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Cooking and braaaaaping around the world
DAY 1!!
Last night a group of very close friends and family met in Blackhawk for a going away party. To say the least we did not sleep much, I got around 4hrs of shut eye. I got a late start with lots of good byes. Ran into some gnarly weather, snow, hail, rain all coming down sideways, the wind was blowing me around a little. My new Gore-tex riding gear worked AWESOME!!!!! Thank you KLIM and SUNSPORTS for the rad gear. Although I found out my old riding boots was shot, after riding with soaken wet frozen feet I swung into a moto shop picked up a pair of waterproof Gaerne boots and a few other parts. I grabbed a quick bite of dinner and rode into the dark trying to kill off a hundred or so miles of straight Utah highway. As I crossed into Utah there was just an incredible feeling of that everything was right and was well worth selling everything and leaving everytHing behind to ride into the unknown. I have cold so I grabbed a cheap hotel room for the night hot shower and bed. I will wake up early tomorrow and bust a move straight through to LA to see my bro and nephew for the night. The adventure of a lifetime has started and I cannot stop laughing! MUCH MUCH MORE TO COME Home Page __________________ When in doubt THROTTLE OUT! |
YEE - HAAA !!! :clap:
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Day 2-
Woke up at 6:15am got out of Green River by 7am. As I was climbing up my first summit I was freezing, couldn’t feel my neck or hands. Had to stop to grab my face mask and get some feelings back in hands. Luckly I did stop I had my back pack fall off and was hanging from the bike. Sun came out and was nice and warm until I hit 30miles outside of Saint George and it became ot get grey and cold as shit. Right as I hit snow I stopped at a Rest Area and grab all my clothes and layered up. I felt like the Mechielen Man but was v ery warm. Everyone looked at me crazy as I passed them on the highway. I was making good time I started to get very tired ( I cannot drink Coffee anymore.). I was out of it and needed to stop I went to pull off highway and flew down the VERY SHORT OFF RAMP, my feet were on the highway bar so no gears or brakes. Finally relized it and got my feet down hit the brakes dropped gear too late, So I hit the gas and shot through the stop sign and back up the on ramp. I stopped on the side for a quick rest and then back on the road. I made it to Las Vegas and stopped at Ceasar but it sucked so kept going down the road. I headed down the road about 15 miles found a hotel / casino stopped to see how much but was too much stayed for 5 minutes and won 80 bucks off roulette. Free hotel room for the night. I jumped on the bike kicked forward off of the center stand, although I dint relizer that the kickstand was down. So the bike came down onto the kick stand which kicked me to the right, foot sleep and slowly over 30 seconds the bike went down with me fighting it all the way. Luckly a guy saw this and came over and helped me lift the heavy bike bnack up.. I got a hotel another 10 miles down the way right on the border of California and Nevada. I played a few games and some slots ended up going down 80 bucks, then one last bet brought me back to even including free room. Went to be by 9pm exausted. Day 3- I slept in a little, went out to the bike to try and figure out if I needed to change the jets. After a little while of messing with it and taking to jason while he looked up a bunch of stuff online for me we decided that the guy I bought it from never chagned it from sea level so I left it. I went right from there and headed full thottle down the 15 toward LA. I came flying up on traffic all red lights over a hill had my feet on the highway bars and had no time to hit the brakes luckly nobody was in the next two lanes and I was able to swing past all ofhte traffic and hit the brakes. I got to Dales around 4:30 he got home a little past 5 we changed and headed to pick up Tate. We headed out to dinner to watch the Bears vs. Eagles while Tate did homework and named all of the QBs for each team. Day 4- I woke up and said goodbye to Tate and Dale at 5am, laid around for about 45 minutes getting my stuff ready. I ran around Santa Monica getting cash, gas, oil, and a few other nicnacs. I took the 10, to the 405, to the 5, passing through San Diego and stopping at a target about 2o miles before Tecate/ border. I was so nervouse and exciting getting to the border, so so scared but at the same time so ready for this. I came to the border they were checking all of the cars before me and then just waved me through. I stopped and asked where I could get permits and tourist visa. Was told I either had to go to Tiajuana or to Mexicalli. I remembered reading something online saying I could import my bike in La Paz at the ferruy and so I hoped I could do everything there. I pinned it over to Ensinada which was pretty staright forward lots and lots of stop signs… sixty to zeero real qucik every 500 metters.. I pulled into Ensenada at around 1:30 lucky I stopped at an Information booth and asked where Money exhange was. Luckly I did because she asked if I had received my travel visa and had my Passport stamped. I told her I had not, she said I lucked out I could get it done right up the road, last place to do it in Baja, (that could have been a eal headache). I went got my passport stamoped and a visa as well as found out that I could import bike in LA PLAZ at ferry. I headed out around 2:30 rode hard and found out why everyone says that mexico is a pretty crazy place to drive one the road. Nobody cares if it’s a passing dotted, single solid, double solid line, or a blind turn . They just pass everyone , lots and lots of close calls crazy fast and risky driving. I was told never to ride at night, I passed though Tomas and kept it pinned even though I saw that sun was driopping quick. I came across about 10 miles of construction where they were working on the road so they had made a dirt, rockyy, muddy, and narrow road where we all bounced down it while passing cars. I pulled into town and a cop flipped around and followed me till he turned back around looking for someone speeding. I was hoping to camp but couldn’t find a place. I stopped at grocery store garabbed tuna, musatard, nread, and one beer.I headed out of town looking for camiping but it was getting dark very quick.;I turned around and saw a motel gated. I pulled in and the owner was a younger dirtbiker who spoke english. He told me had 20 dollar rooms, I asked him about camoing he said I could through a tent up in his driveway. Before I could say he then offered a 10 dollar beat up room with two beds and hot shower. Took it right away I need a goodnight sleep pretty beat up from riding staight the past 3 days. I will get on my way as soon as I wake to make good head way tomorrow and will be at todo santos for the wedding Thursday afternoon,. Day 5- Today I woke up well rested and very centereed and happy. I got on the bike and started making great time I road for about 2 hrs and found a great little bus that was selling Huervo and steak with fresh Totillos. I had breakfast and got gas, and head up intot he mountains. I was flying up this mountain about 9 mile saway from town took a nice big right hadn turn straightened the bike up and then all hell broke loose… Well actually just the back broke free started sliding all over as if I was on ice… Got it under control and slowed down looked down and had my first of many FLATS…back tire!! I had never changed one solo so I was very happy that my dear friend Tree had sat down a did a tutorial with me about a week ago with an old rim and tire. I pushed the bike across the road to a flatish dirt patch off of the highway 1. I kicked the bike onto the center stand and threw my bags on the handle bars thus bringing ht eback tire off of the ground. I had to kick my wrench to break the bolt free then was able to slip the axle off. The Disc brake setup came of easily then I roled the tire forward and was ablke to roll the chain off. I place the tire on the ground and got to work with the tire irons, when I got the tube out there wasn’t small hole to patch up.. it had blown a hole biger then a poolball out, I had ran over a huge staple that was still in the tire. All said and done it took me over an hour to get a new tube on and get it back on the bike. Hardest part was getting the tire off the rim and raplacing the Disc setup back on. I then put air back in but figured out that I had bought the wrong size CO2 but was able to put small cardboard at the bottom to make it fit. Although after I got about 20psi the pump broke. So I started to put the luggage back on, as I was getting ready a BMW GS1200 past me heading South. At this point I had gained a lot of knowledge of my bike but had lost about 2hrs total of riding time. I was making good headway when I came upon a sign saying no servcices 240k I had already road 80 miles so I didn’t think I would make it with out more gas or having to use my back up. So I saw a man selling gas by the jugs, I got 4 liters and was on my way. I passed a tire place saw there was other bikers so stopped to see if they had tubes, they did not. I was asked by one of the bikers who was on a nice Ducati if I had a correct wrench for his axtle he too had a flat, I did not. I kept going nowhere to stop[, that’s when I relized I was not going to make it before dark, started to get a little worried. I pulled into town about 5 minutes till dark I passed a gast station in looking for hotel. Found it and it was closed, the next one was another 40k up the way. I luckily saw that BMW again and waved him down. He was looking for a hotel too, we decided to ride together through the dark and find a place to sleep. About 5k out of town I ran out of gas (bonehead move) was too worried about finding a place to stay. I put my reserve gas in the tank from my rack and headed on my way with my new friend. Got to the next town grabbed gas and tried to find a hotel but they were all $70 plus bucks. We headed out of town to the next town Guerrero Negro. We finally found a place for 30bucks so we split it and got our gear off the bikes and went and had dinner. I know it is bad to ride at not in Mexico but sometimes you have no choice.. Due to flat tire I was put in a bind. Day 6- Got a lttle bit of a late start due to waiting for a moto shop to open so I could get a new tube, finally did (expensive!!!) I road hard all day holding at about 80-85mph unfourtantly I have one deadline for the next two years and that’s to be in Todo Santos on Friday for a wedding. I road for about 9.5hrs stopping for gas, lunch, and a quick stretch/ Pics. I passed through Cludad Insurgants around 4:10pm Kept going watching the sun dropping, once I made it to Cludad Consitucion at 4:40pm I had a choice to make. Do I sleep there or keep heading south and hope what I read about hotel at Santa Rita. I chose the wrong one, I kept going and to my dismay no hotel there or in the next couple of towns. I had 90k to make it and it was getting to be dusk. 30 minutes into the ride it was dark I jumped behind two cars and follow them the rest of the way to La Paz. I made it with out any problems other than swearing at myself for pushing it and getting caught in the dark again this time my fault no excuses. I got into town went to first hotle… full!! Second they had room but was kind of expense, after a little haggling I got him down to enough I could afford with free secure parking and internet. Nice cheap tacoa nd beer place around the corner. I will wake up early tomorrow and make my way to Todo Santos for the wedding.. haha pushing it close buit if all goes well I will be with great friends and beaches tomorrow. Day 7- I woke up around 6:30 rady for action packed my bike , got a car moved so I could squezee out. I jumped across the street to the gas station. I got 80 pesos of gas and had my money all together, wen tot pay with a 200 and he turned around hten back around with a 20 in his hands. Saying I hadn’t gave him enough have a sleep I gave him more and when I left I relize he had just scammed me I had given him a 2100 …well played scammed me for 16 bucks…I took me 2.5 hours to get to Todo Santos for the wedding from Laz Paz, took over 1.5 hrs to stop getting loss and get on the right road and hten less then an hour to get here.. I finally made it didn’t know where to go but knew Mary and Allisons friend owned a surf camp so I stopped talked with him checked my email and found out everything I needed to know. Pulled up right before 11 and hung rand into all of my friends with beer and tequilla heading for the beach. Quickly threw my gear in Dans place and met them at the beach for beerfast. Hung out on the beach till 2 eating tacos and drinking beers. We got ready and headed to the surf Colonel for the wedding. Beautiful wedding |
For the past few days Day8-11 I was relaxing with friends at the wedding and on the beach, I left them this morning Day 12. I headed back to La Plaz to Ferry over to mainland tomorrow.
I was heading into La plaz from Todo Santos, about 10k from town on the highway. All of a sudden I hear Fletch! Hey Fletch! I look to my right and there is Bret a friend from seattle who I met down here on his dirtbikes. We pulled over he was on his way to get his wife who flew in. His buddy who he had drove down with him dirtbiking down had broken his ribs and had to fly home. He was able to give me a quart of oil for my bike for free which was awesome of him. Then we went on our ways. Thanks dude!!!! CAN'T ADD PHOTOS, WONT LET ME...BUT PICTURES ARE UP!!!! BAJA-FIRST LEG CHECK OUT PICS ON MY WEBPAGE Home Page |
Sorry been awhile I promise will get better at Forums.. still can't add a damn photo
DAY- 18
11/22/2011 Woke up at Bills house where he let me camp, after fixing the bike we had victory tacos and beers in town. I then went into town due to the time of day I decided to stay one more day in good old Sayulita. I got a cheap hostel with safe parking dropped all my gear and went for a test ride on the bike into pv for a few things from autozone and Walmart. She ran great a lot of power now felt great. I really think it must have been my spark plug. I met up with two other riders when I got back to the hostel a guy on a gs1200 from AZ and a guy Quinn from Montreal on a XR650. Quinn is sticking around waiting to meet up with his parents in pv for a week, and AZ and I are heading south Tomorrow together. We went out for way to many drinks and had a blast trading stories, saw Bill again he stopped by for a few mins. Day- 17 11-21-2011 WHERES HE GOING...NOWHERE!! HAHAHA I got all packed up started the bike moved it to the street, loaded her up said good bye to my new friends Deigo and Lulu and left. I made it about 1.5 blocks and she turned off. I messed with it for awhile and could only get her to run with the choke all the way on. I made it slowly into town and went to get coffee and internet. Did some research and also wrote my friend bill from Advrider.com an email. He came over to where I was parked with in 30mins. We messed with it for a bit and came to relize that it wasn't a quick easy fix. So we putted up to his house where I setup a tent in his yard through some pesos to his landlord for letting me stay and stripped my bike. He went to the the beach with his family and we will meet up to take apart the carb around 5ish once it starts to cool down. He has a nice clean Garage with good light to work in. No point to be bummed wouldn't do anby good, so I am going to go for a swim and get a taco and just laugh. There would be must worse places to be stuck in. hahaha Update soon fingers crossed relaxing DAY-16 11/20/2011 Woke up ready to leave, walked into town very hot and tried to get internet and coffee. Ordered Coffee and got the interenet Key, the coffee never c ame so I left with out paying just using the internet for 30 minutes. On the way back I stopped and had these amazing goat tacos that came from a goat stew, ****ing epic!!! Great Breakfast!! I walked back to the camp and started to pack up got everything packed sitting on the ground started taking down the tent. Stopped walked over to my new friends Lulu and Deigo (he rides a ktm 300 rad guy very interest in my trip and generous to help ). Asked them if it would be just as busy today as it will be tomorrow, due to being end of the holiday. They said it would be, but the way I am going should not be a problem. So I quickly changed my mind and resetup my tent and threw my gear into it. Paid for another night and went for a swim. Ate awesome goat stew tacos that were on point! And cheap! Then ended up drinking to much with my new friends on the beach. DAY 15- Day- 15 11/19/2011 Woke up around 6:30 and slowly started to get ready. We didn’t get back to the taco joint for breakfast till 9am, and the breakfast was awesome as well, deep friend chips, covered in queso and Feta, scrambled eggs, Beans, and fresh HOT torillas-(Ranchero). We heded out of town like Bandits, ****ing flying passing cars as if we were running liter bikes, so much fun and beautiful. From the beach up into a mountain pass and then blasting back onto the beach. So much fun we rode hard and then bam damn ol traffic. (It’s a holiday this weekend so everyones on the coast) We past most until we hit a town and was stuck in hot dead moving traffic, he tried to take us on short cut but ended up bouncing down a sidewalk and slamming into/ over a little wall. We busted back out of town and headed making good time. He jumped around a bus in town which didn’t make the bus driver happy so he swerved trying to swipe him, and then he missed a biker but just a few inches at an intersection. We stopped at a gas staion filled up made plan if we get seperated by traffic we would meet in Sayulita. I got to Sayulita a little behind him and he was no where to be found made a few laps and could not find him. Stopped walked around thought I saw him ran back to the bike jumped on and chased after. Nope nobdy on a bike, went back to the highway got on and started heading toward PV, about 10k down the road wasn’t really feeling it and wanted just to relax no need to push down the coast if I do have to. So I headed back to Sayulita looked some more and gave up got an expensive camp spot (90 pesos) (8 bucks)-again holiday weekend and it was packed. I just ate 2 delicious tacos and will walk back to camp. I hope I will ride again with my friend, very fun to ride with.. Oh well shit happens. I got an message on Advrider.com that a guy Bill from Steam Boat lives here In sayulita and wanted to meet up if I came through. So I wrote him that I was there and was down to meet up. He told me 9:30 at the center of town under gazabo. I thought I had missed him and waited till about 9:45 and he showed up smiling. We sat and drank two beers each in the center, which he bought for us (very rad). Awesome to talk to another adventure rider who had ridden in Mexico, he gave me a lot of awesome tips and heads up. I learned a lot from him from the police to the food, what to do if pulled over what not, what to eat what not. Was a very friendly guy and very willling and wanting to help. I kinda of cut it short due to having to pee again in 5 minutes from drinking a lot all day. Got back to my tent by way of awesome pork tacos which was slow cooked like gyros. Then I promptly passed out cold. DAY 14- Day-14 11/18/2011 Was all over the place last night trying to get comfy while sleeping in a movie theater type chair, finally ended up on the ground which worked great and saved me 50bucks. I was up around 5:30 watched the sunrise on the ocean with no land mass in view, just a couple of Sailboats. We had parked the bikes on the bottom level so we were the last to go to the lower decks ot move our bikes/ cars other than truckers. We finally got to go to our bikes I was praying mine didn’t fall over or else it would of smashed into the side of a Mustang hahaha. I packed up my bike as quickly as I could trying to get out of there before headache began from everyones exhaust just running waiting in line to get up ramp and out of boat. I got myself out relatively quickly and waited for my new friend (still can’t remember his name poland. We headed right out of town , it was getting to be a hot day we didn’t really start riding away from ferry till almost noon. We stopped a couple of times for water, more then I usually do but it was nice to ride with someone else. He rode like a racer in and out of cars passing fast and constantly which I enjoy so we chased each other down the Pacific coast taking the 15 not toll road. We arrived at San Blas around 4 and very hungery and thirsty. We tried to ask a couple of people where to eat and all locals kept sending us to McDonalds.. no thanks. We finally chose a place to eat which turned out to be AWESOME!! I ate a lot, I had a Marlin Burrito, and three Carneasada Tacos and washed it down with two beers. It was 100 pesos each with tip, 8 bucks and I was full for the night. We headed toward Stoners Surf Camp, $4 camping, we hung out with 3 German kids, one Mexican guy who was working, and two Mexican Girls . We ended up drinking a lot of beers, the table was covered in empties and my flask was out of Tequila so I went to bed. DAY 13- FERRY!!!!! I woke up talked with a nice English girl for awhile about our trips we were on. I moved my bike to the front entrance and packed her up. I got directions and headed to the ferry port early around 9:30 (my ferry wasn’t until 6pm but I had lot to do). I got there and got my Permit for my bike with little trouble had to get extra copies made and then $444.00 later I was done, although $400 was a deposit that I will get back when I leave Mexico with the Bike intact. I met two other bikers one from England on a 1200GS BMW and a lady from Austalia on a KTM 640 enduro. Very nice, they both were doing there own spin of a RTW on there bikes in for the long haul. He had flown in and headed to AK then zigzagged through Canada and then finished by hitting every state in the US. Very nice people. After I had received my ticket and permit (ticket was 1700 peso- for bike and myself), I headed back to La Plaz. I headed through Centro and got lost found a Yamaha shop looking for Chain Lube. They were out but did have oil so I grabbed another quart, the mechanic tried to give me instructions to shop for lube but to no good. So he gave up grabbed his helmet and with a smile on his face went for a spin and showed me first hand where the shop was. It was out we just laughed and tried the next, they were out too. After they were done making fun of me for riding an Ugly KLR, he got his mechanic to give me a bottle and let me spray my chain for free. My new friend who had shown me the way headed out. I headed back toward the Center after getting lost for a second I figured it out with help of gas and directions. I parked my bike and headed toward my new favorite taco stand for a coke and 4 fish/ shrimp tacos for 5 bucks. After this I went and sat on a stage near the street people watched and relaxed in the shade. I then headed down the street stopped in a popular Icecream shack and had a delicious banana Ice Cream cone. Headed back to the bike jumped on and headed out of town back toward the ferry. I stopped about 100 yards from the entrance of the check point to get out my ticket and permit. I did it again… had the bike on center stand and left the kick stand down, so when the bike came off the center stand it hit the kick stand and wooops there I go. The bike was to heavy for my right leg and I slowly let it down to the ground. I tried to pick it up three times (I could of if I had no choice but it would of hurt a lot!!). Instead I looked up at a guy who was watching me and hitch hiking, looked at him as he stared and waved his ass over to help me out. With a little fight we were able to wrestle the bike up . I crossed the permit check point with ease. I stopped and started talking to a very nice guy who was new a little english. We talked for a while then moved over to the shade. He had 6 kids and lived in Mexico City and once a month made runs over to Baja taking packages from Mexico City to Baja. He then let me follow him over to the line up where we hung out and waited till we were called to load. After he left I was hanging out with funny Mexicans who didn’t speak English and my shitty Spanish we spoke with our hands and actions very funny. Right before I loaded up a guy riding a 08 KLR650 rolled up and was like your from Colorado me too. Well then I realized he saw my Colorado Freeskier.com sticker from the front. Nice guy we hung out for another 5 mins before we were waved onto the boat, we went down a few levels and found a nice place to park. He new the deal setup the right way and strapped his bike down. I was sent to the wrong place and didn’t have a great place to strap it down and was on bad angle. So I just found a pole leaned it against ans strapped it to the pole then strapped it to the floor.. (Fingers crossed hope it makes it the night or else it will be in the side of a Mustang). We were tieing the bikes up when all of a sudden he walked over in a daze and blood was flowing from his head. He had smashed his head on the the stairs tieing his bike down. He was fine but was bleeding pretty good. That’s when I found that Nazil spray slows the bleeding quickly. I found a safe seat to keep all my crap in, he joined after shower. We had a bunch of beer and a free dinner (included). Talked a lot about where our planned routes were, and how this trip hadn’t seemed real up until now. He is a lawyer and Motorcycle racer from Denver. Good night now!!!. DAY 12 Lots of goodbyes yesterday to Dan and friends. Last night just hungout with Jason for the last time in a year or so. I will def miss that man, a very close friend. I then said goodbye today after changing the oil filter. I then drove back out to Mary's house to get my camera which I left. I got on the highway and headed toward La Plaz. I was heading out and had to get through a Military Check Point, they were waving everyone through. I stopped at the gaurd, he asked if I was an American I said yes and he told me I had to pull over and get checked.. hahaha. I did and the next guy asked me what I head in my left Mannier I told him clothes and camping gear, he waved me through. I was heading into La plaz from Todo Santos, about 10k from town on the highway. All of a sudden I hear Fletch! Hey Fletch! I look to my right and there is Bret a friend from seattle who I met down here on his dirtbikes. We pulled over he was on his way to get his wife who flew in. His buddy who had driven down with him had broken his ribs and had to fly home. He was able to give me a quart of oil for my bike and wouldn't take any money, which was awesome of him. Then we went on our way. I recieved my first gas dontaion today on Paypal which was awesome and amazing. DAY 9-11 After a nice relaxing morning we packed up and head out to find where Jason V. was staying. We rode toward Todo Santos and right before arriving we headed left down a dirt road for about one klik. He was staying in hios own personal compound, very nice and on the beach. We just relaxed and unwound from the wedding and for me the long drive staright full throttle from Crested Butte, CO. We ate good food and drank good beer. Nothing crazy happened except jason turned his rental Nissan into a rally car and scared the crap out of Dan many times very very funny. We must of hit a water hole in the dirt road down 70mph.. SO SO FUNNY!!! He loved the Ebrake on everyturn. Woke up one mornign after heavy rain and wind and found my bike had sunk into the wet gravel and fell into trees breaking the windshield in half, ducktape and where ready to go. DAY 7-9 Day 7- I woke up around 6:30 ready for action packed my bike , got a car moved so I could squezee out. I jumped across the street to the gas station. I got 80 pesos of gas and had my money all together, wen tot pay with a 200 and he turned around hten back around with a 20 in his hands. Saying I hadn’t gave him enough have a sleep I gave him more and when I left I relized he had just scammed me I had given him a 200 …well played scammed me for 16 bucks…It took me 2.5 hours to get to Todo Santos for the wedding from Laz Paz, took over 1.5 hrs to stop getting loss and get on the right road and then less then an hour to get here.. I finally made it didn’t know where to go but knew Mary and Allisons friend owned a surf camp so I stopped talked with him checked my email and found out everything I needed to know. Pulled up right before 11 and ran into all of my friends with beer and tequilla heading for the beach. Quickly threw my gear in Dans place and met them at the beach for beerfast. Hung out on the beach till 2 eating tacos and drinking beers. We got ready and headed to the surf Colonel for the wedding. Beautiful wedding. |
catch up.... then pictures
DAY-19
11/23/2011 Was pretty slow getting going this morning, Finally got out of there around 9ish As we were leaving the hostel we had to get our bikes from the back which meant we had to drop down this little dirt alley to the main road. I got out last and headed down the dirt and a ****ing Jeep started heading up not stopping so I started sliding right toward her last second hit the gas and peel around her stil don’t know how my bags didn’t swipe the side of her car. We headed toward PV and I returned some stuff too Auto Zone. Half way through town my foot peg gave and swung down only on one bolt. I rode like that through PV got to the other side stopped at a gasstation and asked a cop where a hardware store was. We were litteraly right next it, so the old one had stripped out bad. So the plan was to grab a standard size one and rethread it into it. No luck small one was just a little to small and the larger one was too big. I was going to need a bead put on it or…….. I grabbed the smaller one and shoved it in then wrapped the ****er in duck tape so now It acts like a safety pin. I will get it welded when I get to andreas house. We swept up the road going from beach up into the mountains had lunch which was goat stew (awesome). David is a fast fun guy to ride with. I thought I was going to run out of gas which was fine have reserve then I have more reserve. Bike did great getting over 40mpg. We pulled into Barra De Navidad and decided to get a room and wake up early. We went split a 26 dollar room and headed in to town for beer and food. It was okay nothing special. Skyped and phoned a lot of people. Now we wake up 630 and ride… DAY 20- 11/24/2011 TURKEY DAY We had been warned that we were heading into sketchy area, Slept outside of the first sketchy town. Woke up early this morning and started crushing some miles. We had to pass around one city and the toll road was 109 peso’s 9 bucks!!!! The road was amazing super twisty for miles and miles like over 150miles of twisties hard sharp fast twisties. We rode around 400ish miles. We saw some of the most amazing sights. There were many animals in the roads, roosters, lizards (big), Dead Bull , dogs (dead and alive), and lots and lots of Butterflies. We stopped and ate a pretty big flavorless lunch/ breakfast. Then just kept crushing miles trying to get through, although we didn’t feel it to be sketchy or bad, just beatiful and peaceful. LOTS AND LOTS OF SPEEDBUMPS!! I went flying then skidding through a military check point they were not impressed, hahaha. We were holding around 75mph slowed down real quiick when we came upon construction road was on it for a while then finally it opened up to a nice road we started going again then every bridge had super big lips on the and off the bridge so you were gapping onto then and dropping off of them. I was following David when we came onto another long bridge we were moving pretty quickly, then with out warning the road/ bridge just dropped off we gapped down a few feet landed onto a small dirt hill then the road had collapsed on either side down into a pretty deep gully other hten than lane that shot across we barely made it onto it and luckly no cars coming or else it would have been all bad. We each almost got hit a couple of times by cars, they don’t really look for motorcycles or cars for the matter they just hit the gas and go. They pass a lot on blind hills and turns, very scary to come around a blind turn or hill and there is a car in ur lane heading your way. We finally made it to our destination last Night Z------ outside of Acopoco and slept for the night. We hiked around got lost and then a 8 year old took us down the street to find delicous tacos we were so hungry and they were so good we each had 9 little tacos for our thanksgiving dinner with rice milk. We then made it back to our hotel and skyped our families to say HAPPY TURKEY DAY… Day 21- 11/25/2011 Today we woke up and got riding very quickly, we wanted to get to and through Acopoco by 2pm. We started laying tracks as David says, we were whipping through the turns and straight aways.. I did it again I blasted past cops all day but nobody cared. We just rode hard today head down and ripped. We were on the road David rode up asking if I wanted to stop, yup rubbed the belly wanted food. He pointed backwards which I didn’t see and I pointed forward and pinned it. We found a little town 5mins away, pulled in. Found a place to eat and just ordered whatever they were serving, which was Pollo (chicken leg) with a deep brown spicy sauce, rice, tortillas, and veggies. Perfect we hung out ate and relaxed. We got on the road again, making miles pulling into Acopoco I new it was going to be busy and stressful. I hate cities and traffic and it was both to the max. THANK YOU JASON VERNON!!! Davids GPS was no good in cities wrong maps, the GPS Jason gave me for my Bday was the best!! There were no signs at all just followed the GPS through a sea of Blue and White VW Bugs. Walking speed traffic up hill, bikes are getting hot, were just dripping in sweat, and constantly getting cut off or pushed to the side. Finally we started getting out of traffic and then every 10 meters there were huge speed bumps, if we hit one we hit three hundred of them today. We finally got back in the open space no traffic flying, and I come up on a bus. I am stuck behind it for 5 mins finally see some room to make a pass as I pull out the bus does a Nascar move and slams the bus into the left lane right out in front of me cutting me off almost taking out my front tire, like with in a half an inch or less. Then he did his pass and I was able to pass him and the slower truck in front of him.I know every single person in that bus smashed their heades when he swung out… hahaha.. Today was the first day I finally felt comfortable on the bike me and the bike were flying all day slaying the turns hard. We found an okay town to stop and stay at. Hotel was kind of expesive for such a crap hole. Beds were foam on top of cement slabs, no hot water, shower drain didn’t work just flooded the bathroom, but still was only $12 each. We went in search of food, and found my favorite. Looks like Gyro meat spinning on open flame and they just cut a little bit off at a time with a bit of Pineapple, called Taco Pastor- AWESOME!!! We both had 10 small tacos each and two beers for 5 bucks each!! So awesome!!!! DAY 22- 11/26/2011 We woke up this morning could not find a bank, David loaned me 500 pesos for the day. We got gas and started laying tracks hard. We were nailing the turns all day throwing down, chasing each other, past a couple of cops who could careless. We went through a military check point, at first he was waving us to pull over, when neither one of us did he just waved us on. We got lost pretty quick in one town you can’t trust any of the road signs. We have been on mexico 200 but every sign that points off of it to a different town is Mexico 200 too. We followed one sign to Puerto Escondido instead of going to Centro and ended up on a dirt gnarly road that dead ended. I busted out the GPS and got us on the right road again. We hit so many Speed bumps over 200 hundred easly today. Right before lunch I was following David and he hit one no signs going 70mph wamwam… We stopped and a nice lady made us lunch four awesome tacos and a coke each, 69 pesos for both of us!! We started going and again lots of speed bumps, finally started to clear up straight clean road. All of a sudden “crap!” speed bump in the shade to late pin it!!! Wamwam 70mph that hurt, sorry bike. We cruised pretty fast dropping KM’s all the way. We got to Puerto Escondido very quickly pulled into the main beach area, pulled back out onto the road to many people not that awesome. We headed out oftown by 1 km, dropped back into another beach where the waves were huge and pumping. We rode through the town stopped to figure out where to stay, we were right in front of a cool hostel. Yup that will work 80 pesos a night I am in. We are hanging out here for the night and I wil meet up with Andrea and kye Tomorrow and stay with them. I needed cash and Internet so we jumped on the bikes and headed into town I was leading we came upon a transit cop ( I have been told not to look at them and just plain dumb gringo and ride by). Well he shot his wistle at me I thought he wanted me to pull over for speeding so I just kept going straight he was waving at me and walking toward me I just kept going. David got stuck with him in the road I thought for sure he just got a ticket and had to pay him off, I waited and waited nothing so I went to the bank. David pulled up right as I parked, Ticket? Nope he just wanted us to go out another exit… oooops.. haha no harm no foul. We then went out to dinner, I am on a tight budget Davids not. I was looking for cheap tacos, He finally was like lets go get grilled whole snapper, my treat it has been a blast riding with you the past couple of days… I fought it for a while, wasn’t going to win okay…It was an awesome dinner they just grab a fesh snapper throw it on the grill and send it out with Potatoes, salsa, and Tortilla’s. Thanks again David!!! Went back to the hostel had a few beers and played pool. Really cool hostel Mark and Louis started it about a year ago, they are both from Mexico City, Mark lived in Italy for 6 years. DAY 23- 11/27/2011 We woke up, I was planning on going to Andria’s house tonight to sleep and stay but the hostel has been nice to meet new people and is cheap ($6) a night.. I then finally got in contact with Andria and she road down on her moped with her son Kia. I sorry that sweet house and they showed me around to one of the surf breaks answered a bunch of questions. David had changed to a nicer hotel, so I got back to the hostel and was just chilling for awhile. All of a sudden I thought I heard my name “no”, then again “naw”, and then the Hostel owner Mark was like Fletch you have friends. I turned around and it was my Belguim Friends in there 4x4 van, I met them a week or two ago. They are driving from AK to South America, we started talking and what do you know they had just ran into my riding friend from Poland he was here who I had lost in Sayulita. I jumped into their van and we went and found him. HAHAHA.. That night we met up with a group of us for dinner, 7 guys riding motorcycles and a couple driving a van all heading toward South or Central America. I met a really cool group of friends Yullia from Germany, two really rad guys from Israel and a very nice Girl from Norway.. We had a few beers and play Janga. DAY 24- 11/28/2011 Woke up today with a mission find a nice cheap place to learn spanish for a week or so. Nope $170-$220 for five days….I was bumbed I really didn’t want to spend that much, because I new there were full week classes, sleeping and they feed you for $100 a week in Guatemala. I was talking to Andria and of course she new someone who taught at one of the schools I looked at but would do it out of her house for cheaper. So after we talked for a while we decided on $80 bucks a week for 2hours a night, I start tomorrow. Andrea and I rode around town on my bike she was showing me all the spots, and we found a surf board I could use or one I ould rent right on the beach. I am meeting her and Kia tomorrow to go surfing around 4pm then onto spanish classes. Went out for beer with an Argentina fellow who had nothing but awesome advice of where to go and what to do while in South America. DAY -25 11/29/2011 Woke up, went and had some coffee and internet. Walked around for awhile and heded back to the hostel. I ran into my friend/ owner Mark who asked if I wanted to go see his welding friend about my foot peg issue. We headed into Escondido Centro and got off the bikes and walked into an open style garage. Talked to the owner, Marks friend. I decided to say screw it and get both Footpeg bases welding to the fram and centerstand. I am used to seeing people use a torch style welder and lay beads. This guy used some type of electric clamps which held a piece of metal of type and layed a bead on my bike. Very solid, as we were standing there Mark starting telling me a story about the guy welding how he had fallen off a building and landing on a metal pole sticking straight up . The guy pulled up his shirt and had a gnarly scar from his stomach to his ribs. Suppesedly he landed on the metal on his thigh and it went up through his stoamch popped out under his rib cage. One in a million to be alive.. He only charged me 13 bucks to weld my bike, I was happy I never had to deal with it again..knock on wood so gave him a nice tip which he was very surpised by. Rode back to the hostel, made a sandwich and headed back to town to get a rash guard for surfing. Mark is letting me rent a surfboard from him for the week for less then 5 bucks a day compared to all the shops here which is 14 bucks a day. I grabbed the surfboard and headed up the beach toward the “smaller waves” yeah right!!! After walking 30 minutes up the bach, saw the waves there were sets coming in 6-10+ feet tall. Seth would have been pumped.. I watched a guy who had been caught stealing a tourist bag run from the cops, instead of going into the woods he ran for the WATER..hahaha after 1.5 hours of circling this guy on a jetski they finally got him to the beach arrested him got the bag back and took him away.. I was waiting for Andrea and finally just went for it… Was having no luck just getting dragged out do to the Riptide. I was getting out when I saw my friend Martin from Argentina . We talked for awhile and then he took me out surfing. I tried to catch a few wave and did but got wrecked. I was about to catch another one that Martin was yelling to paddle right as I was dropping in he started yelling no no don’t go! WAIT WHAT!!!! I tried to not catch it and pulled off the wave got dragged a little but did it, but now I am in bad spot right where the rest of the waves will crash.. I then started paddling hard toward Martin a huge wve was about to crash on me so I did that sweet surfer dive move under the wave… Yeah right it grabbed me sucked me in, dragged me, flipped me around, and held me under felt like ever. I finally got to the surface gasping for air. I finally made it to the beach trying to still breath spitting out salt water. I sat on the beach for a second, Martins sitting on his board waving me back out… OKAY OKAY I can do this. I waited for the perfect timing, ran out jumped on the board and started paddling super fast…(really I am out of shape and am moving about as fast as a sloth). Waves starting heading my wave I get through one, then a second, and then a huge ones on its way. Okay I can do this, push board down and pop up, NOPE got swept again and pounded down the beach finally coming to surface to get pounded again. I crawl ontot he beach and just start laughing. The whole day I have just been smiling and laughing, I got my butt kicked all day but had the time of my life. As I am walking up the beach I saw a few girls from the hostel, one girl looked at me and was like “man looked heavy out there”. I looke at her laughed and said “yeah I suck, but was still fun”. Hooked back up with my friend and headed back to the hostel. Changed and ran to my spanish lesson, don’t know what was harder Spanish or trying to learn to surf in beg waves. Haha I met back up with Martin for cheap dinner and a few beers, we tried to go out and it was not happening. We went back to the hostel ate a quick Sandi and went to bed. DAY-26 11/30/2011 Woke up, Martin and I was going to surf at 9am.. I didn’t get out of bed till 9:30 I was exhausted, he didn’t get up till almost 11am. I went intot town and drank a little café and messed around on the internet. Went back to the hostel, met up with Martin found out the spot we wanted to go was flat so we headed back to Playa Puenta. We got there it was very small I was very excited, Martin was not impressed. He gave me a bunch of tips and we started to paddle out. I was exhaustewd still from ysterday, but gave it my best shot and wrecked a lot. It started getting big again, where over my head. I headed in found a nice little wave and wash (shallow but okay) Stood up for a sec and was happy. I still got a lot to work on before trying to catch any real wave I come to the conclusion. I need to work on Popping up onto the board in one motion, this is the smallest board I have ever tried to surf and it needs to be one motion not two or else you wreck a lot… haha We headed back into town and I was exhausted. All day feeling like I should take a nap, but I just kept pushing it. I hadn’t stopped moving and doing things since getting here, we hard ridden very hard and long hrs to get here. I was exhausted and need to lay low, but I have a hard time doing that. So I ran around did errands and my homework, took a shower and headed to Class. Class was AWESOME today, we started to do boring stuff and then she asked me what I wanted to learn. I learned everything on how to meet people, converstations, border crossing stuff, how to converse with authority, slang, bad words, and we just laughed and had a beer and learned spanish for 2 hrs. I LOVE THIS CLASS.. HAHAHA After class I headed back to the Hostel had a few Pineapple and Rum drinks . We headed out to a Salsa bar that was supposed to be very busy, I had my first shot of Mesquila it was coffe flavored one at that. Learned how they make it and that it was from this region. Was very tired falling asleep and the bar and then I made my way back to the Hostel. Slept hard for a long long time. |
DAY 27-
12/01/2011 Had a hard time getting out of bed today, felt like crud all day. Did not go surfing or anything, just drank a lot of water and gatorade.. I have to get better at drinking water, I don’t and then I get dehydrated and feel like crud all day long. Today was a very mellow day. I got to class and again it was hilarious we just learned and laughed all class. If my college classes were this fun I probably would of graduated.. haha. I went back to the hostel skipped dinner and just passed out by 9pm. Day 28- 12/02/2011 Woke up refreshed and ready for a great day. I ran around in the Centro all day looking for a vocab book, but cannot find it anywhere. I saw Andrea for a little while and then headed back into town. I met up with Lious and Mark and went surfing with them for awhile. Didn’t have much luck again, although not as big just a lot of people. It was still a blast and a good work out. Did my spanish homework, played some pool and got a little dinner made. I headed up to class, stoppe dat the store to pick up some beer for us and went to class. Today was probably one of the funniest classes I have ever been envolved in, we just joked around and learned spanish for almost three hours. I was headed back to the hostel when I ran into my friend Martin from Argentina. He had just gotten back from a little surf trip down south and was headed into town, so I turned around and followed. I all of a sudden ran into three guys on motorcycles, I knew I knew one of the bikes it was a fellow I head met in Baja, one of the other guys was Patrick who I have been trying to meet up with for the whole trip. We talked for a while I showed them the hostel but they were looking for something more up scaled. I think they will be leaving today, must of the guys I have been running into are all about riding riding riding. I personally like to stop, meet people, and experience first hand where I am. Each to our own adventures. But I am truly having the time of my life, so many great new friends and experiences. DAY 29-33 12/3-7/2011 These past 4 days have been great!!! I went on a couple short surf trips, was doing spanish almost every night up until the 6th of December. My friend from Argentina came back from a surf trip in the South, we met back up for a few more nights of beer, cooking, and surfing. I have made a family dinner a couple of times this week. I started off with fresh seared Ahi, Orange Buerre Blanc on the fish, Butter smashers, and Broccoli. Everyone was blown away, I was not thought I could of done a lot better but oh well next time. The next night we did Cheese burgers and Potato salad which were delicious, took them to a Medium don’t know if I can trust the ground beef here.. gotta find that out. I then cooked a big pasta dinner for us and have been making lots of breakfast tacos. I have made good friends with the owners of the hostel Mark and Lious. I have been going surfing a lot with Mark and leanring from him, they took me on a little have day surf trip up north to our own secluded beach break. Which was awesome to learn on. I was walking into the bar to grab some pineapple juice one morning to go with my Breakfast tacos and everything is very low in mexico. I caught my head on a plastic screw nail thing and ripped my head open a little. (pictures below) Cleaned it up and went to my last spanish class on Tuesday night… sad… I learned a lot and had a lot of fun in this class. As a thank you for such fun and cheap classes, I took her out to dinner after class. We went to her friends place over looking the beach, with awesome Cerviche and Tacos. Couldn’t have been a nicer person with two rad kids, one was 7 and an amazing surfer the kid rips… I have been getting chewed alive by Mosquietos, started all of my Central and South America meds so I will be ready to leave in a few days.. My parts have been taking longer to get then expected so I am getting them shipped down to my Friend Ben Love and Dale Dagger Surf Hotel. I am just going to roll the dice fingers crossed that my tires have enough life to make it or another adventure with pervail.. hahaha.. I will be leaving here this weekend at some time, all my friends here want me to hangout until Christmas, but I am itching to get on the bike and ride into Gautemala.. |
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STORM TROOPER!!!! READY TIO SHRED THE TWISTIEST OF THE TWISTIES OF MEXICO.... http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...condido035.jpg THESE VIEWS ARE GETTING OLD.. A LITTLE BORING.. HAHA NICE PLACE FOR A BREAK http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...condido038.jpg POLLO, MOLLE, TACOS http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...condido052.jpg ROAD SIDE TACOS CAN'T BEAT THEM http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...condido056.jpg MY HOME IN PUERTO ESCONDIDO, FOR THE PAST TWO WEEKS.. SWEET KAWA 100.. THEY DIDN'T WANT TO RACE http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...condido060.jpg OUT THE FRONT DOOR OF THE HOSTEL http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...condido002.jpg MAN DOWN, EVERYTHING IS VERY LOW IN THSI COUNTRY....HAHA http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...condido006.jpg EPIC PLACE, PUERTO ESCONDIDO http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...condido015.jpg NICE VIEW FROM BREAKFAST |
catch up
DAY 37-40
12/11-14/2011 I finished up my stay day 37-38, in Puerto Escondido and it was awesome. I had an amazing surf sesh on Monday night it was a lot of fun, small but everything started to click. Mark made amazing Fried Pollo Tacos, right after I slept I passed out cold on the dinner table so tired.. Finally woke up had a coca cola and was good for another hour, then went to sleep by midnight. Woke up early rana few errands, said good bye to a few good friends, went for one last surf with Mark at Playa La Punta. Ended up meeting up with Quinn from Canada on Tuesday the 13th he was on a 2003 xr 650, we had met in Sayulita. We met up around 1:30ish and started to ride. We rode for about 4hrs and went through a couple of towns that we were told were supposed to be amazing one was and was was pretty horrible…I was not feeling that great all day, but pushed through. So we rode till dusk and made it to Barra De La Cruz. A very relaxed small village where we slept in a cheap Cabana for the night. We woke up and got a slow start, we rode half the day together. Stopped for lunch and had the worse tacos that I have ever had, to the point I was sure I was going to get sick from them we were ripping down the Mex 200 when I came up on a huge dump truck, all of a sudden a good amount of small white pebbles started to fall out on the road. Them hitting the road didn’t bother me, them bounces up at 70mph and hitting me sucked a little till I was able to get out of the twisties and pass him. We split up around 2pm he was headed east and I was headed southwest. Nice guy and nice to ride with, but I sure do enjoy riding solo. I pushed on and made it as close as I would want to sleep near the Border of Gautemala.. I am in a town called Huixtla, I will cross the border tomorrow morning and hopeful making it to or close to Antigua Tomorrow evening. I cannot wait to get into Gautemala, I hope the border crossing is smooth and I get my deposit back that I put down for my Mexican Motorcycle permit…. Pictures soon.. Night time.. |
First of many real border crossings
DAY 41-
12/15/2011 I woke up pretty earlier today very anxious for my first true border crossing (Tecate, Mexico doesn’t really count) as I was going Solo. Got my bike packed up quicly and talked with the hotel owner while I strapped everything down a very nice guy. I got back onto the Mexico 200 and pushed South, as I pulled into Tapachula I saw two guys walking into the street trying to wave me down. I had been told there I guys that hang out in and near borders to try and help you through the process but want a lot of money. I knew I wasn’t at the border yet so I swung left around them and pinned it. I blasted through the city started making head way toward the border, I had typed in the wrong area for the gps, because I turned off of the Mex 200 and ended up in a little town sitting in the middle of a field in Guatemala by accident.. oooops.. I turned around headed back toward the 200 and finally got to the border. I was so nervous thought I might vomit, so excited and nervous about my first real border crossing. As I pulled in, tons of guys come running into the street making u have to either stop or gas it at them and make them move. I Stopped at first relized they just wanted to either exchange money or be my helper through the border. No Gracias was said a lot today. I made it to the border just to find out that where the guys were trying get me to stop in Tapachula, was exactly where I needed to go back to. I needed to cancel my Bike Permit and get my $400 Deposit back. So here we go I turn around and head back 20 miles of so, as I pull in I get to the side of the road and kick the stand down start to get off. My foot sleeps of the pavement and drops into the dirt which is 6inch below the pavement.. yup here I go for a third time dead stop fall over..hahaha The bike is laying at an angle I’m not going to be able to pick it up solo with all of the gear on it. All of a sudden a nice guy comes running over and helps me pick her up we just laugh and get her back up. I go into the office get all the paper work finish and canceled. I grab a quick breakfast/ lunch- Gatorade, powder donuts and little muffins. The heat is killing me at this point. I head back toward the border, filling up with gas on the way (luckly I did gas in Gautemala is 4 times the amount of Mexico. As I get back to the border this time no stopping just kept the gas ripping and only a few tried to step out and relized I wasn’t stopping so got out of my way. I Get my stamp, but at first he doesn’t want to give it to me because supposedly I don’t have my tax receipt, finnaly he gives up and gives me my stamps. I then head to the next stop, do exchange my peso’s for Gautemalan money. As I get off I get bombarded by people trying to help this one group with one head guy my age won’t give up just follows me around telling me where to go and park and what to do. I started getting annoyed by them, They would try and help by grabbing my papers out of my hands and trying to show me the way I would grab them back “no Gracias” Finally I gave in and let them help me kind of. He was trying to get me to pay extra to the workers so it would go faster, but no point nobody was in line and it flew by. The guy was confusing me with all these other fees finally I got him to stop talking and talked to the Border cop myself relizing I was done expect for a bike check I went to grab my bike. There was 5 of them hanging around my bike when I went to grab it and the leader kept asking or demanding we will say for a tip for all of his help. I only gave him 14bucks (didn;’t want to but rather than argue in 100 degree weather in all my riding gear. He was not happy he wanted at least 30 more, and the kid he had “watch my bike” even though it was in paid safe parking, wanted cash to. I just kept telling them I was broke. I got on my bike and slammed out of the parking lot. I got to the wash station with both of them still following me asking for money. I got the bike washed and headed to the last check point with a cop. The head guy knew he wasn’t getting anymore cash from me so he left me alone, the other kid would not leave me alone. The cop did a quick once over and then told me I was good, the kid was sitting there telling me I still needed copies and to pay him. At that I looked at the cop asked if I could go to Gautemala now, he raised the get and Sped out of there as fast as I could. Learned my lesson, ingore the people and push through no eye contact and don’t let them think they are helping. Haha I have many more borders to practice this at.. will see how it works out.. Although I did get done with the whole deal under an hour other than the driving back to cancel permits. I was on my way, I road for another 200km, the road was just amazing and a lot of fun. Super smooth for the most part, very very twisties, lots of switch backs, climbing climbing up into the Gautemala mountains and the racing back down to the fields. I ran into a couple of locals on a bmw and they road with me for a while until they pulled off talked for awhile and then headed on there own way. I made it into Quetzaltenango (also known as Xela). Rad little city, of course I was looking for a hostel with safe parking and was lost for the better part of a half hour just laughing and cruzing. Finally found one who would let me put my bike inside of the hostel locked to a metal gate. I went grabbed a quick bite, but I am very tired and am excited to get on the road tomorrow and make it to Antigua. Today was an amazing day and learning experience. |
pics!!!
http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...nhostel005.jpg
Hostel where I lived the past 2 weeks. http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...nhostel013.jpg Hard Life I know http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...HUIXTLA006.jpg yup yup... Barra De La Cruz,, Made it before dark http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...HUIXTLA022.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...HUIXTLA019.jpg Break time http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...utemala001.jpg Breaks and lunch OF CHAMPIONS http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...utemala002.jpg ALMOST THERE http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...utemala008.jpg MADE IT!!!! http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...utemala011.jpg REWARD FOR A RADTASTIC DAY |
Suggestions please
Hola!!! I am new to this whole forum thing, and would love some advice. How can I make my postings better... Keep on writing long stories followed by pictures or should I post lots of pictures with short stories, ect ect... ??? Thanks Fletch
Home Page |
real writing
Love the post man real writing keep it up! It reminds me of a writer called Poe Ballatine: Drifter, grafter , mover on the lower levels. I leave the cold grey depressing U.K (again) in a couple of months for Africa but this time I,m not coming back. Shit or bust!
Be lucky, Jim. |
One of the raddest roads I have ridden
DAY 42-
12/16/2011 All day long I just rode and laughed all the way through the twisties and small villages.. This is living, at its finest… I woke up this morning in Quetzaltenango walked around for awhile it was very cold all night lots of blankets, I could see my breath this morning. I have been sleeping just in shorts and no sheets for over a month, this is a drastic change. I found a nice small café for coffee this morning and then roamed around looking for a bookstore. I found a nice place which luckly had the A VERY IMPORTANT BOOK THAT I DID NOT THINK TO BRING!!! English to spanish Voccab. Dictionary/ phrase book. OOOOOPS.. I wasn’t feel all that great all night so I grabbed two yogurt drinks for Breakfast and loaded up the bike. I think Guatemala translates to “Fletcher you’re going to get lost A LOT!!” Haha It took me a lot of wrong way on one way streets, illegal U turns, and a little sidewalk usage to finally get out of the city and get on my way. “Lets make sure I am going the right way” Stopped at a gas station.. yup that’s a negative turn around try again. Finally after a few circles I am on the right road heading in the direction I want to be. The road is a freeway 4 lanes we are moving along zigging and zagging through cars and taking nice smooth turns on a nice smooth road. It was a lot quicker than I had expected to my turn off toward a senic detour that looked nice in my book. I headed down toward Lago de Atitlan a beuatiful lake surrounded by Volcanos. I passed through the lake town of Panajachel, the road started to climb with very twisty switch backs everywhere. The road was like glass extra smooth and no traffic. I was ripping through the turns and all of a sudden the road started to get gnarlier, crazy U turn switch backs that had a steep incline ramp in the middle of the turns, road was rough and then turned into Motorcycle eating Potholes you had to swerve. The road went from a nice 2 lane mountain road to gnarly single lane toa 1.5 lane road. I came up to a detour the road had fallen into the river below, so you had to jump onto the dirt, then all of a sudden around a turn the road dropped down and vanished into the river. I stopped checked out how deep it was, watched a truck go through and then gave her a little throttle and made it through without a swim. The road just danced through the mountains/ volcanos, hands down the raddest road I have ever Ridden, so much fun I was just laughing the whole time from the twistiest to just the incredible views. All along the road today kids would either just sit there waving or run with you laughing and waving at you. I wasn’t sure my sweet detour would actually work and get me to Antigua, but all of a sudden I was 60km from it and was home free. I blasted through the next big city took my turn and raced through the forrest, I pooped out at a T and kept heading south, stopped for lunch and made sure I was going the right way. Nope past the turn off about 15km ago, haha well lunch was at least really good and a nice break. I finally made it to Antigua. I raced around town for almost an hour looking for a cheap hostal with safe parking, nope no luck. A guy who was handing out flyers for a Hostel pointed me in the direction, I checked it out but wasn’t a fan of it. There was another one next to it and I liked it a lot more, they didn’t have parking but said I could just park it in the bar. I met a couple who was from Holland and traveling the coast from Mexico on little 50cc Mopeds, with a homemade surfboard rack rigged to one of the them. I parked my bike, dropped all of my gear and took a much needed shower and a walk. Grabbed a little dinner and a beer and I am now just relaxing in Antigua Guatemala who would of ever guessed…. hahaha http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...tigua022-1.jpg LOOK MA ITS A VOLCANO!!! http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...tigua028-1.jpg VIEWS FROM THE ROAD http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...Antigua059.jpg SO NICE http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...Antigua064.jpg LIKE GLASS http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...Antigua067.jpg AND THEN BRAKES!!!! http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...Antigua071.jpg QUICK SWIM http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...Antigua077.jpg I LOVE THIS ROAD http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...Antigua080.jpg SAFE PARKING IN THE BAR/ HOSTEL |
Antigua is rad, but ready to keep riding..
Antigua is rad, a little touristy for my style. I am ready to get back to the coast, I will be heading down toward Sipacate tomorrow. From there I think I will stay with the coast into El Salvidor, if I love it I will stay for awhile if not head toward my friends place in Nicaragua. Anywhere rad I should stop and check out before leaving Guatemala? Any must before Nicaragua? Fletch
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Walking around antigua
DAY 43-
12/17/2011 Antigua Woke up this morning, went and sat down to have my free breakfast, thinking it was going to be a cruddy Contenital breakfast. I got scrambled eggs, Pancakes, Fruit, Orange juice, and Coffee, it was Delicous. I went for a walk through town just randomly getting lost and taking it all in, found a yamaha dealer and grabbed an extra quart of oil.. you never know. I messed around on the computer for a little while, then headed out to find this Café a friend suggested and get lunch. I stopped to check out some shoes, my skate shoes now suck and are giving me blisters. Found some sweet high top style ones green and yellow which are only 35 bucks think I will grab them tomorrow before leaving, and give mine away. I found the café spot and ordered the lunch special, soup and sandwich for $4. It was delicous, I hung out there for another 20 minutes before walking home. I was 5 blocks away from my hostel and only 3 minutes away from the café when it hit me. BAM! A war broke out in my stomach, uh oh….. “am I going to make it to my hostel?”. “Okay don’t think about it hurry hurry, walk faster but not to fast to upset it anymore.” “Oh crap, did I walk right by my street?” Yup of course. “Okay time to hurry, turn the corner, okay okay I see it. Should I run? Nono it will make it worse, okay I am within a hundred feet can’t take it anymore run!!!!!” Flew through the doors, workers stared at me as I ran through the common area and disapeared into the Bathroom… Oh that could have been all bad, not feeling great now. I took an hour nap and woke up feeling good. I was actually Hungry. I walked around town and got lost in the market such a cool cool place, ended up at the square eating amazing Chicken sandwiches and Tamales, so so so good. I walked around and went back to the café and drank a few beers and watched a salsa performance with a few new friends from the hostel. Then we all walked back to the hostel. Been very tired the last 4 days.. good night sleep should do the trick… I liked Antigua, but a little toursty for me and I am ready to get back on my bike. http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ANTIGUA003.jpg AMAZING VIEWS FROM TOWN http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ANTIGUA004.jpg THEY DID NOT WANT TO RACE http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ANTIGUA007.jpg VIP MUSICIAN TRANSPORTATION http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ANTIGUA008.jpg THE LUNCH I LOVE AND HATE..... http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ANTIGUA009.jpg SO MUCH GOING ON HERE http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ANTIGUA012.jpg MARKET http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ANTIGUA014.jpg FRUIT AND VEGGIES!!!!! http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ANTIGUA015.jpg INSIDE MARKET Home Page |
Catch the past few days
DAY-44
12/18/2011 SIPACATE- Had a nice breakfast, skyped for a long time with family, and then packed up the bike, I checked out around noon and headed south. The Road was nice and took me a lot faster than I had planned. I was excited because I didn’t get lost at all, was way too easy. I had heard of a surf lodge down here that you either took a sandy road to or a boat. As I got down to the coast I couldn’t find any signs or markers telling me which way to go. I took a guess headed toward the coast and then started riding a gnarly sandy road out toward the point. One side was the Pacific the other was Salt fields. There were tons of the shallow beds of water everywhere, I watched them work them. They would push all of the water to the corner drain and what was left was a pile of salt which would then be scooped into a bucket. I rode the road as far as I could until it dead ended into salt fields, it was super sandy on the sides but for the most part if I could stay on the thin center strip of grass it was pretty sturdy. I saw a local and with my very bad Spanish he pointed me toward the lodge, but there was no road just beach. I thought about trying to go for it, gave it throttle and started to sink right as I got off the road. (Too much weight and balding tires) Two guys working came over and pushed me around a structure till I made it back to the road. I drove up to a place where I could pull off the vacant road. I then started to walk down the beach toward the lodge to figure out how I could get there. I didn’t have a good feeling about leaving the bike not locked up so I turned back to lock it up. I locked my back tire and helmet to the center stand. I was dieing in the sun, finally getting there.. Nope the local was wrong not the surf lodge just an expensive resort. I grabbed a Gatorade and headed back. All the way back was worried that someone might have randomly come down the road and took my bike by truck. I started to walk a little faster, after wasting an hour to find out that it wasn’t the lodge I was looking forward to seeing my bike. As I was getting closer I swear I heard a whistle, not someone singing, but more of an alert. Being paranoid I started to walk a lot faster. I was relieved once I saw that the bike was still there, although as I got closer I realized my helmet was not how I left it. Then I also realized my tank bag was open and hanging off the bike only clipped in by one out of the four clips. I don’t know why they didn’t take it all the way off, I don’t think I scared them off I hadn’t seen anyone in a while. Nothing was missing, but there was nothing valuable in it, just guide book, map, tools, spare levers, bear spray, clear Oakley glasses. They could have stolen all of my bags, duffle, backpack, and tank bag. Weird, but I got over it and started heading back to town, looked and looked for a place to stay. Nothing, finally I found a spot but he wanted 35 bucks, so he helped me out and showed me his friends place but no safe parking. I said thanks but headed out of town, it was getting dark quickly I only had 20 minutes before dark. I made the call and decided to be safe than sorry and headed back for the room. No dinner just popcorn and water, too tired to go into town. I realized how awful I am at Spanish and I think I will head back to Antigua and do 5 days of intense Spanish classes, 4 hours a day. I will decided tomorrow.. but I need to be able to at least converse a little. It is the cheapest in Central America; Antigua would be a nice spot to meet some people, cheap hostels, safe parking, and cheap food. DAY 45- 12/19/2011 Woke up this morning, yup that’s what I have to do learn Spanish. Loaded up my bike and made it back to Antigua in 1.5hrs, pulled in around 9:30, very smooth and fast trip. I started doing circles looking for a different hostel and who do I see walking down the road, my friend Clay who is also riding a KLR650 down to Argentina. I met him in Puerto Escondido, we started to talk and changing stories and then decided to meet up later for beer/ dinner. I decided to head back to my original Hostel because it has a great place to study and huge breakfast. I checked in and headed down the street to figure out my Spanish school. I walked in to find out prices, I had heard up to $140. He told me $120 for 5 days 4 hours a day, without me bargaining he dropped the prices down to $105 for morning classes and $80 for afternoon, sounds great afternoon please. It breaks down to 4 bucks an hour, but has been warned that it will be 4-6hrs a day of homework which I will be serious about. So quick story that for some reason I didn’t write about, riding from Puerto Escondido to the Guatemala Border. We had been riding half the day and it started to get really windy, as we stopped for lunch. We joked about the wind and how hot it was and then headed off back on the bikes. As we come around a corner it is just getting windier and windier, all of a sudden there is miles and miles of Wind Turbines coming our way. WAM BAM SLAM, it’s on the wind is slamming into us, all I can do to keep my speed and lay into the wind as hard as I can just to keep the bike on the road. I am a sail getting blow around the road, all my strength just to hold the bike in my lane. If I go left I get hit by a truck or bus and if I go right I fall into trees and marsh. There was one point I was leaning left as hard as I could bike is at a hard angle winds blowing so hard that I start to still slide right toward the trees and marsh lean even harder I don’t know how my tires didn’t just slip out and left me laying on the road. So that story gets you ready for this one, we were exchange stories over beer and we were just telling each other about different things that had happen we both had unique crazy experiences getting across the border. Then I was like “dude what about that wind getting to the border” He looked at me and said “oh yeah that wind was gnarly I got pushed off the road and wrecked hard.” Wait what! “Yeah I wasn’t going fast about 70km caught a big gust and dropped off the road and wrecked in grass and marsh, luckily there was a big truck of Mexicans running a torch down the road who stopped and helped me.” Not only did they help him get his bike to the road but his Pannier had exploded so all of his clothing and gear was getting blown all over the place so they chased after it all. The wind kept blowing his bike over so he said screw it and threw his bike and himself in the truck and got a lift for about 20km till the wind died down. He told me he had found out that, that stretch was the windiest area in Mexico. The wind comes from the east coast and blast through to the west coast, supposedly people sailing have to watch the winds and time it right to get by on the west coast safely. We laughed, drank beer, got some street food, and just hung out talking about routes and what not. It is always nice to meet up with another rider who has the same carefree style and are just along for the adventure. DAY 46- 12/20/2011 Today I slept in and ate a big delicious breakfast. Walked down to Clay’s Hostel around 10am to meet up with him and run an errand. He was waiting on his license, he was going to go to Honduras for a week to go scuba diving and then drive back to Antigua Guatemala in hope that his license showed up. I told him instead of back tracking and coming back here that I would check in and see every day of his license showed up and pick it up. We were already going to meet up in Nicaragua so I would deliver it there. He had a paper document of it so he could cross borders. We went to the school where his License was getting sent and he gave them permission to give me the letter if it came in. I ran around getting ready for class and ate a deep-fried pepper sandwich of some kind. I went to class and it was very very full on, very hard and intense a lot going on. Once finishing class my brain hurt a lot so I left the homework on my bed and headed out for a walk. I started to feel weird and off balance, realizing had not had any water all day I got a bottle and a little food and started to feel much better. I went to tell Clay safe and rad travels and I would see him in a week or so in Nicaragua hopefully with his license and I would email if it came in so he didn’t have to back track. I got there and he was very very excited, his license had just shown up so we ended up going out for a couple of beers and dollar pollo Sandwiches. DAY 47- 12/21/2011 Got up at 7:30, yeah that’s right I’m up ready for the day, going to eat a nice breakfast for free at the hostel and do 4hrs of homework and studying before class. 9am ate breakfast and messed around on the computer no homework or studying (I swear I am not ADHHHHHHD AT ALL!~!!!). Okay put the computer away; go to the café, coffee and study. I actually got my homework done and study a bit, although had way too much coffee. I realize this as I shake down the street toward school. I get through class; I am getting frustrated with myself. In my head I should be able to speak okay Spanish in less than a week.. Yeah not a chance takes months to get this langue, especially for my second language. Def should have taken more time with Rosetta stone, lesson learned you GRINGO. Yeah let’s ride from Colorado to South America without even being able to order a beer in Spanish.. That’s not important… Good call Fletch…haha you’re a dang ol Thinker Alright let’s go get dinner and a beer. I head back to the same street vendor lady I go to every night (she hasn’t got me sick and I am full for 2 bucks, no brainer). Then go to this cool Café for a beer and internet. Drop my computer off at Hostel and meet up with Natali from my hostel for a beer and open mic night (no I didn’t sing or say poetry) nice girl from Norway. Went home Skyped for a while with Sarah and Homie Dog and past out. DAY 48- 12/22/2011 I slept in until 8:30, had a nice big breakfast. Alright let’s study…….nope.. Damn it Fletch you’re not going to learn you need to study.. okay okay… Wanna go for a walk and find an Orphanage too go to and bring presents to on Christmas? YUP!!! Hahaha okay okay I will study later. I walked around for a while, couldn’t find the Orphanage but I will. I want to bring soccer balls, dolls, and coloring books there on Christmas if I am still here. I went to school and did well until the end started getting frustrated but played through and learned a lot. I have to be Patient with myself and study!!!! I got done and needed a beer bad today, so I grabbed a Pollo Sandwich from my new street food friend and headed to happy hour at my new favorite Café. I started to do some work and research for my next stage of the trip, but started talking to Phil from Canada who lives in Guatemala for 6 months and Canada the other six months. His girlfriend of 5+ years lives and works here. Very nice guy, kept buying me beers and wanting to hear my stories and telling me his. Now I sit writing to you, good day my friend I will talk with you tomorrow. PS I am real fast and just figured out my spell check has not been on,… oooops my bad… |
sORRY BEEN SLACKING ON THE HUB.. HERE IS A CATCH UP STORIES
DAY 49-50
12/24/2011- 12/25/2011 12/24/2011 Didn't know what today was going to be like for me. Woke up had breakfast and started my day off by walking around the city looking for some Jeans and shoes. I found some sweet fake Levis for cheap and they were baggy enough to make me happy (save your balls say no to skinny jeans.. haha) I headed to Spanish class, we ended up walking around the city conversing (slowly) drinking coffee and just enjoying the day, although it was over cast and made you tired. We went to her friend’s house for lunch and then back to class. After class I headed back to the Hostel to take a nap. I had asked my teacher where I could buy Fireworks and she pointed me in the right direction. The craziest place I have ever seen, a full market with mostly homemade fireworks, ranging from huge mortars to full on sticks of Dynamite. I was a kid in a candy store; I bought $14 worth which would have been over $80 back home. There was nobody at all at my hostel very empty place, nice but nobody to spend Xmas eve with. I then met a nice UK girl and a Danish Couple who was very nice. They invited me out to dinner with them; at first I said no thanks then smacked myself (what else do you have to do other than be alone eating street food for Xmas Eve). I joined them and as we were heading out all of the power went out throughout the whole city. Everywhere was closed; finally we found a place for dinner. It was a fun dinner experience, we all had pizza, but I was the only one who had meat or beer/alcohol. We went back to the hostel and all I wanted to do was set of fireworks, the Security guy said no no not yet. I was confused all I wanted to do was set of my Xmas present, finally I figured out I should wait till 12am. So I grabbed my bottle of Guatemalan Rum and had a few shots and relaxed with my new friends. Finally 2 minutes till 12am we went outside the streets were deserted; right as I lit off a stick of dynamite BOOOOOM, all of a sudden the city went crazy. I have never seen or heard anything like this; everyone throughout the city was setting off fireworks. It lasted for 9 minutes then everyone went back to the families. We hung out and finished off my little bottle of Rum. Went to sleep around 1am. Xmas- Day Woke up around 9am with a nice fresh breakfast and skyped with my family for Xmas morning. I then walked around all day with my new friends exploring new places and taking in the History of Antigua. MERRY XMAS TO ALL, THANK YOU ALL FOR READING/RIDING ALONG WITH ME THROUGH MY TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES. I believe we are off to the Guatemalan Rainforest in two days for New Years Eve then down to El Salvador. DAY- 51 12-26-2011 Today was a straight forward day, ran around packing to leave tomorrow. Went to class, then out to dinner with Sarah from UK.. Super nice girl, who has been on the road for a little over 3 months and another month or so to go. I had the biggest plate of Chicken Nacho’s ever, for only 6 bucks. Today was probably the most low-key day I have had yet on my trip. DAY-52 12-27-2011 Today was EPIC!!! I woke up 7:30am was still very full from dinner so I skipped breakfast and loaded up the bike. I am very stoked to say that I am slowly dropping gear and clothing, on purpose and accidental. I left the backpack that was holding laptop, tools and straps on purpose at the hostel was able to consolidate all my gear into the panniers, Wolfman Waterproof duffle, and Wolfman Tank bag. I got great instructions on how to get out of Antigua and on my way. I was making great time flying into Guatemala City, (no map of the city..Yeah good call Fletch!) haha. Once I got into it I was just guessing, finally stopped and asked a delivery biker. He told me yeah yeah just keep going straight…nope lost again, I asked 5 other people all telling me different directions. I have figured out Guatemala is just like Mexico if people do not know they will still tell you some made up directions.. I was lost for over an hour in Guatemala City, I finally saw a McDonalds and stopped and asked. I pulled out my city map and asked where I was to one guy. All of a sudden I looked up and there was over 10 people around me telling me all different directions, I finally got an average direction to head. I walked outside and another guy came out and started to talk with me trying to help as well. I headed out and made my way finally I found the CA9 heading out of town. It was slammed with traffic so I got into city mode and started splitting cars and trucks making my way out of town. The road had a lot of construction or would just turn into single lane highway and you just hoped no big trucks were coming your way, (I would not want to drive a car here but a bike is fun easy to squeeze by people). I got turned around one more time then figured out where my switchback turn was. I stopped to have “lunch” M&M and nuts and put my jacket on, it was starting to get cold. I unstrapped my Flip-flops and jacket, strapped the bike back up and started to make my way. I came up on a Euro plated African Twin; we rode together for only 30km. I passed him at the Tope’s and led for awhile. I was whipping through the turns and came up to a very twisty spot. I ripped through a beautiful left, right, and then out of nowhere a huge 180 right hand. Came in way to hot had to lean as far as I could touching foot pegs, (yeah not the best idea on worn out tires) yuppers there goes the back tire. “You’re an idiot it Power through!!” Kicked the right leg out supermoto style, held strong, and straightened her out, yup all the hair on my back is at attention and I am smiling! I came into Coban rode in a small circle saw my exit and dropped down through the market and out toward Lanquin. I took a turn not fast and swear my front tire slipped out… “That was weird I must of hit oil or something”. Couple km’s later my back slipped out, “okay what the hell is going on”. Now it’s raining pretty good roads wet, and it feels like I am on ice!!! I had been warned about the Kenda Tires that I have and when they start to go they can be slick in the rain. But holy $%*%$#$#$%#$, I could go over 30mph in any turn or else both tires would slip out. I finally made it to where the road turned to dirt. Up until the dirt the road even slick had been amazing wrapping around the top of a valley, beautiful lush green valley with mountains everywhere. I used my helmet cam all day..(Figured out that I had wrong Memory card in it and ran out of space very quickly missed a lot of pictures, lesson learned). The dirt road was dirt, rocky, muddy, slick, and AWESOME!!! It was just switchbacks dropping into the valley, was full on breath taking. The KLR just bounded down through it all much happier than being stuck on asphalt all day, I really am starting to fall in love with the KLR. Although she needs a good name, any suggestions? Everyone on the road was waving and smiling, it was a narrow road but being on a bike I was able to just squeeze by the traffic.. When I say traffic I saw 8 trucks and one bike on the road. I road through Lanquin saw the sign for Zephyr hostel and road down the alley to where it dead ended into a rad straw housing community. When arriving I greeted with a smile and a beer, a well needed beer at that. Right as I got a room I started to unpack and realized yup left my flip-flops on the ground at the gas station, yup gone. The hostel sits above a river in the middle of a rainforest with Mountains surrounding it, full on breath taking. So happy a random guy told me to head this way instead of the coast. I will spend New Year’s here looks like it will be a good time. I will go caving tomorrow or the next and waterfall jumping as well. DAY 53 12-28-2011 I was surprisingly tired from yesterdays ride; I took it pretty easy all day. It is a very relaxing place, became friends with a Dutch Guy Ivo (evo), we walked into town (a very small town with not a lot going on). From there we got back to Zephyr and headed down to the river, which was nice and shallow but very very nice. That night we had a few beers and played giant Jango which was quiet fun and met a lot of new people. DAY 54 12-29-2011 Woke up today and was ready to do something new, exciting, scary, adrenaline pumping, or just go float down the river through the rainforest on tubes with beer…yeah that sounds perfect. Went with a good group of people from the hostel a rad couple Manchester Mark and Sophia, Elliot from Australia who works at the hostel, Ivo, Wis, and a few others. It was very nice and relaxing floated for over 2hrs. We got back to the hostel and just sat around tables playing cards and knocking a few back in the middle of the rainforest of Guatemala. DAY 55 12/30/2011 Yeah one of the raddest tours I have ever been on period. There was 15 of us that loaded up into the back of a truck bed and held on as we bounced and slid down and up a pretty gnarly road for about 50 minutes until reaching ……………. We walked along the river up to a little shack and dropped off all of our stuff and shoes, we were all handed one candle each. We walked up to the entrance of a cave and lit our Candles and slowly made our way into a waist deep pitch black cave. I was in the back with an oil truck driver from far North West Canada named Jordan. We made our way climbing up rocks, ladders, waterfalls with ropes, squeezing through tight water holes, jumping off of rock ledges in the pitch black, to finally swimming out of the cave into a small creek where we hiked out. We grabbed our stuff and headed to the river where there was a very enticing rope swing. Well it was exactly that a rope swing which you had to sit on it and swing way out then push out. The guide went first and it looked pretty awkward and you were most likely going to belly flop from 20ft up. I was the next up and when I hit the peak of the swing, I laid out a nice little back flip out of it and landed okay with a little back slap. Got great video and pictures of other flipping and a few bad flops. I wanted to try a double backflip off of it, but when I was at the peak of it this time it started to twist so I just went for a single but instead I did one and a quarter right to my back hahaha. We headed up to a nice bridge to jump off of which was something like 35ft-ish. One guy climbed to the top of the suspension bridge and jumped, sweet I wanna go. I climbed up got to the top and slipped… but caught myself and then sat down. I then threw a frontflip with a spin off of it and landed great. Came up and everybody was clapping, I on the other hand was not due to smacking my family jewels extremely hard haha, okay next jump. We hiked up the crazy path with very steep ladder/ stairs to finally make it to this amazing lookout point, where we sat and ate our sandwiches. We sat above the blue lagoon pools over looking them by 500ft or so. After lunch we headed down to where the river chunders down under ground and disappears for a little bit. We swam in the waterfalls and pools for awhile till the guide took us over to a water fall about 50ish ft where we could jump off of. I was very excited it looked to be a real good one, of course the guide tells everyone don’t jump to right, left, or out Rocks but straight down to the middle was good. I was very excited and went first and threw a nice front flip with a spin off of it. Almost everyone went at least once I jumped twice and was stoked, so we then headed back to the pools and for a slide. I wasn’t too intrigued by the slide it was about 10ft long and looked very bumpy and painful slide down some rocks. I did it and it was a very bump and painful slide but still fun, because everyone was laughing as we each just bounced down a rock just because some guide said too.. Haha smart people we are. We walked back to the truck and it was quiet hilarious we all got in the truck and then waited… no driver. Lots of kids walking around the truck trying to sell Chocolate (very burnt chocolate) one guy was very funny getting a little worked up ready to leave but not. He had a cigarette and when he was smoking I looked at him and his friend “Can you please put that out, that’s gross and really bothering me” His face just dropped and his buddy just stared at me, it was classic. I just burst out laughing and everyone started to laugh it was great. Got back to the hostel had a few beers, food, and played a few games and went and past out very tired. Lots of pictures to come, very very slow internet cannot upload.. |
Catch up sorry...
Day 57-
12/31/2011 (My days are correct now.. It looks like I never wrote about day 49 12/23/2011) I will start off by telling the truth….I brought in the New Year by shooting myself in the face with a Guatemalan Firework, well done Fletch..Well Done.. Last day of the year, a year with huge choices made and I am smiling hugging my bike. Woke up today and was a wreck, extremely dehydrated feeling awful. I drank 4 Gatorades and had a few supplements and started to feel much much better. Had a very mellow day, took a nice nap in a hammock in the rainforest. The night started off with a few drinks and a lot of card games, we were all waiting to have a huge family meal together. Around 8pm we ate dinner, we had a huge spread of awesome food; grilled chicken, egg salad, three different types of Salads, garlic bread, slaw, ECT. lots and lots of food. I hungout meeting new people and just having a blast. We got into teams and had a trivia game, after the trivia part there was bonus rounds. The first was we had to take a frozen shirt that was in an ice ball and somehow open it and put it on, first one wins. I nominated myself to do it. I grabbed it and ran for the fire, no real luck so I just started swinging it like a mad man at a brick wall and slowly but surely ice and concrete was flying everywhere. I was about to pull it apart and squeeze it onto my thin frame just in time to take the win. Next Bonus was how many clips could your teammates clip onto you face, this time my team nominated me for this due to my beard; and once again we won. We were in a three way tie, the tie breaker was a beer shot gunning race. A Dutch guy on our team said he could win, I have never seen someone drink so faced in my life and it wasn’t my teammate. The winner was a Canadian Girl who literally drank the beer and crushed the can in lass the 3 seconds it was ridiculous... we lost but was a heck of a 3hr game. Alright alright almost midnight time to shoot fireworks off... what you need help, I’ll help I am awesome at shooting off fireworks. Starting to rain so let’s go quick.. Count down HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!!! They had huge square boxes that you lit and tons of small mortars would shoot way up and exploded into an amazing show. The wick was very small and right as I lit it..BANG. No time to react.. WHAM.. Right in the face.. Oh @#$% me and then the rest shot up nicely into the sky.. Okay you still have you eyes and you’re not bleeding.. haha You’re an Idiot lesson learned.. Haha Way to start of the year…. We stayed up for a few more hours then headed to bed. DAY 58- 1/1/2012 Rough morning waking up, everyone slept in and was feeling pretty bad. I took a nap and hung out before we went tubing again. It rained almost the whole time and was a blast. I did a lot of planning all day, trying to figure out which route I will take tomorrow on my way to Nicaragua. We had a mellow night playing a card game called spoons. DAY 59- 1/2/2012 Woke up today feeling off, I have not felt great for over a week now, don’t know what is wrong just feel off and sluggish every day. Said a lot of goodbyes and packed up the bike. Checked out, I had not gone over budget so that was good to see. It rained all night and was still dumping sheets of rain while I packed up the bike. I got on the good old bike in the rain and headed out. The road did not feel like the same road I had come in on a lot more smoother thanks to the mud I think. I have to apologize to Kenda for hating on them before. I found out there is something on the 60km stretch of road from Coban to Lanquin that when it gets wet some oil comes out and makes it as slick as ice. With that said I rode very careful today on that stretch with no problems. I made pretty good time considering I rode for over 4hrs in the pouring rain, and then it got sunny for the last 3hrs of riding. One point today I was ripping through the turns and came up on a few cars made my way through pretty well, then all of a sudden huge car eating potholes started to appear I mean over 2+feet deep and huge. I went to pass a car, so I was close to them and could see what was coming and out of nowhere…WHAM!!! I crushed my bike on a huge pothole; I rode for awhile before I pulled over to check my tires and rims. I was praying that I hadn’t just tweaked or bent my front rim, I hit hard like really hard. When I started to slow down to pull into the gas station my bike felt a little funny. I checked the front, yup there was a small tweak to it not bad barely visible. I got gas and headed down the road, the bike wasn’t acting right okay let check again. This time I caught the tweak on the front, but then looked closer and yup I got the back one as well real dang ol good too... Crap I don’t know how I am going to fix this one, they ride fine but they are now weaker and I don’t need that. I made it to the Guatemalan, Honduras, and El Salvador border today. I got a nicer hotel due to I am in a kind of sketchy city and they offered really nice safe parking. This place is too nice and fancy for me, but still only 20 bucks small splurge. I will cross into El Salvador tomorrow head to the coast, Playa San Diego. Then cross through Honduras the next day or day after need to do laundry, I will cross Honduras in one day and get into Nicaragua quickly. DAY 60 1/3/2012 Woke up no energy just feeling drained and a little fever/ cold sweat going on. Oh man, push through pack up the bike and get on the road. I headed out had to back track about 15km till my turn off toward the El Salvador Border, I made it there fast no problems. (Okay grab a beer or Coffee, I am going to tell you a story.. The rest of the day is Hilarious.) I drive in to the border barely any cars to be seen and no lines at all, even better no buddy milling around hassling you to let them help you. “YEAH THIS IS GOING TO BE FAST AND EASY!!” I get off my bike walked to the police, nothing going on not a check point I guess. I get back on the bike ride through the check point, “whistle whistle” look back cop wave at me but he is waving at me to keep going forward. What the hell? I wave back to him if he wants me to turn around; nope he waves me to keep going forward. I go to the next check point, guards on his radio and sends me back to where I came from. I laugh and head back. Talking to them I find out I need to get 2 copies of all my info, title, lic, reg, passport, and three copies of my permit NOT THE RECEIPT. They send me up away from the El Salvador border for copies, nope no power. I head back and then they send me down toward El Salvador border, I get all of the copies and head back. “Yeah I am going to be on my way quickly this is great”. Officer looks at my copies, “where is your permit and copies?” “You copied your receipt not your permit” Oh okay I will go make right copies. “Ugh where’s my permit?” After 40 minutes of searching through all of my stuff, back tracking my steps, and making sure he doesn’t have it either, it’s confirmed that I do not have my permit... CRAP!!! Now what? He looks worried, he gets on his radio for a while then asked where I came through, which border from Mexico? “Wait what; I have to drive all the way back to the border?” “No no we are going to try and get them to fax a copy it may or may not work and will take a few hours.” “I am in idiot, what did I do with it!!!” He takes me down to the station and they start to work, I sit there for about an hour and then the officer says they are done. Sweet! No w I have to go back up to the office for a stamp on the Permit declaring it is the right SN and bike, then I can go to El Salvador. I go get my stamp; we are making jokes getting a good laugh. Alright let’s go to El Salvador, I get to the check point, “Where’s your stamp out of Guatemala?” “I don’t know they told me I was good and handed my passport back, is there not a stamp?” “Nope go back get a stamp.” So I go stand in line for 20 minutes and get my stamp, I make sure that’s all I have to do and then head to the El Salvador Office to get my stamp and permit. I make it up to the Passport desk and a security guard walks up telling me I have to go back to Guatemala side and get my permit stamped. “What I already did this? Anyone speak English? Oh cool you do please help me, ask him why I have to go back?” Okay I head back at this point this has turned into a pretty funny joke, anyone with a radio is just laughing with me. A security guy tells me where to park, and then we make jokes as he takes me back into another office and I get checked out of Guatemala finally able to go. I go back to El Salvador Border and a security guard with a radio walks out points to where I should park and points to where to go first and then where to finish up. I get through the Passport check quick and head to the next window. The guy is speaking very fast; I look at him dumbly, and then say POCO ESPANOL!! Hahaha he just looks at me and starts to laugh with me. He gets a guy to come over who speaks English, he asks me some question, and again I say Poco Espanola. “Oh okay, but you can read in Spanish right?” “What no.” He rolls his eyes and walks over to my bike and fills out the paper in 5 minutes. After waiting 30 minutes I am giving my permits and sent on my way. YEAH I AM IN EL SALVIDOR!!! Only took 3+hrs!!! BUT I AM IN EL SALVIDOR SO SO RAD!!! I am making good time and the roads are way better here than Guatemala, glassy smooth and fast. I get into San Ana, and get well lost for 20 minutes. Finally third time is the charm asking for directions, this time from some nice cops who got me out of there with in 3 minutes. I make it to the coast take a left and head south down the 2. I am just flying now, holding 75mph laying down some sweet turns and I should be in Playa San Diego with in a 1.5hrs. I come up on a great view and decide to stop real quick for a picture. I pull off onto a nice dirt patch and take a pretty good picture. Get back on and go through a little town, not much there. I am about 500 meters from town and my back tire feels weird. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!! HAHA I stop and yup she’s going flat quick. A kid tells me that there is a shop in town okay grab I turned around no to flat to risk messing up my only tire. I stop and she is really flat and lose my balance and down we go.. (Picture time?) Yup. I get her back up and put her on the center stand. Put my bags on the front bars and get the back off the ground. I look up and a guy had walked down from his house and is just watching me. Right as I get my tools out and start to go to work he crouches down next to me and grab some tools and goes to work with me in silence. We get the tire off quickly and start going after the tire with my irons, in perfect Spanish I ask what his name is..haha. Antonio. All of a sudden another guy maybe in his early 20’s shows up wearing a flat brim hat kind of in gangsterish clothes and starts to help as well. We change it but all I have is an 18” tube, (that’s all I could find in Baja when I blew my other one, no 17). With the 18” tube we had a hard time with such small irons trying to get the last bit of tire on it. So the younger guy says he will take the tire into town and get it fixed, I give him 4 bucks and he puts the tire in his lap and went to town. “I look at my bike with no tire on it, man I really hope he brings back my tire..haha” 20 minutes later he shows up tire on and 25psi in it. Yup that will work, we quickly get the tire on and as through the luggage on yup there goes the bike again to pavement. Haha Finally all set to get on the road. I hand the young guy 10 bucks for helping he is very thankful, I call up to Antonio at his house he walks down and I meet him half way with 10 bucks for him he smiles and thanks me. They really saved me. But now it is almost 6pm, sun is setting quickly and I have no where to stay, should I set up camp in Antonio’s yard if he will let me. At this point I still don’t feel great, and since I have been feeling under the weather all day I hadn’t felt hungry so I hadn’t eaten. Now I am getting hungry and want a bed, so I jump on the bike and start ripping down the coast. I am now in a new country riding at night, well done Fletch well done. Haha I cut through a few towns, I feel safe nothing sketchy. I stop and ask where this one town is and they tell me to keep going, nope it was right where I asked oh well too late. I stop and get gas right before I ran out and asked how far to Play San Diego, 7km. I ride down a dirt road for 10 minutes get to the beach, and then get pointed in the right direction to the Hostel El Robel. Down a dark dirt road through some fields come to a big gate with the name on the wall. I ring the bell; an English guy opens a door. I look at him and ask if they have room, “yup come in I got a free beer with your name on it” “you had me at beer”. He opens the gate and lets me in, shows me around and gives me a beer. I take a nice cold shower and feel much better, I sat down for a huge family dinner style and it was delicious and spicy. Mushroom soup and rice with ground beef. Perfect. Went to bed nice hard sleep. DAY-61 1/4/2012 Woke up a little slow this morning, still feeling lethargic. Drank some coffee and headed into town to walk around and find sunscreen. We walked to the pier and I was in heaven! All of the small fishing boats were getting hoisted up onto the end of the pier and fish were being filleted everywhere. Right as you walked in there was just rows of fresh Ceviche, fish, shrimp, lobsters, mussels, and everything else you could want seafood wise. Then you walk out onto the pier and it’s just guys clean boats, nets, and fish. I eat two bowls of Ceviche, shrimp, calamari, clam, fish, salsa, lime, picante, and seasonings. SO SO SO DELICIOUS for just $2 a bowl. I get back to the hostel and relax, rode on my first two Chicken Buses this trip 25 cents each. I relaxed at the hostel, wrote, had a beer, and then went for a walk. I got back and was told that some others were headed down the beach 30 minutes or so to release baby turtles into the sea. El Salvador used to be known for harvesting the turtle eggs and eating them. That was made Illegal a while back so they have started to help them now. They track the turtles to where they lay the eggs; after they leave they take the eggs and give them a safe area to hatch away from dogs and predators. After they are hatch they release them into the sea and for a 5 dollar donation which helps out the families who do the work you can release a lot of them around 5pm into the sunset. We walked up the beach and finally found the place right before the sunset. They were swimming in a square tub, he scooped them up into a bucket about 30-40 little guys. We walked to the water and started to release them, it is amazing that you can aim them any ways and they will always turn and head to the ocean. The guy running it yelled to me not to move I looked down and there was two I was about to step on and then I almost stepped on one behind me. At one point we had like 15 of them heading toward the ocean together. They were surprisingly soft and smooth. Such a rad experience, so glad I joined in and went with them. We got back to the hostel just in time for dinner and I was so tired went to bed by 8:30. Day-62-64 1/5-7/2012 Woke up this morning and realized I didn’t want to leave El Salvador, so I didn’t. I headed back North to Playa El Tunco, a little surfer paradise. I showed up to a little hostel near the beach and right away saw a friend that I had met in Puerto Escondido Mexico. I hung out and surfed for 3 great days. I met so many awesome new friends. We had great family dinners and just amazing times. El Salvador has the nicest, greatest people. Matt from Holland gave me a sweet bracelet thingy and now I am part of the BRACLET BRAHS!!! Day-65 1/8/2012 Woke up this morning still not feeling great and my feet are swollen- weird. I didn’t want to leave, but I knew it was time to make my way toward Nicaragua. So I loaded up the bike dripping sweat and headed south down the coast. It was a nice road lots of potholes, the road ran next to the coast then into the fields and back to the coast. I felt horrible the whole ride, but at the end of the day I started to feel much better. I rode for only 3hrs until I came upon a small beach town right before Honduras. I found a cheap place to sleep for 6 bucks right on the beach. I went for an hour or so walk up the beach then to a little fishing village which just had boat come in with fresh fish. I was walking back into the compound when I walked by a couple who looked very familiar. I then saw two scooters one with a surf rack, I had definitely had met that couple before in Antigua. I headed back to their table and started talking with them. We had met in Antigua only for 5 minutes when we were both looking for a hostel with safe parking. They were from Holland and had flown to Mexico, bought scooters had a surfboard rack welded to one of the bikes. They are following the West Coast all the way down to Panama on 125cc and 150cc Scooters, so awesome. The guy was making me laugh when he was telling stories of trying to cross the 30+miles of wind from Puerto to Guatemala. He said they couldn’t ride it they were all over the place wrecking and falling over so finally had to hitch hike with the scooters and made it. I didn’t eat all day, just wasn’t feeling it until 7pm when I had a huge plate of Pasta. I figured out my route that I wanted to take from there to Nicaragua. I sent out an email to the family let them know I was doing two border crossing and would be in Nicaragua by the next night and then I went to sleep. DAY-66 1/9/2012 Alright I am going to be completely honest; I woke up with morning a little nervous about crossing through Honduras. I had been told as well as read a lot of forums about people having a lot of trouble with the police in Honduras and I just don’t like border crossings-period… Up till this point I had been lucky, no problems with the cops, Border Officers, or bad encounters at all, so I had a feeling it was my turn soon. I toward the El Salvador/ Honduras border and was stopped at a police check point. Before I could say anything he saw my maps on my tank bag and asked if I was going to Nicaragua. I said yes and he waved me back onto the road and on my way. I rode into the border and people started coming out trying to get me to stop so that I would let them help me and pay them for helping me. I just kept driving, one guy walked out and tried to stop me and I just drove through till a cop made me stop. Woops I needed to stop there and talk to the guy who tried to stop me. I gave him my permits and made a quick photocopy and was on my way. As I pulled into the next building I was asked again to let someone help me, No Gracias and made my way to the Immigration office to get stamped out of El Salvador. I made it to the next check point where the guy asked for my title, passport, license, and permits. He had all of my important stuff and told me to follow him, (of course I am going to follow you, you have my life in your hands) haha. I parked my bike near another KLR from Panama and walked into the office. Again I was followed by the same guy trying to help me finally I figured out the key word NO DINARO, he looked at me said you have no money… and walked away..Haha I sat there for awhile and she typed up a permit for me, I had to walk to the bank and pay 35 bucks for the permit just to ride through Honduras a 60mile stretch until I got into Nicaragua. I made a bunch more copies and then she handed me my permit. I met the guy on the other KLR and he warned to watch my speed through Honduras, don’t break 90kmh police are a problem he told me. I grabbed a Pepsi from a nice older lady 60ish who when I maid she reached up and pinched my nipple… ugh what just happened? haha… I got back to the office asked if I was finished and could head to Nicaragua? She said yes all done. I jumped on my bike and made my way through Honduras. I came upon my first Police stop, “oh man oh man” I smiled at the guy as he waved me through and then he gave me the thumbs up and smiled and went back to work. I passed a truck full of cops and nothing. I came to another checkpoint and they just waved me through with a quick nod, I gave them the thumbs up and headed toward the border. The road was horrible zigzagging all though pothole hell until I reached the border. Another check point at the border, they wanted my License and were not taking my copies or Permit, finally he told me he wasn’t cop he was official who need to see a valid license to let me into the Border. I made my way to the border, very excited I made it without a problem... “Yeah I am getting good at this watch out world I have this down pat…” (Yeah right..) I strutted up to the window to get checked out of Honduras.. "Sir where is your entry stamp?” “My what” I was told and read that El Salvador and Honduras doesn’t stamp. He got me to walk into the office and sit in the back room. An officer came in holding a stamp and sat down. We talked for a sec and he told me I should have a stamp and I would not be allowed to enter Nicaragua or leave Honduras. He started to BS me around finally I knew what he was after, I looked at him and asked how much for the stamp. He smiled said yes yes and got up got a piece a paper and wrote $50 bucks! WHAT!!! After a little back and forth, he also handed back a little bit of money after I explained I didn’t have enough now for Nicaragua permit. I ended up paying $30 for that damn stamp.. haha oh well it was bound to happen sometime, just didn’t think it would be from a border official. (I am getting really good at laughing and letting things go..and of course still getting lost.. haha). He stapled the money to a piece of paper and stuffed it in the middle of a stack of paper. Although he did get a lady to skip me sit me in the office and cancel my permit and make me legal to go to Nicaragua. I headed across the border after a little running around and sweating a lot I was allowed to enter Nicaragua. I made it about a 1km until I was stopped by three police officers and asked for my license, I gave them my AAA International driving license. They were all around my bike I was trying to watch all of them my helmet was still off when another guy started to ask me stupid questions about the bike. The officer with the permit started to hand back the license, and then another cop started to walk up, yup time to go! I snatched my license said gracias and gave her gas for about 400meters put my helmet back on and gear, headed down the road. Not even 1km further and another checkpoint!!! Their shirts said Immigration but there truck had a rubbed off immigration sticker on the back but kind of a legit one on the door. They asked for my passport..(You Serious, we’re not even 2km from the border where I just had to show my passport to get onto this road) Fine, here it is he looked at it for a second said thanks and sent me on my way. The road went from very smooth and nice to pothole hell again. I Came into a town and found an atm and gas. Saw my new friend from Panama again and he wanted a picture of us, I took one as well. I got back on the road after gas and headed for Leon, I was making good time flying down the road. I came upon three other bikes with younger kids on them. They honked and yelled smiling at me as I passed them. They chased after me and we were flying down the road, out of nowhere there was a cop standing on the road she started to walk out toward our lane blowing her whistle. I started to hit the brakes then remember when I got pulled over before they had no radios and there was no car around her, yeah right slammed the gas and blasted out of there same with the kids. I continued on my way, caught up with the Panama guy he was riding slow, probably smart so we rode for a while until he headed toward the capital and I went for the coast. I made it through Leon without getting too lost and the first hostel I tried had safe parking, weird vibe but cheap. I will go find tires tomorrow, spend one more night and go to Ben’s hotel on the 11th. Pictures to come.. Home Page |
Catch up on pics... Guatemala. El salvador, nicaragua!!!!
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SANDY ROAD, WEST COAST GUATEMALA http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ipacate052.jpg SAME ROAD HUGGING THE COAST http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...nforest014.jpg GUATEMALA CITY TRAFFIC http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...Lanquin005.jpg ZEPHYR HOSTEL LANQUIN FOR NEW YEARS 2012 http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...chumney028.jpg TO THE RAINFOREST WE GO http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...chumney029.jpg RAINFOREST http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...chumney031.jpg YUP YUP http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...chumney043.jpg HELLZ YEAH http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...yZephyr002.jpg SHITTY VIEW FROM THE HOSTEL http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...nforest145.jpg GETTING THERE http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/.../riding002.jpg LEAVING THE HOSTEL http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...alvador006.jpg DAMN THOSE MAN EATING POTHOLES http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...alvador010.jpg NOPE RAIN AND POTHOLES CAN'T GET ME DOWN http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...alvador018.jpg THE PICTURE THAT GOT ME THE FLAT http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...alvador022.jpg MAN DOWN GAS OFF http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...alvador024.jpg THE DUDE THAT RODE INTO TOWN WITH MY TIRE http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...alvador028.jpg EL SALVADOR FISH MARKET/ PIER http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...alvador030.jpg YEAH FOR FISHIES IN THERE NET http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...alvador032.jpg CATFISH AND EELS http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...alvador034.jpg BREAKING DOWN A STINGRAY http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...alvador036.jpg FRESH CEVICHE LUNCH http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...alvador043.jpg FISHY http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...alvador044.jpg CATFISH HEADS http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...alvador056.jpg TURTLES TURTLES TURTLES http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...alvador062.jpg FREEDOM http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...alvador063.jpg JUST A LIL GUY http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...alvador068.jpg 50 BUCKS ON THE LITTLE GUY http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...alvador074.jpg EPIC DAY http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...alvador080.jpg OWNER OF THE TURTLE OPERATION http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...alvador087.jpg SUCH A RADTASTIC DAY http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...alvador090.jpg THIS IS JUST GETTING BORING http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...caragua002.jpg DUTCH MEATBALLS http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...caragua010.jpg EPIC VIEW FROM LUNCH |
Last few
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LAST NIGHT IN EL TUNCO, EL SALVADOR http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...caragua041.jpg ANOTHER KLR FROM PANAMA.. YEAH WE MADE IT TO NICARAGUA!!!! http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...caragua046.jpg PAINTING IN LEON http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ElTunco004.jpg EVERY MORNING... HE HAS IT DOWN TO A SCIENCE |
Catching up in nica..
DAY-67
1/10/2012 Look for tire day!! Woke up ran around town found one of the only motoshops I could find. They had oil, tube, and a rear tire my size. After a little Bargaining I left paying less than 80 bucks for everything... not bad considering where I am... Although I think I will wait as long as I can to put on the new back tire, I bought it more as a backup/ just in case tire. It is a CST 70% road I’d say. I will make it to San Jose, Costa Rica and try and replace both my tires there before heading down to Panama and crossing over to Columbia with Clay from Canada by the end of the month. I had a pretty low key rest of the day started to do some research on how I am going to get from Argentina to South Africa. Talk to my buddy Ben who lives down in Playa Gigante and got directions to his house/ surf lodge. I got caught up on a little Skype action, nice dinner, and went to bed. DAY-68 1/11/2012 Ran around town looking for a map of Nicaragua, no luck oh well at least I am getting to be a pro at getting lost. Haha… I got my bike out of the owner of the hostels house and loaded her back up, threw the tire on the back and headed off. Made it out of town without getting lost once... I rallied through Nicaragua, didn’t follow my friends directions too much took a short cut and it worked out for me. I followed his directions wants I got off the Pan-American and got into the good old dirt. I had a blast riding today just laughing and giving her throttle. I was almost to my buddies house when I cam e up on a small river crossing he forgot to tell me about. I didn’t know how did it was, I waited till I saw a suv cross it, looked to be about knee deep. I took it easy through the crossing and then fish tailed up the muddy hill on the other side. I drove right past my friends lodge and then after asking some locals I pulled up to his gate. He let me in with a smile, hug, beer, and 5 minutes to get my board shorts on pick a surfboard and get on the boat. PERFECT!! We ripped up the coast looking for some waves, after 15 minutes we were in the water surfing a fun little break. We surfed for 3hrs or so and then headed back to the boat. I got settled into my room shown around the lodge and town. Went to his restaurant for dinner and a few drinks. Had a pretty mellow day, this place is amazing I will stick around here for a week. DAY 69-71 1/12-14/2012 We grabbed our boards and walked down the beach over some rocks around the cliffs and jumped off a small cliff into the ocean and went surfing for 3+hrs. I traded with a guy Gavin and used his long board which was a blast due to the size of the waves. I have been going surfing and hanging out with a guy JJ one of Bens and Becca’s good friends. We did an hour hike each way through the dang ol jungle to go surf. Got home ate lunch took a nap and hiked back out toward the same spot but then went into a different town for dinner. We crossed a gnarly swing bridge in the dark that had a lot of missing planks. I have had an awesome time catching up with Ben I haven’t seen or hung out with him in almost 4 years. Ben let me grab his Capitan, gas, and a few new friends and go fishing, his boat needed to be run. There were 8 people, 6 guys and two girls. The boat was divided myself and three Canadian guys fishing in the back and the rest in the front either hangover, sick, or seasick. One girl wasn’t ready for what fishing entailed. Right as we caught our first tuna, I leaned down and gaffed it out of the water she started to cry… Understandable due to how the first fish went down. We caught the fish pulled it in; when I gaffed it, it started to bleed. Walter the captain grabbed it and washed it off tossed it into the boat. Well it was still alive and started to flap around thus spray blood all over everything haha... The 4 in the front was not impressed. Haha we got it down pat for the rest of the fish we caught a total of 5 nice size tunas and kept them to eat. We were mainly using a hand line which is a blast to fight a fish on, much more entertaining than just a rod. We got back to land I kept one for myself, one was a tip for Walter the captain, and the rest was taking to a restaurant for dinner. We met back up and went and ate fish tacos for dinner. Was pretty good, kind of expensive since we caught the fish. Very nice group of people mainly from Canada. |
Been along time sorry, but I have been writing
:scooter:
Please check out my RR on ADVrider Follow me as i braaaap and cook around the world!!!! - ADVrider or on my blog fletch-goes-rtw.blogspot.com In Bolivia now |
Give it another run
ALRIGHT HERE WE GO.. I AM GOING TO GIVE IT ANOTHER GO I THINK I HAVE FIGURED OUT HOW TO KEEP THIS UPDATED AT THE SAME TIME AS MY OTHERS.. IF YOU WANT TO CATCH UP PLEASE CHECK OUT MY BLOG AT FLETCH-GOES-RTW.BLOGSPOT.COM Home Page AND Follow me as i braaaap and cook around the world!!!! - ADVrider
DAY 382-385 11/18-21/2012 MENDOZA Mendoza was nice, not my all time favorite but still very nice place. I stayed for 5 nights, I walked around a lot just taking in all of the nice parks, plaza’s, and markets. But I was ready to get back into the mountains and to go to Chile. Met some nice people had a few beers, I did decide not to do a wine tour, one very expensive but also I have done them before so not a lot of interest. I did a lot of catching up this week on my writing and picture editing. Cooked up a few good meals and had some good whiskey. Planned out my route down to Patagonia taking the Chilean side as far as possible, and then cutting over to Route 40. DAY-386 11/22/2012 THANKSGIVING!!! Let’s shred for Chile!! The bike all day was dogging with no power on the climb up toward the border, but was not using any coolant do to how cold it was but still burning oil. As well as the suspension going which I will have to get rebuilt again in Chile before I make my run for Patagonia, my Clutch may need to be changed out do to kept skipping, super not to stoked on the bike or all of the work and money I just spent for nothing in BA.. But that’s traveling and letting random mechanics work on the bike, but that’s what I get for not knowing enough about my bike. Although I have learned a lot but still have oh so much to learn ahahaha Okay enough griping today’s riding even with the bike not running awesome still had me smiling and the heart screaming “**** yeah!!!” So nice to be back in the mountains oh how much I have missed them!! I started riding in and they were small but I was stopping for pictures and the higher I went the larger they got. I stopped at the base for gas and talked with a couple if nice Argentinean BMW and Harley guys before heading on. I passed an old Sled (Snowmobile) and had to turn around for a picture then decided to stop for some food and to take a break. The road was awesome super twisty with incredible views and massive tunnels some over 2 miles. I pull up to the border and there was a massive lineup of cars waiting, so of course I rode passed all of them toward the front of the line. I jumped off the bike and walked up to the police asking where I can park and where to go to get the show on the road. The police were actually really helpful and awesome, they told me to skip through and go and park in the back area. So I walked back to my bike and the guy who I had just passed gave me a thumbs up and waved; but as I got back to the bike there was a guy standing there checking it out. I smiled and said hi… You always run into people wanting to chat and find out your story... yeah not in this case......... (This is the first time this happened to me).. “Do you think your special” –Old Man “Ugh what” “What gives you the right to skip in front of everyone, just because you’re on the bike?” “Yes and I just got waved through by the cops, So obviously it is not a big deal” “Oh so you’re just going to go and skip more people?” “Yes yes I am, have a good one, great talk”- haha “Figures so common of you guys” So then I headed in and a police gave me a walking escort to a safe parking area for me to leave the bike and do my paper work. I walked in and was standing in a massive line; a guy who had helped me outside walked up grabbed me and told me to follow him. We skipped the line; he gave me some papers to fill out, and then walked me into the auto area where there were no lines. As I was standing there filling out the paper the old man was back!!! “You think you can just skip everyone!” Old man I was over him at this point... “Whatever you say” “You think your special” “The cop gave me permission, go yell at someone else” “You guys think you can drive however you want just because you’re in Latin America, would you drive like this in Colorado? “Yes” And then he turned to the immigration officer and told him I had skipped the line out side “The police waved me through go yelled at them” He then walked and whispered something else into his ear and walked away... Just in time to walk outside and watch 5 other bikers skip the line and park their bikes and walk inside, he walked away pissed... hahaha I filled out my paper work and smashed through quickly, walked outside to get checked out. (I had been warned they x-ray all of your bags and so on) I was a little worried since I have my full Knife kit, Bear spray bottles, and a bunch of muscle relaxers from y friends Sister who is a doctor (due to an old injury flaring up. The first lady walked up asked me to open all my bags and show her everything. You serious all of them? Then we opened my tank bag, she moved my hat and then pointed at my duffle, I opened that she saw my dirty boxers on top and said I was good to go… hahaha The next guy came up and shook my hand looked over the bike asked a few questions, and then asked about my stuffed animal. Animal from the Muppets that is Zip tied to the front crash bar. He said I was all done, but then caught his eyes on my other crash bar that has Rabbit ears zip tied on that Pablo gave me for good luck. He asked if I had the rest of the Rabbit in my bag?? I thought he was joking, he was not. I told him they were good luck; oh cool I need you to take those off. I cut them off and went to hand them to him... ugh no thanks he pointed at the lady who had done the first search, she put out her hand with her head turn.. hahah not stoked I put them in her hand and she walked to the trash barely holding them.. I was off again and was so stoked pulled off at the first ski area took a few pics and then headed down. There was this one section of 30 switch backs broken off in two stages dropping over 1000meters or so. 3,000ft or so. So much fun and smooth, the views were incredible. I love the mountains it is just where I belong I think. The rest of the ride was smooth, until I pulled into a toll booth with no Chilean money. They would not take Argentinean peso, they would take a US dollar I didn’t have one. So I just sat there arguing with the lady, the guy behind was nice of enough to offer and pay my toll. I pulled off at the next stop to find an ATM. As I pulled into Santiago my direction I got off line were wrong, I also asked a cop and after a long time of explaining they realized I had no idea, so they told me to follow. They kicked their lights on and we headed off, got me on the right road and waved me through. I stopped after awhile after I had passed through Santiago. Finally after a phone call and a lot of driving in circles I was (A) wishing I wasn’t such a bad ass/ idiot and used a GPS hahahah (B) new better Spanish I finally found it with a quick riding down a sidewalk and going the wrong way on a street I made it to an awesome Hostel with safe huge amount of parking for bikes called Ventana Sur Hostel, also one of the cheapest one’s in Santiago. On a top note also just got voted tope three hostel in South America by hostel bookers. I had been lost in Santiago for almost two hours haha.. Pulled in met great people and walked to the grocery store to find something Thanksgivingish. I bought a chicken, can of corn, beer, and M&M’S haha Happy TURKEYDAY EVERYONE!!!! http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...CHILE5of62.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...CHILE6of62.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...CHILE8of62.jpg HEADING INTO THE ANDES http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...HILE17of62.jpg THROWING DOWN A SIDEHILL ON NEXT YEARS POLARIS RMK PRO FOR MY CB HOMIES http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...HILE18of62.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...HILE20of62.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...HILE23of62.jpg RAD CLOUDS http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...HILE22of62.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...HILE25of62.jpg START OF THE ANDES http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...HILE24of62.jpg INCREDIBLE VIEWS ON THIS SMOOTH ROAD http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...HILE29of62.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...HILE29of62.jpg CHILE IS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THIS 2+MILE TUNNEL http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...HILE30of62.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...HILE32of62.jpg ON THE OTHER SIDE http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...HILE36of62.jpg AVALANCHE TUNNEL http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...HILE39of62.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...HILE40of62.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...HILE41of62.jpg WELCOME TO COUNTRY 14 WITH ME.. THANKS FOR RIDING ALONG!! http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...HILE43of62.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...HILE43of62.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...HILE47of62.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...HILE48of62.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...endoza1of1.jpg WELCOME TO CHILE MY FRIENDS http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...HILE49of62.jpg FOR SET OF THIRTY SWITCHBACKS DROPPING DOWN 1000 METERS http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...HILE54of62.jpg SECOND SET OF SWITCHBACKS http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...endoza1of1.jpg YUP, IT OFFICIAL I AM JUST HAPPIER IN THE MOUNTIANS!! http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...HILE52of62.jpg ANIMAL ON THE OTHER HAND NOT SO STOKED TO BE BACK IN THE ALTITUDE http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...HILE60of62.jpg ONE LAST SHOT OF THE ANDES FOR NOW http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...dinner1of1.jpg HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! :clap:clap |
Back track real quick, uruguay rodeo
RODEO!!!
Quick jump back to the farm Days: On Sunday we jumped into Pablo’s VW truck and headed to the school which is also the rodeo grounds. We arrived and there was a lot of people standing around a massive field with three poles near the crowd and al the horses at the other end in a coral. We were right next to the gate and watched as they brought three horses down, two guys and their horses to each wild, angry, pissed off horse.. They would literally drag it down the field and then pull it to the post tying it up and quickly through a blind fold over the eyes to keep it semi calm. Half the time thought they would just go crazy rolling on the ground and pulling, if they did lay on the ground and would not get up. All of the cowboys would start to kick or whip it until it would stand up kind of sad to see. It was awesome to witness and experience, the rider would jump up on the horse and try to stay on while started to kick and get ready. One guy would pull the rope and horse was free; as he was leaving the post another guy holding the blind fold would pull it off as it the horse started it’s run. Then the horse would sprint as fast as it could kicking and bucking his way down the field. Two horsemen would chase after him on either side of him and try and grab him off of it. This was a very funny part of it, the guys would grab the riders off sometimes pulling them onto their horse; but most of the time the rider ended up on the ground. Sometimes they would pull the rider off, but not being able to hold him dropping him at high speeds to face plant onto the ground. Other times the riders would just crash to the floor, the horse would land on them, they would drag down the field, and other times just bucked off. There were three really good carnage wrecks, first one the guy was close to the fence (which is just a three wired fence) and he came smashing into it and all of the spectators went running and screaming, but he stayed on the horse and nobody was hit… Next was a guy who stayed on the horse as it straight lined it back toward the coral, The horse never stopped and blasted through the wood fence as the rider came crashing off.. The last was one of the last rides of the day, a young man was riding awesome as he headed down the field when the horse took a hard left and was T-Boned by one of the other horseman there to help. But instead he ran over the rider and his horse then body slammed the rodeo rider. He got carried/dragged off but was okay at the end of it. http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ndoza3of33.jpg NICE RAINY RODEO http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ndoza2of33.jpg GOING TO GET THE HORSES AND GET THE RODEO STARTED http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ndoza5of33.jpg TIED AND BLIND FOLDED WAITING FOR A BRAVE RIDER http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ndoza7of33.jpg NOT STOKED AT ALL http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ndoza8of33.jpg AND IT HAS BEGUN http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...doza10of33.jpg YEEEHAW http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...doza11of33.jpg MAN DOWN http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...doza12of33.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...doza13of33.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...doza14of33.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...doza19of33.jpg GIT N' SOME http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...doza21of33.jpg ASADO.. AGAIN AND AGAIN.. http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...doza23of33.jpg THIS IS WHAT GETS THE HORSES KCIKING http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...doza22of33.jpg THIS IS WHAT SUPPOSED TO KEEP THE KICKING HORSES IN.... http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...doza26of33.jpg WERE BACK AT IT http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...doza27of33.jpg IN UR FACE http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...doza29of33.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...doza32of33.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...za33of33-1.jpg HOLDING TIGHT URUGUAY RODEO!!! |
Santiago!!
DAY-387-389
11/23-25/2012 Last night I met two really awesome English girls who are just starting a 2 year round the world trip Becca. So we went for a walk around Santiago, checked out a few different neighborhoods. It was so nice just walking around and talking a lot, we ended up at the Santiago Zoo. It was actually kind of impressive and depressing at the same time haha if that makes since at all. The only other one I have been to was the one with Nick in Cali, Colombia; where they did not have many animals and the ones they did have were dying. This one had tons of impressive animals, from monkeys, giraffes, elephants, tigers, and so on; the cages were to say the least ghetto but at least they seemed like they had been fed and weren’t all dying. It was also nice because it was cheap, 6 dollars for two hours of entertainment. We found a cheap place for a dirty cheese burger, we had a good laugh. The waiter was ridiculous and made everything so much more difficult, every time you would order he would second guess you and give you other options and so on, in very fast Spanish haha. We finally got our food and it was really good and was back on our way. We hung out all together drinking bottle after bottle of Chilean wine and eating really good local brie. This has been the best hostel I have stayed at in a very long time very impressed by the hostel and the people who pass through. Woke up early and worked on some pictures. Headed off for a walk with Jonny from England and Jimmy from Australia, we walked for 5 hours or so all over Santiago. Even after two days of very long walks I still do not think I have seen it all and cannot wait to explore more. I really really like this city so far. We grabbed some food on the way back to the hostel and stopped and grabbed a six pack each. We sat at the pool trading stories and guzzling down some beers and then went out for some more beers and an empanada. I had one more beer and as exhausted from not really sleeping the night before, when I drink heavy I only get 3 or 4 hours sleep a night. So I ended up falling asleep at 6 or so slept till midnight got up for an hour and went back to sleep haha. Sunday was a nothing day, walked around for a bit, made an awesome lunch for me and Jimmy, and topped off the day with writing, editing pics, and uploading. DAY-390 11/26/2012 I walked outside to take my bike to the shop and took off my soft bags, and checked my chain…. Shit... It was bad so so loose again, my chain is on the way out, and with the suspension gone it has slammed on my chain. I tightened it up and headed to the Kawi shop. Well when I say this I mean rode up and down the street looking and looking, finally saw a Japanese sign for a car and rode a sidewalk, and finally saw a tiny Kawi sign next a to a nice show room. The mechanic was at lunch so I left the bike and walked back to my hostel for lunch and then walked back with Jimmy. The mechanic was super cool and helpful; it looks to be I have blown my head gasket which I was guessing from everything that was going on with the bike. He has been super cool pointing me where to take my bike to an off road guy for my front and back suspension because that is where they would take it and charge me double. He also pointed me in the direction to get a cheap replacement Windshield, tires, and chain/sprocket set. I got a last minute message on Couchsurfers to meet up with a local for a beer. I met her and a friend at a bar called California, which was nice and really good local beer. We will be meeting up on Thursday for me to cook up some dinner. http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...gbout1of40.jpg HAHA ONE HELL OF A CRAPPER DOOR http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...gbout3of40.jpg POLAR BEAR http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...gbout6of40.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...gbout7of40.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...gbout8of40.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...gbout9of40.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...bout11of40.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...bout13of40.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...bout15of40.jpg SANTIAGO ZOO http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...bout12of40.jpg SANTIAGO http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...bout18of40.jpg STREET PERFORMERS http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...bout20of40.jpg CHILE FLAG http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...bout23of40.jpg AWESOME FLOWER SCULPTURE http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...bout24of40.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...bout25of40.jpg FUN SHOTS http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...bout28of40.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...bout29of40.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...bout27of40.jpg A LITTLE HAZY BUT STILL COOL SHOTS OF THE CITY WITH A LITTLE ANDES http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...bout32of40.jpg STREET ARTIST http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...bout33of40.jpg COOL BUILDING SAN FRANCISCO CHURCH http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...bout34of40.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...bout35of40.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...bout36of40.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...bout37of40.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...bout38of40.jpg SAN FRAN CHURCH http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...bout39of40.jpg BEST SUSHI PLACE EVER, MOTO AND SUSHI HOW CAN YOU EVER GO WRONG!! http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...bout40of40.jpg HAHA GET YOUR HAIR CUT AND A ..........:rofl:rofl WWW.WHERESFLETCH.COM |
Santiago
DAY-390
11/26/2012 I walked outside to take my bike to the shop and took off my soft bags, and checked my chain…. Shit... It was bad; so so loose again, my chain is on the way out, and with the suspension gone it has slammed on my chain thus stretching it out to the max. I tightened it up and headed to the Kawi shop. Well when I say this I mean rode up and down the street looking and looking, finally saw a Japanese sign for a car and rode a sidewalk, and finally saw a tiny Kawi sign next a to a nice show room. The mechanic was at lunch so I left the bike and walked back to my hostel for lunch and then walked back with Jimmy. The mechanic was super cool and helpful; it looks to be I have blown my head gasket which I was guessing from everything that was going on with the bike. He has been super cool pointing me where to take my bike to an off road guy for my front and back suspension because that is where they would take it and charge me double. He also pointed me in the direction to get a cheap replacement Windshield, tires, and chain/sprocket set. I got a last minute message on Couchsurfers to meet up with a local for a beer. I met her and a friend at a bar called California, which was nice and really good local beer. We will be meeting up on Thursday for me to cook up some dinner. DAY-391-394 11/27-30/2012 This week I ran around trying to get a few errands done including a last minute Chest X-ray for my OZ Visa….. I just wondered around the city getting lost and enjoying every minute... I really like Santiago; yes that is crazy for me to say due to the fact I hate big cities. Although on the contrary it does not feel like a big city, it has a very relaxed feeling. This hostel is really great with amazing workers and owners, as well as great travelers passing through. A few of us, a Norwegian, English, Australian, and an American went to a bar… haha I don’t know sounds like a good joke. But I guess the real joke was we were all sitting there drinking 2x1 happy hour Pisco Sour’s, which is the joke if you have ever drunken one or seen one.. It comes out in a cute little flute and extremely sweet, very very girly. My Chilean friends found out we had been drinking them and they started to laugh. I went over to my CouchSurfers.com friends Nati and Magdalena to cook some dinner and drink some wine. I wanted to make one of my favorite fish dishes, but due to running around all day looking for parts and new tires I missed the fish market. So I arrived empty handed and we all went to the grocery store together. We decided on a chicken curry stir-fry. It came out pretty good, wasn’t my best but it was still good and the wine was really good as well as a few Piscola’s. We went to their friends club and met up with two of the girlfriends for a few more drinks, it was an awesome night with a ton of laughs. Took it easy on Friday as well, messed around with some photos, and got an email about my bike. Supposedly the Cylinder either got scratched up again or was never correctly honed in Argentina… So he said he was sending it out and that I would be ready to shred or at least take it to the suspension specialist on Tuesday haha. DAY-395-396 12/1-2/2012 Shot my Friend Juan who I met through Guille in Buenos Aires Argentina a few months back a message. He lives in Santiago and is a pro Photography; super chill dude. He invited me to go walk around the city and find some lunch. He scooped me up at the hostel and we headed off in his car, we parked near the fish market and walked around finally ending at the market. We grabbed a table and had a bottle of wine with two Cerviche, and a bowl full of shellfish. We had some Turkish coffee and I headed back to my hostel; on the way back he asked if I could help him out tomorrow with some pictures so he could get some lighting correct. I got an email from Juan asking if I wanted to go over to his house tomorrow Sunday and have a BBQ. I grabbed a sixer and headed over to Juan’s house to meet up with everyone for the BBQ. I met his friends they were a couple from the states (I am terrible with names now, I have met so many people) I will call them Chicago. If you’re reading this I am sorry I am an ass…. Hahaha They have been down in South America Teaching English and traveling. We hung out eating Chorizo and having a lot of beers. Around 6 they left and Juan grabbed his photo gear and set up his camera and lighting. I was given a leather jacket and a scarf, I went to where he said and he just laughed… He pointed at my scarf and told me to fix it. Haha I laughed and told him I did not know how to wear one of these things never have before. So he fixed it and we got our pictures on, with me getting told what facial expressions to do, I kept trying to do funny ones and well that was not going to help him haha. SO finally we got a few good ones, for my help he gave me a nice bottle of Pisco. I headed back to the hostel to meet up with Jonny Sweet (yes that is his last name and it is awesome haha). We had bought tickets for the semi finals in Football (Soccer) for all Chile teams. We met up with his friend Neil who is living in Santiago, they are both from Scotland. As we caught the tram we all notice it was mighty quiet on the tram and once we arrived it was a ghost town. Ugh oh. Jonny was not sure if he had the time right, internet said 7:45pm… So we arrived at the gates and could hear the game, we asked how long the game had been being played; 70 minutes shit 20-30minutes left if we were lucky. We tried to get in and they told us to go around the other side, I explained our screw up and they just let us in to catch the last bit. We got in and the stadium was packed with 38,000 screaming fans. Luckily for us the score was 0-0, so for not a massive soccer fan, I was not bummed we had missed 70 minutes of no scoring soccer in the dying heat haha. The team with maybe 10% of the fans in stands scored two back to back goals and everyone started getting a little pissed. Game over time to go, so we headed out with the massive crowd; as we got close to the tram there was a massive line so we decided to grab a soda and some street food. As we were sitting we heard some bottles smashing and looked behind us just in time to watch a small mob start throwing bottles and rocks at the cop cars. Then cops in full riot gear started running into the crowd toward us and everyone included ourselves started to run away haha… Everything was getting m ore and more hostile, it was time to go. So we got in line for the tram, as we were almost to the front of the line (not a line a massive group all pushing for a small gate opening) they shut the gate to many people in the station. So for about 20 minutes we got smashed around in the front against the gate as everyone was jumping and still singing even though their team had lost 2-0. All of a sudden the riot cops came into the line and pushed everyone back and slowly let us in, as we were waiting one cop pointed at someone I did not know what he had said. After we made it in Neil asked if we saw that!! Saw what? The cop who had pointed at that kid, when the kid passed through the gate he sucker punched the hell out of him and dropped him to the ground and just walked away.. Haha We waited for the train and finally got on one, where we were stuffed in like sardines. The guy standing next to me maybe 45 or so, all of a sudden smacked a guy no older than 18 and made a hand gesture of give it back. The kid put his hands up signaling he had nothing the guy just laughed and did the gesture again, the Kid sighed and handed him back his phone he just stole!! Haha and that was it the guy just went back to listening to music and the kid got off. The whole tram ride was like being on a trampoline, all the fans jumping up and down, making the tram just bounce so hard u could not keep your feet on the ground so u were bouncing around as well. I totally thought of a YouTube vid where the Tram just falls off the tracks. Haha We pushed our way off the tram and headed back to the hostel and to my bottle of Pisco and a good night meeting new people. Not knowing how long the bike would actually take I had asked Ivan if he needed in help since one of his workers just moved on, he said we would talk on Monday when he got back. (I decided not to take my camera to the match, so I still need to get pictures from my friend Neil- so Pictures to come) http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...olivia2of7.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...olivia3of7.jpg FISH MARKET http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...olivia5of7.jpg THIS IS ONE OF THE TANKS THAT GOT SMASHED WITH BOTTLES AND ROCKS AT THE SOCCER RIOT http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...olivia6of7.jpg THIS THING IS BUILT FOR ONE THING..PEACE, LOVE, AND SMASHING DUMBASSES.. HAHAHA http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...olivia7of7.jpg NOT A PLACE YOU WANT TO GET IN A BAR FIGHT.. HAHAHA (BAR- THE MURDERERS) HAHA http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ch/myface2.jpg HAHAHA I GOT NOTHING TO SAY OTHER THAN "WORK IT WORK IT WORK IT" BAHAHAHAHAHA :freaky Not many pics this post, will have alot for the next. Fletch Home Page |
Santiago in a nutshell
DAY-397-403
12/3-9/2012 I got an email Friday afternoon from the guy who is helping me out with my bike saying that the bike will be ready on Tuesday afternoon, but my cylinder head needs to be machined. Well I got an email today telling me there is a problem, the Machinist who is 35 years old dropped dead from a heart attack and it will be a few more days until he can find a new machinist… haha I got an email from my friend Juan telling me his client liked the picture we took and also was interested in take more pictures of me for their portfolio haha. I talked with Ivan about working for him and it was vague, but then on Tuesday night he confirmed it with a handshake and I start Thursday night. He hooked it up with a discount on my bill as well as free living and food while I work for him. They want me to stay through Christmas working for them; I told them I will have to see how the bike goes. If my bike is shred ready by the 14th then I will leave and make it to Ushuaia before Xmas to meet friends, if not then I will stay here and leave on the 26th. I walked around the city checking it out on my own just taking Santiago in, I really really like it. So now hopefully the bike will be done on Friday. I came down with something that dropped me, it started on the morning of Tuesday with cold symptoms and by the night I was curled up in blankets cold sweating and pooping…. Hahahaha I shook myself to sleep and was in and out all night drenched in sweat and freezing. Woke up feeling okay, not great but okay; but I had promised my friend I would help him out and go to a photo shoot for him. I showed up and it was a professional Photo shoot, I had to put on a skin tight V-neck, leather jacket, and a scarf. Oh don’t forget I had to sit and get makeup on…. Hahaha I was for sure it was a setup from another one of our friends playing a joke on me... Hahaha I started work on Thursday night; I work at the hostel “Ventana Sur Hostel” which has awesome motorcycle parking as well an amazing owner. This place makes you feel like you’re in your own home, with a nice kitchen, communal area, pool, and gated driveway. I am working 5 hours a night for trade for a bed, breakfast, wine, and some meals. I work 6:30pm-11:30pm I hang out with the guest have a few beers, deal with late check-ins, any questions they may have, and just make sure everyone is happy. End of the week bike still is not ready. I did run around getting a few new parts like sprockets, chain, front and back tires Pirelli MT60 and some oil. Quick hint if you are looking for parts or tires in Santiago ask them for the price then after you get the written price tell them you will use credit card and ask what the price difference will be if you use cash he knocked 20% off for me.... DAY-404-417 12/10-23/12 SANTIAGO, CHILE IN A NUTSHELL Well this will be a whirl wind wrap up of the past 2 weeks living and working in Santiago Chile. I finally got my bike back and it is running like a bat out of hell, the best it has felt in over six months!!! Well that is the Engine at least; I took it to a Race Tech Suspension guy who supposed to be the best in all suspensions in Chile. Sadly he had no parts which are new front springs and at least a rebuild on the stock shock and a new coil. I had hoped to catch a friend coming down from the states but did not work out. On an upside I picked up Race-tech as a small sponsor not full sponsor but helping me out a bit. So they have sent new spring for the back as well as for the front and the gold valve kit. Hopefully I will be back on the road by the first week in January and head north to check out the Dakar Rally before finishing up this continent by finally making it to Ushuaia a six month planned journey which has been stretched to the most amazing 14+ Months. Hahaha I have walked all over this awesome city and hiked up to the Virgin Mary statue a few times. I have been working on figuring out all of my shipping details, locking down a job, airline tickets, carnets, getting another international drivers license, and working on getting some new gear shipped to my bro’s house in Cali which I will pick up on my way through to Australia. Yup I will fly to from Santiago to LA for a few days; drop a bunch of crap off and to pick up a few new things that will be making my pictures better (dslr, new laptop, and a few other things), new boots, changing up helmet to my old Shoei not a fan of the DS Fly, new windshield and pro tapers, chain, sprocket, (My local shop who sponsors me is helping me get some deals on some new bike gear). For flights I have found the cheapest way to fly is to go one way Santiago to LA stay with my bro for a few days and then fly one way to Sydney Australia. Doing this will not only save me roughly $400 bucks but also give me a chance to grab a few things on my way. The past few weeks working at the hostel I have met so many awesome people and grab connections around the world to visit. I might have landed a job working as a Chef on a luxury train line in Australia for six months. We will see if it plays out; if so it will mean $$$$$ and free accommodation and food… Fingers are crossed!!! I have truly lucked out with where I have been getting stuck and waiting on parts, this place is awesome and the owner and hostel is amazing. Ivan is so generous he is constant throwing BBQ, buying wine and cheese for the guest, and just an awesome guy to sit down and talk with. PS the hostel is "Ventana Sur Hostel" with safe parking, cheap beds, pool, kitchen, awesome owner, and just a relaxed atmosphere. http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps91bb254c.jpg GUYS BATHING IN THE PARKING.. I CAN'T LAUGH SURE I WILL BE DOING THAT AT SOME POINT... HAHAHA http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psa1c5c87d.jpg A CHAPEL ON MY WAY TO THE VIRGIN MARY STATUE http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psf28b6f8f.jpg AWESOME STREET ART ALL OVER THE CITY http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1bd4aeaa.jpg SANTIAGO CITYSCAPE ON THE HIKE UP TO THE VIRGIN MARY http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psbb72af8f.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psbbdfa738.jpg GLIMPSE OF A VIRGIN http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5bbd7ee6.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psf54121ef.jpg SANTIAGO WITH A LITTLE ANDES IN THE BACK DROP http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps801f14c0.jpg THE 'OL MARY http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...pse6eff2cd.jpg THE BIKE AMBULANCE.... SERIOUS??? HAHAHA http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5dd1c65d.jpg THERE ARE HIPPIES EVERYWHERE IN THE WORLD, PROTESTING AGAINST THE ZOO..... http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...pse9d005be.jpg MUSIC VIDEO SHOOT.. HAHAHA http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psdeb54c98.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1bd9cfc2.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps0df07a2f.jpg SANTIAGO Tons of new albums and updates on my facebook page "Wheres Fletch" Wheres Fletch | Facebook Spiced up the Website check it out let me know what you think if it is user friendly or not.. I suck at this whole Website thing Home Page I am also now on twitter.. not sure about it but we will see..... www.twitter.com/WheresFletch More updates coming .. Christmas and New Years "When in doubt THROTTLE OUT!" "DIE TRYING" "ONE LIFE" Home Page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wheres...2187076?ref=ts BLOG- COOKING AND BRAAAAPING AROUND THE WORLD ADV-RR Follow me as i braaaap and cook around the world!!!! - ADVrider |
Christmas!!!2012 christmas number two away from home!!
DAY-418
12/24/12 CHRISTMAS EVE!!!!!! Here in Chile on Christmas Eve is when they celebrate Christmas not on the 25th. We had big plans which included 15lbs of steak and 5lbs of Pork ribs, a massive amount of wine, whiskey, rum, Pisco, martini’s, and an amazing group of new friends. I did a quick walk around trying to find my friends tattoo artist which unfortunately was closed. I marinated one 3 Kilo piece of Loma in a porter beer marinated I whipped up. Our guest from the hostel and friends from outside of the hostel started showing up around 5pm and the drinks began to be poured. The meat came out perfect and the drinks were bottomless!!! We sat around telling stories of our adventures the low times and the high times. We carried out the second table from the breakfast room outside to our patio next to the pool and the grill and had a huge family dinner. The salsa music was cranked and the dancing began way into the morning. Cops came and Ivan the owner walked out to talk with them laughing as he did “come on it is Christmas they laughed and told us to have a good night….” Gotta love Chile. We even had a tree, it was a perfect Christmas away from home, much better than last year that’s for sure.. http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psbec4c512.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8e69a466.jpg YES!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ME!!!! MY FIRST DOUGHNUT SINCE I LEFT HOME!!!! YUM YUM YES I AM A FAT KID! http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps78db5783.jpg MERRY CHRISTMAS http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1994a0a2.jpg NEW FRIENDS AND FAM FOR CHRISTMAS... AWESOME!!! http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps800d736a.jpg LEWIS AND LOU AWESOME ENGLISH COUPLE http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...pscf6a2067.jpg BAHAHAHA http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psafe9ea23.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...s4a0a7bfd.jpg\ FAMILY DINNER http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9af77748.jpg PABLO THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND!! http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psd5c97c1d.jpg CHRISTMAS CUPCAKES!!!! ROAR http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1f9bd8a9.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1ce50776.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psfda91c9e.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps07fd50f9.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1a47ca50.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps061d01a6.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps706eb448.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...pscc43a1cd.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7a7a10ce.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6f499860.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psb9db1dbb.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psd5c75acb.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psf748a4c9.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps962ddc33.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psce55394c.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6b654ca6.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps791b0b6d.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps127b8254.jpg SALSA DANCING IS NO JOKE!!! "When in doubt THROTTLE OUT!" "DIE TRYING" "ONE LIFE" Home Page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wheres...2187076?ref=ts BLOG- COOKING AND BRAAAAPING AROUND THE WORLD ADV-RR Follow me as i braaaap and cook around the world!!!! - ADVrider |
Santiago new years 2013
DAY-419-424
12/25-30/12 I and everybody else was dead all day, we laid around the pool and couches slowly dying watching movies. I skyped my sister like she said at 6am her time to see my nephews open Christmas presents and the 3 year old was still asleep!!!! So I finally got them on Skype around 7:30am their time and I was dying on the couch. I was hanging in there but barely trying to stay awake while watching them open presents; it was a blast to watch how excited a 3 year old is over awesome costumes. Past out for a few hours made some dinner and headed to bed after working. By the next day we had recovered but our new good friends Lewis and Lue were leaving so we had a nice going away party of wine, wine, wine, whiskey, and Pisco. (oh my poor liver, working at a hostel is killing me…), another day of working on my web pages, uploading a couple hundred pics to my Facebook wheres fletch page, started using twitter (@wheresfletch), finalized the details on shipping, and last but defiantly not least parts are in the air. We tried to figure out new years and then made some plans. We will throw another BBQ, wine, whiskey, Pisco, and beer; let’s rage one more time. There is a guy Ben who is staying here, been here since Christmas awesome guy even though he was from Germany. Haha just kidding... Hell of a guy and a great drinking partner. Cannot wait to visit him in Germany and go to a few metal/ punk music festivals. DAY-425 12/31/12 We will call this what was I thinking “Rookie mistake!!” I, Ben, Pablo, and Ivan, all walked to the supermarket; we picked up 40 chorizos, 3 kilo’s of ribs, and 4 kilos of Loma steaks. We then went to the good isle… 4 big bottles of Red wine, two bottles of Rum, 12 pack of beer, and champagne. We headed back to the hostel and prepped the hostel for a little New Year fun!! I think the day and night was actually a little more tamed compared to Christmas, it was a blast just not as rowdy. We hung out at the street hugging and cheers and just drinking and laughing it was amazing!!! It was a very drunken very drunken VERY DRUNKEN night with good people and an awesome boss... so so much fun super stoked on how my holiday played out. So the Rookie Mistake... “Lets start drinking Rum and Cokes at 4:30 and smash through them like it is water and I am dehydrated in the dessert. We sat around giving each other hell and just enjoying the evening. Then my friend showed up with a bottle of Pisco and a liter of coke, we dumped out half the coke and went 50/50 Pisco to coca-cola. We headed up to the main drag to watch the fireworks and drink in the streets for New Years, Midnight. I was told my drink was too strong so I ended up slamming the liter and then I stumbled back to the hostel and we decided to hang out at the hostel for an hour before we went out. Nope the Pisco kicked in and it was time to crawl to my bed. Bahahaha Happy New Years!!! http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps37bbcf65.jpg WITHOUT THE RIBS http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9ba971b4.jpg STARTING NEW YEARS BY THE POOL WITH SOME WHISKEY http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps2aefd14b.jpg MEET BEN THE GERMAN http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8607d7e5.jpg BBQING BY THE POOL IN 90 DEGREE WEATHER.. AWESOME http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps77f2c172.jpg PABLO http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psf31c42a2.jpg\ CUBRA LIBRE http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps2263d071.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psef002dd5.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps80507c56.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psaa7f8105.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps50764f97.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psdfe7c5a9.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...pse2d9e4bf.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps0d4c9eb4.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psea985b6c.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6e20ca92.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8e44d5c7.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psef02f6f8.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psb106d2c2.jpg NEW FRIENDS AND DRINKING IN THE STREETS http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps03795767.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1ecb4173.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps78a1c20f.jpg STEAK!!!! http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...pse73df94e.jpg LOOK MOM I GOT HAIR!!!!!! http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1fd8b974.jpg HALF THE CREW IS PEACEFUL WITH WINE THE OTHER HALF WHISKEY READY TO RAGE!!! HAHA THIS PICTURE MADE US ALL LAUGH IN THE MORNING!! http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psb9d287dd.jpg HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!! HOPE EVERYONE HAS A BRAAAAAPING GOOD 2013, WITH LOTS OF BADASS ADVENTURES!!!! THANK YOU FRIENDS FOR FOLLOWING ALONG WITH ME ON THIS CRAZY RIDE |
Awesome
"YOU MIGHT BE AN ALCOHOLIC WHEN YOUR THE POSTER CHILD FOR A CHILEAN LIQUOR AD!!" HAHAHA:rofl:rofl
http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps424f396b.png |
Lots of catching up
DAY-426-438
1/1-13/2013 Still playing the waiting game, parts made it as of the 7th but are stuck in Customs, my friend’s friend who works in customs is searching for them. That’s all I know... Woke up on New Year’s Day to finding my shoes on the roof?? Not too sure about that one... haha another lazy day. Been working on my list of things I want to get rid of and things I want to pick up when I pass through LA (when ever that might be…Hahaha). Trying to get a few things sorted out with my registration and also working on my Carnet for Australia. I caught my eye on another RR and checked it out and it is Fritz RR Porkandbeans…. I wrote him and we met up for a few beers and hung out talking about his plans and where I had been. I was able to meet up with him and another ADVRIDER Bear who is doing six months around SA and was able to go over maps with them pointing out my favorite riding and camping areas. Also went over different suggestions to finding places to sleep and hide the bike, police, borders, and so on. Super nice guys and hope to run into Bear down in Patagonia, don’t think I will see Fritz again since he is headed toward BSAS and Brazil. I had to make a quick run to the dentist, just for a checkup and cleaning. Which for the record I hate hate hate the dentist, but it was fine, quick, and cheap. A few of us headed to a Gringo Bar called California to watch the Broncos and Ravens, my Couchsurfer friends a Maida, Nati, and their friends Connie and Maca joined us. Sadly that was a terrible game on Broncos and we lost, Zach and I kicked through 7 pitchers or so of some pretty good beer as well as a few Piscola’s. We were sitting at the table when one of the owners came out and told me I looked like some linebacker and then asked what I was drinking. He sat down and we had a few more Piscola’s with him then we went next door to his club where he had Champagne waiting for us. We danced for a few hours (if you know me you then you know I can’t and don’t dance) so we will call it the “Two step whiskey stumble”. Stumbled home around 4am and Ivan (my good friend and boss) was up hanging out with two other guest and then we watched a movie and passed out. Sunday was mellow day of lying around and working throughout the day. Two fellow Advrider’s who have been keeping tabs on my adventure are doing their own ride for their honeymoon from California on ‘07KLR’s Serafina and Aren. Good people and luckily my boss let me give them a little bit of a deal a dollar off a night. We hung out having a few beers and some rum trading stories and experience. I truly love sitting with other riders trading stories after stories, there is just something special about it to me. They headed out the next day heading south to Patagonia. DAY 439-443 1/14/-18/2013 Going to be honest I cannot wait until my bike is ready mainly because over the past 1.5 months of working here I think I have taken 10 years of life from my liver… Man do we drink here, it is insane the amount of alcohol you end up drinking while you are living and working at a hostel…. Haha Does not help that my boss loves Bourbon and well I do to; so were best friends. Haha Don’t get me wrong no regrets it has been an incredible time and experience. Went out to dinner with my new friend Maca for Sushi which was very nice and saw a new area of Santiago which I had not been too. She works for a high end resort in San Pedro, like $400+ a night to stay. It was an awesome night. Nick Soi showed up which you may remember me writing about as well as maybe know him from his blog Road Trip Rambling He is doing a RTW on a DR650, I met him in Panama, then hungout and rode bikes in Colombia, Bolivia, and now Chile. He came and stayed at the hostel Ventana Sur Hostel, Side not if you are passing through Santiago shoot the owner Ivan an email, make a reservation, tell him you’re on a motorcycle, and he will give you a discount as well as safe parking/ work space. Everything you need at this place, pool, kitchen, comfy beds, hot showers, good location, safe parking, place you can work and clean your bikes before you ship or ride elsewhere. He is super friendly guy and will go out of the way to help you. SORRY FOR SLACKING OFF SO MUCH SINCE BEEN HERE.. HAHA http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps99686114.jpg TOO HOT TO SIT AND WAIT FOR THE DENTIST, IVAN LYING ON THE FLOOR http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psaa6c0ac2.jpg BOOOOOOOO http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psa3074533.jpg YES PLEASE http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps0a652810.jpg THANKS FOR TRADING STORIES http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4e76b0a8.jpg THEY ARE OFF http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps37bb5252.jpg LATIN AMERICA HAS COME TO AN END FOR NICK http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7184ee3b.jpg IVAN THE MASTER OF THE GRILL!!! http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps530a7dd2.jpg ASADO!!!! http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...pse7dc2e11.jpg AGREED, NUFF SAID http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps67fb88da.jpg MEET MY DEAR FRIEND MACA... IT'S ALL ABOUT THE BEARD..... HAHAHAHA http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps2653fe71.jpg BREAKFAST OF CAHMPIONS....????? HAHAHA WHAT i AM DRINKING SUGAR FREE REDBULL... DAY 444-445 1/19-20/2013 DAKAR 2013…. Nick, Zach, and I headed to the Finish line to check out the bikes coming into Santiago. We arrived a bit too early so we went to have some Pollo and Cervesa’s while we waited. Long story short, we waited a very long time in the sun until the bikes finally showed up but I think over all was well worth it. Did we get that close to the riders..No... Were we able to talk with a few riders yes!! Jonny Campbell (Honda Factory rider, American, Baja 1000 Legend) and Bret Cummings (badass privateer from South Africa). Tried to go to bed early since I will be waking up early and that did not work out for me.. Hahaha Got up a bit groggy but early enough and headed for the course. Nick and I walked around for just over 5hrs watching the guys ride by on their way to or from the Podium. There were these two guys on Kawi’s that really stand out, everyone was passing slowly and waving to everyone or just riding through with their heads down. These two guys come down the straight away up on one while the other is bouncing off the curbs, jumping into the grass, sliding tires, and just having a good time.. The podium was a bit disappointing thought we would be able to get close to see all of the action but that was not the case, the closest you could get was almost a full block away without a wrist bracelet. In all and all it was a lot of fun to see these guys facial expression that just shouted phew it is over and I accomplished the Dakar Rally. Over all it was awesome to see and experience, but I will say the best way is if you could catch a stage or the rest day to get close to the action. http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3c7854c0.jpg WAITING FOR THE DAKAR RIDERS TO ENTER INTO SANTIAGO http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7f7de4b1.jpg DAKAR!!! http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps543e972d.jpg CHASE VEHICLES, UGH YES PLEASE http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps51265d4d.jpg NOAH'S OLD MAN CHASE VEHICLE.. HAHA http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psb613a119.jpg TIRES AND AN EXTRA BIKE JUST HANGING OUT IN THE BACK.... http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psf0aebf20.jpg FIRST GUY SHOWING UP http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps2dc281be.jpg THIS IS WHERE THEY PULL THE FRONT COWLING OFF AND TAKE THE GPS TRACKER AND EMERGENCY ALERT OFF OF THE BIKE http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps388644e9.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psff78cbbc.jpg THIS DUDE IS MY HERO, BRETT CUMMINGS SOUTH AFRICAN, PRIVATEER TOP FINISHER FOR HIS SP CLASS WHICH IS THE CLASS WHERE U CANNOT CHANGE OUT PARTS IF THEY BREAK.. VERY NICE AND WAS ABLE TO CHAT FOR A SECOND http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psda50eb8f.jpg A FEW ZIPTIES HOLDING THE BIKE TOGETHER... http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9519547b.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8162baab.jpg THE CHILEAN FAVORITE LOPEZ WHO GRABBED 3RD OVER ALL http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps19507a09.jpg HONDA FACTORY TEAM http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps18e27809.jpg JONNY CAMPBELL SUCH AN AWESOME GUY, EVEN TOOK TIME TO GIVE US A QUICK CHAT.. "Jonny How was it" "Terrible!!! hahaa with a smile, then he through his smile he whispered yeah it was painful" haha http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps52bd108b.jpg HEADING TO HAND IN HIS TRACKER DEVICE http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps924f5da1.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps065599e1.jpg HAHAHA WHY? WHY WOULD YOU EVER......?? BAHAHAHAHAHA http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psadc8b096.jpg ONE LAST SHOT OF JONNY http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps91b9d111.jpg AWESOME http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps41a01e8a.jpg PODIUM DAY http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psa9b91037.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps32343172.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6adda4e1.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psa105469f.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psc5c1d925.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4f6239c2.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps45ba032c.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psdaa4d64b.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps179c0b75.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps75d6a1ea.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1929cb11.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps381ad1dc.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4df1b678.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps30409347.jpg OFFICERS THE THROTTLE STUCK WIDE OPEN AND WE WERE FORCED TO DO BURNOUTS AND WHEELIES.. HAHA http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps34226746.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psb2c7a329.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psd90eeded.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5830db45.jpg SMALL BADASS CAMPER http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psea3ea3c0.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps933066db.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psff540ded.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps38861e93.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psabb46d9f.jpg HAHAHAHA http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps72384f39.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps74f2bc1f.jpg http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3b45dd77.jpg AWESOME WEEKEND!!! "When in doubt THROTTLE OUT!" "DIE TRYING" "ONE LIFE" Home Page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wheres...2187076?ref=ts BLOG- COOKING AND BRAAAAPING AROUND THE WORLD ADV-RR Follow me as i braaaap and cook around the world!!!! - ADVrider |
DAY 446-453
1/21-27/2012 BAM BAM BAM!!!! Got my Letter today to go to the post office and pay for my package!! But it is to late to go now so I will go first thing in the morning then take the train right from their out to the Race Tech guy. So in the morning we headed out to the post office, Ivan came to help me out. The person who sent the package told me they would not claim full price so I would not get taxed so much… Well what they actually did, was claimed the package for only $20 value but then left the original invoice inside so when they opened the package to check it out they saw the invoice and taxed the hell out of me over 30% Hahaha but that is okay I got my package and it worked out perfectly that I had worked a lot over the weekend so Ivan could go to the beach so he had just given me a 100 dollar tip for helping out so that covered my taxes I was pumped at the end. I jumped on the train and made it out to the shop to find the place closed for lunch. So I just sat at the gate saying “HOLA Ignacio” the third time is the charm he came out smiling. I handed him the package and we went through it making sure everything was there. I then negotiated a good price with him for the rear Race-Tech shock he had at his work... then we put my new spring on it as well as the front new springs and valves. I headed back into town stopping by my friend’s house for a few hours before work. Since Nick has been here I have been cooking up some good dinners. A guy Dani who is from Switzerland and is on a ’09 KLR just riding through South America is finishing up his ride now and trying to sell the bike. He came over and we ate a massive Veggie Pasta Dinner. Wednesday I went over to Maca’s house for dinner, I do not know about where you guys live but where I am from we do not have Sushi Delivery, especially sushi delivery via Moto’s!!! We were having a few beers and she suggested getting some Sushi yeah sounds good where do we have to go, how far is it, are the questions I asked… She just looked at me and laughed... "No no we just order it and they deliver it". Sweet!! That’s new to me. Hahaha The sushi has been really really good and pretty damn cheap here in Santiago. Thursday my friend Andrew from England showed up, he is doing a RTW as well. He started in UK and rode the West Coast of Africa to South Africa, and then he shipped to Argentina. We met in August in Salta; we will now ride together to Patagonia in the upcoming week or so. He arrived late to me making a massive amount of Burritos with some good ol’ Beer. Friday I jumped on the back of Andrews’s bike and headed to Ignacio’s shop and picked up my bike. Oh man let me tell you what a damn blast!!!! So so so much fun, it is running the best it has ever run since I have owned it super super stoked. TONIGHT SATURDAY 26TH IS MY GOING AWAY BBQ. I invited my friends, Nati, Maida, Maca, Dani, and a bunch others. My buddy David who you may remember I traveled with through Northern Argentina for three weeks on the shitty Chinese 200cc bike. He just finished 6 months over 21,000km on the bike through 4 countries. He arrived at 6pm just in time for a few shots of Whiskey and then we all got together about 16+ of us at 8pm for a good night of food and booze. It was an awesome goodbye party, all good friends, 40 chorizo’s, 18lbs of steak, tons of beer, many bottles of rum, Pisco, and JW Black. We all hung out at the hostel till 2am drinking and then headed out to go dancing. You know it is a good night when nobody remembers too much and someone passed out on the sidewalk. Then carried home by a girl to then be dragged up the stairs to his bed... It may or may not have been Andrew… I said Goodbye to Maca on Sunday Morning although I will see her again when I come back in a month or two before shipping to OZ. All day Sunday was packing, going through my crap, and just being hangover with everyone at the hostel. I walked Nick to the train station, his Latin American Ride is over and now he is onto NZ to work and ride. He left on the 27th of January and I met him one year ago in Panama. Hell of a dude and I wish him the best cannot wait to meet up again and ride with him in NZ or Oz in a year or so…. You can follow his Adventure at Road Trip Rambling This has been an awesome time living in Santiago, working at the Hostel, making life long new friends, drinking way too much, and just enjoying every minute of it. I will miss this and all my new friends a lot; but on the contrary I am very ready to get on the road again!!! But it is nice to know I have friends and a great place to sleep when I come back to Santiago before I ship out to Australia. http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4d0a9bbd.jpg NICK AND I AGREE "IF YOU DON'T LIKE WOLFMAN LUGGAGE, THAN F#$@ YOU!!!" HAHAHA JUST KIDDING http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8e4df5e7.jpg WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE ARE NOT MATURE!!! HAHA http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psc5f225d8.jpg NICK CLEANING HIS BIKE WITH A TOOTHBRUSH FOR NZ http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psc6d44f8c.jpg WHEN LOOKING FOR BEER ON THE ROAD, I LOOK FOR THE CHEAPEST WITH THE HIGHEST ALCOHOL PERCENTAGE.. CHILE=DORADA http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psbde3934b.jpg MAD GNARLY BIKER DUDES WITH WHISKEY!!! HAHAHAHA http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psed84a13e.jpg ASADO http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6d0db951.jpg WINNING!!!!! MY NEW BEST FRIENDS IN SANTIAGO!!!! THANK YOU COUCHSURFERS!! HAHA http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psfe554137.jpg MORE NEW FRIENDS IN SANTIAGO http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...psdd7c1495.jpg NO CLUE WHAT WERE DOING... THIS IS WHEN THINGS MAY HAVE STARTED TO GO DOWN HILL.. HAHA http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps99bd6a15.jpg NICK AND IVAN ON HIS WAY OUT TO THE AIRPORT TO CATCH A PLANE TO NZ!! http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...pse6edbe28.jpg SEE YA SOON NICK IT HAS BEEN A ****ING AWESOME EPIC ADVENTURE EVERYTIME WE GET TOGETHER .. CAN'T WAIT TO SHRED WITH YOU ON A DIFFERENT CONTINENT IN A YEAR OR SO..ENJOY NZ BROTHA!!! LIFE IS GOOD BIKE IS READY TO SHRED.. AND WE ARE OFF SOUTH ANDREW AND I ON THE 30TH OF JANUARY!!! SUPER STOKED!!!! WILL MISS SANTIAGO BUT DEFIANTLY NEED TO GET RIDING AND CAMPING THROUGH PATAGONIA SO SO SO STOKED ON LIFE!!! BEST CHOICE I HAVE EVER MADE WAS TO SELLING EVERYTHING I OWN, QUIT MY JOB, AND JUST GO FOR IT!!! |
Whatever happened with your trip?! Would love to hear updates are you still travelling?? Did you sell the bike? Did you get a new one? Hope all is well.
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