Thanks for the insight into Cuba,enjoyed the photo's,cars etc does make you wonder after all these years they have not built their own home grown cars.

Heya Noel yeah it makes for an interesting place that is for sure.

The closest we saw to home grown was the chevy with the lonely little 4 cyl Lada diesel in the hole.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Firstly, thank you to Leslie for looking after us. :clap

Leaving Playa Del Carmen were given a nice day.

Mostly uneventful we had lunch at a small bus stop, we were there only a couple of minutes when a car pulls up, a young guy hops out, all waves and the car left .... wouldn't have been two or three minutes later a Ford explorer pulls up fairly hastily.

I very pretty young lady opens the window, ... me , I am thinkin the lucky bastid!!!

She hops out of a car and we unwittingly become part of a “break up scene”
:cry:cry
She was clinging onto him and crying her heart out and he was pretty much looking straight ahead and staunch, even tho we understand very little Spanish at this point the heart felt discussion made me feel sad.:eek1

We quickly finished our lunch and started gearing up when the Taxi arrived, the crying got louder, he got in the Taxi and for her it was a scene of total devastation, we got our gear on even quicker and left ... my heart sunk knowing we had just seen first hand a Mexican break-up which seem to hurt as much here as it does in New Zealand... love the hardest game to play!!

Back to our trip we arrived at Bacalar where were going to stay, all accommodation a was booked out with Spring break / Easter so we carried on to Chetumal.

A few people had said Chetumal was not a great place, arriving we found a hotel and unpacked, doing our usual we walked to town centro and were surprised and impressed by it.

Given it was our last night in Mexico we Tacoed, Marquesitas and Churrosed ourselves out enjoying the last of the street food from Mexico.

I am not fat it is my fur :evil





Chetumal Centro



Fountain lit up with all sorts of colours



There was a massive moon out and it had a orange tinge from smoke or sometong and looked very cool, we only had the little camera so it didn't come out very good but the water looks spooky :evil



Next morning we set off to the Belize border, the seriously unhelpfull border guard wanting to charge 295 peso to leave and with no banks open due to easter we were stuffed, we had to ride back to Chetumal and get some cash from a change shop, lucky we had enough US on us to do it.

Back to the border it was busy with Spring break/Easter but that is the way it is, the only other thing that added lots of time was they were training people .... what a great idea on a public holiday!!!.

With our TVIP returned and refunded we clocked out of Mexico after a little over 4 months of enjoyment.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Setting off from Crooked Tree we were going to go only as far as Hopkins, we had a game change and went via Belize City which was cool but didn’t really hold a lot for what we wanted to do so we decided to stick with the plan to go to Hopkins ... then ... like a woman we changed our minds again as it was only lunch time so we changed the game plan to Punta Gorda.



Punta Gorda is right at the bottom and is the last part of the main paved road, we were tossing up whether to go down there as the Northern Highway from Chetumal to Belize City just scoffed our front tyre turning it from a knobbly to a road tire in 150 km.

I looked down at the front a few times during the ride and Ellen says what is wrong?, I couldn’t figure it out ... turns out I could feel the very coarse road just eating the rubber and destroying the tire so that coupled with the heat it dissolved our front tire pretty quickly.

On the way we were stopped at a Police check point for the first time ever on our trip (our trip IN TOTAL that is), they wanted our insurance, TVIP and spraying documents which we had all of, they were very friendly and very professional, seeing our papers in order they were more interested in our trip than anything so we had good chats and giggles.

Reaching Punta Gorda I took the front tire off and rotated it to extend what little life we had in it, turned out to be a good move also coupled with the road chip improving 100 % being way less aggressive we might even make it to Antigua where we had already organised a new tire ... lets hope it makes it there.

Punta Gorda was a nice ride but the destination was not quite as we envisaged so we opted to stay just the one night but we did go for a nice walk around town and talked to the locals, great bunch of people they were and very welcoming.



The only restaurant there we decided to eat out and we would have to say the food was very good and reasonably priced.

St Charlies is where we stayed, Charlie the owner is a great guy and at 79 years old is a real live wire and has great stories to listen too so the stay there was cool.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

We woke to a beautiful morning after a pretty good sleep, first mission was to go to the Chocolate factory for a tour, trial and purchase.

It was cool as, everything is made right there from the bean grinding and baking to the finished product it is all right there.

The chocolate is spendie but very nice indeed so we splashed and supported the local economy.

This is Ellens hurry up and take the bloody photo look as she wanted to get into the chocolate



The grillers and grinder



Hot chocolate pot



Guilty as charged, see the small production line behind me



Finishing in town we picked up an A&W Root for me ... YUMMMOOO! then packed up ready to the road back to to Hopkins, the trip was uneventful which was cool but hot 36 degrees and fookin humid.

Turning into Hopkins we hit another standard bomb blasted road, these seem to be standard issue when stepping off the main drag, we are thankful for a 21 inch front wheel and long travel suspension to suck up the road or lack of it.

Destination was Lebeha Cabanas and drumming which we found pretty easily and were welcomed in by Jabbar the co owner and great guy.

We took basic cabana for $30 Belize ($15US) per night which was a coupla rugged beds and a table and double opening doors with a padlock ... saweet our own lockup which make storing lappies etc a lot easier.

We walked to the beach which is about 80 metres away, the water wasn’t very clear as the wind was up as was the surf but it was very warm and nice relief from the heat and humidity, we also played with a bunch of local kids letting them climb up on our shoulders and dive into the water the laughter and giggles were second to none with everyone enjoying themselves.

That evening we cooked in with having rice and some local veges and sausages then off to the drumming down the beach at the Driftwood in.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Wanting to go snorkeling we couldn’t as the wind was up and the boat owner didn’t have enough to fill his craft to make it worthwhile unless we wanted to sell Maya to cover the cost ... I don’y think so.

Onto Plan B, with our front tire tread disappearing quickly we jumped onto the net to see what we could find.

Given we had not much to do other than enjoy the nice day we set too and walked along the beach to a point they call the split which is where a local river runs in into the sea, the river has crocs in it so we didn’t swim in there ... just in case.

We checked our emails for tire status with not much luck, also Wifi here is very hit and miss with gmail taking up to two minutes to load ... at least it works eh.

Meeting up with Lev from ADV and Frances from Germany we enjoyed a coffee and chats which was cool, Frances wanted to go diving so we all went for a walk to find the elusive diving shop, the day was very hot and very sticky so togs was it....for the day.

That evening was an international gathering of travelers (4) all heading out for tea to discuss travel, life and general chatter etc.

Great chats, giggles and notes comparisons finished off with coupla drinks.

Some photos for the day



Ellen relaxing on the beach


Local kids swimming and play






Drumming Centre



Our cabina



Photo from the day before, try to pass the bar



The boys and girls room

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Guy's looks very relaxed in your part of the world,lovely photo's ,like the birds especially

Cheers Noel, not hard to be relaxed there, great place.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

We made the decision to be tourists again for a day, at $65 US for the day it was spendie but Ellen really wanted to go.

Setting off for a 40 minute boat ride before hitting the first reef the day was warming up very fast.



After snorkeling for 2 hours we stopped for a break on an island which was stunning.

Leaving lunch we did another reef, we were lucky enough to see some sharks, barracuda, stingrays and an assortment of glamorously coloured topical fish.

I really can’t talk it up any better other than to say of all the snorkeling I have done in Oz, New Caledonia, Hawaii, Fiji etc this kicks there arse hands down.

Just a few photos, not very good with our small camera but you get the picture.

Aquagirl hard at it



Bright coloured fish



Shark lurking under a rock :eek1



A Stingray making his way out of reach



The awful lunch spot

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

One of our neighbours was having her birthday so it was decided that all the travellers would get together to celebrate to help her to get older.

Jabbar the owner of the Lebeha drummers hostel hard at it



The birthday girl



Bunch of drunken bums



Someone who looks like me being happy as after 1 or 10 rums :eek1



Most of the others did not get up early the next morning and were nursing a severe case of bottle flu :evil

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Leaving Hopkins behind with good fun memories we had a cooler day at least to pack up and start with.



Part way along the Hummingbird Highway we past a R80 BMW and 250 Sherpa with big waves so we stopped and turn around to catch up to find it was Billy and Trish.

Two neighbours havin a great laugh ... see the spastic face :evil



The 250 Sherpa had 180000 km on it :eek1 and still going strong



Being Kiwis and Ozzies we had “a bloudy guod cutch up maite” on the side of the road.

Travels, motorcycle, federals, breakdowns, camping etc you get the gig, saying goodbye and sending them on their way we continued towards Guatemala border.



It was painless leaving Belize and partly painless getting into Guatemala UNTIL we had to get our TVIP.

The nice fat bastid behind the counter was very unhelpful and could not be bothered and clearly we were interrupting his day of doing nothing.

He wanted a photo copy of the stamp he just gave us???? and Ellen had to go back across the bridge to Belize to get a copy ...you have to be joking ... nup it was for real.

He was probably half way through our paperwork when a small buzzer went off beside him, he hoped up and walked off .... out of the building and down the street....gone.

Apparently it was lunchtime so he just dropped everything and left ... we were still standing their wondering WTF has happened, an hour later after the fat bastid had made himself fatter he returned and very unwantingly took 2 - 3 minutes to finish us up.... couldn’t believe it. :eek1 !!!

The que by this time was monstrous .... I hope he had a good lunch.

Hmmm, I have to admit I had to walk outside and get a drink of water to clear my head and stop me from getting angry with someone who clearly just does not give a shit and stuffed it in our face.

On a brighter note all our paperwork was in place and we were away to Flores on nice paved roads for the most of it.



Arriving at Flores we went over to “the island” and found a good priced hotel with a courtyard that we could pull Maya apart in to fix an intermittent electrical fault.

Tea was bar b q chicken with salad and chip and was absolutely a great feed.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Day 1

Arrival from the day before... aim...fire ... head easy as long as Maya did not die :rofl



At Twomotokiwis electrical engineers headquarters we removed the seat and tilted the headlight mask forward, the hotel dude was into it as well and he didn't even run off half way through, he was a great help .. good man he restored my faith in Guatemalans.:rofl



I checked everything I could with very little to see, a few dirty connectors but nothing that would stop her in her tracks, I also cleaned the off/on switch.



After pushing and pulling everything I could we put her back together as we wanted to see a bit of Flores rather than just fix the bike and leave.

We wandered of around the island and into town checking out the markets and all and came back to the island to relax and feed the locals which I did in style as they bit the shit outa me which is unusual.

We were however rewarded well with our first Guatemalan sunset ... luvin it !!!



Couple of drinks with some new neighbours, talked some shit and drunk some drinks.... gotta luv white rum :1drink :freaky

Day 2

We set off to make our way to Semuc Chepayne, we made it 6.6 km out of town with Maya coughing and farting so we tuned back to Flores and back to the hotel ... I was not happy.:cry :cry

Being early in the day I decided to rip her right down tank and all so I removed the seat, tank, headlight mask, speedo, air filter, ECU and all ... I was quite surprised how small she was after removing all the clothing.





On inspection of the PO’s wiring mayhem I discovered a wire hanging out, I could not see they day prior as it was on the opposite side and out of view.



Scattered :eek1



I traced it back to the off/on circuit and manually pushed it in and out to try it and see what is did and bingo that was the fault.

Repairing that we had to put her all back together which was a mission in itself.

Fixed



Jose was kind enough to knock up some lunch while I was fixing Maya, onya mate really appreciated it.



Heading off this time on a test ride we took her 20 km away to El Rement a swimming place to cool off, on the way back everything went well which was great and I was pretty sick of problems with this bike.

Unfortunately someone decided our orange one way fuel cap on the rear tank was shiny and they wanted it .... and they got it..... petty theif is rampent.

For tea we bought tortillas, some cheese, beef and guacamole and cooked it coupled with some Stollies again.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Starting with the leftover tortillas we had these for breakfast as well as finishing off our watermelon....luckily we had a big breaky as this set us up for a big day.



With Maya running nicely again this was a huge relief and allowed to to get to destination albeit one day later than planned.

Along the way we had to take a barge to get across the river.



Nothing to stop Maya diving off the side never to be seen again :eek1



The rest of the ride was uneventful until we reached the end of the tar seal then it turned into a rocky based road which was harsh but great fun taking us through many small villages.





It was a neat road



Lunch was later than usual and welcomed when we stopped, the temperature hitting 38 degs and very humid so we were dripping like a candle in the sun.

Friendly people everywhere along the way



Arriving at Lanquin it was stinking hot, Ellen walked off to find the truck going in, they had extra space as well so we unloaded the top case and clothes bags to make the last 10 km assault a bit easier for me, turns out the road was pretty similar to what we had come in on anyway.

Even a big welcoming Andy on the wall





Off to Semuc Champey I enjoyed a ride sans Ellen and top luggage which transforms the bike in the tighter stuff.



Forget Redbull ... getting our here and enjoying the beautiful Guatemalan scenery on a motorcycle gives you BIGGER wings!!! :clap



Even some muddy water to make it look authentic :rofl



The road consisted of soft, hard, rocky, muddy, loose, etc so a real mixed bag, sometime requiring a little negociation around front tire stealing rocks :eek1



Semuc Champey is an outstanding place and a ADV must, you wonna go well here it is .....no excuse now!!



Time to settle in and see what tomorrow brings.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

A 40 minute walk to the National park from our accom at Utopia Lodge and we were at the gates and a quick munch on a watermelon that a girl was selling, need to rehydrate in the heat.



$50 Q each which is about $6.50 US and we were off, up to the mirador first to check out the views that are nothing short of spectacular.

It was quite a grunt to get to the top coupled with 35 deg heat and humidity to match we were drenched by the time we reached the top.





Stairs .. lots of stairs



The view, no point in talking about it, see for yourself.





Heading back down to the pools we started at the top and wafted our way down and we met some guys in Flores and they were there too so we caught up with giggle and chatter.

Only a few photos, if you want to see the rest click on any pic and it will take you to our album ... it IS worth it.



The colours here are simply stunning



The pools, hot day, great company and stunning scenery added up to what can only be described as perfect.



If words really could describe it I am struggling to say it





We spent the day there and left when the sun went home, heading back on our 40 minute return walk rewarded with cold showers back at the lodge as we were dripping wet again from heat on our return.

Time for my hair cut again as it will be only 9 months or so and it would be in my eyes so had to deal to that swiftly. :rofl

Chat and drink with Dan & Elaine who were heading to Cuba so we showed them some photos and gave them so fresh information which they were please about.

This is Utopia Lodge ... sod of a place :rofl

The view from the deck



John the Boss at the bar, this dude rocks and adds a new meaning to customer service which was excellent, all his staff follow the same standards which quite simply cannot be faulted ... John .... we will back mate !!!!



The deck and eating area



This is their website, go check it out.

Utopia Eco Hotel, Lanquin ~ Eco Lodge Accommodation, Tours, Restaurant and Bar

Bed time again to rest the weary body from playing all day ... it’s just hard work.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Getting going at around 9.00am we hit the dirt road back to the main highway, the rest of the road was clean, neat and good condition so quite different form our “shortcuts” which we confirm ARE the longest distance between two points.



The temperature was hitting 40 degrees and we were following a slow car up the long winding hill .... both fans blazing away to help Maya keep her cool but nearly at the summit she started to vapour lock and flood with our light throttle and heat buildup despite still having two bars left on the temperature gauge.

She was trying to run on 2 half cylinders so I cracked her open to get some air in there which worked well, she sputtered for about another 300 metres then cleared her throat and by that time we had crested the pass and were heading down so less load and things were back to normal.

Rather than sitting behind the slowjoe I should have passed them and gone which may have prevented that but either way it was fookin hot.

We reached the end of the tarseal at Rabinal at 2.00pm, we tried to find a hotel so the local police took us there.

The lady saw the bike (chiching$$) and that we looked a bit stuffed (chiching$$) so she hiked the price and told us with a straight face what we were to pay, we had her receipt book right in front of us which clearly said quite differently from previous customers charges.:huh

Ready to take a tuck from her I inspected the room, came back put the keys on the counter as said no gracias (being polite) and we carried on.

I was prepared to by ripped a little if the room was ok but it was 40 degrees C and it had no air conditioning and NO ceiling fan (fan which is standard here) so the angry dutchman came out (so did the angry chinese) .... the lady thought she had it in the bag so greed left her with an empty room, ironically no-one else was there and her previous customer date was a wee way back so all the signs were not ideal.

Given it was only 2.00pm we had time up our sleeve so we carried on with the view of camping out somewhere high to get cooler air.

The road was totally dirt and pretty gnarly in places and had obviously had big rains in there and with cattle etc to look out for.



Stopped for a quick Pepsi to get some sugar boost



The road was beautiful and tree clad in places



And open in others



We stopped beside a dry rocky waterfall for a photo and for the first time on the trip in total from Alaska I dropped the bike .... the ground was further away from me and being tired I just couldn’t hold her up. :eek1



We both dropped to the ground in a pile of dust right beside a big hole which crumbled away as we stood up!!!...it was about 10 metres down before the bottom :eek1 :eek1



Fark ... that was was close, no damage other than to my pride so we picked up Maya started her up and carried on.

Was not even 5 minutes later we were stopped with road works, only a 10 minute stop but is was SO hot and I could not put the stand down on Maya due to the camber on the road so I had to sit on her and suck the heat .... the Keep Toasting Me 950 Sauna Eh



Soon on our way we rolled into El Chol a little town and in the middle of nowhere (well somewhere anyway) and spotted HOTEL. :clap

We rocked up and Ellen checked it out, respectable price and respectable room ... that is more like it.

After showering off and turning into humans we walked around town, people starring at me ... not many whitefoos come here me thinks, bought some tea which was Chicken and Chips and Tacos, total $27 Quizales which is about $3.50 for the two of us so after tea we blew the budget on three big mangos and scoffed them back out our room ... yummo!!! ... that was another $10 quitzales so $1.30 US for 3, if we can get em in New Zealand we pay about $3 - $4 each!!

Cool buses in this region, one of many that we saw



No Wifi here again so time to right all this up.

Off to Antigua tomorrow, 75 km of dirt roads with a new front tire waiting at the other end WOH HOH.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere