were out for a relaxing ride with their girls.

We don’t stay too long in that place as we thought to cover some more ground. So, onwards on National Route 16 which connects Hermasillo to Chihuahua, we meet the real Mexican traffic. Lots of trucks crawling with 5 miles per hour uphill. And then… probably trying to recuperate downhill as they were speeding way too much and taking corners using both lanes of the road. That must bee the reason for this kind of signs:

For your security keep the right of the road. Yeah cool, I am trying to do that but it would be nice if the trucks would do the same. Otherwise, a pity as the roud would be such a nice ride. Way better scenery and curves than ruta 20 from earlier, and better pavement that allows some speed. But the incoming traffic does not allow much fun and demands great care. Just in a few days we had the opportunity to find out that what was happening on Ruta 16 was just “kid’s play”. Bat that is for another story. For now we make progress as god as possible.

And we are happy when we turn right out of Ruta 16 and take another mountain road that would get us to San Juanito and then Creel. This one is in very good condition, paved, no rocks and even better, no traffic. So we start to have fun. And then everything changes. I feel that something is wrong in the back so we stop only to discover a flat tire. Hmmm, and this time is in the middle of nowhere. I would better be able to fix this. I drive a little more trying to find at least a resemblance of flat and straight road so I will not be a hazard for the traffic. Take out the flat repair kit and… what I find in the wheel is not too positive news.

Ohooo that doesn’t look good. I was “hopping” for a nail but instead… a quite big piece of metal from some sort of gear was stuck in our tire. And the hole left behind is more like a knife cut. One patch string is not covering it. I am trying with two of them.

Patching as good as I can, starting the compressor and watching as the pressure needle is slowly moving to the 20 PSI area. I stop the air compressor and a dreaded “sssshhhh” sounds feels the space. The air is escaping from the tire. This is not good… In the mean time we stop a passing car and we ask the mexican where would be the nearest tire repair shop. Well San Juanito is the closest and it is some 30 miles away. He was just going up the mountain to take a phone call (there is no cell reception where we are) and offers to take Andreea with him, to make some calls and maybe find something. We agree to that and as was trying to repair the tire again, a troubling thought comes to mind: I just let Andreea leave with a mexican stranger, in the middle of nowhere and I didn’t even remembered the car’s license plate. Arghhh one problem is more than enough, I do not need other dark thoughts. I am sure the guy is OK and nothing else bad will happen. And indeed they return and the guy proves to be very nice and helpful. They couldn’t reach anybody in San Juanito, but he offers to put the bike in his truck and drive us to the town. Unfortunately this is not possible as the truck is too small (ah where are the huge American trucks when you need one? ) and also we couldn’t possible lift the bike in just 3 people.
So we say thank you to our nice Mexican friend and let him go take his phone calls. I just finished trying a new patch and this times there is no “sssssshhhh” sound. We quickly gather all our things and head for the town. We soon pass our Mexican friend who was on the phone and he waves us for good luck.

The miles are passing by so slowly and soon, much too soon, I feel again the back is smooshy. The tire is not holding air. We stop again and assess our situation. If I would not be able to fix the tire we will need a car to take us to the next town. We are prepared to stop the very next car that will pass by (as they are not so many anyway) and ask them to take Andreea to go in San Juanito. There she would try to find a ride for the bike and also, stay at a motel over night (as it was getting late) while I will stay with the bike and if no help would come in good time, I would camp on the side of the road. Not a very pleasant thought. In the mean time I have nothing else to do than try again to repair the tire.

A new try. With lots of hopes and prays we turn on the air compressor and again the needle is slowly crawling to 34 PSI. I stop the compressor and this time there is no “ssssshhhh”. The tire seems to hold. I doulbe check with whatter and there are no bubbles. Full of hopes we start our ride again. One eye on the road and one eye on the odometer which was much too slowly turning mile after mile. 20 miles left, 15 miles left. I stop to check the pressure and it reads 37 PSI. That means there is too little air in the tire to begin with (but I already knew that) but it also means that we are not dropping air. This is good. We continue and finally we reach San Juanito just as the last sun light was fading away for the day. It is too late to find a repair shop now. We just look for a motel with secure parking and internet to settle in before the night comes.
We write an update on advrider and there as well, a lot of friends come with very good advice, list of tire shops in Chihuahua and encouragements. We feel better as we don’t feel alone. Also I talk with some Mexicans who were staying at the same hotel and ask them about good Desponchadas that I could go to in the morning and they are so helpful as well. One of them takes me in his car and drives to the nearest one just to show me the way.
In the morning we split up. I am going to the tire repair shop trying to have a more permanent fix to the hole in the tire. And Andreea stays at the model and tries to find a suitable replacement tire in Chihuahua. And she is in for another excellent experience as when the owner of the model finds out about the problem not only he lets her use the phone with no charge, but he and his sun take turns making the calls themselves speaking in Spanish, helping Andreea communicating with the motorcycle shops.

In the mean time Cesar, an advrider from Chihuahua is doing the same from his home and also sends us a message that we could stay at him if we come to Chihuahua. Unfortunately it seems there is not even one single tire in our dimensions in Chihuahua. We would have to go there and wait for one to come.
In the mean time I manage to have a guy applying a patch from the interior of the tire. And he said to me that I could go on riding like this. Nevertheless, I feel a little bit uneasy as we do have a lot of weight on the bike.
I return at the model and talk with Andreea about what we should do next. Despite all the troubles in the last 24 hours we had in fact every reason to be optimistic and grateful. Yes we were stranded on some remote road in the mountains but then… the Mexican driver who stopped and tried to help, being able to reach San Juanito, all the friends who responded online, Cesar from Chihuahua who was so nice to offer his home to us, the Mexican workers who took me with their car and showed me where the tire repair shop was, the motel owners helping Andreea with the phone calls, all of these were such clear examples of human goodness, and these is the feeling that we want and we chose to take away from this experience. Mexico proved to be harder then expected in our first days here. But we like it and we hope to be able to go on.

Next time we find out how the story of the flat tire will end and we meet a crazy guy in a crazy place. Stay tuned!
The map of the route covered by this story:

80 kilometers. That’s all we had to go to get to Creel the day before when we had the flat tire. We managed to ride with my patch work for 50 km to San Juanito. Now that the tire was patched “professionally” on the inside we were at the crossroads and didn’t know which way to go from here. 1. We go 200 km NE to Chihuahua where we called but couldn’t manage to get the tire we need. 2. We continue our planned route with the patched tire and reach Durango at one point, also a big city, 500 km South from here.
We choose the second option. If the patch would last 200 km, it would last also 500 and going South we had more chances to find a new tire. And this way we get also to see Barranca del Cobre. We look once more at the sky and the clouds. The snickers were quietly watching us. We did the right thing.
So we leave San Juanito and…. 30 kilometres later we are in Creel.
Creel is a “Pueblo Magico” which means that it has been selected by the Mexican government to promote traditional values and tourism.


There are a lot of Indians in the village.


And the stores are ready to offer their customers the latest in fashion.

But as you get away from the 2 or 3 “main” streets you find the other side of the place: dust, trash and people who love to party…. no matter where.

There is a mix of old and new, of Mexicans and Indians, of “almost clean” and “not so clean”, narrow streets, shops with everything you can think of, everything is colored.

We are looking for a place to stay, trying to find our way through all this. But first we find a…. Canadian named Blake. He is on his way to Argentina also. Also by motorcycle, a Kawasaki KLR650. And he just got to Creel and was looking for a place to stay. We join forces to find the cheapest place. Blake is negotiating with the owner of a “villa” trying to find a safe place for our motorcycles. We want to congratulate him for his Spanish when he confesses he was born in Guatemala and Spanish is his main language. That explains it!

We park our bikes under some arches and we go together to explore the village.


We see the statue of Christ up on a hill, silently watching over the community and decide to get closer.

We are looking at Him in complete silence. A year ago all this wasn’t even a thought. Now we are here watching the white clouds waltzing their way. I sometimes think that it’s a wonder that we are here. I wonder what will be next?
Blake turns his gaze towards the village.

This guy likes to climb. He did it before on really tall structures. He is a very nice guy and we get along well. We decide to go see the canyon together tomorrow. The short ride without luggage to the park’s entrance is most enjoyable. Blake is also having fun.

We get to the entrance and we are surprised to see that there is no one there, no other tourists, just us. A small pay booth and a guard giving us the entrance ticket that is around 2 dollars. It’s ironic but we think it’s a lot. It’s not fair to think this way, we remembered how much was the entrance at the Grand Canyon.

As compared to US where the attraction points are well highlighted here there are very few signs. And the map is only drawn on a wall. That’s all.

As we were enjoying the views we passed by the road that was supposed to take us to the view point. We turn around and we are amazed. The Grand Canyon is… small!


Grand Canyon might be more imposing because it’s red and there is no vegetation. But standing on the rim of the Copper Canyon…. everything else seems insignificant.
You pass at your own risk and there is nobody stopping you.
There is even a cable cart taking you to an edge of the canyon. Blake’s Spanish proves helpful again as he negotiates a free ride with the owner of the cable cart.
We can see the houses of Tarahumara Indians hanging from the cliffs. se vad casele indienilur tarahumara, agatate de stanci.
We get on the edge and admire the views. Some army guys are enjoying the views also. We realized that we got used to seeing army men in different places in Mexico. They went with the same cable cart as we did but I didn’t even noticed them.
We are somehow in the heart of the canyon surrounded by steep edges.
An Indian young woman sells hand made baskets in a “corner”.
I ask permission to take a photo and surprisingly she agrees.
This picture demonstrates that there are people meant to be in certain places. Or places meant for certain people.
We will find our place someday. Or the place will find us. Until then, the road is ours!
The route map for this post:

View Larger Map
Next time we venture in our first large city in Mexico. Then we ride to the ocean on a very dangerous road . Stay tuned!

Nice pictures. Please, share a lot more during your trip. I am sure a lot of people on the HUBB are just as much interested in your travel stories as I am.

__________________
Jan Krijtenburg

My bikes are a Honda GoldWing GL1200 and a Harley-Davidson FXD Dyna Super Glide

My personal homepage with trip reports: https://www.krijtenburg.nl/
YouTube channel (that I do together with one of my sons): motormobilist.nl

Great fotos. Thanks for sharing!

Ride on, enjoy and keep on posting!!!

Between the past and the present: 19-22 October
We are still far away from the border but we feel we are getting closer. The easiest (fastest) way would have been to continue on the Pacific coast to Guatemala. As we weren’t in a hurry we decided to head north first, entering the old Mayan empire territory.
We still have to ride for a while to get there. On some paved roads…

…and on others less paved

And the only constant is the temperature…. a high temperature. No wonder everyone is trying to cool off the best they can. And at noon, it is siesta time…


We manage to refrain ourselves from turning right on one of those small roads that seem to lead on a deserted beach. Maybe we should have done it, we weren’t in a hurry. We get on top of a hill and we can see in the distance endless beaches tucked in between thick vegetation and the blue waters of the ocean.

We admire the ocean one last time (in Mexico) and head to the green mountains. We are developing a new traveling rhythm but we still have to learn how to properly relax. This time we avoided the beaches because we had no cash and decided to look for an ATM first. Ah, what a “pragmatic” excuse. We have no time to regret the beaches left behind though as we get to enjoy the beauty ahead.


And the road wants to keep up with the scenery as well. Good pavement, well marked, going up in the mountains. Sometimes having a tall vegetation green wall on both sides and sometimes steep cliffs on one side.



We are then reminded that human footprint on the lands is not always a positive one.

Garbage has a strong impact in these places where nature has so much to offer. But who is to blame? People from here who produce trash and throw it in the nature or maybe the companies that commercially invaded their lives, selling them things they didn’t need, without offering them an efficient method to get rid of the trash? It’s an endless debate but a real problem that should be looked into from both sides.
And ironic enough, just a few meters down the road, we see the government solution for the situation: “Let’s scare them with big fines”!

So if you throw away trash you get fined, a 90 minimum salaries fee. That’s great, but I seriously doubt that this is really enforced or that it could be enforced for that matter (who would have here the actual money to pay such a fine?) And if they are not affected by it, they don’t really care about it.
These people live a harsh life, from another time, somehow forgotten by the new “always on the run” society living in the “civilized” cities. So it might be easy to judge but it might be rush and even useless.
There are no supermarkets here. There are no malls or other useful places where you can buy the “strict necessities” in life. But you can buy boiled or fried corn, right from the side of the road.

And how about walking all day long carrying with your head a load sometimes equal with your own weight? Would you still be willing to go to the next trash bin to throw our garbage?

Oh… and I forgot to mention, the nearest trash bin is… uhmm probably miles away!

We reach the village, more than 2600 meters altitude and we have a look around.

There are no big commercial establishments but this doesn’t mean that there is no capitalist life of unstoppable consumerism. Of course this Mayan descendants need Coca Cola on a daily basis as well as many other plastic wrapped products. Plastic that ends up on the streets where ironically puddles mirror the beautiful traditional costumes worn by girls and ladies.


And even here, in the isolated village, one can connect to the wonders of internet. We wouldn’t want a day to pass without Facebook (and yes, that’s self irony).

But people adapt to always changing reality, combining -sometimes in a pleasant, sometimes in a weird manner- the traditional past with present of jeans and printed T-shirts.

Most of the people wave back as we wave them. But some are not shy to show their despise towards (what they think) we represent. If only it would be just that -a calculated and conscious response- and not just a lack of good education and lots of stupidity…

But who knows? We continue onwards through people animals and corn fields.

Bare feet on a roll of barbwire. When us, the grownups, forget, children can remind us, even just symbolically, that we can and we should overcome artificial barriers. We don’t know who this girl is but we will take this image with us…

The last place in Mexico we wanted to stop for a while was Palenque, an old Mayan city, now an archaeological site that can be visited. The narrow road winds its way restlessly, descending from the mountains and getting deeper and deeper into the jungle. Vegetation changes again.


And as we were riding and enjoying the views we were forced to sudden stop. In front of us a group of people was blocking the road. Some people were skillfully manipulating 2 wooden boards with nails that they were putting in the middle of the street. You had to stop, and then other gentlemen were approaching you and telling things and asking for money. I evaluate the situation and realize that the good thing is we are not alone on the road. There is a full bus in front of us, also stopped. And on the other side two cars are greeted the same way.

Still…. I don’t feel at ease. This is not right… Andreea becomes all quiet in the back. One of the “gentlemen” approaches us. He is holding a jar and asking for money. He is speaking pretty fast so I don’t really understand what he is asking money for. But I decide I don’t want to give him anything and I tell him that in Romanian. He doesn’t hear neither Spanish nor English so he gets confused but repeats his request one more time but less convinced. I repeat in Romanian that I don’t understand what he is saying, I am from Romania, I don’t know Spanish nor English and I don’t want to give him any money. Of course the man only hears some nonsense words and decides we are good to go. He leaves puzzled. The bus in front is allowed to pass and I try to take this opportunity when there is no board with nails on the road to cross also. It’s not working. The wooden board is pushed back on the road and I have to break fast. The guy manipulating the board seems starts to talk with your guy and luckily they decide that we are nice guys and we should be allowed to pass. We speed up and few meters away everything seems to go back to normal.

We are quiet, thinking about what happened. Definitely these people weren’t the “bad guys” from Mexico we were warned about. They were probably some people in the village in big trouble and needing some help. The wooden board with nails was just a brutal way of convincing the people always in a hurry to stop and listen to their problems. And help them with some money, of course. Maybe we got scared and we weren’t supposed to. These kind of actions are not rare in Mexico. Something similar happened to us in Oaxaca. Just that there were no nails on the road over there, just a human shield. The feeling of insecurity stays with us for a while. I guess you cannot feel otherwise when you are stopped by men with macetas, using boards with nails. A brand new VW Golf 5 driven by the man in a suit passed us. For sure he was stopped just like us. Now he was talking on the phone, relaxed. Nothing out of ordinary for him. What a difference. I keep thinking what would have been the reaction if something like this would have happened in Europe. Call the police, hand out fines, tv news crew, everything. Here, just another day. It was OK that we weren’t alone. We thank God we are alive and continue our journey to Palenque. We avoid the city and find a place to sleep in the jungle, in a bungalow, close to the Mayan ruins. There is an unbelievable noise outside, there are lots of birds and animals hidden in the dense vegetation. Like in a movies I was watching as a kid.

I park the motorcycle in the howling of the monkeys and call an end to a too long day.


We go to bed after Andreea gets rid of a big spider hanging above our bed. Hmmm I thought we are sleeping in a bungalow and not in a hammock so that we could avoid such “creatures”. Never mind, all is good! The sleep comes with the the rain drops and a question: Will we exit Mexico tomorrow?
The map for this post:

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Next time we try to exit Mexico and we find out that it is not that easy. Stay tuned!

Great pics , looking forward to see the ones from Guatemala .

Ride safe ,

Julio

@GuateRider: hey Julio, I hear you are enjoying Mexico too! Have safe rides! We are really getting lazy with our progress. We just exited Guatemala yesterday... after 3 weeks spent there. Great times! Soon we will have to speed up for the boat.

But... here it is the story about how we entered Guatemala
In Guatemala: October 22-23

This is it! After more than 3 weeks in Mexico and with the initial moto insurance running out 3 days ago, we felt that it was time to hit the road so we wake up in Palenque with the clear target: Guatemala!
From Palenque to Guatemala it is not very far. You need to reach a small town called Tenosique and then onwards to El Ceibo a relatively new border crossing that is not very well known nor it is very used.
We found out about it from Alex si Dagmar, our friends from Mexico City. But the funny thing was that when trying to find more details about it while on the road we were getting very diverse answers. First of all it does not exist on our Mexico GPS map or Paper Map. Also Google Maps doesn’t know it. And when we were asking people around Palenque we were getting answers ranging from “There is no road that goes there, only a boat crossing” to “there is a road but it is in a very bad condition, you have to cross a river and then you are on the Guatemalan side. Passing over the mere existence of the place (of which we knew from Alex and Dagmar but we just could not pin point it’s location) we had another problem: when entering Mexico with a foreign vehicle you have to make a bank deposit (400 dollars in our case) that you get back when you exit your vehicle from Mexico. There is a separate entity dealing with this procedure called Banjercito. Apparently not all the border crossings have a Banjercito office so you cannot exit everywhere. Or you can do exit wherever you want and make a 400 dollars donation (your deposit) to the Mexican government. We learn from HUBB and AdvRider that there is a Banjercito in El Ceibo but it is closed on Monday. And today is…. Monday, exactly! The post was from 2010 so maybe things have changed until now.
We decide to go to border and see if we get into Guatemala or not. We meet a few police and army checkpoints along the way. We ask about the Banjercito and they all confirm that there is one and it’s open. Let’s go then, maybe we can cross. Guatemala feels so close!
At one of the Mexican checkpoints we see the wooden board with nails again that brings us bad memories. So this “tool” is used by the army also, in emergency cases. Luckily it was just sitting there, on the side of the road.
The isolated and less known border crossing is almost deserted. We park in front of the frontier building and we are the only ones there. A man approaches us and tells us where to go. Ah, that’s good, it’s means we can cross today. We start preparing our documents when another man shows up and tells the first one: “Hombre, they cannot cross today, the Banjercito is closed”. Ah, we were so close! We take a sneak peak of Guatemala and promise to come back tomorrow. For now, Mexico, here we come! Again!
We go back 50 kilometers to Tenosique. At least the road is nice. Very nice.
After a few unsuccessful trials we find a hotel. It’s clean, it has internet and we have time to write another post for Micadu (probably one about Northern Mexico) and we wait for Tuesday to come….
Next day we go back to the border and everything goes well. Banjercito is open, we take care of the formalities for the motorcycle and then we get our exit stamps for Mexico on the passports. We are in “no man’s land” and head towards Guatemala.

On the other side we park the motorcycle in front of the Guatemalan frontier building. We are the only foreigners there. Only locals seem to know about this border crossing. And because the border is isolated there is no commercial traffic. Perfect, no trucks! We hope to have an easy crossing. And since we are in another country, we take down the little Mexican flag that we received from Tom in Banamici. Two border guys notice what we are doing and ask us what’s with the flag. We tell them that we carry the Romanian flag and the flag of country we are passing through, if we have it. In Mexico we had this small one. Now we have to find one with Guatemala. The border guy smiles to us, he has an idea. He tells something really fast to his colleague and comes back with a Guatemalan flag as big as our panier. He even has scotch tape, so the two men immediately start working on our motorcycle.

Andreea stays with the moto as I try to figure out the bureaucratic flow. First I need some stamps on our passports so we can be allowed in Guatemala. Meanwhile, at the motorcycle….
Then I have to go to another building and start the procedure for Gunnar’s temporary import in Guatemala.
Meanwhile, back at the motorcycle….

To finish the formalities I have to make some copies of the documents that they just issued. There is no copy machine at the border so I have to take a tuc-tuc (madly driven by a child) and go look for a copy machine in the nearby village.
Meanwhile, at the motorcycle…
I come back from the village with the copies and after I get some more stamps I have to go to a bank and pay some tax. You cannot pay with the credit card at the bank and I don’t have too many pesos left so it’s time to start looking for the dollars I kept well hidden “just in case”.
Meanwhile, at the motorcycle…
Basically, whenever I was going out of a building and running to the other one I was taking a look at Gunnar and saw that something else was going on there. But everything was OK and they were all respectful and nice with Andreea who got a cold drink and was invited to rest in the shadows. Meanwhile I was running around with documents from one office to the other. Oh well, everyone is having fun, their own way.
One hour and something later we are ready! I was reading all sort of unpleasant stories about border crossings in Central America. For us crossing into Guatemala was a real pleasure. Everyone was friendly and, being such a small border crossing, we ended up knowing everyone and everyone knew who we were and where we were going. We shake hands with the border men and they wish us safe travels in Guatemala. This is is! We are leaving!
We are in a less populated area. And full of contrasts. Normally we were supposed to be in a jungle, and the places where nature was on her own were luxuriant green.
But other places the jungle was just a memory:
Massive deforestations. Here you cannot say “you cannot see the forest from the trees”. No matter how hard we tried to imagine things were not how they were supposed to be. And we were to find out the next day about an old practice, thousands of years old. One that was probably the main cause for the decline of a civilization.
But before meeting the Mayan civilization from thousands of years ago we see the marks of a more recent one, from 2012.
A sad and strong contrast with the clean nature surrounding us.
We feel like we saw this before. We feel like this picture of trash thrown away all over the place is uselessly repeating. We promised ourselves before leaving that we will remember the world as it is. I don’t claim to be a photo-journalist but still I cannot only show the “beautiful” pictures, the ones that look good in the magazine. The New World is fascinating in all its forms.
We see the first settlements in Guatemala. We are in an area that was strongly affected by the Civil War that lasted over 30 years and ended not so long ago, in 1996. There are modest villages with barely no infrastructure, except the main road that passes them by.
Everything is closer to the ground. The ground that seems to be the main source for survival, ironically unsustainably used but many times strictly necessary on short term.
We pass the few villages we meet along the way and get closer to the place where we want to stop for the night. Lake Peten, in Northern part of Guatemala is famous for being one of the cores of Mayan civilization, the city of Tikal being probably one of the greatest ever built by the Mayans.We stop on Flores Island, a place that is mainly touristic. What a difference between the villages we just passed and this tourism oriented place.You can tell where you are from the marks left by the big commercial chains.

We barely find a hotel not made for foreign tourists (without North American price levels and not especting dollars instead of quetzals- nation currency of Guatemala). There is big bustle and the tuc-tucs are flying around carrying tourists and locals.
We manage to find a quiet place, park the motorcycle inside the hotel (again) and try to get used to the new location.

Today was a special day. The first day in a new country is a little bit weird, you are in between two different worlds, still trying to adjust to the new “rules”.
We enjoy the sunset over Lake Peten and our thoughts fly back to the last weeks.
Mexico was supposed to be just a short chapter of our journey. A gate to Central America, a place that many people avoid and even more fear, a place we had to cross. It turned out to be more than this and we would love to go back. And now Guatemala! A country we barely new anything about before coming here. Over the lake, hidden in the dense jungle, there is Tikal, the old Mayan city full of mysteries and answers in the same time, echoing the life of an empire that flourished thousands of years ago, with scientific and technological performances hard to explain for those times and that suddenly disappeared without a clear cause.
Wondering what we will see tomorrow? Stay tuned!
The road we took is not on Google Maps so the map for this post is shown on Google totally wrong. The route was Palenque-Tenosique-Flores, without the Southern detour.

View Larger Map

How long are you travelling for? Great intersting trip so far, take care, and much luck with the rest of your travelling.

Hey Chris, unfortunately we missed the waterfalls. But they look really nice. Well maybe next time (because I really hope this will not be our last time in Central America! these countries are so nice!)

Allchin: we've started on 10th of July from Montreal. We can hardly believe that it has been more than 4 months now... It is a dream. A very real one.

A lot of the first stories are on our blog (Part I and Part II) as we've started to post here on HUBB only after we entered Mexico (thinking that for the majority of people here, North America is like the back yard so the stories wouldn't be so interesting...)

The other Guatemala: 26-28 Octomber
Flores got us puzzled. Nature and its proximity to the impressive Mayan ruins made it a wonderful place but it’s hard to relax when you are welcomed and treated in the most touristy possible way. We could give many examples, unfortunately, but there is no use to mention them here. It’s enough to say that you need some time to get used to the fact that to many of the people there you are just a walking dollar. And once you realize this you can either get annoyed and start looking for “justice” that might be really hard to find anyway or enjoy the most you can under the given circumstances. I admit that I had a lot of “fun” all the time when at the same neighbourhood store and the same vendor, products had totally different price every time I stopped by. It’s a shame I couldn’t film the dialogues we had every time. The good part is that if you don’t get angry and are always relaxed when approaching them about it, the local “slicks” get pretty confused. It’s a shame that the location is so beautiful, a coquette island on an of lake that mirrors the jungle and sunsets…

And still, Guatemala cannot be only this. There must be something more beyond the “touristy places”. We feel we have to leave Flores and discover the Other Guatemala, one that gives us back a name and identity different than Benjamin Franklin. Therefore we plot a route that will take us South of the country, towards Course de Guatemala, Antigua and Lake Atitlan. Gunnar barely starts rolling and I sense us feeling better. After 3 days of sitting in one place, we missed being back in the saddle. On the side of the road the people are out working. Some cut the grass with their machetes…

… some do their laundry.

We reach Sayakche, where we have to take a “ferry” to cross the river. I think this is our second river crossing on this trip, after more the 30.000 km and 4 months into the trip

Luckily we get a spot on the first one, next to other local motorcycles. We have a few moments to relax and watch the way people live on both sides of the river.


It’s also interesting where they put the engines of our “ferry”: they are in 4 barrels strapped on the corners of the ferry. This way the engine can spin freely 180 degrees. Simple and ingenous.

On the other side we are greeted by the mountains and a lot of green. What a beautiful day!


Guatemala is called “The country of eternal spring” and it’s not hard to figure out why. Everything around us is bright green! We notice something else: there are very few cars on this road, one of the main ones in Guatemala. And the few cars we meet are functional ones. Trucks and buses. No small vehicles. Here’s an example, “Rapido del Norte” speeding in the opposite direction.

We pass small cities and they are all the same: noisy, agitated and full of life. People going from one place to another.

You can find and you can buy everything on the side of the road. I feel like I landed in an oriental bazar.


Everything calms down once we are out of the small cities. We meet fewer people, travellung by bus or by… foot.

People, especially women, wear their traditional clothes. And they do it every day not just during the holidays. Statistics say that more than 40% of the population of Guatemala is Mayan, living in the hills and mountainous area and belonging to more tribes (over 15), each having their own dialect, costumes and traditions. A fascinating world. And somehow it doesn’t feel weird to see the beautiful girls carrying things on their heads, the way they do it for hundreds of years.

We stop on the side of the road to buy some oranges and we don’t feel the “mercantile pressure” anymore. Things seem to be normal here. We get our oranges that we pay with a few coins (probably the price for locals not for foreigners) and we get smiles also. It hard to tell though what’s behind those smiles. People here have been through a terrible civil war that ended not long ago. The war started in 1960 and ended in 1996 with a peace armistice that many considered a wonder. All this horrible war took place in these mountains that now seem so serene.

One of the reasons it started was due to big differences between the richness of the elite and the poor majority of the population, forced to work the lands that were no longer theirs but owned by the big corporations from other countries. The fight was tough and many innocent civilians were involved. Many of them are still trying to rebuild their life.

Just recently more information was reveled on the genocide committed by the government army troops (apparently more than 200 000 Mayans and peasants were killed) and on the involvement of foreign agencies (US) that were defending the interests of the corporations owning profitable businesses in Guatemala. For example, United Fruit Company- from US, of course- owned 42% of the Guatemalan land, that’s right, the fertile one, without paying any kind of tax for this thanks to the “settlement” made with the country’s “democratic” leaders. No wonder US was trying to keep unchanged the status quo of the matter opposing what they called a “communist” movement.

Things are not that simple, of course, there is never only black and white and what I wrote here are just a few pieces found out while travelling in Guatemala. But for sure many of the things that happened made no sense and should not have taken place. 36 years of blind fight, years of hardship for most of the population, forced to live in a country trapped between an ugly past and a never coming future. If you have some time it is worth to learn more about these events. They are unfortunately more actual that we would like. Just change some of the actors and… but I digress!

I would like to have the same approach as some of the people I’ve talked to on this topic. I noticed not only the reluctance to talk about what happened but also optimism and pride about what will happen from now on. They might be coming from a dark place but more important is that it’s all clear now. Now they can rest peacefully looking towards a future where they hope the sun will rise.

This seemed to me a healthy attitude. Maybe more spread among the older ones while the young ones have a “hot blood”. But I think sometimes is better to channel your energy on what you cn do from now on.

We were glad the ugly times seem to have came to past and today two Romanian travellers can freely discover Guatemala.

And children are now busy handling kites instead of guns.

As for us, we enjoyed discovering Guatemala day by day, “the other Guatemala” where it is easier to interact with the locals based on honesty and not on a currency. Whether it is dollar or something else.
We spent lazy afternoons in old Antigua,

eating chocolate in the same room it has been produced.

Then we went to San Pedro la Laguna, a village set between Lake Atitlan and San Pedro volcano, “racing” (and losing) with the famous “Chicken buses” (old American school buses, now transformed into commuting buses).

And to get to San Pedro we left behind the 4 lanes intercontinental road for more narrow roads that lost their pavement at a certain point but not the traffic, heavy one, from the opposite direction…

Or… coming the same way as us…

hmm should we try to pass? Luckily we are on a motorcycle and we can squeeze through!

But its worth it to pass the big bus. The landscape just opens up and we have a great view on Lake Atitlan, guarded by a fortress of volcanoes. Wonderful!

In San Pedro we found a place to stay towards the end of the village where we decided to spend a week. Our own bungalow with a hammock, view of the volcano and beautiful garden. Yeah, it is time to spend more time in one place.

It was end of October and we found out that the first available boat to cross the Darien Gap was only on the 8th of December. Late… very late but we couldn’t find a spot for Gunnar earlier. We book the 8th of December.
This means we will have a whole month, November, to explore Central America.
But this also means that we will have less time to reach the South of Argentina, in Ushuaia, if we want to get there before winter.
And this also means that our plan to get back home on the 4th of February is no longer feasable. With God’s help, our trip will take more than 7 months.
And a new thought starts to take shape. What if Ushuaia is not our last stop? Can’t we just go further? Hmmmm…
Here’s the route map for this post:
View Larger Map
Next time we meet old friends and try to solve a very “serious” issue: where to find a quiet place by the ocean to spend a few days out of the remaining ones until the 8th of December? Stay stunned!