Days 54 to 57 - Honduras

I've been struggling lately to keep up on the blog. I must admit I've been procrastinating a little, as we stayed in a few cool places, where it was much easier to party or to just hang out in the evening, instead of sitting down in front of the notebook. On top of that, my broken keyboard is painfully slowing down the writing process. Fortunately, I will be able to sort this out in Panama City. Mihai's mom is flying in to Panama early January for a short vacation, and she will bring the spare part, which I have purchased on ebay and shipped to her place (thanks to Mrs. Michaela and PDubbs for the help).  

Laziness disclaimer: I've stolen some material (pics and text) from Josh, the American rider we have been travelling with for the past few days. He's writing a trip report as well, but on a motorcycle forum, and his stuff is a little more up to date than mine. Just like many of the assignments back in university, it was too tempting not to copy...partially at least :)

Day 54: Coban, GT to Copan, HON

Pretty diverisifed day of riding. We left Coban in the morning under light rain. The first half of the day was still enjoyable. The roads were entertaining, crossing through green mountains. Around mid-day, both the weather and landscape changed drastically. Within 30 minutes, we went from 20 to 30+ deg. C, and from green mountains to dried up plains. We got to the border around 3 PM. Crossing into Honduras was once again slow (took us 2.5 hrs), but not much of a hassle. So far our strategy was to avoid major border crossings, and it has been working out quite well. Once in Honduras, we rolled another short 8 km to a small town named Copan, and quickly found the Via Via hostel, which has been recommended to us by Andy, the British rider we hung out with in Coban.

Who would have thought that a dirty DR 650 can be a pussy magnet ;)

Day 55: Copan ruins, HON

On day 55, we did the short 1 km to the Copan mayan ruins, probably the biggest touristic attraction in Honduras. It was nice, but this is the fifth mayan site we have visited, and at this point it was beginning to be old news. However, the ruins in Copan are probably the ones with the most elaborate sculptures and details. We have also seen there some beautiful birds, the Macaws. The pictures don't to them justice, but they are quite large and truly spectacular. 

Day 56: Copan, HON to  Lake Yojoa, HON

We did a 200-something km loop around Lake Yojoa on that day, a ride that was recommended us by the owner of the Via Via hostel in Copan, who's a belgian expat and also a motorcyclist. The destination was the D&D Brewery, a small and hard to find microbrewery/hostel in the area. We had some great food and beers the previous day in a genuine german brewery in Copan, and the idea of another spot with quality beer was a logical choice for us for our next destination :)

Quoting Josh:

So I was sitting at D and D brewery and Hotel near Lake Yojoa trying to get a signal on my spot and in rolls the 2 canadian guys on DR650s that I meet briefly the night before in Copan. They unload and we have dinner. The funny part is that in our brief conversation the previous night neither I or them had planned to end up at D and D. Over dinner we decide to ride together tomorrow and head for Yuscarn

Explanatory Note: We briefely bumped into Josh in Copan the previous day (he was staying at another hostel), but at that time neither him or us had set our destination for the following day... We were actually thinking about heading to the coast, but changed our mind at the last minute the next morning. 

Day 57: Lake Yojoa, HON to Yuscaran, HON

We started off the day by looking for a good spot to take a few photos of the lake. We briefly stopped by a nice small hostel  with a great view and a couple of interesting vehicles on the property.

Retired 2 1/2 ton truck. I drove one of these in the Army back in the days.

I've retired from 4x4 off-roading, but I still have a soft spot for them. Highly modified Toyota Land Cruiser.

Lake Yojoa

Lake Yojoa

Lake Yojoa

Vintage Ford tractor in need of some TLC...

Josh and his BMW 800 GS

We rolled into Yuscaran in the evening, where we had planned to stay for the night.

Quoting Josh:

We pulled into the very small town and expected just a sleepy little mountain town. It was not! It was Saturday and some festival was going on with people everywhere! We has to drive right through the center of the action to get to the hotel. Our room was huge and had 3 beds. The hotel was a really nice cool place.

We dropped our gear and went off to join the party. Lots of food stands, kids running around and big fire works from a guy that should not be allowed to have matches!

There was also a lamp post with a bad ground. It was hours of entertainment for the kids and they showed us the game too. Hold on to each other and the post and metal fence and first person to break the chain because of the shock is the loser. The entire scene was an experience! We all had a great time and tried to go to sleep at a reasonable time to ride some dirt tomorrow but the town kept the music cranked until 4am. Central America likes stuff loud!!!!

Upstairs of our hotel. Very nice building.

Fiesta! Fireworks master at work!



View from upstairs in our hotel

 

Our room

A typical street in Yuscaran

Honduras

We're on our third day in Honduras. Just two pictures today. More to follow soon.

The first photo was taken by Ken, one of the two Canadian riders from Toronto we have ridden with for a few days in Mexico.

The second pic was taken by Josh, an American we met here, riding a BMW F800GS. Honduras is the only  country we have visited so far that has worse pot holes than the province of Quebec.

Days 52 and 53: Coban, GT

On day 52, we had initially planned to ride all the way south-west to Quetzaltenango, where I was supposed to take a week of Spanish classes. However, Andy, a British rider we had met at our hostel the day before, told us that it would take us much longer to get there than we initially thought. Since we wouldn't make it before sunset, and the road was not the safest neither, we changed our plan. That morning, Andy was going 65 km south to Coban, so we tagged along. 

The 65 km to Coban were some of the best riding we've done in the past two weeks: twisty roads, smooth pavement, and beautiful scenery. Andy brought us to a very cool hostel, and then we spent the rest of the afternoon looking for a fabrication shop, as Mihai and Andy needed to do some modifications on their bikes. 

Later that night, after a long discussion, we came to the conclusion that, due to time constraints, we will skip going to Quetzaltenango and Lake Attitlan, and that we will instead cross into Honduras on Wednesday, December 12th. Therefore, I will look into taking Spanish lessons in Nicaragua, where we are hoping to spend Xmas and New Year's.

We've spent most of the following day at the fabrication shop, where Mihai and I helped Andy in designing a new rear rack for his BMW.

Out with the old...

Andy and Mihai undressing the BMW

Fabrication begins... Plasma cutter in action.

Tube bending for the new rack. 

New design slowly taking shape.

Nicest rack I've seen so far on this trip  ;) 

Carlos, our fabricator. Very meticulous guy; he did a great job.

Andy also needed a new license plate, since the original broke a while ago. Conveniently, the same shop that did the welding also has an industrial vinyl printing machine... and a car wash..lol.

Printing the new number plate on vinyl, prior to laminating on a piece of plastic.

New vs.old.

For a few bucks, I got a plate welded to my side stand, for better stability on soft terrain.

Random Stuff:

Andy has been travelling and living in Central America for the past 2 years, but he's been wandering on his bike across the world for a few years altogether. He is still not done, and his estimate is that, by the time he finishes his trip, he would have been on the road for nearly 8 years! His BMW F650 Dakar presently has 135 000 miles on the odometer.

It is a small world. It turns out that Andy also had previously stayed with John and Lisa in San Diego (Facebook connection). John has described this encounter as a ''freeloader convention''..lol.

I will have to return to Guatemala, as once again I feel like I will miss out on a lot of interesting places. For anyone planning a similar trip: allow a full year to do the Americas. It is definitely the right way to do it. I can already see that we could have easily spent another 2 months in Central America alone.

Day 51: Semuc Champay, GT

The next day, we woke up late (it is a vacation, after all.. :), and around 1 PM we hopped on the bikes and went to check out Semuc Champay. It is a very nice place, but somehow similar to Agua Azul, which we had visited in Mexico.

El Retiro hostel in Lanquin - beautiful place. 

More of El Retiro

The cabana where we stayed at for 2 nights. 

It was an intense 30 mins hike to get to this view point. I'm officially out of shape... It  was a struggle.

Days 49 and 50: Raxruja, GT

We left Flores in the morning and rode South for 160 km to a village called Raxruja. In Mexico, someone very knowledgeable on Central America has recommended us this place, so we decided to check it out. It doesn't appear in any guides such as Lonely Planet or Le Guide du Routard, but it is a hidden gem and definitely worth seeing. 

The owner the local hotel Cancuen owns a large piece of land in Raxruja, which features a few large caves, as well as a 2 km underground river, which it is possible to descend on tubes. We booked a night at this hotel, and in the morning of day 50, we took off with our guide to check out the caves and the underground river. The place is spectacular, and I can definitely recommend it to anyone passing through the area.

Ferry on the road to Raxruja

On board of the ferry.

Mihai descending in a cave

May not look like it, but this was legit ;)

Enjoying the ride in the back of a pick up truck. 

We finished our tour around 3 PM, and we rode 60 km further south to Lanquin, GT.  Although the distance is quite small, it took us a few hours to cover it, as the road is mostly unpaved, in bad shape, and passes through many villages. Also, we got stuck for about an hour waiting on some road construction crews. Once again, we arrived at our destination after dark. Fortunately, we didn't have to look for accommodation, as someone had recommended us a nice hostel to stay at (El Retiro hostel). Lanquin is a small village, about 11 km from the main attraction in the area, the Semuc Champay waterfalls.