Leaving Taganga we headed off to El Banco, a small town on a monster river.

The ride was uneventful other than the road being laden with buses and trucks so we spent most of our day overtaking.

Arriving at El Banco it was nearly 40 degs and sticky, luckily we managed to bag a room with AC again so that was a life saver after Taganga. :clap

Maya created a LOT of interest with a swarm of small motos around her with Colombian faces in awe, it was really cool.

One guy hopped on her (I said he could) and his face lit up and he didn’t want to get off onto his little moto. :rofl

For weeks I had been trying to get a piece of metal for our POV camera, finally we manage to find a place, they had alloy angle and the guy cut it, drilled it and gave it to us gratis .... I like this town.

New sunnies were next on the list, right next door was huge selection of glasses so I got some polarized ones, end of an era for the blue ones but I later discovered the 3D effect with the pinlock :huh.

That evening when were returned the hotel owner said an Ozzie had come in to see us after seeing Maya, just then Michael an Irish guy living in Oz appeared again so we all went out for a bite and chat swapping information and scribbling on maps.

We returned to his lodgings across the road from us, he is on 30 year anniversary F800GS ... me likey a lot :clap

Next morning we headed out for breaky, eggs and ariba with coffee, set us up for what turned into a very long day.

To start ..... the road :clap :freaky

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

First off, crossing the US border into Mexico is seriously dangerous as you will be subjected to great food, friendly people and so much to see and do ... so be careful....you have been warned.

And having said that, in the nearly 4 months we were in Mexico we only scratched it, we could very easily spend another year or more floating around taking it in.

Mexico for us as you know we had a trip changing event of Ellens crash which lead to the purchase of Maya, although not a smooth transaction on that with a very deceitful seller we now have the bugs ironed out, last thing for me to get my head to accept is the valve check then I will be 100 % happy in my mind.

Maya is now solid (barring the valve check which should come up good) and is taking us to places we could have only imagined, within our ride report you will have read all about these places but remember you guys really only get the highlights of the happenings, if I wrote about everything to date we would never be able to ride again and you would be bored shitless....and I might be in jail. :eek1

The ADV people that we met, Steve, Jim, Spencer, Gary, you guys all rock and made our trip so much better, Gary we blame you for liking Mexico city, something I thought I would never say.

Mexico, you get the big tick as a must do and I would recommend it to anyone....even Americans, is there trouble ...yes ... name a country that does not?, will you find trouble? ONLY if you look for it or be complacent, we did not feel threatened once and the police actually went beyond their call of duty for us and NOT once asked for money or a bribe, have chat with them with a smile .... they are human too. :clap

Ok, Cuba, having time to look reflect back on our experience we very much echo the same sentiments as Gene and Neda (lightcycle), while we really enjoyed Cuba for its differentness it also wore us down with people just saying give me money, it really took the shine off it and it is far from eco friendly as they label themselves, step away from the tourist areas to the local area and pretty much they are living in their own rubbish dump.

One thing we have established is they (anyone) can be poor but there is no need for them to live in a cesspit of their own rubbish which they do, they go out of their way to buy that bottle of coke but they won’t go out of the way to dispose of it properly but will just biff it on the ground, same for everything, wrappers, paper anything they don’t want.:huh

Would we go to Cuba again?, I would say no there are plenty of other places to explore and having had a good look from Alaska down to Cuba I would go back to anywhere Mexico north before going to Cuba again.

So, Cuba, 1/2 a tick and that box is ticked and can be archived.

Belice, not as expensive as people say, english speaking (easy for us gringo types:rofl) and cool places to visit, it was different to what we expected or envisaged but for the better, we thoroughly enjoyed our time there and will go back for more, particularly for diving and snorkeling.

We have to thank Sjoerd Bakker too for some great tips, again something from someone who can make your trip better, thanks man.:freaky

Belice gets the big tick and offers a lot more than you think, you just have to get off the main drag and enjoy it, pretty much the same in every country.

Guatemala, even though I broke 4 ribs and was laid up for a bit I cannot speak highly enough of the place, there is only a few places on our trip so far that can honestly say I could live there, Antigua, Guatemala is one of them, I will note here we are NOT unhappy with where we live which is not the short straw, Lake Wanaka Tourism Official Site for Wanaka, New Zealand

We spent a total of just over 3 months in Guatemala, 6 weeks for broken ribs but we also made good use of that time including GC which was surprising good, Ellen did NOT want to go to GC after seeing Guatemalan Police program on TV in New Zealand!!!.:eek1

A huge thanks to Julio and Luisa, also to Juan in Xela for a boys day out and getting lost ....we need to do that again!!!!:clap

Semuc Champey ....wow, Flores ... very nice, Volcan Pacaya ... stunning, Antigua ... so much more to offer that the gringo main square, get out and look around.

Julio ... careful mate we might be your new neighbour :wink:

Guatemala gets the double tick and we will definitely be back, there is so much to explore it is unreal, also a very active country geologically which is something that interests me greatly.

Ok, next on the chopping block, El Salvador, to me this sits side by side with Guatemala (because it does:evil) as far as big ticks goes, we really loved El Salvador which for a lot of travellers seems to be a blast through and carry on country, there is so much to see and do, beautiful roads fit for Moto GP and adventure riding galore, scenery everywhere.

Our experience like all the above was enhanced by the locals and fello ADVers, they make the stay so much better with local info you cannot buy on GPS or maps.

Will we be back?, hell yeah, Mario you will have to put up with us again down the track so based on that it gets the double tick too.

Huge thanks to Mario, the finca, the bike oil, the company, ... outstanding. :freaky

Honduras, we did the double border day like most, although we had no issues whatsoever we have heard of many who have although all our paperwork is pristine and spot on so it does take some heat out of the argument although we did not see one single police person the whole day, even at the borders I just pulled the piss out of the money changers and played with them, turned their pressure cooker approach into a big giggle, right or wrong approach I don’t know but it worked well for me.

Same with the famous Jose and his brother Ronnie, big smiles and no thanks, play on his words make them larf while making him realize there wasn’t a cent for him from us, no problem.....a big smile is worth a lot of chatter!!!!

I have my reservations but I would still like to see Honduras now knowing half their police force was sacked from corruption as they try and tidy their act up for travellers and tourists, will we get there, I will say yes as we will be back to Belice, Guatemala and El Salvador, although this area is border heavy they really are not that bad when armed with water and a smile :clap.

Nicaragua, another place we loved .. although small Ometepe Island was really cool, again the fello ADVers made our stay better having a good look around, there is a lot there to explore and I now know we did NOT allow enough time so we will be back there too, Nicaragua gets the big tick too.

Huge thanks to Jurgen, Aaron, Daniel and Salavdor for making our stay so cool.

Costa Rica, beautiful, very nice people and great place, again with committing to the Stahlratte date we felt we didn't have quite enough time to really get into the depths of it so I for one would love to have a better look so coming back to Central America it is on the list to complete, Costa Rica also gets the big tick.

Panama, ground hog day with timing, great place and I would love to have more of a look like Costa Rica, I did however get to see the Panama Canal in action so for me that really ticked that box however there is much more to see and do.

Another huge thanks to Norm for hosting us and helping get new front rubber for Maya.

Conclusion

Our honest opinion is that Central America (plus and including Mexico) is a great place and seriously well worth spending a lot of time in, having spent nearly 9 months in total there we feel we have only seen enough to make us want to go back, we believe it is unfairly tagged as very dangerous.

Rainy season ... the Central American thunder and lightning storms from rainy season provide a magnificent display virtually every day, don’t be afraid of rainy season cos it is still very warm even when you get dumped on, most storms are over and done quickly.

In New Zealand you freeze ya balls off if it rains so this was very pleasant for us, in fact it was a nice reprieve from the heat, also this is called winter time so if you don’t want super duper heat then May, June, July, August is your time to come through.

So to sum up if you have any reservations about anywhere south of the US border chuck them in the rubbish tin cos you won’t need them, think about what you want to do and see and get into it....ouwh and allow plenty of time.

The Central American people across the board are just normal people living their normal lives and despite what the US news (sorry US based ADVers) ((but this is our heart speaks)) (((so all is discussed openly))) ((((we still love the US too)))) would portray is they are all bandits, thugs, thieves and lowlifes .... this is very very wrong....well until we got their :evil:rofl

Although not quite Central America our only “so so” place was Cuba which is a frustrating place for many reasons but I am not one for politics etc and I don’t want to be, politics is only one aspect of our “so so” including the “give me money” multiple times daily in your face everyday, in the end you just want to tell them to **** off but you feel you have to be nice to them .......ARGH (insert multiple Headbangs here) ...shame it has to be like that :cry

Ok, that is our sum up and how we see it after experiencing it first hand, good bad and otherwise, others have different experiences and different approaches to us however this is team TMKs record of events which across the board have left us with a big smile looking over Central America.

Finishing Central America was then capped off by the Stahlratte experience ... we heard good things so we had good expectations and these were exceeded in 10 fold.

For the sailing, make the time, make new mates, make new travel companions, make the trip on the Stahlratte you won’t regret it, thanks Ludwig and crew.

.....now we are off to cause trouble in South America :evil

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

Thanks 2MC,K1W1's,

Its a shame life's so short with so much to absorb.

I wholeheartedly agree, you always need more time to absorb and explore these grand places on earth. But you seemed like you got a good skinfull of MEX and CAM than most from your reports, and I'm sure many of us NAPR'S (not at present riders) are envious and very impressed at what you've achieved so far, south of the border.

Its also good to see other riders appreciating the authorities are "human too". I'd always treated these people like people and gotten nothing but normal treatment. Maybe the riders before us, in the last whatever years were the test dummies for the corrupt guys as the countries were becoming more politically stable? or even were maybe just too naive to their opportunistic advances. But it's a good report, and credit to the officials you've encountered who have shown their country proud and or probably been grilled by their superiors looking to move forward, by others past mistakes.

Interesting too on your honest Cuba report, eco friendly I guess is an easy, powerful word the government feels it wants to polish over the poo poo nuggets. Thank you for highlighting the extreme beggar situation across the country, from all other friends who made the journey there for a few days-weeks, they seemed to dust over those points-maybe just to justify their happy Facebook photos . It seems like an all out cry from the people, that the government feels to ignore - it also sounds awfully similar to my friends and colleagues in the DRC, at the sign of a non-original that money is plentiful and required by that person.

Conclusion: On your conclusion, yeah Mexico and CAM (if you can make time) well deserves your attention. When available, I would re-do mexico and particularly CAM on a heart beat. And in hindsight, may just have only just a big loop from the states down to panama and back up - instead to Argentina. But that's just a past life.

Liked the: "So to sum up if you have any reservations about anywhere south of the US border chuck them in the rubbish tin cos you won’t need them, think about what you want to do and see and get into it....ouwh and allow plenty of time".

If needed. its a hell of a good time still to hammer through the americas, but if you have some time I envy you, do your research and give it some time.

cheers
dom

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvros...ature=youtu.be

I'm trying to stay out of the way because this is a ride report, not a pub discussion. But any comparison of "begging" in Cuba to life as it's lived in DRC is pure, unadulterated nonsense. I've been to both, and they're about as far apart as can be on almost any measure you could name.

[/knee-jerk irritation]

Continuing to enjoy the Andi and Ellen reports--words and photographs. Lots of familiar places and happenings, with lots more making me think "Why didn't I go there/do that/think of the same when I had my chance(s)?

best,

Mark

Thanks for your words Dom, as I said we only write it to how we find it and others will differ.

Certainly life is too short to see everything ... just gotta see what you can and see it well and while we feel we have spent good time in CAM and Mex but yeah much more to see yet.

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

Heya Mark, cheers for your props too, we are continuing to enjoy it and it seems to be getting better, really looking forward to Peru and more so Bolivia.

We have never been to DRC so can't comment on their situation but yes Cuba has a sorta love hate thing going on for us.

We did enjoy it but it is tiring being hammered by "give me money" in ya face everyday, maybe I am more of a target being blonde but Gene and Neda aren't and they found a similar thing.

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

Destination was Barichara which we never made due a to a slight navigational error.

We did however have a beautiful ride before ending up nowhere close to where we supposed to be.

A small town on the top of a cliff face, Mrs.Garmin shows a road down to Jordan, so the Los Santos to Jordan road I imagine would be doable on a DRZ400 or smaller with no house and contents as there is only a swingbridge at the bottom, the road goes down this part of the face.



Staying there the night we decided our game plan to backtrack a little and head down through Jordan the following day

The town surrounded by trees



In the morning we went for a short walk up through farmlands and back roads as we had no rush.



We left late morning .... that is when the fun started :eek1

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

Some days your best intentions get completely undone and you have a great day getting lost and a great time getting unlost ... today was one of those :rofl

It started with having to navigate around heavy roadworks in town down a street that was triangular shape narrowing down to Mayandahalf wide (that is our new measurement) :rofl



Leaving Los Santos we had to back track a little, Mrs Garmin set up a route which may have existed yonks ago but the road from Los Santos down to Jordan was somewhat of a goat track and not suitable for a SE two and gear.

The road into Los Santos is great with epic views of of the surrounding valleys so no biggy, a very enjoyable ride.

We came across our turn off to Jordon, it wasn’t quite where it was meant to be (should have known better at that point) but we followed it down anyway, spectacular views of massive cliffs with a waterfall which didn’t even reach the ground other that in mist....what a treat.







Spoke to you about it ....



The road was step and narrow in places, in some case if you fell off the side it would be terminal :eek1



This is the power lines for the valley strung up in the trees



We cherished these concrete sections as they were smooth although only on the steep sections



Most of the road was like this so not too bad



Continuing down to the bottom it was a neat ride and at the bottom we turned right into Jordan ..... there was no-one there other than military police and a coupla stragglers, you could have fired a canon ball through the middle and hit nothing!!



Just me ..... spooky



This is the bridge at the bottom from Los Santos







There was a very friendly militar there so we had a chat with him, took some photos and carried on our merry way which got narrower and rougher, boggy creek crossings and all the hallmarks of being in the wrong place heading to nowhere....which was correct.



Stopping to ask a local he larfed and said no way through and we needed to go up the road from Jordan ... i.e the one we had just come down on, back through the boggy creeks a rutted roads ..... at least we got to see what it was like the other way.:rofl ... it was about 40 degrees too :eek1

We were so close, probably only 6km as the crow flies but snookered by a HUGE gorge .....



Back up to the highway which was a pretty damn good race track to be fair, so far the Colombian roads are just a meca for fun and all pretty good nic.



Huge views to be had



Finally we made it to Barichara one day later than planned ... no worries we got to see some other pretty cool stuff.

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

Awesome ride pics,
There is definitely some cheeky good little rides up that way

Your just around the corner from me, haha
If you guys are going to be near Bucara this weekend, I've got some Antipodean friends I'm showing around the sights this Saturday and going paragliding just near town - we'll be heading to San Gil for rafting, and some adventure sports this Sunday and Monday too - send us a message if we can intersect

cheers.

dom

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvros...ature=youtu.be

Great ride report as always,Iv'e made some of my best discoveries when "lost"
looks like it was worth the trouble .You know i'm yet to go to a country and find it the place portrayed in the media.

Heya dom, the SE is in R2R getting a valve check etc so we are out of action moto wise but thanks for the offer anyway, we may be back up your way yet.

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

Heya Noel

Thanks man, appreciated as usual, yeap some of the most fun days we have had are when we get lost.

This is the first country we have been in when it is all over the news too .... exciting times!!!

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

Well, what a nice place to say the least, finally making it there after making funny and entertaining detours we decided to take a break for a day and stay a coupla nights.

The town is small, very quiet and a must for a quite retreat, there is also a new cafe opened up and their coffee and food was very very good, wifi as well.

So we found our place to stay with the help of a teenage girl who was curious about Ellens presence and simply wanted to help, Colombians rock!!!

Arriving at our accommodation was very easy, didn't have to dodge much traffic



The hotel had a narrow door, time to ping the cases off in order to get Maya in the door, add to that a coupla steps of a 200 - 250 mm high it was a slight trials ride to get in, once at the door we discovered it was narrower than the handlebars!!

No prob just a little stunt riding and we were in, park her up in the lounge ... just like home, she makes a good foot rest :clap. :rofl



Wandering around town was very laid back and quiet, lots of small shops very nice people, when you get in behind the doors there is some serious art talent there with some pretty cool stuff, the one that interested me the most being and engineering head was this lion, incredibly beautiful piece of work and made from all sorts, I would love to have the talent to build something like that.

Few pics of details, sorry non-engineering heads.









There was lots of other stuff too





While we were there there was several weddings on so we watched one, Ellen was running around taking photos more than their official photographer.

Lady in red ... pretty but she had a look on her face that was longer than the horse above ... not sure why.



This is what locals do so I thought I would have a crack at it too, overrated I think.



I got a height advantage over him ... not by much tho :rofl



At the new cafe we were in fact their very first customers firstly for coffee then for lunch





The start of lunch :clap



A nice coffee



The town is very nice, huge paving slabs on the road



Everything is well kept and tidy, very nice indeed



Lots of restorations going on of older buildings too



Next mission San Gill ...

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

Leaving Barichara we only had we only had 10 mil in our pocket which is about $5 bucks.:huh ... it was gettin skinny cos the ATM wouldnt' recognise our card.

Destination big town Santa Gill for tank and money or we were not going anywhere, our bank cards don’t have chips so we are very limited to funds we can get and where we can get it.

With tank and ATM stuff done we carried on towards Puerto Berrio, turning off at Barbosa we left the main drag and climbed to 2600 meters into the fog line .... suddenly 20 deg felt cold!!

The main road



Biggest obstacle of the day was these fellas not wantin to leave their road kill lunch on the road, we very nearly hit one :eek1



Crossing many roadwork patches and getting into Landazuri we stopped for a quick break and water and to ask directions out of the town, we would not have been more that two minutes and we were swamped with curious people looking at us and the bike, this also happened in El Banco.

Amidst cheers and smiles from the crowd we felt like rockstars ....two minutes later we were back to normal 8-) :rofl

A nice view of the road from the top .. the top case came loose, not sure if I tightened it up properly or not :huh



Most of the day was pretty easy but there was one reasonbly lengthy section where the SE shone brightly, the smaller bikes etc no match ...for once!!:rofl



Arriving at Puerto Berrio we stopped just out of the main square, Ellen did a walkabout to find a hotel while Maya and I gathered a huge crowd of curious onlookers, there was 20 - 30 people gathered when Ellen returned, so much so it looked like a big street fight or something had started so the Police came along wanting to know what the drama was.

Next thing we know we are taken to the police station escorted by their best to see the commander who talks english, he in turn said ok, this is a great restaurant over here, I will take you to a hotel, you can leave you bike their, I will have an armed guard watch it during the night.

So we got taken around in royalty, to the hotel with AC and Wifi, take Maya along the street outside the second Police station and have our guard appointed, next thing we know the street was locked off at each end of the block with Police tape and cones, no through traffic was allowed ... classic.



So Maya was locked and under cover with not one but TWO personal guardian angels with machine guns looking after her :eek1:eek1.... not quite sure what else to say other than outstanding service from them.

Here is Puerto Berio's MIB, left was a Sargent, left (looking at the pic) of me was THE top dog, he fired the orders and people jumped, me, cop who had just come off duty.



We walked at night, the town was safe and the people all very friendly, I think with the protests on they were being cautious and me being the only whiteyfoo in town they enjoyed showing their strength, ability and flexing the muscles to show who is boss.

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

After a night of thunder storms and blaring bar music to wee hours we woke up to a nice day, Mayas guards still standing there with their machine guns although they had taken down their road blocks.

Here I am, getting permission to take her away :rofl ... buts its my bike mam .... step away from the moto but its mine ouwh ok :evil

She was very friendly as they all were, see the fellos face on the small moto, this is a common scene over here.



Thankfully when I took Mayas cover off the guards me a staunch heads up with small smiles so I carried on and unlocked then took her back to the hotel to saddle up.

The river at Puerto Bennio is huge



Leaving Puerto Bennio many small moto riders were turning theirs heads at the lights etc, it still seemed vary alien to them so we suspect this is not a big ADV campover place.

Carrying on down the there were beautiful curves and great riding, we had our turn off marked for our spot which when we arrived did not even exist!!! .... it is on our paper map, google maps and GPS but I can you with authority there is just a massive wall of earth to crash into, no stress we will just carry on and take another turn somewhere as there are other roads shown everywhere, we just wanted to get off the main drag.

Continuing on we turned off onto a gnarly little back road, down to first and second with large lumps of rocks, one or two even hitting the bashplate on Maya and she is not low slung ...I had reservations at first as we had 50 km to do and that would have been hard work.

So here we are, just as the road started improving, riding from a hard backroad thinking we are hard and doing the bigger challenge :eek1... suddenly we pull up behind a very modern bus thumping away on the road :huh... WTF this is the sticks ... no this is everyday life in this part of Colombia.



Next up a cattle truck, then a fruit truck .... gezz so much for a back road and going where not man had gone before.:eek1 :rofl

The road then got better from a one lane lumpy track into almost two lane, still bumpy and potholed but allowed 3 & 4 gear at times and easy passing for the bus and trucks.



Then bang, dirt ends, super moto track starts :huh in the middle of nowwhere :rofl



We rock into a small town again (insert alien text from above) and people stared at us but only from curiosity, this coupled with whistles and waves was cool.



Through the road we went, following signs and GPS in part, it was beautiful with outstanding views all round, WAY better than the main road (which is a back road anyway) then our reward a seriously cool waterfall in the middle of nowhere on the Santo road.



Making our way onward we rode over a huge slip which had been temporarily / permanent fixed then we popped out onto a super moto road again and rolled on into Guatape.





The road improved more as we started getting out into more open counrtry





All in all a great balance of offroady based stuff and tarseal road miles, this was another one of those days where there was some WTF and great views rolled into one making for a great days travel. :clap

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