Chapter 02 - GlobeRiders Alaska to Tierra del Fuego 2013 Stage 2

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Alaska to Tierra del Fuego 2013 Stage 2

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Chapter Two Dispatch from Helge

Central America part 2

We said farewell to Jeremy in Antigua where he would stay to fix his bike, study Spanish and prepare for his own tour around the world. We wish him the very best of adventures.

As we continued to the border of Honduras it was good to see how the group at this point were more open to attack the border crossing one by one rather than as a collective group. If you have never been to Central America you cannot understand how frustrating the border crossings can be. To say the least each and one of the border crossings are a practice in patients, self-control and persistence.

Just a few miles after entering to Honduras we settle down for a couple of nights near by the ruins of Copan. The setting of the ruins is literarily in the jungle and makes the place so much more magical. Large groups of Makah’s are flying overhead while our guide educates us in the history of Copan.

Besides Copan the group will forever remember Honduras by what came to be named by Marty as The Scar. I did the same stretch 3 years ago and had expected that this road would have been completed. Well, that had not happened and for that reason 3 years of no maintenance had deterreated the road further and at this point it is definitely a challenge for any vehicle. That evening the sun went down and still no sidecar had made it to the hotel. We were all concerned and started to discuss if we should head out and look for them at the same time Marty and Bill came limping in to the hotel. A mount to the sidecar had a broken weld and all of this had been a very hard experience for Bill and Marty.

A good nights sleep and we headed to a nearby garage to see if we could get the broken weld rewelded on a Sunday. Magic happened and we met a great crew of mechanics that took care of us like family. The sidecar was repaired and they wanted nothing but a handshake, what a great experience this was. And so the journey continued.

Nicaragua became another get to know your local mechanic on a Sunday place. Once again the sidecar needed some care, this time a bolt had broken and the leftover stub had to be removed and a replacement had to be found. Not easy on a Sunday morning, but our excellent guide Mac were able to track down someone that knew about this mechanic that always worked regardless of day or time.

So if you ask me what I know about Nicaragua I can at the very least tell you a story or two about a very colorful mechanic that helped us at his shop in some backstreet of Managua. The whole event was worth the headache of the broken bolt. It is at times like these that I think a mechanical problem can be a good curse to have because there will always be a good story that goes with the repair. We certainly did enjoy the encounter and the outcome was not to bad either all considered.

Costa Rica was quite the opposite of an experience and much more to my personal liking. We had a wonderful time at the beach followed by several days of jungle experiences. Two days at Arenal Lodge was just what we needed to get a better understanding for what all the jungle that we had been passing were hiding. We met leaf-cutting ants crossing the trail in front of us and were wakened by hauler monkeys one very early morning. I dug out my digital recorder and recorded about 10 minutes of the sound, very impressive.

But more than any experience I have to say that our visit to the Slot Sanctuary on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica not far from the border to Panama toped all of what had seen and experienced in Costa Rica. The sanctuary takes care of wounded Slots and at the moment have over one hundred animals to look after. We had a wonderful tour with an included canoe journey where we got see the slots in the wild too. Fascinating and very humbling to meet the people that are so passionate about the care of these slow moving creatures, the two and three toed Sloths.

Panama forced us back on to the Pan-American Highway with its heavy traffic, crazy bus drivers and corrupt traffic police. Never except a traffic fine without insisting on a receipt. Play stupid, do not speak Spanish and if it get bad insist on getting a receipt. This combination worked great for me, as I was cruzing towards Panama City. Fred used German politeness and paid dearly, but at the end of the day he had learned a lesson in how to treat a corrupt police officer, better luck next time Fred.

Our shipping agent for the bikes in Panama is a biker and were of great help to not only take care of flying the bikes to Bogota, Colombia, he was also our guide to the best restaurant one can go to while in Panama City. We had dinner right at the Mirraflores Locks where huge container ships and other kind of ships would pas through the canal. What a wonderful experience this was, very impressive in deed. Next day we had a scheduled tour of the docks with a great museum telling the one hundred year story of the construction of the first locks up until the introduction to the new construction of the second locks that now is underway. During the day we did not see even one ship do the full passing of the locks that made us even more appreciative of the evening before with 8 or 9 vessels going through the Mirraflores Locks.

Central America had been a intense ride with way to many borders, great people, wonderful riding and a good start on a the journey to Tierra del Fuego.

South America next!

Greetings,

Helge Pedersen

Helge's Photo Gallery

Chapter Two Dispatch from David Ow

It all went by so fast. Central America has become a blur of roads, jungle, volcanos and lakes. The towns were a mixture of old Spanish colonial and modern cities with mega malls.

I really enjoyed seeing the ruins of Copan and one of the carvings of a ruler had oriental features and had Chan as one of his names. The sloth sanctuary was an informative visit and I appreciate the dedicated workers helping injured and orphaned sloths It was fun to watch the sloths move in very slow motion. I remember miles of enormous banana plantations with each banana bunch covered with a blue plastic bag for protection. The volcanos were beautiful and majestic Even the border crossings don't seem so bad now. They did take up to two or three hours but there were seven of us to process. The delay always seemed to be the insurance agent that typed with two fingers and had a slow Internet connection.

What a treat it was to have dinner at the Panama Canal and watch huge ships go through the locks. It is amazing to see how efficient it works.

I am still having a great time and looking forward to South America.

Motorcycling On.

David

Chapter Two Dispatch from Fred Bauer

Sometimes we go fast,
sometimes we go slow like the sloths.

Sometimes there was no civilisation,
sometimes it was to much civilisation.

But never were we bored.

Fred

Chapter Two Dispatch from Marty Kromer

For me, the ride from Guatemala to Panama was mainly about the people. I have become ever increasing absorbed in their beauty. The difference here in height, weight, skin tone, bone structure, hair color, eye color, clothing and how people move has reawaken for me how wondrous people are. The sidecar has become a major asset because everyone notices it and smiles. When we stop they gather around it and want to have their pictures taken. We let people get on the bike and take their picture or if there are not too many children we give rides around the parking lot. It would be fun to give rides to everyone but that would take hours. Because of their fascination with the sidecar we have a very playful impression of the people.

The landscape continues to offer ever more remarkable views, plants, mountains, deserts, animals. The ride into Nicaragua was particularly impressive. The border crossing had taken a long time and I was anxious to be allowed to get back on the bike and ride. We finally had all the right papers with all the right stamps, officials like stamps here, and we rode past the gates. We immediately came around a bend in the road, the road was good macadam with no pot holes, and we were riding along the side of a valley. The valley was incredibly verdant and interspersed among all the green were orange blooming trees that I think are a species of Erythrina, maybe Poro Tree.

Nicaragua continued to impress as we rode on. Although the houses in the small towns we rode through were little more than shacks or sheds, things are organized and clean. The landscape is not full of litter and there are not piles of broken stuff by the side of the road. It was the weekend and people were gathering, families, friends couples. Lots of people on bicycles, horseback and small motor scooters. Few of the scooters had any working lights. People seemed happy, festive.

The ride in Honduras east of La Esperanza was particularly difficult. It was not a road, maybe an open wound or a scar. Whatever it was, it was full of gullies and slippery rocks and cliff edges. It meandered through the mountains and finally deposited us on a paved road. We knew something was wrong with the bike but continued on. Somehow during the day the chase vehicle had passed us so we arrived last and very late at the hotel in Tegucigalpa. After we parked and inspected the bike we saw that one of the welds on the sidecar frame had broken. By the time dinner was over Mac had found a welding shop within a few blocks of the hotel. Thank you Mac. The next day after a good night sleep and hearty breakfast we drove to the welding shop and in a few hours the part was rewelded and installed on the bike. After an e-mail to Claude Stanley to let him know what had happened and get his advice he quickly sent a replacement piece timed to arrive in Bogata, Columbia the same time we would. Thank you Claude.

Marty

Chapter Two Dispatch from Dan Townsley

Wow! Central America just seemed to fly by. But even having my iPhone stolen couldn't take away from the beauty of the country and the warmth of the people. If you've always wanted to travel in Mexico or the Central American countries I encourage you to do so. The majority of my experiences with the National Police and the Military were quite positive.

Oaxaca to Guatemala:

The Monte Alde Mayan ruins outside of Oaxaca were quite interesting as each of these ancient locations has had it own defining aspect. Here they actually had a Medical School where they taught anatomy and did brain surgery. No way of telling if the patient survived the procedure. Our crossing into Guatemala was a bit longer than expected and Helge and Mac (Luis) did all of the leg work getting the process figured out and us where we needed to be when we needed to be there.

Managua, NIC to La Cruz, CR:

Managua is now notable for loosing (slipped out of my pocket in the Inter Continental Hotel lobby chair) my iPhone5. Whoever picked it up and didn't turn it in to the Reception Desk will not live a happy life. My information is secure and the phone is a "brick". I will not lament it's being gone and will just do without until I can replace it.

On the other hand, I have not lost or left anything behind in my 45 year's of traveling around the world. I'm now up to three items in three weeks. Needless to say I'm not very happy about this as I'm felling a little out of control about now and that is not a condition I'm accustom to.

Our ride to the Nicaragua-Costa Rica border was about two hours and then the "crossing-processes" started. Three hours later we were on our way to our hotel south of La Cruz. A nice 17km dirt road made the last part of the day a bit more enjoyable for me.

I'm really hoping I get my "groove" back soon.

La Cruz to Arenal:

We had a short ride after clearing the border into Costa Rica - the last 17km being a mostly-smooth gravel road. Our hotel is on the beach but not a great bay for swimming so a walk on the beach was about it. Definitely an out of the way place. David and I decided to take what looked like a good dirt road south to the highway rather than backtrack. Sure glad we did as it was a great road and very scenic with tree arbor covering much of the way. When we finally met pavement we decided to make the short run to the end of the road where we found the local fishing boat fleet.

The rest of the day found us making our way to Lake Arenal. The ride around the lake to our hotel was very twisty and though slow it was quite beautiful. Our hotel is perched way up on the mountain side above the lake. To my amazement the entire 1.4km of the road up is covered in interlocking-pavers and bordered by concrete curbs! This was all done by hand over twenty years ago.

Our view is of Volcan Arenal - an extinct volcano at the East end of the lake - it dominates the landscape in this area but is often hidden behind clouds. We had a great view of it the afternoon of our free-day.

We are in the rainforest/jungle and the wildlife and plant life are as diverse as you might expect. Birds, birds and more birds. Spider Monkeys, Howler Monkeys, White Nosed Coatimundi and a couple of snakes: Hog Nosed Pit Viper and Boa (not sure which species).

Guapiles to Limon-Puerto Viejo:

Just south of our hotel is the world famous Sloth Sanctuary. You only get to spend a short time with a few of the Sloths (both two and three-toed). They had about 150 in residence but most have some form of trauma - which is why they're here for the most part - and having people parade past them all day is not what they really need. But having said that, I would the time we did have with them was time well spent.

What the Sanctuary really needs is for the Costa Rican government to allow them to place some of the recovered Sloths in qualified Zoos and Animal Parks around the world. This would reduce some of the financial burden on the Sanctuary. And although the government provides no financial assistance to the Sanctuary, they do manage to bring in injured Sloths on a regular basis.

The accumulated Scientific data on these creatures is minuscule and mostly anecdotal from over 20 years of observation by just a few people.

Panama:

Notable for the hours it takes to issue the mandatory vehicle insurance at the border. Okay, the Panama Canal is something special and we had dinner over looking the locks. It was interesting watching the "mules" move the ships through. The Panamainians are now in the process of adding an second set of Locks that will be able to acommodate the super container ships.

Dan