The (un)Easy Riders

By the time we reached Tehuacan in Mexico we had officially named ourselves the (un)Easy Riders because our saddle was slightly more comfortable than a side turned shovel. Something had to be done, as it was making us both very tired and taking a lot of enjoyment out of the day, so it got to a point where after the 1st 75Km in the morning the arse pain steadily increased during the day until we were in severe discomfort by evening time. We found a furniture upholsterer shop in Tehuacan (Tapiceria Anita) that who has now become known as the man who literally saved our arses!  And now thankfully we have 2 of the happiest asses in Latin America.

Quan vam arribar a Tehuacan a Mèxic vam canviar el nostre nom oficial a the (un)Easy Riders ja que el nostre seient de la moto es una miqueta mes confortable que seure’ns a sobre d’un rastrell en punta. Havíem de fer alguna cosa  ja que acabàvem baldats i ens treia el divertiment del dia. Vam arribar a un punt en que a partir dels primers 75Km del dia els nostres el dolor anava a mes fins que acabàvem molt adolorits al final del dia.  Vam trobar un tapisser al poble de Tehuacan (Tapiceria Anita) que des de llavors s’ha fet anomenar com l’home que literalment  ens va salvar els darreres! (nota pels catalans: emmm...,aquest petit acudit fa gràcia en anglès però perd tota la gràcia al traduir....sorry). I ara gràcies a deu tenim els culets mes feliços de tota l’Amèrica Llatina.

Before

Tapiceria Anita

The arse saver! /El tapicer!

After 

Ourselves and our contented bottoms headed south for Guatemala and before crossing we stopped for the night in a small sea side town called Puerto Arista. In the middle of that night fun started with rushing to the toilet and puking. We were both laid up the following day and managed to slow the download from the rear hatch until we made it to the lovely city of Antigua in Guatemala, where it all started again. Anyway, to cut the story short and to avoid more nasty details we ended losing about 6 days of travelling time in total while convalescing. 

Nosaltres i els nostres culets contents vam anar tirant cap sud cap a a frontera amb Guatemala però abans de creuar vam passar la nit a un petit poble de costa que es diu Puerto Arista. In a mitja nit va començar el show de les vomiteres i anades al WC. Tots dos vam estar KO el dia següent però vàrem poder parar la font fins que vam poder arribar a la bonica ciutat de Antigua a Guatemala, a on un dia desprès tot va començar de nou. Be, per fer la història més curta i no entrar en detalls desagradables vam acabar perdent 6 dies de viatge mentre ens recuperàvem. 

One thing we certainly noticed as soon as we crossed into Central America is that everybody either carries guns or machetes,in every business  big or small either the owner has a gun or there is a security guard with a shotgun or both. It took a bit of getting used to but we haven’t seen any crime anywhere so far in or travels. More than that we found the police to be very helpful ,we even got escorted out of the city of Esquintla in Guatemala by a cop on a trial bike who lost control of his bike and ran into the ditch in front of us due to nothing but speed, ha,ha,ha....we could not believe what we were seeing  until he managed to get back on the road again with half the countryside hanging of his footpegs (grass, earth, and various tropical fauna and flora,etc...)and when he pulled himself out of the ditch he gaves us a big laugh and the thumbs up. A pleasant change from your average cranky cop in ireland.

Una cosa que cal comentar es que des de que vàrem entrar a l’Amèrica Central tothom porta pistoles o ‘machetes’, a cada tenda petita o gran ja tan sigui l’amo com un porter de seguretat tots en porten. Ens va costar una mica d’acostumar-nos a tal fet però la veritat es que no hem vist gens de violència o assalts des de que som per aquí. Es més, fins i tot hem trobat que la policia en general son molt amables, fins i tot va haver un dia on un policia en una moto de motocross ens va escortar fins a la sortida de la ciutat de Esquintla a Guatemala, i el paio va acabar perdent el control de la moto en una corba i va anar a parar a la cuneta ja que anava bastant ràpid je,je,jeeee..., si no ho veiem no ens ho creiem, fins que va recuperar el control mentre encara en moviment va sortir de la cuneta amb mig camp penjant dels pedals de la moto (herba, terra, i d’altre flora i fauna tropical,etc...) ens va enviar un somriure i va aixecar el dit gros en senyal de OK. Bastant diferent del típic policia banyut a Irlanda.

Evel Knievel cop / El Policia Temerari

Eva with armed guy at petro pump / Eva i tiu amb fusell a gasolinera

More dangerous than the weapons were the landslides and heavy,heavy rain during our time in Guatemala. Some roads had been literally washed away and bridges totally removed by the water.  Big landslides and full size boulders filled the roads.

Mes perillós que les armes eren les esllavissades de terra i la forta, forta pluja mentre érem a Guatemala. Algunes carreteres van quedar totalment destruïdes i alguns ponts totalment arrancats per la força de l’aigua. Les carreteres anaven plenes de terra, fang i grans pedres.

Where did the road go?? / On ha anat a parar la carretera??

 Back in full health we motor on zipping through the Central american countries until we get to the border with Honduras yesterday, the most expensive horrible border crossing we had to deal with to date.  As Honduras being a a narrow country down south we decide to cross it in a few hours and try getting to the other side into Nicaragua that evening.   We were about 15Km to exit  Honduras when we hit a pothole about the size of Milltown, and ended up with a big bubble on the side of the front tire, to our luck it did not burst or damage the wheel, but  quite dangerous to keep driving wih it. Took it handy enough, crossed the border into Nicaragua (thankfully a lot more civilised border crosssing) and drove 90Km onto the town of Chinandega. Just to complete our ‘perfect day’ the skies opened up,and a big wall of water fell on us for about 20 minutes before our destination!!! The perfect end to the perfect day!!!! Today we spent most of the day trying to organise a tire being sent to anywhere near us, and as we speak we are going to meet with a local couple we met on the street who own a truck and might be bringing us and the bike over to the border with Costa Rica where a tire will be waiting for us sent by BMW Motorrad in San Jose de Costa Rica. Fingers crossed this will be the last of our tire problems, it’s getting to be an expensive pass time... 

Ja totalment recuperats anem tirant cap als països de l’Amèrica Central fins que ahir arrivem a la frontera de El Salvador amb Hondures, la frontera mes cara i horrible de les que hem passat fins ara. Com que la part sud de Hondures es molt estreta decidim de passar el país en unes hores i mirar d’arribar a Nicaragua cap el vespre. Quan faltaven uns 15Km per sortir de Hondures vam enxampar un forat a la carretera de la mida d’un enorme cràter que ens va deixar una bombolla a la part del costat de la roda i per tant fent la conducció una mica perillosa, per sort la roda no va petar ni punxar així que vam poder anar tirant i passar la frontera (molt mes civilitzada que la de Hondures) i vam conduir uns 90Km fins el poble de Chinandega a Nicaragua. Per tal de arrodonir el dia el cel es va tapar i va caure una tromba d’aigua immensa 20 minuts abans d’arribar al nostre destí. Total, un final de meravella per un dia meravellós!! Avui hem passat tot el dia organitzant per veure si ens podien enviar una roda a algun punt prop nostre, i d’aquí uns minuts ens trobarem amb una família que hem conegut avui que tenen un camió i que ens poden portar a tots dos i a la moto fins a la frontera amb Costa Rica a on ens espera un courier de la BMW de San Jose de Costa Rica que ens portarà la roda. Creuem els dits que aquest sigui l’ultim cop que tenim problemes de rodes, perque la broma ens esta sortint careta...

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