Isela de Ometepe, Nicaragua 11/2-07

Route: San Juan del Sur - Rivas -Isela de Ometepe

We left San Juan del Sur late. Nick and Steve rode together with Forrest and Shane. We tanked up in Rivas and drowe to the ferry that would take us over to the island. An old man tried to fool us into buying tickets that we did not need, but Shane saw him through and gave him a hard time.

Isela de Ometepe is an island located in a big lake which is famous for its two volcanoes. One that is active and one that is not active.

The crossing was in beautiful weather and when we got to the island we rode to Magealena, which is a hostel located on the bottom of the old volcanoe called Maderas (1394 m). The first part of the road is a cubbel stone road which is pritty nice. The road to Magdelena however, is a unpaved road which is very bumpy with parts that is very stoney and can better be described as a track than a road. I was very impressed with Forrest and Shane that rode with passengers. I was glad I did not have a passenger on my bike, else I would probably not have been able to get to Magdelena,

San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua 8-10/2-2007

Route: Rivas - San Juan del Sur

I left Rivas in the morning after I had copied my photos from the memory card to some cd´s. I now have room for another 1000 photos. Down here the internet is really slowly, so it have been a bit difficult to download the photos, but I will do it sooner or later. I made to copies, one set which I have sent home to Norway, and the other that I plan to keep when traveling.

After all the border crossings I also started to get short of US dollars. It is strange, but most of the countries here are interested in getting the border crosssing paid in dollars. In the Bank of America, it is possible to redraw US dollar in the ATM´s, and in Rivas I found a Bank of America. So now I have US dollar again.

From Rivas to San Juan del Sur it is just a half hour ride. I had planned to try surfing and went to one of the surf shops called Area Caliente where I am also going to stay the next days. I have been corresponding with Shane and Forrest and it seems like a good idea to meet up here instead of me crossing the border to Costa Rica. I have gotten reports that the border crossing to Costa Rica is a nightmare now. It takes like four hours to get through, so for my case, it would just be to cross the border twice in a day or two, which could in the worst cast scenario be a day waiting.

When I got to San Juan del Sur I found a surf place called Area Caliente, which also have rooms for rent. The first thing I did when I got to San Juan was to send the lava rocks that I had picked from the vulcano in Guatemala to my father in Sauda. He likes stones, and I thought that some lava stones would be fine in his collection. I tried to surf later the first day, and had an instructor for an hour. The waves were quite small, soo it was a bit difficult to get on the wave but I managed to get some rides. The beach we were at was Madera Beach which is located just north of San Juan.

In Area Caliente, I sheare a room with Steve from New Sealand. The first day we went out with Steves friend and had dinner in one of the local restuarntes. Afterwards I checked my email and got a message form Shane that they were crossing the border the next day, and would meet me in San Juan.

The next day (9´th) I went surfing again. This time I just rented a board. It was still not good waves, but I had an ok day at the beach. I surfed together with a french guy that was studying in Costa Rica. He was a pritty good surfer and could give me some advices about surfing. Around 3 o´clock I heard the sound of the bikes of Forrest and Shane, and they drowe down the beach. Shane broad sided his bike, which was a really cool sight. Finally we are catching up again, and we plan to go north together.

We went in the evening to one of the local resturantes and had dinner. It was in the same place that we ate last night with Steve and his buddies.

Forrest and Shane were really keen on staying in San Juan a couple of days, so we stayed the 10´th too. It was some more surfing in the day and dinner and ice cream in the evening. Before we left to the beach we bought some fruit and bread and water. The watermelon that I bought was a bad one. Then sticking the knif into it it puffed like opening a limonade someone had been shaking, and the smell (and taste) was awful. A big dissapointment for me. We spent the day with a German guy and two girls from the USA.

San Juan is a nice place, but it is crowded by turist and americans. Lots of americans have bought a house down here, so the hills sourrounding the city is packed with those big nice villas with a swimming pool.

Rivas, Nicaragua, 7/2-2007

Route: Choluteca - Leon - Managua - Rivas

Yesterday I got a email from Shane and Forrest saying that they were on their way north toward the border of Costa Rica. I therefore left Choluteca and headed toward the Nicaraguan border.

In the beginning the road goes through areas where it is much water. The areas are therefore green. Then it gets more and more dry, and the road passes small houses that lies in the shade of trees.

The border crossing was one of the better. The road when entering Nicaragua was not. Welcome to pothole hell. And when you think that the road can not be worse, you get to the sections with gravel road and potholes that can swallow both you and the bike. Not to mention that you meet traffic that waives back and forth in the road to avoid the biggest potholes, and do not care about the other traffic. And kettle and horses that are walking in the road. Nicaragua is absolutely worth visiting. And when you think that now it can not possibly be worse, you get pulled over by corrupt police.

My first day in Nicaragua was mabe not the best. It started ok. I soon get used to the potholes in the road and scan the road ahead of you so you can avoid them. The problem was to ask people about direction. I soon understood that they eighter did not understand what I said, or they had no clue about which way to go to the next town. I for instance stopped on a gas station and asked for direction toward Rivas. They sent me in the total wrong direction and gave me the wrong name of the town I was in. Well, that is what happens when you do not follow the important rule; ask severeal people and go in the direction where most pointed. I almost ended up in Managua before I met a taxi driver that, thanks God, knew which city he was in and could point me in the right direction.

On the way from Managua to Rivas I got pulled over by a policeman. This was on a straight strech with a lot of potholes where the traffic was going 40 - 50 km/h in a 80 km/h zone where I passed a car which was breaking very heavely in front of some potholes. The policeman asked to see my driving licence and when I gave it to him he took it and told me that I had been speeding. I told him that it was no way that I had been speeding since the traffic was going 40 in a 80 km/h zone. He then decided that I maybe had not been speeding, but it was not allowed to pass cars in this area, which naturally was crap, and that I had to go to Managua the next day to get my driving licence back. This was naturally just to get a bribe, which he got, and I got my driving licence back. But I again learned a lesson the hard way, and this was the last time I stopped volentarely and showed my driving license to a policeman in Nicaragua.

Rivas is a city well worth visiting. It has everything you need and is full of three wheeled bicicles used to transport people and groceries. I stayed in a cheap hostel. The standard was not the best, but I could park my bike in the back yarden, so then I was happy.

Choluteca, Honduras, 6/2-07

Route: San Salvador - El Amatillo - Nacaome - Choluteca

I started the day with shopping a new bag. Since it still was not sure when I was going to sell the bike, I decided that it might be a good idea to buy the bag as soon as possible, and the prices at the marked in San Salvador was good. I payed 10 US dollar, which is the currency which is used in El Salvador. I then had a check on the bike, retightening screws and lubing the chain before I hit the road.

I had decided that I would cross the border into Honduras at El Amatillo. The landscape started to be more hilly when I got closer to the border and the hills looked like small vulcanoes. El Salvador is the country in Central America with highest population per area. This is seen when traveling along the roads, becouse it is people everywhere.

At the border I was met by a bunch of people that wanted to help me with the paper work. This is quite common here, and they can speed up the border processes, but you can not trust them. Since I had had so much trouble crossing the border to El Salvador, I decided to use the services to one of the helpers. We did not use more than 40 minutes by the crossing, but it was plain obvious that they tried to fool you every time they had a chance. For instance came my helper and asked for 5 dollar for a stamp in my passport. I went to the girl that stamped the passport and asked if she belived in the Santa Clause, and soon discovered that she was only charging three dollar for the stamp. So a good piece of advice is to go with your helper to all the places and discuss the prices with the people that work there and not give any money to the helper.

After I crossed the border I started to go toward Nicaragua. I had not heared anything from Forrest and Shane, so I am not sure where they are and if we are going to meet, but in the last email I got they wrote that they were heading north after having tried to ship their bikes from Panama to South America without luck. I therefore just rode to Choluteca this day so I would be able to go north in Honduras, south or east into Nicaragua.

Choluteca is a small town with few city streets, so it is easy to get to know the city. I found a hotel in one side street to the main street. The hotel had no secure parking, so I rolled Scotty into the lobby. The smaller hotels are often helpful with finding a safe parking for the bikes.

In the evening I called Albert, one of the guys that Ivo and me met in Antigua. He was interested in Scotty and I needed to check if he still was interested. Later I went to a chinese resturant and had a big meal before I jumped to bed.

San Salvador, El Salvador, 5/2-2007

Route: Guatemala City - Escuintla - Pedro de Alvarado - Sonsonate - San Salvador

Ivo and I started around nine. Him in car and I on Scotty. He helped me getting out of Guatemala City and showed me the way to Escuintla. When you get down from the mountains the heat starts to kick in. We said goodbye to each other close to Escuintla and I headed for the border.

I had planned to cross the border at Pedro de Alvarado. It was not much people when I got there, so I hoped the crossing would be fast and painless. There are a treaty between Guatemala - El Salvador - Honduras and Nicaragua, which means that you are not supposed to pay anything at the borders after entering the first. However, I am in the Central America. so yo never know. Out of Guatemala was no problem, then it was into El Salvador. On the bridge to El Salvador I met some inspectors that repeated that I was not supposed to pay anything for getting into the country. There are always lots of people that will help you for some dollars, but I chose to do this crossing on my own. The imigration is the easy part. Then foto copy terror starts. I first got on copy of the of the entry papers, but what I was not told was that I also needed
copys of the passport and the registration of the bike.

The customs officer was a guy that only spoke fast spanish. That was until he started searching my bike. When searching my bike, he pointed to his paper and indicated that he was supposed to sign it. Then he asked if I brought any Playboy. I thought that maybe porn was not allowed in El Salvador and answered polite that I did not bring any porn. Then he asked if I brought any medications. I naturally thought that he ment strong drugs and narkotics and answered polite that I did not bring any medicines. He then asked if I not even had any asperin, and finally I got it. He wanted a bribe. I told him that I brought nothing and began slowly to pack my bike and he dissapared. After 10 mintes he appeared in a window and showed that he had signed the paper and that was it. No bribe this time.

I have to admit that crossing the borders here are a bit confusing, and the info when crossing is not always right. I then headed toward San Salvador. The road goes through agriculture landscape with some mountains further in in the country.I arrived San Salvador in the afternoon and rode into the city center. I stopped at a park and the first thing I noticed was a guy lying at the sidewalk with handcuffs and two policemen standing close by and talking to another. San Salvador is known to be one of the most dangerous cities in Central America, a place you should not waive around a camera and money, and my first thought was that maybe it was right.

I found a hotel in one of the neighbouring streets, after driving through some streets with booths on both side of the streets. My first impression that San Salvador was a potential dangerous city soon was replaced with a meeting with the very intense marked close to the hotel. It was obvious that it was not that often that people with blue eyes were there, for people stopped up and started stearing when I walked down the street. At the hotel one of the maids looked me in the eyes and said "azul ojo", which means blue eyes. In the evening I walked in the streets and looked at the different things that were sold in the booths, before I went to bed.

Guatemala City, Guatemala, 4/2-2007

Ivo and I started the day early and went to one of the local volcanoes, called Pacaya. This volcanoe is located south of Guatemala City. The volcanoe is in a national park, and we had to drive up a bumpy dirt road to get to a little village where the path up starts. Here we had to pay for parking. The walk up to the volcanoe is quite long. In the beginning it is very steep and lots of the locals asks if you are interested in a horse. When you get closer to the top you meet these streams of black rocks which seems to have much in common with glaciers when it comes to the movement of the stream. These rivers of rock is what we walked on up to the top cone. We did not go all the way up to the top, since it is supposed to be lots of dangerous gases up there.

From the top cone a stream of lava came out of the side. This lava river is extremely hot, and just being close to it will make you sweat heavily. It was very impressive to see the lave running down the mountain side. This was the first time I have seen lava live and I have to admit that it was way more impressive than seeing it on the television.

When we came down again, we ate lunch in the village where we parked the car. We had chicken, potatoes and rice before we went back to Ivo´s place and relaxed for a while. 

Scotty had lost some air from the front tire, so Ivo and me went to a garage and changed the tube. It was a little peg that had made a small hole, so I need to fix the old tube. After this was done, we went and had the bike and Ivo´s car washed.

Later that afternoon, I went out with Ivo´s sister, Elsa. She does not talk much english, so I had to speek spanish all the time, but as long as I have my dictionary that is ok. We went to a pizza resturant afterwards and met the rest of the family. It was very nice and I am very greatful for the hospitality and the time I have spent together with Ivo´s family.

After the dinner, Ivo and I went to meet some friends of him. We did not stay long since I was going to head for El Salvador the next day.

Guatemala City, Guatemala, 3/2-2007

Route: San Pedro - Santiago Atitlan - Patsun - Guatemala City

This was my last day with spanish and teaching the children in the project maths. One of the girls said some words, basicly that she thought maths was difficult. I hope they have learned something during my stay in San Pedro.

After school today I headed toward Guatemala City. I had decided to go to Santiago Atitlan this time. This is a road that there have been some assaults, but I thought it would be a nice thing to see the Atitlan from an other view. I started by riding the bike up from San Pedro. The road was beautiful, with yellow line in the center and everything. But that did not last long. A dirt road continued and it was great fun. I did not go very fast, but going on dirt is just very funny. -Until you meet a big truck or something.

The dirt road is not that long, it lasts half an hour or so, and there are a lot of roadworks. Then it is tyremac the rest of the way to Guatemala city.The road met the old American Highway in Patsun I think.

San Pedro, Guatemala, 29/1-1/2-2007

These days I have been studying spanish. I can not say that my spanish are very good, but it is way better than for a couple weeks ago.The study has been pritty though with lots of homework, but now I have gotten most of the important grammer and can talk in the present, past and future.

This week I have stayed at Estelas place. I have gotten enormous attention of her children, Clarita, Chosita and Nashly. I think it was becourse I brought some presents the day I arrived. Nothing big, just some books for drawing, pencils, colors and stuff.

I have worked a bit in Estelas garden with moving and stabeling wood when not studying. One day five children helped me out. When we finished I took the children over to the store and bought them ice cream. This naturally other children observed, so I ended up with buying ice cream to most of the children in the street. Ice cream here does not cost much, so I am certain it was a good investment.

I have continued teaching the children in San Pedros school maths this week also. I think it have been an ok experience for the children, even dough it have been some lack of communication.

Today we wisited some of the children in the project. It was a nice experience. The children in the project are from very poor families, and without the project, the children would not have gotten any school education.

San Pedro, Guatemala, 28/1-2007

Route: Guatemala - San Pedro

I started the day by studying spanish two hours before Ivo got out of bed. Then Ivo´s sister and her son Andres came over and made pancakes. It is a great start on the day with warm pancakes. I think this is a way of starting the day I will contiune with in Norway in the weekends. The pancakes is not as in Norway. They are more as the Norwegian "lapper".

It is my birthday today, and Ivo and his family had prepared a little party with a minata. This is a paper figure filled with sweets, which young children gets to their birthday. The minata is then beaten with a stick until it gets destroyed and the sweets drops out of the body of the minata.
The rumour about that a minata is around is soon spread in the neighbourhood and some of the children came over and showed us how to beat the sweets out of the poor minata.

Then it was cake and dinner, before I got on the bike and returned to San Pedro for another week with spanish and teaching the children matematics.

The trip back to San Pedro was nice. Little traffic and no road works. The day was also very clear so I got a good view of the nature.

I got to my new family just before it was dark. My new family consits of Estela (mother) and the three girls Clarita (8), Chusita (6) and Nasly (2). I had brought books for drawing, pencils and and some color penciles which was a success for ice breaking.

My bike is parked in Estelas garden. It was not easy to get the bike in there, but Estelas ex houseband helped me, and now the bike is safely parked here.

Guatemala City, Gatemala 27/1-2007

Route: Antigua - Guatemala City

Ivo and I started the day by eating breakfast with our biker friends. Then we went to town. Antigua is a very nice city, and I so understand why it is a tourist magnet, with its charm and low houses. Ivo and I spent the day in Antigua, eating ice cream, chicken and going to the markeds before we decided to go to Guatemala City and spend the night there.

We left just before it got dark, and also on the way to Guatemala City it was road works delaying us.

At Ivo´s place I spoke a lot with Ivo´s mother and his sister. They do not speak much english, so I was using my spanish. My spanish is still not so good, so it makes life a whole lot easier when Ivo is present and can help me out. When he was not around I was using my spanish dictionary.

Antigua, Guatemala, 26/1-2007

Route: San Pedro - Antigua
The first half day I spent in San Pedro. First teaching the children mathematics and then continuing the my spanish class.

Then I got on my bike and left San Pedro approximatly 14 and headed toward Antigua. I was going to meet Ivo at a road crossing, and Ivo had sendt me an email with details, but I could not manage to open the email. I knew it was close to San Lucas and I had Ivo´s phone, so I just left and hoped to find a pay phone some place on the road. It was a lot of road works on the road and I got pulled over by the police, so I got a bit delayed. I called Ivo from the road, and he was already waiting for me, so it was just to continue.

As usuall, I did not see anything, but Ivo saw me and cought up with me pritty fast.

We stopped in Antigua and discussed where to find a hotel, when a lady approached us. She told us that she was a part of a group that traveled by motorbikes from the US. In the beginning I thought that she was just pulling my leg, but no, it actually was true. The group consisted of Albert, Mariana, Wayne, Leroy (80 years old!), Rufus, Mike (shortcut) and Precilla. It was an amazing gang to meet, and we decided to meet a bit later the same evening.

Ivo and I went and found a nice hotel and then we went for my dayly ice cream and some food.
We met the gang later that evening and went out to have a dring with Albert, Mariana and Wayne.