THE TOUR BEGINS

I am now in Guatemala, the starting point for a three month motorbike tour of Central America.

Why Central America? Well I want to learn Spanish. It is a culture I have never experienced and it is small and diverse enough to be interesting and package into the three month window I have available without busting a gut. It caters superbly for my off bike activities of diving and boogie boarding. I want to do the trip on a local bike and Guatemala is reportedly an easy place for a traveller to buy one. We shall see!

I also have a South American tour on my bucket list - but that deserves a longer timeframe and a different , bigger bike. So the CA trip will give me a taster and some experience of this part of the world.

This is my fourth long tour having done my home country, New Zealand on a Yamaha Virago 250 after rediscovering my love of motorbikes following retirement in 2007 after 40 years in the corporate world. In 2011, I bought a V Strom 650 in the UK and travelled solo to Ukraine, Greece, Italy, Spain and points in between. Morocco, Turkey and Albania were the focus in 2012 on the same bike. The blogs are on this site.

Prior to this, I rode a pushbike from the Danube Delta to London, then had a pleasant bike ride from Singapore to Bangkok , followed the Mekong from Vientiane, Laos, through Vietnam, Cambodia and back to Bangkok. I also spent 6 months working as a divemaster on Koh Tao, Thailand taking tourists to dive the famed Chumpon Pinnacle to see its whale sharks. My retirement has been busy and satisfying so far. I will have enough time in my dotage to live vicariously!

These trips have been done mostly solo. My mates still have responsibilities , or in a couple of cases have marital form and are not allowed out to play. I have grown to like not having to make a group decision. While often having a buddy would make things easier, sometimes a lot easier, age, guile, persistence, naivety and a couple of s at the end of the day usually sorts things out - or at least puts them in perspective! And being older in the countries I have visited seems to have been an asset with people always more than willing to assist and help out when needed. The camaraderie of two wheels.

As a minor digression, the Kiwi is a unique flightless bird named after it’s distinctive, monotonous call. It is also what the world calls New Zealanders. To me, calling us after a flightless bird is a misnomer for a nation seemingly so compelled to get out and see the world. Perhaps it is because we live on an island, miles from anywhere, with a genetic makeup of Polynesian sailors and immigrants who wanted to get away, get ahead and establish their own identity. Perhaps because everything is so new in NZ we need some kind of security we are part of a long established human world. Without doubt, we are travellers and consequently a more apt symbol might be another native, the wandering albatross. What would we be called then ? Perhaps it could start with wan? Any ideas or suggestions to the nearest NZ cultural attache please.

I have been given some great advice from inmates of this website and hopefully my reports will repay those who have devoted their time and energy to documenting their travels and answering my questions. Perhaps it will stir some memories and may even assist those thinking of doing something similar and hopefully, not dissaude them.

BUYING A BIKE
I had done a little research and received (conflicting) advice from various websites. I had ruled out a new bike as the one piece off consistent advice was it would take a month or so to get plates and registration. My travel insurance restricted my bike choice to less than 200cc. I could have changed it, but I grew to like the idea of a using a small local bike and taking my time. I had just spent seven months trundling my motorhome through the sights and sites of Western Europe and New Zealand has a fair share of thin, challenging roads so I am used to a slower pace. Even on the V strom I rarely exceeded 90kph. Dignity is everything!

There was also the thought if I had a problem it could be fixed locally and quickly. My investment would not be bank breaking and there was the option I could just give the bike away at the end of the trip to benefit some locals as I did following my time on Koh Tao.

The plan was to buy in Quetzaltenango but walking around Guatemala City, I passed a large Suzuki dealership. The GN125 was one of my preferred choices so I thought I would have a chat. I explained what I was after to the receptionist and she appeared in a short while with five people, who after a bit of pantomine I worked out were the sales manager, finance manager, legal manager, salesman and someone to take notes. English was broken but understandable.

The enthusiastic sales manager took the lead: They could sell me an ex lease bike , around 35000 kms, fully serviced, insured and would buy it back for 50% of the purchase price when I left in three months. I was reluctant to buy a bike of this mileage but decided to go along, view it and then make the decision. My cost would work out at around $500 for the three months.

But then they could not find a bike. Their discomfort was obvious and they went in to a huddle and the sales boss presented a new deal. They would lease me a new bike, deliver it to Xela, throw in a top of the range helmet , insure and register, for around $220 a month. The legal people would draw up papers allowing me to travel outside the country and I could pay it on my credit card. Deal done and I had hardly said anything. I don’t know whether they liked the idea of my trip, whether it was a slow day or they had a lot of stock to quit to meet an incentive. However, on paper it was that elusive win- win.

Of course, there may still be fish hooks, but with a large, well established outlet I expect reputation is worth more than some small time fleecing. Time will tell.

I had planned on looking at the Honda 125 and the Bajaj Boxer 150 but my first choice was always the Suzuki. I had great experience of the brand on my V strom, it had more power than the others, similar sized fuel tank, centre stand and a front disc brake. It ticked the boxes and I was mobile

BACK TO SCHOOL IN QUETZALTENANGO
I chose Quetzaltenango (Xela) initially for three reasons, although the Guatemala bike purchase scuppered one of them, Reports said there were less tourists and so you are more likely to use your new language skills, there are a couple of website recommended motorcycle dealers who could help in my bike search and it has an unpronounceable, exotic name, sounding like the liquid you swallow before a colonoscopy.

I had emailed three schools, got professional replies, confused myself with the options and kept delaying my choice. In the end I got off the plane, caught a bus to Xela and visited some schools trying to be as objective and professional about the choice I would make. I confused myself even more ,compounded my jet lag and in the end chose the one with the most attractive receptionist . Far better and more efficient than any corporate process I was ever involved in. However, not very PC, but then I am a senior citizen.

A key of the total immersion package is the chance to live with a local family. Part of the process is you become a family member, join their activities, share their lives. When the school wrote that in their homestay recruitment plan, I don’t think they envisaged a retiree with a flatline responsibility graph, focused on buying a motorbike and mangling Spanish with a nasal colonial accent. Anyway after the initial shock , we all adapted well. They speak to me in loud ,slow voices ( the older I get, the more this is happening) and gently correct my Spanish . In return,I did not rearrange the stuffed animals in my bedroom into risque positions.

Willy and Christy are middle aged and tiny. I felt like Gulliver in Lilliput. But they are kind, patient and helpful. The food and amenities are great and it was all included in my tuition cost of around $160 a week. They had a little dog named Leche and my first goal was to understand more Spanish than her by the end of the first week.

After having been footloose in Europe for the last seven months it is pleasing to establish a routine. School starts at 8am, continues until 1pm with a half hour break around 10am.
So now its two weeks , five hours a day of head down , bum up . I will begin to run in the bike over the weekend with a visit to Lago Atitlan and the surrounding villages.

Ride safe