Yea, the motto for this trip is definitely "minimal planning". We didn't even have a map for the first 2,000 miles of Mexico, just a print-out of the google maps Mexico image. Our host in Union De Tula gave us a Mexico atlas, but Michelle insists I not look at it. She's lucky, so I'll bank on that. Doesn't really matter where we end up anyway.

We check out of our Mazatlan hotel and look for breakfast. Above all the street level vendors in the central market there are second story restaurants. Very cheap, 15 pesos for breakfast, which was delicious and filling. Definitely a good find if you're on a budget. Too bad we didn't find it earlier. Also had "cafe con leche", which is coffee made without any water, just coffee and milk. Very tasty. We also sent postcards to the folks back home, which was a little time consuming, so we got a late start. We camped near Tepic, off a little farm road. Very noisy with the trucks engine braking down that area, we didn't sleep well. The farm workers started going down the road when we were packing up. They were confused and-or amused by the spectacle.

We stopped in Tepic to eat our breakfast of fruit, bread and butter we had bought the night before. There was a great little park not too far into town, very picturesque.





We were now on the "Ruta De Tequila" according to the highway signs. Tequila is made from the blue agave plant, looks like a blue cactus, and there were enormous fields covering the hills and along the highway.


Also a weird field of black rocks. Didn't look like the other brush-fire fields we'd seen.


Very hilly, simple but beautiful.


We ate in Tequila, famous for it's many tequila factories. We were going to take the tour, but our waitress said it was 250pesos per person, which was out of our budget, so we skipped it. We did buy a very overpriced bottle for our friend we were meeting in the next week. It was 160 pesos, which is similar to the price in the US. I didn't realize that tequila is only a fraction of the price here in Mexico. A few weeks later I would be shocked to see 750ml bottles of apparently decent tequila going for around $3.20USD.

Just before Tequila, the camera took a soft little tumble into the sand. So no pictures of Tequila, but I did get it going again on the last day we were in Guadalajara, so I could take some pictures.

We get to Guadalajara just in time for rush hour. We had no idea where we were going, no idea where any hotels were, no idea how crazy Guadalajara traffic was. I liked it. Motorcycles cut through traffic, pop onto sidewalks, go the wrong way down one-ways. I was burdened with extra wide saddlebags, so I wasn't as nimble as other bikes, but we got around. After over an hour of riding around cluelessly we randomly found a couple of hotels on a strip that were actually decently priced. We chose "Hotel Astur", About $20usd per night, but it was clean and we could park the bike in our room. Little did we know, but we were actually in the Historical District, right in the middle of the city, walking distance to the Libertad market, several museums, tons of shopping, and countless cathedrals and plazas. Very lucky, we were so tired we would have taken anything. Our faces were a blackened from all the soot in the air.

(If you're going to Guadalajara: Calle Independcia Sur was the road with Hotel Astur, we found less expensive hotels around the block on Juarez)

We only had 97 pesos left, and the money changers were closed. We ate dinner in La Libertad market. Tortas, potato chips with salsa, a coke, and cerveza for the both of us = 96 pesos ($8usd). Gotta love it.

Next day we change money again, not so good this time, as expected. We get 11.70 pesos to the dollar (compared to 12.5 in El Paso, TX). We spend the day walking around and updating the blogs at a ciber. We both love Mexican food but decide to do something different, and get pizza slices on the street

While we're waiting in line there is an attempted kidnapping. A man grabs a 6yo boy who is eating pizza with his mom and brothers, the kid freaks out and gets free, runs to his mother, who is panicking now as well. She rushes all of her children into the pizza shop doorway. Everyone around was pointing at the man. I had no idea what was going on at that point, but Michelle says she saw the man kick the boy as he struggled free and that he walked right around us, as if he was still intent on nabbing the kid. He split, and the police were called. I doubt they caught the guy, he easily vanished into the crowd. Michelle's older brother was almost kidnapped in Guadalajara when he was a baby. Luckily there was a policeman around the corner and kidnapper ditched him to not get caught.

We spent the rest of the day getting lost walking around Guadalajara. We went to the market, which was very cool.


Chille rellenos, with canzome and the most delicious tortillas I've ever had, $2us.

Lots of plazas, cathedrals. Very beautiful part of the city.






Next day we went to the Museum of Contemporary Art. It was the day before Christmas, so we didn't expect anything to be open. We were surprised to find it would be open for another 2 hours. (Bring your school ID, half off for students, 70 pesos regularly). Incredible building, and the work housed inside was fantastic. The first chamber (old Cathedral) is covered by 57 murals by Jose Clemente Orozco. Probably my favorite of what we saw. The main dome has a huge painting entitled "El Hombe De Fuego", which is breathtaking.

(not my photo)
We saw as much as we could before they closed.

Museum from the outside, later that day.


Guadalajara definitely has a "big city" feel. Different than any of the other places we've been to in Mexico. Feels more modern, or perhaps more Americanized. Wonderful to visit though, perhaps my favorite part of Mexico yet.

Michelle's best friend is Karla Luna. Karla's family is from a little town called Union Del Tula, about 2 hours Southwest of Guadalajara. This year they were having a huge family reunion, first in 25 years, and we were invited to stop by for the tail end of the festivities. We packed our bags and left early, only taking an hour to find our way out of Guadalajara (good luck finding street signs in Mexico).

We ate Tacos Dorados on our way. Note: Tacos Dorados are fried tacos. Sometimes they have toothpicks still in them from when they were held together for frying. I didn't realize this initially, and I'm probably still digesting one or two.

We find Karla at the Cathedral with her family. It wasn't difficult to find the Cathedral, it's the tallest building, and there is only one for the whole town.There are a good 80 to 100 family members at the church.

Those are all part of the Luna family. They are celebrating her cousin Alex's first communion.
Karla and Alex:

The Cathedral interior:


We head to Karla's grandmother's house to change into clean clothes for the upcoming fiesta. It's a beautiful, clean, bright house with incredible hand-painted tiles, each one a little bit different.

During my time here I wear borrowed "Cubavera" shirts, very comfortable and fashionable here.

We head to Alex's communion fiesta. The hosts all sit at one table, the youth at another huge table, and the adults at their own tables. Everything is fully catered, with free cervezas, plates of tacos and cucumber with chile and lime for appetizers, birrea (beef dish local to the area) with rice, beans and tortillas for entre. We are treated to a VERY LOUD brass band. Everything is very loud here. The party is huge. Dancing, moonwalk for the kids, drinking, eating.

We jump out for a minute with Karla to see her family's villa. This is a little ranch house outside of town, with a room for each of the 8 sub-families that make up the Luna family. It is built on an old 19th century hacidenda, and there are remenants everywhere.



"Villa Luna"


Inside, the villa is beautiful. Lovely little gated courtyard.



Behind the villa there is a huge stable holding a good 20 prized dancing horses, worth up to $50,000usd each. Two of Karla's uncles ride and train them. Too dark for pictures.

We return to the communion party and eat churros rellenos. Later that night, we hit the town with the rest of the youth. At the first bar I learn that the moon (la luna) is the women's restroom, the sun (el sol) is the men's bathroom. My bad.

The next bar could easily been any bar in the US, minus the occasional accordion over the speakers. We danced, drank and had fun till closing time. Karla's little sister also showed up, who is 16yo but looks no more than 14. Carding isn't enforced like it is in the states.

Next day we wake up late and head to grandma's house for breakfast. Menudo (tripe soup), southern style with no hominy). Delicious. We come back and wash clothes.


... and hitch a ride to another party. This time at Villa Luna, with mariachis. We go in the back of an uncle's truck.

(Union de Tula is named for Union de T.V.L.A, the initials of the four founders)


This party is great as well. Again, fully catered. This time with sheep and chicken cooked over an open flame. Delicious.

We are also treated to a horse dancing performance.

Karla's uncle brings a horse into the courtyard and it trots around in step for a few songs. The whole family crowds around and takes pictures. Afterwards parents line up to have their children's pictures taken with the horse and rider.

Horsemanship is a big deal here. The next day we saw a young woman arrive at the Cathedral for her quincera in a flamboyant blue dress on a huge black horse. After the ceremony she rode away and her father danced along side with another horse.

That night we went to the plaza. We drank "calientitos", a delicious hot drink of boiled fruit, and ate Mexican hotdogs (wrapped in bacon, with chile and katsup). We also observed the tradition of "la vuelta" (turn). The plaza is a big square. Various food vendors lining the edges, with trees and a big gazebo in the middle. Young single women walk clockwise around the square, young single men walk counterclockwise slightly outside them. If a man fancies a woman, he'll stop and ask her if she wants to walk around with him. Couples walk counterclockwise with the men. This is how courtship happens in Union De Tula. Karla's pa*rents met this way decades ago, and still walk around the plaza to this day. Young and old participate. I found it very charming.
1349

The next morning Karla left back to the US to return to her work as a nutritionist. We spent one more day with her family. We went to the Cathedral and were blessed by the priest, who rubbed oil on our open palms. Karla's dad spent the afternoon chatting with various people in the plaza. He is very outgoing and has many friends here. We at posole (menudo made with pork instead of beef) and retired for the night.

Union Del Tula is the opposite of Guadalajara. Though I love Guadalajara, you can't deny it's filthy, with massive amounts of poverty plainly visible and a somewhat lawless feel. Union Del Tula feels like a very small town, though apparently it has 28,000 residents. For the first time I was instructed not to park my motorcycle on the sidewalk. There were people sweeping the streets and the main center. It was very clean, very traditional. People take pride in their city and their traditions. I never felt ill at ease here, never suspected I was being ripped off because I was a tourist.

Many thanks to the Luna family for allowing us the opportunity to participate in their reunion festivities. It's one thing to view a culture from the outside, as an observer. It's quite another to be able to participate and be immersed in the culture. It was an incredible experience, both in Union De Tula with the Luna family, and in Chihuahua with Michelle's family. Living within the culture was a fascinating experience, and I will never forget the hospitality I was shown.

Eduardo (Karla's father) insisted we accept his gift of a Mexico atlas. Up until that point, we were relying on a compass and a tattered 4-page map of mexico we printed off the internet.

Hadn't had any problems with our current method, but we graciously accepted the atlas anyway. We tool the Luna family advice and went east to Colima via the back roads, then down to Tecoman. It was twisty, but covered with potholes. Very fun anyway. We got confused and accidently went 40km North to Manzanillo before we stopped. Manzanillo is a tourist town, and since it was the holidays everything was very expensive. We found nothing less than 400pesos. I didn't like it here. We camped on the beach for free.


Next day we headed South along Mexico 200 towards Acapulco. Twisty highway that goes along the mountainous coastline. My new favorite of the trip. The scenery expansive, picturesque beaches.





The motorcycle limited our camping options, since we couldn't just leave it on the side of the road overnight. We eventually found Playa Tunel, which was an incredibly picturesque little cove with a road going down. It was 50 pesos per person, per night to camp there, but the view was worth it. We had our own isolated, private stretch of beach, and a short swim north there was a few little beach-side restaurants. Perfect.




I was feeling a little ill the next day, so we decided to stay another day. I laid in the shade all day and recuperated. I felt better.

Next day we went exploring. You can see there is a cave going through the cliff into the open ocean. Michelle grew up in landlocked El Paso, and has never learned to swim until this summer. She bravely swam into the cave with me and hung around for a few minutes before turning back. In the cave there are crabs and sea urchins all along the walls. The ceiling is a good 10 feet above you and the waves crash all around. Surreal. Later I swam all the way through via a different route and into the open ocean. The waves are very strong and threaten to dash you into the rocks. The cliffs are lined with more caves and I explore a few more before I lose my nerve and come back to the cove.

Michelle and I are both stung by a jellyfish at one point.


We climb along the rocks to get dinner. We play cards with some teens while we wait. My Spanish is good enough for that at least. For are joined for dinner by a domesticated parrot and kitten who belong to the hotel kids. My Caldo de Pescado is served with the fish tail still sticking out of it. Fantastic. We buy some bottled water for the night and head out. By this time it's dark, and we've got a wallet, cell phone and leftovers, so swimming home around isn't an option. We have to climb around the rocks separating the beaches blind. Amazingly, we only lose one water bottle in the process, and neither of us gets soaked or steps on a sea urchin. Tomorrow we leave for Zihuatenejo

Cool ride man, im going down myself with a friend, checking out Yucatan at the moment. Maybe ill see you out in the road. Keep it up, great report. Stay safe.

Jordan, Michelle and the little Nija are looking like you are having so much fun. Well done guys, stay safe, keep the knee down and the Nija upright. I bet you when you get back home the first job will be to rebuild the 250? Keep in touch folks, all our love and best wishes from the UK. Steve, Karen, Steph and Chris. Watching your every move.... PS: The GT750M from 1975 is now near complete, pics soon.

We got into Zihuatenejo and immediately began searching for an ATM to pull out some more money. We had only a few pesos left at that point. We found a Santender and pulled out money, which cost $30 pesos from that bank and then $1 from my bank. About $3.50 to pull out cash. Meh. However, the rate was good, I calculated 12.25 pesos to the dollar. We would find that Santender banks always had the best rates by a good margin. I guess because they are a sister bank to Bank of America.

I did an illegal U-Turn (was going to make a left into a one way, then noticed and corrected myself). Traffic cop told me I could get a big ticket, then laughed and said I didn't know better, waved me on my way. We had good luck with the autorities in Mexico. Only a few times were we actually stopped at the military checkpoints, only twice were we actually asked to open our bags for a quick peek. Michelle always answered their questions with her usual inate friendliness and we'd be chatting like amigos in a few seconds.

We searched around to find a decently priced hotel room, it was clear that Zihuatenejo was going to be very expensive, a little touristy nowadays and new years eve. Hotels near the centro were going for $50+usd, near the beach would be even more. Eventually we found Hotel Krystal, for $350 pesos, shared bath. We thought it might be the best we could get, so we took it. DO NOT RECOMMEND. The whole place smelled of rotting food, not a very clean family ran it. Bathrooms, rooms and towells were dirty. My standards are very low, but this would have been a stretch for $100 pesos. It's funny that the most we spent on a hotel room was also the worst.

The next day we found another hotel called Hotel Washington, just a little bit off the main highway. Clean, $100 pesos cheaper, big room with two beds and private bathroom. Didn't smell of rotting food. Recommended.



I wish I had stories about a crazy new years eve celebration. Unfortunately, me and Michelle were both feeling pretty poorly. I went to the Farmacia Similares. The big pharmacies here (Similares y Ahoro) have a room next door which houses a doctor which will give you a basic checkup for little or free and perscribe you what you need. I was perscribed some antibiotics for my fever and throat infection. We both wanted to go to sleep early, but all around Zihuatenejo there were gun-shot like fireworks, starting at 8pm, including on the roof of our hotel. Michelle fell asleep and I watched shitty American movies in spanish.

Michelle also got a stomach flu at some point. Strange I didn't, because me and her had literally been splitting single plates of food the past few days. We stayed three days in Zihuatenejo, but didn't see anything outside of the few blocks of our hotel because of our illnesses.

We headed South for Acapulco, knowing we couldn´t afford to spend any time there, but wanting to see it anyway. We got there around 3pm but it took an hour to get through. Probably the worst traffic of the trip so far. Tons and tons of little VW Bug taxis in gridlock. We were sweating like crazy. There were huge hotels everywhere, just like we expected, and totally different than anyplace we'd been so far.
Acapulco beach:

The bay:


Eventually we found our way out of Acapulco and went to a little town called San Marcos, about 50 kilometers away. Got a little hotel with WiFi on the main road, $200 pesos. It was pretty much open to the elements along the top of the walls, the only climate control was a fan. We were now in a climate where enclosing the walls was not necessary.

We continued heading down Mexico 200 to our next stop, Oaxaca. We camped in a lime Orchard near Rio Grande. Simply asked some folks working on their house if we could throw our tent back there. It looked like it would rain soon, it was dark and there was lightning. The woman laughed and said it wasn't going to rain. It didn't.
The Orchard

The bike after 3000 miles of Mexico


Next day we woke early, expecting a quick dash to Oaxaca. Not exactly. Started off well enough, nice wide road, only the occasional donkey in the road.

Sometimes a lane was missing because it slid off the mountain, but no road is perfect. Soon we were in the Sierra Madres Del Sur though, and it turned into a dirt road through the mountains.

A little hairy, but very fun. My first time riding dirt roads for more than a few KMs.


Eventually we hit a long line of cars. We went to the front to see what was going on. Apparently the road was closed for construction. We waited about 40 minutes for the tractors to finish clearing the road. We chatted with folks about the road ahead and our trip.

After we were cleared to pass, we went a few more KMs and hit a donkey fight in the middle of the road. It was hilarious.


We hit Juquila, a little town at a fork in the roads. It's built onto the side of the mountains.


Here, we had trouble. The roads were all very steep and highway went right through the center of town. You might remember I had put modestly lower gearing sprockets on my bike back in Texas for the highway, and then a slightly oversized rear tire in Mazatlan because I couldn't find the original size. The result was ambitiously low gearing. No problem for most of Mexico, but big trouble here. When traffic stopped on a hill, I was unable to get going again. I was reving the engine, working the clutch, but she wasn't moving with her huge load. I stalled and the bike started going backwards. I grabbed the front brake, but the front tire had no traction and I was still sliding backwards towards the traffic behind me. I picked up my foot and did the rear brake too, finally stopping the bike just in time. Michelle jumped off and I nursed the bike up, full throttle but barely moving. Michelle ran up and jumped back on. I'm sure it was quite a spectacle. Two fully geared Americanos on their yellow motorcycle unable to go up the hill.
The traffic:

This happened again, and Michelle had the presence of mind to take a picture of me nursing the bike up the steep hill, using both legs to keep the bike alive.

I think stock gearing would have had no trouble, even slightly lowered gearing would have been fine. But be careful if you've got a torqueless bike and low gearing.

We ended up doing a loop of the city before we found the road out. Very confusing. We continued through a very rough, potholed road. Kids were on the sides of the road filling potholes with dirt and asking for donations. People would throw pesos out the window for them or they would run next to the car windows with open hands

Bizarre scene.

View from the road to Oaxaca.

Beautiful. Once we get out of the mountains it's straight as an arrow and we get to Oaxaca before dark.

We got to Oaxaca and headed for el centro. Oaxaca's historical district is the nicest we saw in Mexico. It's like a little slice of Europe. The road is cobblestone, the buildings are clean, old and colonial. Michelle wants to move here.



There are tons of little trendy coffee shops everywhere. New cars, new BMW motorcycles, art galleries. Definitely a more affluent part of Mexico.

Most hotels in the historical center were very expensive. Eventually we found Hostel Mayflower, which had dorm accomadations for about $11usd per person. Free purified water, a kitchen we could use and free Wifi sealed the deal.


We meet other travellers and generally enjoy our time here. We go to the grocery store and eat mostly home-made meals (a la chez Jordan) to save pennies while we're here.

We go around the corner to Farmacia Ahorro (free doctor´s visit!) and get Michelle a few perscriptions for the stomach thing she picked up in Zihuatenejo that was still bothering her.

We spent three days running around seeing the sites. All the museums are within walking distance from our Hostel.

Museum of Oaxacan Textiles


Michelle was in heaven here. Her degree is in Textiles and Apparel Design.There was a small library upstairs with textile books. We spent a good amount of time here.

Museum of Oaxacan artists.


Museum of Contemporary art.



Monte Alban, huge Zapatec ruin minutes outside Oaxaca. Took 2.5 hours to walk around.

Major tourist sunburn.


Tried the local fair. Mole, Oaxaca cheese (delicious!), fried crickets.

Michelle was not hungry for some reason. I thought they were too salty.

Michelle in fabric heaven:


One of many busy plazas:


Pochote theater. Ever night at 7pm there's a free movie or set of short films.

Don´t see a theater? Yea, we walked past it twice before we found it. Go through a little door under the arch and enter a courtyard. See another little lit door and you're there.

That night they were playing a set of films by Chiapas film-makers interpreting poems. Very indy, very cool. That's something we would expect to find back in Austin, TX, not Mexico. I could live here.


"Italika" is the most popular motorcycle brand. They are the most common, and I just had to check out the showroom. A brand new 150CC FT150 motorcycle, $1200usd. 125cc's are $1000usd.
Website: Untitled Page click "Venta de Refracciones" to see the lineup. Very cool.

While doing my routine maintence and bike check, I notice the nastier topes (speedbumps) have done a number to my centerstand.

There's a little metal piece sticking out of the exhaust which is supposed to keep the centerstand from coming up too high when it's in a resting position. Bottoming out multiple times on the centerstand have bent this bracket way up and now the centerstand is rubbing on the chain! I bend the bracket back in place and vow to keep an eye on it.

We leave Oaxaca for the Mexico/Guatemala border. Although we heard interior Chiapas is very nice (and cheap!), we're anxious to not spend more money in Mexico when there is so much more to see. Maybe next trip...

We head out of Oaxaca to Tehuantepec. Roads are twisty but fast. We make great time.

We also stop at Matatlan, a town famous for Mezcla, the alcohol of the indigenous made from fermented corn. I buy a small bottle for $18 pesos (no typo). As our Hostel friend Shawneee put it, it's a very smokey taste.

Apparently every little town in Oaxaca has it's own unique Mezcla factory. They fill gallon gasoline jugs every week and take it to the big cities. Middlemen buy the jugs for a few pesos and fill fancy bottles which they sell to bars and the US for 50x the price. Unfortunately we're both recuperating so we haven't had a chance to enjoy our cheap bottle.

It starts to get dark and we're unable to find a suitable camping spot. All along the highways is fenced. While we desperately search I have a moment of sheer stupidity and nearly cause a wreck with another motorcyclist. He turns around and urges me to be more careful. He is right,

A few minutes later my headlight goes out. It's dark, we're never supposed to ride at night, and now this. I go a few more miles with the brights blazing, much to the annoyance of the other drivers. Just as we hit the next town my brights go out as well. We pull into the first hotel we see. Very nice rooms with hammocks outside at $250 pesos. Not bad, but he says he'll charge us 50 pesos to camp in the back so we opt for that. We camp next to the empty swimming pool with a bunch of decrepit looking dog statues all around. A little eerie. Forgot to take pictures, or even get the name of the town. There's also an abandoned restaraunt next door that hadn't been open in 2 years. A woman cleans one of the bathrooms (hadn't been used in 2 years) and we can use that while we stay. We fall asleep soon.

I get a high fever that night for no apparent reason, but in the morning I feel OK so we continue to Tapachula. The roads from Oaxaca to Tapachula are mostly toll roads according to the map. We were going to suck it up to make good time. We were pleasantly surprised to find not a single toll. Just long, divided, 80mph road with almost no topes and few towns. We make it to Tapachula before 1pm.

Tapachula is the big border town. Very dirty, but cheap. Tortas, 12 pesos, tacos, 5 pesos, room with private bath, 150 pesos. Nothing to see, but we're not here to sightsee. We need to update the blogs, fix the bike headlight, change the oil and do a general maintence of the bike. It's at 22,250 miles now, so it's covered nearly 4000 miles since I did the last major service before we left. She is a champ.

I try to get an oil filter for the bike, but no luck. We check at least half a dozen motorcycle shops and none of them sell oil filters. Nobody changes filters here? The bikes don't last long enough to bother I guess. In our search we find an Autozone, which is exactly like an Autozone in the states. It's surreal walking into someplace 4000 miles from home and the layout is exactly the same as the one down the street from your house. Same products, same employee uniforms. Prices were higher than the other shops though, and they didn't carry motorcycle oil filters.

We do find a replacement headlight bulb (Nikko brand?) for only $1usd from an awesome autoparts store. Old man owned it, parts on the shelves were dusty. Just an honest, old fashioned auto store. Price was honest right out of a book (and 1/4 what others wanted to charge). Plus, he sold white bulbs. Everywhere else only had the blue bulbs that are in style here. No word on how good that brand is yet, but we're not supposed to drive at night so hopefully we don't find for a while.

Work day in Tapachula!

Adjust and lube the chain. Air the tires. Check all the bolts for looseness. Adjust cables. Replace headlight bulb.

Would have changed my own oil, but the place I bought my oil did it for free, so I saved myself the hassle of finding a pan and a place to recycle the oil. The cost was about $9usd for an oil change with motorcycle specific 15w40 of a decent brand.

Tomorrow, 1/11/11, we cross the border into Guatemala.

hey man if you are around montevideo uruguay just contact me i recently finish a long trip on a yamaha 100! take care

The border between Honduras and Nicaragua was easy enough. Insurance was mandatory, $12us for a month. Also had to pay $30US or so for various permits. Not the cheapest, but it was relatively quick. Stopped once by a police checkpoint and were sent on our way after showing our insurance document.

Nicaragua!


Shortly after entering Nicaragua we began to see some of the many volcanos that make Western Nicaragua famous.


We heard Leon was nice, and it was close to the border, so we followed the signs and were soon in Leon. Very beautiful city. Definitely was a big backpacker destination. Hostels were everywhere. We first stayed in "Hostel Colibri", which was cheap, but not the cheapest at $15. They advertised "free continental breakfast" so we figured those savings would make up the difference. I had very low expectations, but it turns out "continental breakfast" in Nicaragua means "toast". I generally have a huge appetite, so this would not do! Free coffee was nice though.

The next night we switched to Hostel Bigfoot, a very popular and lively hostel, with dorms for $6 and private rooms for $13. I got a pretty heavy hippy vibe, probably due to the enormous mural on our wall...

The rest of the place was similarly decorated. The "green tours" building across the street let me store the bike in their garage for $1usd the first night (the next night I had "free parking" at the police station, story later).

Did I mention Leon is a good looking city? Massive and beautiful Cathedrals around every corner.


The Leon people love their lion statues. They are everywhere.


I normally take a road trip to Colorado to snowboard in the winter, but this year I had to skip out due to my Southern adventure. To compensate, we went "Volcano Boarding" down the Cerro Negro volcano. This is a volcano that errupts about every 8 years, and the surface is entirely made up of loose volcanic gravel. A bunch of companies in Leon offer volcano boarding, the most affordable and popular being the program run out of the bigfoot hostel ($28pp). They only do the type of boarding where you sit though, and I wanted to do the standing, so we went with a smaller company. $30 per person! Ouch!
The road to the park:

The Volcano, quite an incredible view!

Very dangerous Sulfiric gas pouring out of the side of the mountain.

The ground is very hot, our guide said you could cook an egg in 5 minutes if you buried it.

View from the top:

Goofy suits you are given for protection.

Michelle on her way down.

Some people have reached up to 87kmph going down on the sitting boards. I don't think Michelle quite hit that mark! She was having a little trouble. I had a little trouble myself, mostly with the sandboard bindings not quite slipping off my enormous boots.

We both made it down alot dirtier than we started, and we had some incredible views to remember. The high price did turn me off of the whole "pre-packaged" tourist trips that are all over the backpacker destinations of Central America. If we had a bigger budget or less time it might be more appealing, but we've got time to burn and no money to spare, and the best memories of the trip so far have been free and unplanned.

One thing I definitely enjoyed was the opportunity to talk to our native Nicaraguan guide about the food of Nicaragua. He gave us many recommendations for typical foods of Nicaragua, and when/where we could find them. I love food, and perhaps my favorite part of travelling is all the new flavors. Nicaraguan cuisine is the best I've had in Central America. Heavy on yucca (sort of like potato) and even heavier on plantains than the the other countries. Also cheapest.

Favorites of Nicaragua:
Vigoron - Big pieces of fried pork skin (chicarrones) over a bed of yucca and cabbage salad. 20 cordobas ($.95usd) per plate in the market, also found in the street sometimes. Very cheap and hearty.

Moronga - 20 cordoba. The strangest one. I found it amazing, many people (even Nicaraguans) do not. A patty of fried pig blood and rice. Agains served over Yucca and salad. Hearty

(not my photo)

Carne Bao - 35-50 cordoba. Found only on Saturdays in the market. Ask around for it, we found it at a produce stand in a huge basket covered in banana leaves. This keeps it hot I guess. Big delicious pieces of beef cooked together with Yucca and topped with salad. Perhaps the tastiest meal of the trip.


"Enchiladas" - 5 cordoba each. No similarity to the Enchiladas of Mexico. A simple tortilla filled with rice and heavily fried, covered with cabbage salad. We found this incredibly cheap dish in the dirtiest part of the Granada market.

Fritanga - 30 cordoba. We found this often on the street at random times. A plastic bag is lined with plantain leaves, then filled with fried plantain chips, fried soft plantains (maduro), cabbage salad and grilled chicken:



On the second day of our Leon experience, we made the short 20 minute ride to the beach of Las Penitas. Very pretty, completely deserted. Incredibly strong waves, definitely explains all the surfers staying at the hostel.

We swam, drank a coke a little restaraunt on the beach, and headed back feeling great.

We were heading back at a reasonably slow speed (we weren't in full motorcycle gear so I was taking it easy) and we were "randomly" stopped at a police checkpoint to check our documents. The officer wasn't being clear with his hand motions, so I didn't realize he wanted me to stop at first. I had to brake pretty hard to stop without going too far past him. He asked for our documents, which we had foolishly left back at the hotel. All we had was the dummy wallet with my expired driver's license.

Uh oh! He motioned for me to pull off the road. He said he was going to have to give us a ticket for 500 cordobas ($25usd) for not carrying our insurance and "cirrculation document" (which we never actually got, we got something different at the border). Michelle tried to argue a bit, that it was an innocent mistake and we had all our paperwork at the hostel and that we couldn't have entered the country without those documents, ect...

It was clear he wasn't going to budge. I knew we were in the wrong, and I was prepared to pay the ticket through the proper channels. He didn't just want to give us a ticket though, he was going to impound the motorcycle. He demanded I give him the keys. Michelle said we weren't comfortable letting strangers ride the motorcycle. He said the bank was closing soon, and that we could give him the C$500 cordobas and he would go pay it for us right now. Uh... yea right. He was fishing for a bribe and we weren't biting. He claimed the fine would be double if we didn't pay today, and that the motorcycle would be impounded until Monday (it was Friday), first at the Las Penitas police station and then it would be moved to the Leon station. He was also claiming we were speeding dangerously. His partner was generally silent or sympathetic to our cases, he didn't seem comfortable with the other officer's handling of the situation.

We had 0 confidence in the situation, and there was no way we were giving him the keys to the motorcycle. He tried to make me sign a document turning the motorcycle over to him, and I refused. He whipped out his cellphone and "made a call" to the truck that was coming to pick up the motorcycle to take it to the police station. We locked the bike with the ignition lock and the rear wheel with the bike lock and quickly hitched a ride back to Leon to pick up the documents.

Our ride was a very friendly guy named Rafael. He had studied in the USA and come back to Nicaragua. His family owns some businesses in Leon and he had a cattle ranch out near the coast. He was going to pick up some money in town, then he was returning to his ranch, so he could give us a ride back too! What luck!

He dropped us off at our Hostel. We got the documents and 25 minutes later he was back, going out of his way to help us out. Really incredible friendliness.

Michelle was definitely agitated, she was scared for the bike. I was more upbeat, it was a memory in the making! During the ride I was still imagining the scene of a few disgrunted cops manually loading my immobilized bike into the back of a pickup. The damage could be severe. I was mostly hoping my bike would be there and the cops would be gone. Michelle and I could ride back to Leon and laugh about the whole situation over dinner and drinks.

We arrived back at the checkpoint. The cops were still there, waiting for us. Thankfully, the motorcycle was there too, to my great relief.

"Good luck! If I see you walking back to Leon again I'll give you a ride!"

We produced the documents, hoping that would satisfy them that indeed the motorcycle was legally in the country and legally ours. Unfortunately, but not unpredictably, this did not satisfy the angry cop, and now he had our documents which we really did need. Since we wouldn't let him take the bike himself, we demanded we follow him back to Las Penitas to impound the bike for the night. We didn't have a choice this time, so we obliged.

The Las Penitas police station is a little cinderblock building with a tin roof and one typewriter. I sat in a plastic chair at the desk while a rooster stared at me and Michelle told her story to the police chief. He was not sympathetic, and said we would have to leave the motorcycle there overnight and that an investigator would come in the morning.
Investigate what you ask? He claimed he had complaints of a "yellow motorcycle speeding dangerously, almost killed a kid". What!? I wasn't speeding and there were no kids on the road back to Leon! Since this was "the only yellow motorcycle he knew of" the bike was under investigation. Furthermore, my ID looked fishy with it's corner cut (he was right on that count, expired license).

What a night! We caught a bus back to Leon, my first taste of the backpacker experience. Aside from the fact that my 6'5¨ legs do not even remotely fit in this seats, it was a fun time. The bus was blaring a very loud mix of beatles and disco while we bucked and rattled down the night highway in a crowded yellow schoolbus. At least I didn't have to pay for parking that night!

The next morning we were 25 minutes late to our 9:30am appointment with the inspector, which was OK because neither the inspector nor the chief had shown up either. The chief seemed in better spirits that day, and actually listened to Michelle's story, understanding why we weren't cooperating with his officer. He said he would have been mad too, and that the offending officer would be punished. Soon the bike release paperwork was underway on the old typewriter. We never recieved any tickets and never paid any money. Nothing more was said on the expired license or the alleged reckless driving.

He said that the Nicaraguan police force is the smallest police force in the world, per capita, and that he is very proud of how well they operate given their very meager size and budget. Most Nicaraguan police we spoke with have a similar pride, though to be honest we have had more problems here than with the rest of the continent combined. Perhaps they are just overzealous.

We now had our bike, the stuff was packed up and ready to go at the hostel, and we were anxious to see more of Nicaragua. We headed out to Managua, the Nicaraguan Capital. We planned to just stop through and sleep in Grandada, which was highly recommended.

Great pics!

Great trip report and pictures, thanks for sharing

Just spent the last few hours reading this entire report, start to finish. Wonderful stories and pictures.

Looks like you're still active on this site. I'll have to catch up to see what you're doing now.

I've been interested in doing a Ninja 250 trip and several times in my searches, this report has popped up, but I've never taken the time to read it all until now. Again, amazing.

As for the Amazon, I've been on the Peruvian portion of the Amazon from Atalaya until the Colombia/Brazilian border. I've been wanting to paddle it, too. If it's still in your future, perhaps we should have a chat.

Thanks for the report.

Jamie