The day started in a cabin on the lake. It looked more like the Louisiana Bayou than what it was, a large fresh water lake in Guatemala.
I had a full breakfast this morning, first one since departing for the trip. I have been suffering from a case of Montezuma's Revenge, which ironically enough, I picked up in Mexico City, Montezuma's home before falling to the fate that Cortez handed him (apparently he still has a grudge with us gringos). I have lost allot of weight, went down two belt holes, and have since run out of them, so the timing could not have been better.
Crossed the Honduras border today. Time required to get myself across, 5 minutes. Time required to get my bike across, 2 hours, 55 minutes. Apparently the Honduras immigration office does not have the budget to obtain or operate a copier. My motorcycle processing time was evenly split between filling out paperwork and finding a copier in a neighboring town (for some reason they wanted 8 copies of my passport with my immigration stamp in it, which could only be done after entering the country). The first town I went to had one, but it was down. Two towns later, still no luck. Finally, some young guy took pity on me, and led me to his friends house, where he had a scanner and a printer (he was a tech shop operating out of his bedroom), So I had my copies, and I headed back to customs. The part of the story I left out was that I was not allowed to move the bike until I handed in this paperwork. Since I had the key in hand, the logical thing to do was to ignore what I considered "a suggestion," and take the bike on this mission to get copies, which is good, because it was almost 20 miles of running around. When I got back, I rolled in, walked over and handed in the paperwork; through a quick glance at each other, then the bike ... in a different parking space, the customs officer and I came to the unspoken agreement that we were not to speak of my indiscretion.
Three hours later I arrive at the GPS coordinate I had entered for the hotel, but no hotel. I stopped by the only business on the street, an engineering office, and asked if they knew where it was. They did not, but one of the engineers walked up and down the street with me for 20 minutes inquiring at people houses if they had seen the hotel. Sure enough we found it hidden behind an unmarked wall. Well of course, that only makes sense.
I will tell you something, what this country lacks in efficiency and common sense, they sure make up for with old fashioned hospitality. Everyone I met today was genuinely trying to help, whether it be an engineer, customs officer, friend of a techie, or gas station attendant. These people have just been so nice.
Trip Summary
This Leg: 128 miles
Total Distance Traveled: 3,792 miles
Border Crossings: 4
Countries: 5
I had a full breakfast this morning, first one since departing for the trip. I have been suffering from a case of Montezuma's Revenge, which ironically enough, I picked up in Mexico City, Montezuma's home before falling to the fate that Cortez handed him (apparently he still has a grudge with us gringos). I have lost allot of weight, went down two belt holes, and have since run out of them, so the timing could not have been better.
Crossed the Honduras border today. Time required to get myself across, 5 minutes. Time required to get my bike across, 2 hours, 55 minutes. Apparently the Honduras immigration office does not have the budget to obtain or operate a copier. My motorcycle processing time was evenly split between filling out paperwork and finding a copier in a neighboring town (for some reason they wanted 8 copies of my passport with my immigration stamp in it, which could only be done after entering the country). The first town I went to had one, but it was down. Two towns later, still no luck. Finally, some young guy took pity on me, and led me to his friends house, where he had a scanner and a printer (he was a tech shop operating out of his bedroom), So I had my copies, and I headed back to customs. The part of the story I left out was that I was not allowed to move the bike until I handed in this paperwork. Since I had the key in hand, the logical thing to do was to ignore what I considered "a suggestion," and take the bike on this mission to get copies, which is good, because it was almost 20 miles of running around. When I got back, I rolled in, walked over and handed in the paperwork; through a quick glance at each other, then the bike ... in a different parking space, the customs officer and I came to the unspoken agreement that we were not to speak of my indiscretion. Three hours later I arrive at the GPS coordinate I had entered for the hotel, but no hotel. I stopped by the only business on the street, an engineering office, and asked if they knew where it was. They did not, but one of the engineers walked up and down the street with me for 20 minutes inquiring at people houses if they had seen the hotel. Sure enough we found it hidden behind an unmarked wall. Well of course, that only makes sense.
I will tell you something, what this country lacks in efficiency and common sense, they sure make up for with old fashioned hospitality. Everyone I met today was genuinely trying to help, whether it be an engineer, customs officer, friend of a techie, or gas station attendant. These people have just been so nice.
Trip Summary
This Leg: 128 miles
Total Distance Traveled: 3,792 miles
Border Crossings: 4
Countries: 5
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