TravelStream™ news feed for member jessandmalin on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/jessandmalin en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:52:16 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessandmalin/1/1219291200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessandmalin/1/1219291200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessandmalin/1/1219291200/tpod.html Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:52:16 -0400 Our call to Adventure; Los Angeles to Panama or BUST!

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Copan, Honduras

Leaving Roatan I felt a bit sad, like it was the end of something very special. Partly because it was truly paradise and almost the only place on this adventure where we could completely relax and not worry about everything that comes with doing a trip like this on a motorcycle. To be honest it has been really hard for Jess to stop thinking about the next destination (throughout this trip) because he is always planning ahead calculating risks and preparing for how to avoid them. However I would like to think that we are going back there one day so it is with that mindset I am leaving beautiful Roatan. So today our final destination is Copan, Honduras and it is the beginning of our "ruin tour" of Central America. This is supposedly a quaint little town almost on the border of Guatemala. We took the 7am ferry from Roatan to La Ceiba...and it was nothing like the afternoon ferry we took to get to the island! Yes, I was very thankful...this was smooth sailing all the way! No one was throwing up anywhere and that is always a plus in my book.   We have been spoiled for the past week with no rain in sight but that was about to change as we got closer to Copan. We found ourselves in a thunderstorm as we were entering the town and we found a hotel quickly. The town itself is cuter than I expected, it reminded me of Italy and those tiny villages that look as if they were built into the mountain. Copan is surrounded by high mountains and has steep cobble-stoned streets,  there are donkeys and horses everywhere on the roads mixed in with modern restaurants and internet cafes.  In the morning we walked over to the site of the ruins, which were a mile outside of town. I have never been to any types of ruins before I so was excited and the place did not disappoint. We walked into the main plaza where most of the ruins and the stelas are located and I loved it. It is so amazing to think about the Mayan societies that ruled these areas as early as 600 AD. In this particular area the power and success of the Mayans were also their downfall. The population grew so fast that they overused the land and in the end they were not able to sustain their way of living. At the time they reached about 20,000 people living in this valley, which was a number that was not reached again until the 1980's.    Hey it's Jess, and we're back on the road!  Roatan was awesome, but it's time to fire up the Jolly Jungle Jumper (the bike) and continue the journey!  The ancient Mayan ruins are beckoning us, and I can't wait to be Indiana Jones (Malin could be that hot chick from Tomb Raider), straddling our adventure steed, riding through mucky jungle roads and negotiating our way through the hanging vines.  If we're lucky, perhaps we'll even befriend a monkey along the way that could ride on Malin's lap?  I have it all planned out, and it's going to kick ass! The ferry ride over from Roatan to La Cieba was boring...no Barf Olympics or anything else to keep us entertained, but the bike reached the mainland safely (it took 4 deckhands to guide the beast down the gangplank) and away we went!  With our laptop out of action, and therefore our GPS unit as well, we're basically flying blind, except for one AAA map that had all of Central America on it!  Needless to say it wasn't very detailed, but we meandered our way through the city streets of San Pedro Sula and eventually discovered the right road to lead us to Copan Ruins.   The landscape immediately became mountainous and I could imagine all of the Mayans inhabiting the hillsides and building their temples, thriving for thousands of years before enduring a steady decline, and ultimately becoming a "lost civilization." As Malin mentioned above, their success was their downfall.  They did not manage their resources and growth properly and eventually they had outgrown their environs and could no longer sustain themselves. Hmmm...do you think there's any relevance to mankind's plight in today's world?  Ya think!? Well, the town of Copan is great, but I failed to befriend a monkey.  In fact, there were no monkeys at all to speak of, and the thought of "let's blow this taco stand" flashed through my mind, but I utilized two seconds of patience and it was obvious that this was a really cool village and that we were going to have a great time. Before we could even settle into our exquisite budget accommodations, the sky opened up and unleashed a barrage of rain, which believe it or not, was a refreshing change after a week of nothing but beautiful sunshine in Roatan. We found a cool bar and ordered up a couple of Salva Vida beers and watched the cobblestone street outside turn into a raging river.  Then, a huge crack of lightning and the power went out!...shocker, right?  - now we sipped our beers by candle light and listened to the music of the rain roaring down on the tin roof.  You know, it's kinda weird when in the present moment, you are acutely aware that you're making a memory that will be with you forever.  Very cool. The next day we set out for the 20 minute walk to the ruins, and although there were large macaws squawking near the entrance, there were no monkeys, very few hanging vines, and nothing that resembled the Lost Ark of the Covenant.  In fact, the area around the ruins resembled a manicured football pitch much more than the grimy confines of the Temple of Doom, but it was interesting hiking around and imagining how the Maya lived. After a few hours of intense archeology, we headed back to the village for a late lunch and noticed a bunch of guys erecting a small movie screen in a cordoned off section of a cobblestone street.  It just happened to be a World Cup Soccer qualifying match between Honduras and Mexico!  Awesome!  We returned later and watched the game with all of the locals, who went absolutely berserk when Honduras went up 1-0 in the first half.  Mexico eventually came back to win 2-1 in the final seconds of the game, but what a cool experience! Next stop - Tikal ruins in Guatemala!  But there's 300 miles of questionable terrain and another formidable border crossing between us and our next opportunity to discover the Lost Ark, fight the bad guys, and return rich and victorious to the USA.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessandmalin/1/1218458940/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessandmalin/1/1218458940/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessandmalin/1/1218458940/tpod.html Wed, 15 Oct 2008 11:58:51 -0400 Our call to Adventure; Los Angeles to Panama or BUST!

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Ometepe Island, Nicaragua

After spending over two days in beautiful but rainy Arenal it was time to jump on the bike and keep heading north. Costa Rica is such a colorful country to ride through so both Jess and I enjoyed it even though it was raining/misting intermittently the whole day. We made an effort to get up early since we had one border crossing and then a ferry to catch at 3pm.  The border crossing was fine. As long as you are patient and remember that it will take the time it takes, it is not that bad. It's easier as well since we've now been there before and kind of know where to go and what to do.  Also I have the better end of the deal here because everyone wants to come up and talk to me about the bike so I'm not as bored or busy as Jess tends to be at these crossings.  We only had a short ride from the border to the little port town of San Jorge where we were catching the ferry to Ometepe in the middle of Lake Nicaragua (just like the old man from Niely suggested!) The ferry was tiny, but fast, so we were on the island in about an hour from departing the mainland.   OK,  so from afar this island looks a little bit like "The Island" ( you Lost fans out there know what I'm taking about!) There are two volcanoes towering over emerald green jungle and strange animals running around everywhere...the volcanoes grew so large that they connected with each other along a narrow isthmus. Well...the animals are not that strange..mostly pigs, chickens, cows, and of course dogs. No polar bears or black smoke monsters but still!!  People are poorer here, most houses are made out of wooden planks and black plastic sheets, they walk or travel by horse/donkeys most of the time. The road to our hotel was a really cool dirt/mud road and as soon as we got there we saw what we have been waiting for this whole trip...yes, monkeys!!!! Finally!!!  There were four monkeys outside of our hotel including a baby one that was super squirrelly and whose mother needed to reprimand often!  This hotel is a little gem, we have our own cool bungalow equipped with a fridge and a hammock...what else do you need??  We spent today riding around the island checking out the locals as well as the flora and fauna. We found an "ojo de agua" on the way where we soaked up the sun and relaxed for a bit! I am so glad we took the old man's advice and went here...it has been a great little side trip for us.   Ok, Jess here....the ojo de agua is a volcanic mineral spring that the guy at the gate told us was the only fountain of youth in the world, and that it would make us feel 30 years younger.  He was so convincing that it made me a bit worried...if his sales pitch held out, that would make me a 5 year old stuck with puny 1 year old for a wife!!!...I was hoping he was exaggerating...there's no way a kindergartner could navigate the Panama Prowler (the bike, submitted via blog comment previously by gschowe) back to Los Estados Unidos safely...anyhow, the place was wonderful...I packed a bunch of mud on my trench-foot feet and hoped for a better aroma in the days to come (for Malin's sake). Yesterday, I'm sad to say, we had our first run in with an animal...at about 30 miles an hour, a small boy on a tiny donkey and his dog were walking along side the road, when his dog darted out in front of us...I slowed to about 25 miles an hour, but we nailed him...I felt him hit my boot and I wasn't sure if he caught anything else on the bike.  I pulled over and got off my bike and started walking to the small boy...the whole time thinking about my childhood dog (Bummer, yes, that was his real name)...by then I saw that the dog had stopped limping and for the most part looked fine...I approached the boy, about 5 years old on the donkey which looked to be about 6 months old, and asked him if his dog was okay.  He was so afraid of me, he didn't answer...I asked him again, and he looked at me and just said "Si".  I felt super bad, and I actually had a nightmare that night...wherever I went the small boy was there on his tiny donkey...watching me!  When I asked him what he was doing...he just said "Si"!   Anyhow, when I remounted the bike and started to ride off, the same damn dog darted out again!!!  We didn't hit him this time, but geez, not matter how used to it I get,  driving/riding down here is nuts!!! Anyhow, Nicaragua is a funny place...caught somewhere between the democratic and tourist friendly nation of Costa Rica, and the poorer war-torn states of Honduras and El Salvador, the latter of which is actually becoming an economic power-house in Central America.  Nonetheless, it's great to be here, full-knowing that our next trip (whenever that's going to be) to Central America probably won't include Nicaragua...for a short vacation, it would just be too much work...and that's the great thing about this adventure, we get to experience everything!  We just don't fly into Costa Rica and go zip-lining in the jungle canopy and fly home...we see/smell/feel every inch of the way from Ventura, California to the Panama Canal! 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessandmalin/1/1219939560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessandmalin/1/1219939560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessandmalin/1/1219939560/tpod.html Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:26:21 -0400 Our call to Adventure; Los Angeles to Panama or BUST!

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Copan, Honduras

What the heck???  I love technology, it´s supposed to love me back...right??  Well, it did love us for awhile but now it´s dead...I´m not sure if it´s the hard drive or the motherboard but it turns on for about a few seconds and then just hangs...it doesn´t even boot up....I hope it´s the motherboard so we won´t have an issue recovering data between our last online backup.  The good thing is that it´s still under the Lenovo warranty (they send a technician to your house to fix it) but I guess all of the bouncing around and vibration finally did it in...so we have no other choice than to go old school baby!!  So in our case, old school means that we´ll have to blog offline (yep, paper and pencil) and update the travel blog when we get home.  It also means that we´re without our GPS mapping software, so now I spend the evenings tracing maps onto paper and writing down travel notes, mileages, and the chronological order of the towns and villages that we have to connect through, and mounting this to the top of the tank bag so I can read it while on the road.  It´s actually kind of fun doing things the old fashioned way...no computers, no electronic maps, no cell phones, no communications...just us!!So what does this mean?   Well first off, no more blog entries until we get home...I know!!...boo!!  Secondly, we really won´t have much communication with the outside world until we cross the US border and turn on the cell phone.  So to be on the safe side, here´s our itineray for the rest of the trip.Aug 19 - Roatan Honduras to Copan Ruins, HondurasAug 21 - Copan Ruins, Honduras to Tikal Ruins, GuatemalaAug 23 - Tikal Ruins, Guatemala to Corozal, BelizeAug 24 - Corozal, Belize to Palenque Ruins, Chiapas, MexicoAug 26 - Palenque Ruins, Chiapas, Mexico to Xalapa,Veracruz, MexicoAug 27 - Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico to Guanajuato, MexicoAug 29 - Guanajuato, Mexico to Zacatecas, MexicoAug 31 - Zacatecas, Mexico to Durango, MexicoSep 01 - Durango, Mexico to Chihuahua, MexicoSep 02 - Chihuahua, Mexico to Tuscon, ArizonaSep 03 - Tuscon, Arizona to Ventura, CaliforniaSo if you know your geography, you know we have to become road warriors!!  And yes, we will upload our blog entries when we get home...sitting in this little internet cafe typing on a spanish keyboard is for the birds! Time to log off and go out and explore!!...see you all soon...Stateside!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessandmalin/1/1219549500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessandmalin/1/1219549500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessandmalin/1/1219549500/tpod.html Sun, 24 Aug 2008 00:22:15 -0400 Our call to Adventure; Los Angeles to Panama or BUST!

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Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras

OK, we're in the Caribbean! Loving the Bay Islands, more specifically  Roatan...a true paradise!...Pearl white beaches, turquoise water, dusty sand roads, coconut trees, English spoken with a Creole accent, dive boats everywhere, great snorkeling, Spanish music flowing out from speakers at restaurants build on stilts in the water...need I say more? We planned to stay on the island for a couple of days, but ended up spending a week here! It felt great not having to cross any borders to get to our destination today, however we did run into one somewhat unexpected problem.  At the ferry terminal they told us that the afternoon ferry crossing will be too rough and the captain won't take the bike until the next morning when the ocean is calmer. Jess tried to assure everyone including the captain that we'd taken the bike on two other ferries (much smaller boats) and that it will be fine but to no avail... for the first time we had to separate from the bike and I noticed Jess becoming weary and quiet...he was not happy but we did not really have a choice.  The ferry ride over was really ROUGH...holy! People were throwing-up left and right and the boat was going up these huge waves and then literally falling down....for 1 1/2 hours! I tried to walk to the back of the boat where it might be calmer and  I literally walked in air as the floor disappeared beneath me as the boat was going down a wave. I almost landed right in the lap of this poor Honduran lady who was asleep...I apologized as much as I could in Spanish and she smiled...I think she was just happy I did not throw-up on her!! Finally securely on land I think both Jess and I where thankful the bike was not on the boat but still a bit weary and wouldn't feel completely calm until the next morning when we could pick her up.  Our first night we had booked a hotel from a small travel kiosk on the mainland (our first reservation on this trip!!) since we were coming in after dark and thought we would have to ride around to find one. However the hotel wasn't great and we walked next door to another hotel for some food and drinks that evening. It turns out that the neighboring hotel was run by an very friendly Austrian expat named Addy, short for... Adolf!  Anyway, Addy runs this great place called Land's End in West End.  It is on a coral beach with a dock and he had made an artificial beach in front of his saltwater infinity pool for sun-bathing; to top it off they have 6 live deer (!) on the premises and a live band playing twice per week so we decided to move our stuff to Lands End for the rest of our stay!  Hell yeah!!!  Jess here, and now it's time for a little rest and relaxation!!  The ferry ride was a barf-a-palooza on the way over, and this is a very modern high-speed ferry but the captain just put the hammer down...he crosses the 30-mile channel to Roatan in exactly 90 minutes, regardless of the weather conditions!  I was actually pretty glad that the Asphalt Eater (the bike, submitted by jgraham!) would have to stay the night in impound on the mainland before joining us the next morning.  Oh, and by the way, for you  moto-adventurers out there, the bike is actually  tied down on the rear deck of the ferry...this boat is made for passengers, not vehicles!...and the round-trip cost per person is about 25 bucks, but for the bike it's $250!!!...ouch!Anyhow...we had a blast in Roatan...spending our days exploring the island (we ended up riding over 150 miles),  doing a photo-shoot that will hopefully become part of a magazine piece at some point, and literally just chilled out!  I think Malin fell in love with snorkeling around the reef and that became part of our morning ritual...wake up, wander out to the dock, and jump in!  It made breakfast taste that much better.  We even had a little time to catch some of the Olympics in a beach front bar, just in time to see Michael Phelps win his 8th gold medal!! I also need to get some kill stickers for Pet Cemetery (the bike), since I just added an iguana to the list containing a dog (survived) and snake (doubtful).  The iguana was huge, about 30 inches long and bright green...and those things are fast!!  He just ran out into the middle of the road...I think I primarily  ran over his tail, so I hope he'll survive.  On the bike maintenance front, I tried to install the new rear brake rotor (disc) I picked up in Costa Rica, but I was only able to remove 4 of the 5 bolts securing the old rotor before mutilating the 5th bolt (you BMW guys out there probably know that you can't get the proper angle with a standard T30 socket)...so I replaced the 4 bolts with a little Loctite, slapped a new set of brake pads on there and called it a day...if I need to replace the rotor down the road, I'll just pull into a shop where we can heat it up, add a little thread shock, and do it the proper way, but I think it'll make the journey back to the States.   So in a nutshell, Roatan is a place we will definitely come back too...probably to do a little scuba diving and get Malin certified...there are direct flights to the island from the States and the prices are reasonable...we just won't be on two wheels....boo!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessandmalin/1/1218636600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessandmalin/1/1218636600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessandmalin/1/1218636600/tpod.html Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:25:40 -0400 Our call to Adventure; Los Angeles to Panama or BUST!

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Comayagua, Honduras

We knew when we started today that we would have to put in a lot of miles and cross the border from Nicaragua into Honduras. We had planned to stay in the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa but from earlier experiences we figured that we would try and go through the capital city and stay further along in a smaller town called Comayagua.   Today turned out to be one of those difficult days that you almost rather forget. However there is always a good lesson to be learned in the end and today I feel we learned a lot.  The border crossing was not too bad. Of course the helpers lied several times trying to make us pay all kinds of bribes, but having experienced this before Jess was able to see straight through it and handled everything on his own. We did not have to pay a single bribe! I was proud to see him take control of the situation and use only Spanish in order to avoid contributing to the corrupt system that's been put in place at these crazy border crossings!  Once we were done with the 2 hour border crossing it started pouring down rain but that's not a problem anymore, so we just put on the rain gear and rode off! In general, the way people drive here in Honduras is pretty crazy, and today was the worst of all. We saw a bus pass a huge 18 wheeler truck in a blind curve just when another bus came in the opposite lane! They passed 3 across and the oncoming bus had to steer off the road just to fit and not crash right into that passing bus...we were also in a few dangerous situations while riding through Tegucigalpa that I wish I never experienced. I got so angry and scared it was hard to stop thinking about it for a long time... Anyway..Jess will fill you in on more of the details but we ended up reaching our destination and took some time to process what we experienced today and what we learned from it. However we need to have these days as well in order to appreciate the many good things that have come our way and the fact that nothing really bad actually happened.  It could of, but it didn't... Yep!!!  Jess here, and today was another one of those days that ABSOLUTELY SUCKED!!!  Getting out of Grenada was great and we were on the road early and heading toward the border when I got stopped for speeding again!!!  I was doing 60 mph following a local car, but the cop said that it was a school zone and that I had to surrender my license to him, ride up the road about 10 miles to the local bank and pay the equivalent of $75 for the fine...then return to him with the receipt and he'd return my license. First off, I've seen radar guns in use in Panama (I got two speeding tickets there) and Costa Rica, but not in Nicaragua!!  Anyhow, I handed over my AAA International license (cost me $15) and sped off...that cop can keep it as a souvenir from us to him...I've got my real California license plus another expired license that I can use in the next such situation.  So that's 3 speeding tickets so far and all they've cost me is the price of my cheapie AAA license!   I kind of felt like growing up in Ventucky has paid off...and I mumbled "them Dukes...them Dukes" as we sped outa sight....bullet number 1 for the day...dodged! Okay, now we have to get out of Nicaragua (without the license I used when I came into the country), get into Honduras, and then get through the traffic of the capital city and find some place to hole-up for the night before pushing north to the Caribbean coast. Well getting out of Nicaragua was a breeze...the customs officials didn't ask for my license and pretty much just stamped our paperwork and waived us through...now time for Honduras...and yes, again, they tried to rip us off!!...but no, no... that wasn't going to happen today...not to us!!  I felt like Michael Douglas in the movie Falling Down...I was ABSOLUTELY NOT  going to take any crap from any man, woman, or child today!!  I was going to get my beloved wife, our bike, and all of our crap across this god-forsaken border crossing come hell or high-water, and I wasn't sure what sort of William Wallace-like hell I was prepared to unleash, but all I knew for certain was that Malin and I were going to the Caribbean and we were going to have ourselves a rocky-mountain goodtime when we got there (although non-existent in these parts, that's a reference to Coors Light beer which flows freely as tap water in Ventucky). The corrupt border helpers ended up throwing every lie in the book at us...we needed to buy insurance for Honduras for $20 (false, only for Nicaragua and Costa Rica)....the customs boss was eating lunch and would have to be bribed in order to stop eating and process us through...(false, I barged my way through the employee-only entrance door and spoke to the boss myself)...and finally, without the original copy of my title/pink slip, we could not cross into Honduras, no exceptions!...this last one was the hardest to overcome...I have a color-copy of the title, but I told the officials that we (Americans) keep the original title in a safe place like a safety-deposit box and that the original registration document will suffice...they said no way, and told me that we would have to return to Nicaragua.  That was unacceptable and was not going to happen...not today. I then took out an American quarter and did my best to "emboss" an official looking seal on the color copy of the title by pressing the quarter into it and went back to the boss to plead my case...I guess they liked my ingenuity because they accepted it!...but only after I showed them in my passport where two-weeks earlier the same documentation was permissible for entry into Honduras on the way down.   Hell yeah!!!  We did it!!!  I was stoked!, but then the border helpers said that I owed the boss $100 for accepting my documentation without an original title...and that I had to pay them and they would pay the boss...I looked at them and told them first in English and then in Spanish, that they would make more money if they were honest and quit lying to people, and that it's not good for them nor for the image of Honduras.  I dealt with the boss directly, and she was cool and professional...these rats had no idea what they were talking about...case closed. Just then, the clouds opened up and dumped on us,  but we could care less...after the day we've had so far, a little rain wasn't going to stop us...bye-bye border...bullet number 2....dodged! The capital city was about 40 minutes from the border and the traffic was hellacious!  A car came into our lane and pinned us between the cement curb median and the main part of the road...so we were basically riding on the 10 inch cement apron next to the curb, but there was 3 inch high asphalt ridge to get back up to the road, and it took three attempts to swerve the bike hard enough to make it up that little ridge, all the while doing about 35 mph and having the undercarriage of the bike scraping on the cement curb.  This was a little wake up call to what I have to say is the worst road-manners we've seen anywhere on our trip...yes there is aggressive driving in all of the countries down here, that's just how it works and it fits my riding style just fine, but it seems that maneuvers in Honduras are a little less thought-through ...we actually saw two painters carrying their ladder on their shoulders running across the 4-lane freeway ...the car in front of us slammed on its brakes and started a chain reaction...it was like a scene from the Three Stooges....seriously!!....anyhow, bullet number 3 for the day....dodged!! Okay, we're through the capital city and up into the foothills,  about 40 minutes away from our destination.  The sun is fading and so are we, when all of a sudden a feel a little brush on my leg....I look in my mirror and see something white tumbling behind us...I asked Malin...what the hell was that??  She said she don't know...I then looked down at the tank bag and the zipper was open!!...that white thing tumbling behind us was a gallon-size Ziploc bag with our passports, visas, and customs documentation!!!  Holy crap!!  I pull over about a half-mile down the road to do a u-turn, but I have to wait for about 10 semi-trucks to pass us that are heading straight for our paperwork!!!  I was sure that if we ever found it that it would be totally shredded and useless...and we'd have to return to the capital city that nearly killed us and spend a week or more at the US and Swedish consulates getting our paperwork re-issued...literally, I pictured our entire Central American adventure grinding to a halt..just then, on the shoulder of the road, I saw our documentation, totally unscathed!!  Hmm...what if I never felt that brush on my leg?....never mind, bullet number 4 for the day...dodged! Finally we pull into a sterile looking Honduran hotel across the street from Pizza Hut, Burger King, KFC, Dunkin' Donuts, and Baskin Robbins...how's that for a little culture?  I passed up those fine establishments and headed to a place aptly named "The Beer Store"...the guy staring back at me through the rebar-grated window looked more happy to see me than I was to see him!!  Must have been the bike and my angel sitting on the back....anyhow, I ordered some Salva Vida (the Honduran national beer) to go, and Malin and I discussed the events of our day over a couple of cold beers....we were both exhausted...but acknowledged the fact that today we were lucky, that we are on an evolving journey and need to keep improving our adventure skills, but most importantly, we are thankful for each other and the angels hovering above us.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessandmalin/1/1218547980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessandmalin/1/1218547980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessandmalin/1/1218547980/tpod.html Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:08:30 -0400 Our call to Adventure; Los Angeles to Panama or BUST!

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Granada, Nicaragua

The morning ferry from Ometepe back to the Nicaraguan mainland was smooth  and it is a little surprising how well organized everything is.  We got on the road and headed for Granada which is the second colonial city in Nicaragua and it is supposed to be a little more built-up than Leon.  Unfortunately we only had one night and no rest days to spend in Granada but we were able to find a great cheap hotel close to the city center.  It did not have parking so the owner let Jess ride the bike into the "living room" and park it inside!! It worked out perfectly! Granada is a beautiful city with great restaurants, cafes, and bars. It has one of the most quaint zocalos we've been to with plenty of trees creating this calm shady space for people to spend time together, relaxing over good conversation and an ice cream. We found a small stall that sold the Grenadian specialty - fried pork rinds with yucca and cabbage, served cold...I didn't eat the pork but I loved the rest of the dish.  Jess of course ate the whole thing and half of mine!  In the evening, we went to a Spanish restaurant for dinner where I had one of the best meals on this trip. It was grilled salmon with a type of Swiss cheese on top! Two of my favorite things combined! Couldn't be better.  Again, I found myself wishing for more time in this city but at the same time feeling thankful for being able to experience it at all.  Hey Jess here...believe it not, Nicaragua kind of rocks!  Mix a little colonial charm of Grenada and Leon in with the volcanic island getaway of Ometepe...bind it all together with some of the cheapest prices anywhere,  and you've got yourself one kick-ass Ebenezer Scrooge good-time! Granada is great!...of course, as Malin mentioned, my favorite parts of this adventure are usually motorcycle related, and today was no different!  The owner of the hotel insisted I park the "Ménage à McKinley" (the bike...submitted by gschowe!) in the spotless foyer of the hotel, right on the zebra skin rug!!  Nothing but first-class accommodations for our steed!  Now all of the other hotel guests would be forced to admire her dirt-covered beauty as part of their holiday as well!...I love spreading the cheer! Anyhow, there were two curbs to negotiate the beast up before plopping her into the hotel, but the bell-boy ran and got a couple of plastic Pepsi crates that would help out...it was a breeze...I think Malin got some photos and video as well. Like a commercial trucker, logistics and the limitations of the human body prevent me from riding  the motorcycle 24 hours a day, so in between rides there are mandatory stops that we must do that generally consist of site-seeing, eating, drinking, sleeping, and absorbing the local culture...Granada proved to be a great place to unsaddle for a night and as Malin mentioned...the food was great!...although I don't think that pork-skin salads are going to be making their way to California anytime soon! Tomorrow we try our luck crossing into Honduras for a second time...we'll be crossing at a different point so I hope it goes a lot better, but I'm preparing myself for the worst.  Once across the border,  we have to navigate our way to the snarling capital city of Tegucigalpa, which has generally been described as "a hole" by other travelers we've met.  Our end goal is to get up to the Caribbean coast of Honduras and ferry the three of us over to the Bay Island of Roatan to enjoy a little more island life and introduce the BMW to the  Caribbean side of things...but we're not going anywhere until we get across the Honduran border.  
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessandmalin/1/1218239820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessandmalin/1/1218239820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessandmalin/1/1218239820/tpod.html Mon, 11 Aug 2008 21:20:50 -0400 Our call to Adventure; Los Angeles to Panama or BUST!

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La Fortuna, Costa Rica

Ok...Jess here, and yes, laying eyes on the Panama Canal was a dream come true...it was hard to fathom that a year-and-half ago this was just another half-baked hair-brained scheme, and it's not about the canal per se (we've all seen massive man-made structures like the Golden Gate Bridge or the Panama Canal)...it's the simple fact that we were able to journey our way there, together, on our motorcycle...and after 7 weeks and finally breaking through the shroud of the unknown, it's become a reality!  You learn that once you're accustomed to the Way of the Road, you can go anywhere, anytime, through just about any conditions...your patience and appetite for adventure are the only limiting factors (oh yeah, and dinero, but that's more of an exercise of correct prioritization, even if you work at Burger Barn). So that said, we bee-lined it back north (or west actually) to Costa Rica, and yep, I got a second speeding ticket on the way back through Panama!!  I'll file that one with the other one.  Now we were actually backtracking through known territory for the first time in 7 weeks, so we knew that we could cross the border into Costa Rica in the evening, and there was a nice little border town called Villa Niely on the Costa Rican side where we could stay the night.   When we got to our little hotel in Neily, it was typical Central American style accommodations...the place was new and beautiful, but at the same time - totally half-assed!!  For 25 bucks our room had a huge Jacuzzi tub, but no hot water, the electric shower head exploded (literally into 5 different pieces) when we turned on the shower, and the sink faucet would not turn off, so we had reach under the sink and turn it off by twisting the main valve!  We ended up having to take cold sponge baths in the Jacuzzi that night!  And this place is brand new!!...it was like the builders got 95% of the way there, and then went on permanent siesta!   Anyhow, Malin and I thought it was pretty amusing and we didn't have the heart to tell the owners about our experiences...even the humungous spider I had to kill (it wouldn't die, similar to my Hermosa Beach rat jihad).  The owners were vey proud of their place and were super cool to boot...we spent the evening with them sharing stories over beers.  The father of the owner kept urging us to go to this volcanic island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua called Ometepe...supposedly there are earthquakes there every day...hmmm, sounds somewhat dangerous...right up our alley! In the morning, I rode into town and purchased a new H7 halogen bulb for the headlight that had burned out a couple of days earlier, and everyone at the auto shop was enamored by the bike!  I had to answer the question of how much it cost and how fast does it go about 5 times, but they were super helpful, and when I left,  I did a stand-up wheelie for them...when the front wheel touched down I turned around to wave goodbye and they all had their hands in the air like it was the Costa Rican Cinco de Mayo! Ok, next stop: Vulcan Arenal in Costa Rica, a super active volcano and hot springs that we had passed up on the way down, but once we got some intelligence that the roads were passable, we  decided to hit it on the way back...it's awesome here!!   Even though we're only at 500 feet, it's a totally misty cloud forest and the volcano rises to 3000 feet above us into the mist, but when the clouds clear, you can see the cone spewing out hot lava and big rocks that come tumbling down!  Our best viewing session was catalyzed by a 3am pee break I took...I just happened to glance out of the window of our hotel and saw the whole thing in action!!  Of course I woke up Malin...and although she wasn't as enthused as I was (given the time and circumstances) she thought it was cool too.  Yes, Malin here...we had been waiting to see the volcano for about a day and a half but we were completely socked in with fog and rain for most of the time! However once Jess woke me up the view of the lava just shooting out of the crater against the black night sky was a pretty awesome sight! Definitely worth the wait!! The next day we booked  a jungle adventure trip to go zip-lining through the canopy and check out crocodiles, butterflies, leaf-cutter ants, turtles, and all that other good stuff  you see on the National Geographic channel. We had so much fun doing the zip-lining t,  I haven't laughed that much in a long time. We went down 15 zip-lines with amazing views and heights! Some of them were about 200 feet up in the air and 5 football fields long!! Jess of course was showing off doing one zip-line like superman with the help of one of the guides, as well as hanging upside down on another line...anyway we had a blast!!   OK, Jess here again...After booking our trip for the next day, the real excitement of the day unfolded when it was time to go into town and change the oil on the Panama Pulverizer! (the bike, compliments of Trich via blog comment!).   I bought 5 quarts of Castrol Syntec 20w-50 (partially synthetic, it's hard to find the full synthetic Mobil 1 15w-50 I normally use down here) from a Chinese-owned auto parts store in Panama, and I've been carrying a spare BMW filter and crush washers with me this entire time.  The oil capacity is 4L, which is a little more than 4 quarts,...the left over will be for the occasional top-off.  I found a gas station in La Fortuna and told the guy in Spanish that I needed to change my oil...he looked at the bike and told me it was impossible!...but once I told him I had my own tools and oil and only needed a little garage space, he was more than accommodating.  It was great!  Thirty minutes later we were done!  Usually I would pull the valve covers and adjust the rocker-arm and valve clearances, inspect spark plugs, and change the final drive fluid, but the Pan-American Pebble Pounder (the bike (or Malin), submitted via blog comment by marachuck!) is running great so I think an oil change will suffice until we get back stateside.  It was so much fun...I forget how much I love to wrench on stuff!!...and it feels good to give a little tender loving care to the vehicle that provides us with so many smiles!     
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessandmalin/1/1217851200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessandmalin/1/1217851200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessandmalin/1/1217851200/tpod.html Tue, 05 Aug 2008 08:38:04 -0400 Our call to Adventure; Los Angeles to Panama or BUST!

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Panama, Panama

OK... it is almost surreal that we reached our turnaround point today!! We have literally planned this for over a year and exhausted every scenario that could occur in which we would not be able to make it here...tropical storms, hurricanes, mudslides, injuries, bike  breaking down etc . I think you get the picture! But we have been so lucky and everything has just been great! OK our gear is damp, mildewed and we are pretty STINKY after a day on the bike, but we are here and nothing major has gone wrong (knock on wood!)...and we've visited beautiful places and meet amazing people along the way as well! Riding over the Puente de las  Americas was a breath taking moment and when we saw the high-rise skyscrapers of Panama City we started celebrating in the helmets! Wow, we were able to ride over that bridge overlooking the Caribbean Ocean on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other! Mind-blowing really!  I love Panama City! It is such a vibrant but divided city. It has tons of 30-story high-rises on one side of  town and poor projects on the other. There is a huge American influence here, you can even see it in the architecture. It's interesting, apparently this whole city caters to American and European investment and retirees  who want to move over here.   We "rented" a taxi for the day and our cabdriver took us all over town, we were able to see so much and I am so grateful for the opportunity. We saw everything from the amazing Panama Canal to the extremely poor projects, the colonial old town and the more commercialized restaurant areas. Seeing the Panama canal and watching two HUGE ships go though the locks were an unforgettable experience. The Panamanian government has really put money into making it a tourist attraction but it's great. We learned a lot about the construction of the canal through the movies they showed, as well as  through their 4 story museum!!  Ok, Jess here...and all I can say is...Heeeeaaalll Yeah!  We made it!!  Was there ever a doubt???..uhh...yeah, big time...the Road of Bones for example, washouts, mudslides, accidents, chickens, cows, goats, our experiences in Culiacan, and food poisoning in Playa Azul...but nevertheless, we made it here!, safe and sound.  And yeah, it was pretty amazing seeing Hong Kong-like buildings and infrastructure that we haven't seen in the past 6000 miles!  And of course, I know all about Panama, I learned about it in the 5th grade, and then I listened to Van Halen's "Panama" song quite a bit...what else is there to know??...right?Well, the roads from the border to Panama city are great, a refreshing change from Costa Rica, so much so...I got a speeding ticket!! The motorcycle cop was hidden in the bushes with a radar gun (common technique used in Hazard County) and jumped out into the middle of the road with his hands in the air, waving me down.  I though to myself, great, we're going to have to bribe the guy on the spot or he's going to take my license away...so I  decided to play hardball a bit, pretending I spoke no Spanish and asking the cop for his name and badge number before I handed over my license...he got pretty pissed off and demanded my license...I gave him my AAA Int'l cheapie license, and then he showed me his name tag. As he wrote up my speeding ticket, I walked over to his bike and wrote down the license plate number and scribbled some other stuff down, as if I were writing him a ticket!...Malin was sitting on the back of my bike and thought that I was being an idiot (she's usually right). Anyhow, he gave me back my license, gave me the ticket and told me to get out of there...I asked where do I pay the ticket, and he just told me to leave and started pointing his radar gun at other cars....so I guess I have nice free souvenir now!!Ok, crossing the bridge was pretty emotional...first off, it was like, hell  yeah!!!..we made it!...but before we were completely  over the bridge, the next emotion set in, and it was...oh crap!!!...we're a long way from Kansas, aren't we Todo (Malin)??!!!...and now we have to come back home!  It was almost an amnesia-type experience where our past 7 weeks didn't matter...now our new mission, if we choose to accept it, is to get back home!!!...ooooh, country road, West Virginia, Mountain Mama, take us home, where we belong!!! I'm going to keep this part short, but Malin and I have been fortunate enough to have lived and traveled the globe quite a bit (albeit by airplane, and laterally, i.e. Europe), but  I've always wondered what lies beneath us??...my few jaunts into Baja always required a fairly quick return...but now we finally have had the unbridled opportunity to continue to venture south...to really find out what lies beneath us...and after all of the miles and 150+ hours of time on the Moto de las Americas (the bike), I can say that we truly KNOW what lies beneath...and it's all beautiful!! Also I'd like to say that we appreciate all of your comments!!!  We read each and every one and given unlimited (yeah right) internet access, we would respond to each one as well...but we can't, but we love 'em!  I know we're only half way through our adventure, but we've proved a lot to ourselves over the course of events thus far, and the three of us...Malin, me, and the Dream Machine, are doing just fine.  I almost feel like, what the hell, why are we turning around here?...what about Antarctica??...I'm sure there's some great riding opportunities there.... right?...are you guys with me on this???...can I get some love here!!!??  Anyhow, it's way past our bedtime,...but thank you all, God bless, and tomorrow, we begin our journey back towards home... and back to you guys!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessandmalin/1/1217505720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessandmalin/1/1217505720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessandmalin/1/1217505720/tpod.html Tue, 05 Aug 2008 00:48:40 -0400 Our call to Adventure; Los Angeles to Panama or BUST!

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Playas del Coco, Province of Guanacaste, Costa Rica

Costa Rica - here we come! I've heard so many great things about Costa Rica and I could not wait to get there.  Also, today is also our 3 year anniversary so Jess had done some research online and found a beautiful resort called Hotel Ocotal near Playa Del Coco for a little luxury and respite!  But wait...we still have Nicaraguan roads (worst so far), the border crossing (the one that takes the longest from what we've heard) and the Nicaraguan police checkpoints (also the most corrupt from what we've heard)... yes there were a few things that stood in between us and paradise this morning! The roads are pretty bad here (in Nicaragua) and I am so glad we are on a motorcycle and not in a car! About every 60 feet the asphalt disappears and you are riding on dirt, mud and HUGE potholes, then asphalt for 60 feet and then the dirt and mud again. There is no centralized infrastructure, instead the people living in the villages by this road are out sweeping it and trying to stuff the potholes with sand or gravel but they don't have the right material or any tools for that matter. I guess they are doing what they can with what they have! The police checkpoints were fine and the Nicaraguan police were the friendliest and the most respectful so far (believe or not!). Everyone shook Jess' hand and introduced themselves before asking for our papers etc. That has NOT happened in any other country. The border crossing took a long time but I had a good time talking to all the truckers who were also waiting to cross into Costa Rica. They were mesmerized by the bike and I actually spoke to this one guy for almost 40 minutes, it was good practice for my poor Spanish!  Jess had a worse time just standing in line but I'll let him tell you about it... So finally we are in Costa Rica!!  After riding for about an hour we rode into the first storm we've seen since arriving in Antigua, but we know this drill by now so we stopped to put on rain gear and continued until we reached our destination...happiness! This place is like a dream!  We had a delicious three-course dinner at the resort for our anniversary and it felt great to be pampered a little bit. We spent the next morning (or all day actually) by the pool hanging out with this really cool couple from Temecula, California. They were there on their anniversary/yearly vacation and gave us some great intel about Vulcan Arenal and the hot springs surrounding it...now we have to change our plans and make that one of our destinations on the way back! Hey, Jess here...Costa Rica...wow...the border crossing was organized but took nearly three hours, and yes we got fumigated for crotch-crickets (see the pictures)...it was just me and the truckers,  hanging out...mano y mano...you know, good guy-stuff.  Anyhow, Costa Rica is obviously a very prosperous country in these parts...no chicken buses, lots of private cars, banks, mini-malls, gas-stations...all of the stuff that beautiful Bakersfield has, but for us, it just seems like a dream!! On the bad side, they should invest some of their prosperity into their roads...lots of traffic and pretty poor road conditions.  Anyhow, the resort was amazing, and we the wait-staff loved us because we were the only non-rich folks who were there...and we didn't fly, we rode from California!  They thought it was awesome and kept asking us a million questions...it was fun...and there were creatures everywhere!!!...I love reptiles!!! Bleep is back too and we've missed him! Okay, so after a little respite, we had to get our butts to San Jose to pick up a new rear brake rotor and some brake pads.  The weather took a turn for the worse, and we were riding through a total downpour, when in my mirror, I see another BMW GS 1200 splitting lanes right behind us!!!  How cool!!!  I tuck in behind a big truck and wait for him to pull up beside me...he flips up his helmet, say his name is Jonas, and asks where we're going...I tell him we're going to Panama, but not until we stop into the BMW shop in San Jose...he says, follow me, I'll take you there!! Hell yeah!! Now we have a fellow GS'er taking us to the shop...and what a wild ride it was!!...splitting lanes, riding the shoulder, I think he forgot I was 2-up with all of the gear!  But it was funny, I saw him get squirrely a couple of times and we never did...and we were always right on his back wheel...I think there was some mutual respect for one another when we finally got to the shop. The guys at the BMW shop were awesome...we showed up, decked out head-to-toe in our BMW gear, bearded, and smelling like bums...just like moto-adventurers should be!  They were stoked, gave us a ton of advice, and $520 later, we left with all of the parts we needed (I scaled down my initial order). Costa Rica is beautiful, built-up, and it's obvious why this is an international tourist destination...and it felt really safe...we need to do a little bit more digging around here on our way back...but in the meantime, we're on a mission...the Canal is beckoning...the bridge between North and South America...I can't stop thinking about it.  
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessandmalin/1/1217332800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessandmalin/1/1217332800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessandmalin/1/1217332800/tpod.html Mon, 04 Aug 2008 21:11:03 -0400 Our call to Adventure; Los Angeles to Panama or BUST!

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Leon, Nicaragua

We were pretty happy to leave Honduras for now but I am looking forward to coming back and experiencing what&nbsp; this country really has to offer! We were not able to experience it on the way down since the stay is so short and it's more of a necessary stop for entering Nicaragua.&nbsp; We got up early and got lost for a little bit before heading towards the border...as usual!!&nbsp; It's pretty crazy to do 3 border crossings in 3 days, and after yesterday it can't be much worse so we just have to buckle down and see what's in store for us when we get there!&nbsp;OK, we made it through the crossing to Nicaragua and it actually turned out to be a pretty good experience; it took a long time but there were no people haggling or making us feel as if we needed to give money away left and right. &nbsp;So now we're in Nicaragua!...it's even stranger than being in El Salvador!! I never thought I would ever visit Nicaragua...but now we're here and it's pretty great. We are going to stay in Leon for two nights, it is one of the two biggest colonial cities here.&nbsp; Nicaragua is the poorest of the countries in Central America and it is evident. Nothing is built up and there doesn't seem to be much of an infrastructure in place either.&nbsp; &nbsp;Leon is an old colonial town with a huge cathedral and a <i>zocalo like most of the other cities we've stayed in, however this city looks more run down and there are almost no restaurants or services . We walked around the city a little bit and enjoyed some local food for lunch.&nbsp; Here they put cabbage on everything!&nbsp; Yeah for sauerkraut! &nbsp;In general though it was actually a little&nbsp; difficult to find restaurants at night to have dinner,&nbsp; this has been the least of our problems so far!! It is difficult to get what you want here ( they just don't have a lot)...which is fine but very different from the other countries we've been in so far. The streets do not have any streetlights or grates over their sewers, which leaves&nbsp; holes about 4 feet deep!! It&nbsp; was the first time I felt a bit nervous being out at night,&nbsp; but of course there was nothing to worry about and we did not fall down any sewers!&nbsp;There was a Korean-American church group staying at our hotel and I was so amazed at what they were doing (it's the social worker in me!) They had brought with them boxes and boxes of books, paper, coloring books,&nbsp; glitter, beads, crayons, and toys..anything you can imagine kids enjoying! They were visiting the schools in the poorest areas close to Leon distributing everything they brought. I loved it!!!&nbsp; It did touch the social work spirit in me and made me think of what I can do to help some of the causes in this area. However,&nbsp; that will have to wait until I get back to the US. I already made some connections in San Cristobal, Mexico so we'll see how that pans out!&nbsp;Ok, Jess here...Malin captured the feeling pretty well, but for me, I imagine this is how Cuba must be (I've never been there), but it's obvious this is a post-oppressive regime country...it must have had it's moments of brilliance, but it's very poor now...even in Leon, one of the major cities, there are ox-carts used for construction projects, street cleaners use "witch-brooms" made from sticks tied to a broom handle, and there is really no infrastructure to speak of.&nbsp; I'm sure that Managua, the capital is more like a real city, but Leon is definitely&nbsp; a time-warp like nothing I've ever experienced.&nbsp;The roads are pretty crappy, but the bike handles them without a problem...the funny thing is that like in El Salvador, we are the spectacle of the town! ...with some sort of motorcycle that looks like it should have a NASA insignia on it, and with a girl (Malin) dressed in full cosmonaut-biker gear!&nbsp; Women here just don't do that kind of thing...let alone her red-bearded husband...he must be some sort of moto-pirate!&nbsp; So yes, we feel like we're a zoo-exhibit, but we're getting used to it...and they don't mean to be rude or anything...actually, it's our fault, we're the weird ones here!!!
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