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.

San Pedro, Guatemala 24-25/1-2007

At the first day at class, Ramon managed to fish out of me that I had been a teacher in mathematics in Norway. He then asked if I would be interested in teaching the children in one of their help projects mathematics whein I was here. This sounded very interesting, and even dough I know not much spanish, I naturally was willing to help.

I started at 7.30. The first day I had absolutely no clue about what matematical level they had, since they are between 12 and 15 years old. I choose to hold a kind of lecture, and then have a test next day.

My spanish class was at 16.00 the second day, so I had plenty of time to go around in town and do my homework. (Yes, I did get homework.)

Today I let the pupils do the same kind of excercises that I showed them yesterday. It is basicly multiplication into paranteses and multiplication and simplification of fractions, and I see that we have some work to do. The language is naturally a barrier, but the pupils are from very poor familys that can not afford to pay for their school, so I think they are willing to give it a try, and I guess they also hope that my spanish will improve.

I have decided to stay here next week also. The spanish is tough, butI think I learn a lot in a very short time and that is good since I only have a month left of my leave from my work.

San Pedro, Guatemala, 23/1-2007

Route: Guatemala City - Tecpan - San Pedro

We started at 4.30 in the morning and it was freezing. Naturally I had chosen to leave my old motorbike (warm) gear at Ivo`s place and the new one is not very warm I can garantee you. Ivo went by car and I on Scotty. It was dark most of the tour and we had a nice view of the sunrise. Just before our roads divided we had breakfast. Ivo`s car have no heating system, so I guess he was almost as cold as I was, so warm breakfast with hot chocolate were nice.

San Pedro is located by a big lake called Lake de Atitlan and are surrounded by high mountains with volcanos. The road is a really small one, which passes several villages where there are no road signs telling you where to go. In some villages you encounter cross roads and it is not obvious which directions to take, so I had to stop in every little village and ask for directions.

The road down to the lake is extremely steep. It have several hair pin bends, and even dough the road is narrow the Chicken busses also travels this road. In the sharpest bends the busses and cars honk their horn just to let cars in the opposite direction know that they will need the whole road.

San Pedro is a little town that have in the later years become famous for its nature and its spanish schools. It is actually quite a lot turists here, but the atmosphere is very friendly and it is no begging for money, so you do not feel as a walking dollar bill.

Ivo had given me some names to his friends a brother and sister which I could contact. One of the names to a woman where I could ask if I could stay. I found here house but she was not at home, so I decided to look for another friend of Ivo that was running a spanish school, San Pedro Spanish School. At that moment I knew little about the spanish schools in the town and I did not know that this school was one of the most well reputated schools in the village. Well I meet Ivo´s friend, Ramon, which runs the school, and even though they were full, he decided to take me as a pupil, and I could start the same day.

In the mean time, Ramon´s sister, had heard that I had been looking for her and that I had gone to the school and she called and asked me to come over. Since it was a couple hours untill my class started, I had plenty of time to go over to her. Elena was a very nice woman with three daughters. The youngest one was at home with her mother, so finally someone understood my spanish.

Elena was going to go to Antigua this week, so we decided that I should stay at her place next week and that Ramon would help to find me a family where I could stay. I then went back to the school and the my spanish class began.

The teaching is one to one, which means that it is one teacher and one pupil. It is very intense, since you can not lean back an let some other answer the questions, but it is very effective. I got Ramon as teacher, and I have to admit that he knows how to help you learn the language. When I was finished with the class, the youngest daughter of my family came and showed me the way to their house.

I got a family which live five minutes walk from the school. The advantage with staying at a family is that then you are forced to speak the language after class too. The mother in my family is called Cecilia, the houseband .... and the two daughters Ruth and Maria Elena. It is a very nice place to stay and I am very happy that they could give me shelter on such a short notice. In the house it also stays a girl from the Netherlands.

Guatemala City, Guatemala, 22/1-2007

Today Ivo have showed me and David around in Guatemala City. We have had a nice day where we have looked at different parts of the city and also done some shopping. I have bought a new jacket with protectors on, since my jacket is way to warm.

Ivo went for work in the afternoon, and David left. David were going to Antigua. I was also planning to go to Antigua, but I decided to stay at Ivo´s family place and leave a bit later. However, Ivo was a bit late back, so I decided to travel the next day directly to San Pedro and start on a spanish school.

In the evening I and Ivo went out and had a nice dinner in a pizza resturant.

Mobile cell phone does not work.

My phone has been dead since I crossed the border to Belize.
I therefore have not gotten any messages on it. If you have tried to contact me, use email.

Oyvind

Guatemala City, Guatemala, 21/1-2007

Route: Flores - Sayaxche - Coban - El Rancho - Guatemala City

We had decided to leave Flores early, and go to Guatemala City where I was going to meet Ivo. I got up at 6.45 and had a shower, woke up David and then packed the bike. David was a bit late, so I went first to a gas station to fuel up Scotty, and than hit the road, and David came when he was ready.

To everybody that is going to travel in Guatemala I can recommend this route. It was Just brilliant. The scenery was beautiful, loads of small towns with good food and one amazing river crossing.

In the beginning the landscape was filled with small round hills which was covered with forrest. The it got more flat, and some parts were cultivated, but most were open areas where cattle were grassing. In this part of the journey, it was a little bit foggy, so you got a bit moist during the riding.

I then got to a little city called El Subin. Here the road divided, and the road I was supposed to go just ended after 100 meters in a river. A bit further down the river I spotted a little bidge, and that was the crossing. No signs or anything. The road then continued to be a bit curvey going up and down the small round hills, and suddenly again the road ended in a river.

The river crossing here were by a lekter (boat without motor) which had two small barrel like boats on the side with 70 hp out board motors. The crossing was just unbeleavable, and an great experience.

Next I came to a little village. Here it was some kind of a carneval, and I was later told by Ivo that this was symbolizing the conquest of the indians. I went in to see this carneval where people were dressed in colorful costumes and with masks, and ended up being the midpoint of the party, before I sniked away and hit the road.

I drove when people were preapearing to go to church, so along the road it was lots of people bathing in the small rivers and combing their hair. And in every little village it was a marked.

I then got to the more hilly part, where first the round hills get start to be higher, for then to turn into mountains. Here the forrest is quite massive and it sometimes is difficult to read where the road turns.

Then you are on the top of the mountains, it gets flat and the forrest dissapers. Here it is much dryer. Just outside Copan, David cought up with me. We decided to go to Copan to get some cash, and we finally found a ATM with cash, but we were only allowed to redraw 600 Quinsales.

After Copan the road again takes you up through a massive forrest, before you enter into a very dry area which last utill you reach El Rancho. In El Rancho I meet Ivo, which invited us to stay at his parents house.

The drive from El Rancho till Guatemala City takes an hour. Here we met Ivo's family, got a brilliant dinner and stayed the night.

Flores, Guatemala, 20/1-2007

Route: El Cruce - Tkikal -El Cruce - Santa Ana - Flores
At the border to to Guatemala we were told that we had to change money there, becourse there would not be any cash in the ATM's. Me end David naturally thought this was a kind of scam, just to get us to change money at a bad rate. However, it turned out that it actually was true. two of the Banks here in Guatemala have gone bankrupt, so it is difficult to get cash here.

First this day we washed the bikes. After our nightly journy to El Cruce our bikes looked awful. Mud everywhere.

Then David and me went to see Tikal. Often when you hear a lot about a site you get dissapointed when you see it, becourse it does not live up to the expectations you have. This was also what happened to me when it comes to Tikal. After a day or two, I see that Tikal was a great place, but just after beeing there I was very dissapointed.

Then we headed for Santa Ana. We desperately needed cash and I think we visited like eight ATM's without getting anything. We then had a dinner which we payed with US dollars and then a man exchanged money from US to Quinsales.

We then went to Flores, where we stayed in a hostel, with a relatively good standard.

El Cruce, Guatemala, 19/1-2007

Route: Chetumal - Corozal - Belmopan - San Ignacio - Melchor de Mencos - El Cruce

My original plan was to go to Belize city and stay there the night and cross the border to Guatemala the day after, but a plan should be changeable.

I got to the border around nine I think. At the border crossing I first met a guy that told me where to go, and it was therefore quite easy to find the imigration/emigration (for me) and then the importation/exportation (for Scotty). At the exportation I met a travel guide from Belize City, which recommended me to skip the whole Belize city if I did not have anything special there to see. He told me that Belize City was an unsafe place to be, and that tourists were often targets. Also in Belmopan it was not much to see, but he could recommend San Ignacio. I therefore decided to skip Belize city and go to Belmopan.

I then crossed the border. Fumigation of Scotty, imigration of me, and improtation of Scotty. In Belize they speak English so this was no problem. I then headed south.

The first thing that struck me was that Belize must be very poor. The houses, if you can call some of them houses, was very simple and moste of them needed paint. The next thing that struck me was that if you had something of valuable in Belize, you had a tall fence with barb wire on top of the fence. This was not what I had expected at all.

The roads in Belize has lower standard than the roads in Mexico, and for one strange reason they are using miles per hour as speed isted of kilometer per hour. The roads were scattered with sugar canes, and most of the traffic I saw in the beginning was lorries eighter empty of full of sugar canes. It was a sugar factory close to Orange Walk I think, so after passing there it was less canes on the road.

The weater was not to good eighter. It rained quite heavily at times, so this was my first day I needed to pack my stuff so it would not get wet.

Half an hour drive from Belmopan I stopped to take a picture. Suddenly I heard the crackling of a KLR. It was David from Wales. He was riding a red KLR650, 2004, bought in Los Angels and were heading to the Guatemalian border. We decided to travel to San Ignacio together and have some food at Eva´s resturant and then see what we would do.

After I had gotten some food at Eva´s, we headed to the Guatamalian border. Emigration and exportation from Belize was easy. Then it was fumigation, imigration and then some hours waiting to get importation of the bikes. I have to admit that the officer in the custom (importation) were some of the most slow people I have ever met, and the one that was going to import my bike in particular. It ended up with him crashing his computer, and another taking over, and then it was dark and pouring down.

The road from the border almost to El Cruce is gravel, and combined with rain you get mud. And now we are not talking mud, we are talking MUD!! Some places it was 30 cm deep and we had to cross small rivers with muddy that crossed the road. Some parts actually was not to bad, but some places I really thought that here I will not be able to ride. It was also dark when we did this ride, and therefore it was difficult to spot some of the pot holes.

We got to El Cruse and found a cheap place to stay. The standard was not very good. No warm water and the house was more like a shed. But it had mosquito net and that was good.

Chetumal, Mexico, 18/1-2007

Route: Merida - Chicken Itza - Tepic - Chetumal

I used some time this morning to send a package with my old helmet home to Norway. Since it have been so hot travelling in Mexico with my street bike helmet, I have decided to buy a cross helmet which is more ventilated. Sending the package was not simple or cheap, but now it is done.

I then left Merida and headed toward the Chicken Itza. This is also some famous Maya ruins, but again I was not extremely impressed. They were absolutely worth visiting, but still I was not that impressed. I spent some hours there walking around before I left to head for the border to Belize.

I spent the night in Chetumal which is a very charming town on the border of Belize. I had a walk in the town in the evening and changed the wristband of my watch. Chetumal is a relatively little town which is easy to get around in and it has a nice promenade with parks. The hotel I stayed at was alright, with secure parking for the bike.

Merida, Mexico, 17/1-2007

Route: Campeche - Hopolchen - Uxmal - Merida

I got up around eight. I had slept like a rock. It is a funny thing when you sleep on a room with others. In the beginning I wake up all the time, but then after a little while you get familiar with the noices and totally ignore them. I however found it strange that the others could ignore me, because my nose was pritty blocked, which means that I must have been snoring.

Breakfast was included in the stay, and I spoke with a girl and her boyfriend from Switzerland. They were planning to travel a year. Maybe I will ask my boss about a years leave the next time.

I then rode to Uxmal. This is also some Maya ruins that is in a forrest. I really enjoyed walking around there, because there were some paths leading away from the main ruins and into the forrest, and even for a untrained eye it was easy to see that it was just a little part of the city that was what we were shown.

I am now struggeling with the warmth in my riding gear. It have been very unpleasent earlier too when getting cought in the traffic jam, but now it is also to hot when riding. I therefore dicided to go to Merida where I was told that it was a store that sold protective gear, which is not very common to see people using when riding motorbikes down here.

Two policemen on a motorbike helped me finding the shop after a long while in low speed, and I was totally soaked by sweat. I bought a new more open helmet, for dirt riding, and plan to ship my old helmet home to Norway tomorrow together with some of my clothing that I do not need.

I also looked for some protection for the body in a more ventilated jacket, but the shop had that not in stock, so I have to wait until I get to Guatemala City, and see if Ivo have managed to find something for me.

The hotel I am staying at costs 250 pesos after I bargined it down from 300. It look nice and have a little pool that I should have tried before I leave, but the hotel smell like fart. It is a stange thing here in Mexico. A lot of the places smells a bit fatish.

Campeche, Mexico, 16/1-2007

Route: Ocosingo - Palenque - Playa de Catazaja - Sabanchy - Campeche

I woke up this moring and my bike was wet! It had been raining a little bit during night, and it continued raining when I started riding. Not much, but enough for the roads to be wet. But the Ocosingo area is more or less a rain forest, so what could you expect. The Ocosingo is a indian area, so the way down from the mountains to Palenque it was lots of indinas along the road. Some places you could see small paths comming out of the massive forrest, and then you knew that it was someone living in there.

It was fun to see the indinas. Girls often had babies in a carpet tied on their back. Children were carrying wood, probably to make food, since it is quite hot here. Most of the cottages along the road had no electricety.

I got to Palenque, which is Maya ruins, and it was a great experience. It was some huge buildings there, in the center of the rain forrest. It was very humid there, and I had heard that should be mosquitoes there, but I had no problem, even dough I forgot my mosquito protection at the bike.

I then left Palenque and went in the direction of Campeche. I then left the rain forrest and got down to flat areas. Here it is a lot of swamps. Campeche is located on the coast and I rode along a nice beach for a long time before the road headed a bit away from the coast and in to the country.

I had checked my travel guide and it was supposed to be a cheap place to stay in the center of the town. I found the place and it turned out that it was a hostel, and I sheared the bedroom with four others. I had a little trip into town and found something to eat. I have to admit that most of the food I have gotten here have been very good. I have however tried to stay away from the most spicy food.

Ocsingo, Mexico, 15/1-2007

Route: El Camaron - Std. Domingo Tehuantepec - La Ventosa - San Pedro Tepanatepec - San Cristobal de las Casas - Ocosingo

El Camaron is located in a valley, so when leaving I had to drive over a new mountain. Then from S. D. Tehuantepec the road is totally straight for 41 km where it then enters Juchitan. Not excatly as Norwegian roads. This area is flat, and then the road continues in another straight line to La Ventosa.

On these straight roads it is quite usual to be three cars at the side of each other when one is passing another. The road however is just made for two, but there are approximatly one meter shoulder on each side of the road that can be used when some extra space is needed. However, when two lorries or a bus and a lorry is passing each other there are not much room for traffic in the opposite lane, and this can be a bit scary in the beginning. Then it is just to use the road shoulder and make you as little as possible.

From San Pedro Tepanatepec the road is again going up in the mountains. From San Cristobal to Ocosingo it is a lot of indians living along the road in small cottages. Since they live spread, not in small towns, the road is crowded with lots of ´topes´which is bumps in the road to prevent people to go to fast. It is often gravel close to these bumps since the lorries looses some of their cargo when going over these. So, on one of these bumps I had an little accident, but no big deal.

The indians is often dressed in traditional clothing. These are hand sewn dresses which are very nice to look at. However, I did not take any pictures of the indians, since some think that you steal some of their soul if you take a picture of them.

Ocosingo is a little town. I found a nice hotel just a block from the marked place. It only costed 150 pesos and the standard was good. I also got my laundry done here.

The bed was only equipped with a very thin sheet, so I was a bit afraid for that it would be a cold night again, but Ocosingo is close to the rain forest, so the temperature was no problem.

El Camaron, Mexico, 14/1-2007

Route: Puebla - Tehuacan - Monte Alban - Oaxcaca - El Camaron

I started the day by cleaning the air filter of Scotty in our own garage. It was a bit dirty and since we are in a thin air, I thought it would be a good idea to have a check how it looked. If I only met a girl as dirty!

Then I headed toward Monte Alban. This is also some famous ruins, that area located on the top of a mountain where it is no water. I think it was a couple of kilometers to the nearest river so it is quite impressive that they made a town so far from the water.

On the trip to Monte Alban the senery changes a lot. In the beginning it is mostly agriculture landscape. Then the mountains start, with steep wallys. I think the top of the road must be close to 3000 m and here again the landscape is flat. Here I met Jamie, which was out riding his Harley.

Then the I started to ride down again. Here it is forrest where it is water, and yellow grass covered hills where it is little water.

The Monte Alban seems like nothing special when you get there, but when you get up and see what have been made there it is just magnificent. I spent a couple of hours here before I stared toward the Golf of Tehuantepec.

Puebla, Mexico, 13/1-2007

Route: Tula - Coacalco - Elatepec - Mexico City - Texcoco - Teotihuacan - Texcoco - Texmelucan - Puebla
I had a bad night last night. I had forgot to take my sleeping bag to the hotel room and it is quite chilly here at night. My bike was locked in, so I could not get to it without waking the hotel owner, so I just tried to get through the night.

The Tula ruins opened at nine, but I was early up and went to town and bought some breakfast and went up to the entrance where I ate breakfast and checked Scotty for loose screws.

I was a bit dissapointed over the Tula ruins. The ruins in it self was nice, but the total lack of information, and those small cottages that the souvenirs sellers had made was just awful.

My plan was to go directely to Teotihuacan, but I got lost on the way and ended up eigther very near or at the northern part of Mexico city. This town have a bad reputation when it comes to the driving and the traffic there, and now I understand why. It was the most wild driving I have ever experienced, and I have been training my sister in reversing a car so I have something to compare with. The cars were forcing therir way, honking the horns, and lane change without blinking in high speed. I just sniked up behind a big semi trailor and hoped that he was going my way and stayed there. And the traffic jams! Holy, I was near boiled to death in my bike gear and my helmet when we were standing still in the sun.

Well in the end I found my way to Teotihuacan and that was a great experience. Boy, those indians were found of carrying stones. I stayed there some hours and then I headed away from Mexico City. Unfortunantly I also this time ended up in the traffic jam in Texcoco, but then finally I managed to get in direction Puebla.

I drove maybe an hour or so after it was dark to get to Puebla. When I got there it was almost eight o´clock, and I started searching for a hotel.

First I found one motel. They only rented rooms for six hours! Then I found another. They charged 200 pesos for the night. Tired and hungry I went for it and it was very nice. I had my own garage for Scotty, big mirror in front of the bed, I could see into the shower from my bed and there were porn on the tv! This kind of hotel I had heared about, but I have to admit that the standard here was very good.

Tula, Mexico, 12/1-2007

Route: Leon - Silao - Queretaro - San Juan del Rio - Tula de Allende

When I went to bed yesterday I saw that some people were working with setting up something outside my hotel, but I could not understand what it was and all I understood from the explanations was that it was going to be some kind of party.

When I woke up and went to get some breakfast, I almot got a shock. The street outside the hotel was totally crowded and there was no way to get Scotty out. The people were dressed in nice clotes and had brought food and had lined up in front of the church just outside my hotel. I think it have something with a blessing for reproduction to do, for the small boys had painted mustach and the girls were carrying a doll on their back.

I went to town, got some breakfast and than pushed Scotty through the crowd and then was on my way. Close to Silao I saw again some truck transports. I had seen them the first two days after I had crossed the border and it was obvious that they recogniced me for they waived.

The landscape I have driven through today is mostly flat and cultivated. In such sence it have not been that interesting. Most of the road has been on the freeway so it has not been so much to see except from a lot of those double semi trailors.

I got to Tula in the afternoon. Tula is famous for their ruins, which I am going to visit tomorrow. When entering Tula you actually can see them on one of the small hills.

Again I have found an economic hotel (180 pesos). The standard is not bad, but when I got there I was not sure if it was open or not. I also have got secure parking at the hotel.

After having a shower I had a walk in town and had some food. Going to jmp to bed early today.

Leon, Mexico, 11/1-2007

Route: Jerez - Chicomostoc - Jalpa - Aquascalientes - Leon

Jerez was such a wonderful city that it was a shame to leave it. But I had seen on my map that it was some ruins called Chicomostoc that I wanted to see, so off I rode. When I closed in on the ruins, I was a bit dissapointed. It did not look the way I expected at all. I expected one big pyramide on a flat field. However, the disappointment soon turned to joy when I went up to them. It was just increadeble how much stones that had been put together. I do not think it is any way I can explain it, so I will post some pictures soon.

The ruins are located on a mountain. From below you just see a litle part of what is built. People are allowed to walk around in the ruins on their own, so I had a walk. The area where the ruins are located is quite big, so I used some hours there. I soon discovered that my biking gear was not the smartest thing to wear when walking in the sun. I almost got cooked.

I then rode to Jalpa which is a small town which have this small town atmosphere and charm. The scenery is mostly cultivated areas, but where is is little water the vegitation is dominated by yellow gras and small trees and cactus. It was a lot of road works on the road to Aquascalientes and I therefore got a bit delayed.

Aquascaliente is a big town, and I just rode through it to get to Leon. This is a town that is recommended to tourists. It was dark when I arrived Leon. I found a hotel in the center of town, and soon discovered that you could rent rooms on hourly basis there. I have to admit that the room was kind of built not to just sleep, but it was warm water, clean, secure parking for Scotty and also cheap (180 peso).

After having a shower I had a walk in town. The center is very nice with lots of marked streets where hand made things are sold. It also have some nice churches, and a very nice place with trees cut in different shapes.

There are so many different animals that get run over along the roads. I had heard people comment upon this earlier, but it is still a shock when you see dead cows along the road. Sometimes you do not see the dead animal, due to the high grass that is growing along the road, but you certainly can smell them. I have started taking some photos of the road kills. The only animal I have not seen dead along the road so far is a horse. However, I have not bothered by taking pictures earlier so my collection is not that big.

Jerez, Mexico, 10/1-2007

Route: El Salto - Durango - Fresnillo - Jerez
When I woke up this morning the water ponds outside had frozen during the night. I was not sure if the road was slippery, so I had to drive carefullly, especially where the sun had not reached. It was really coald in the beginning, but after the sun got higher, my fingers started to melt also.

The scenery today have also been beatiful. I know that I am repeating myself, but it is so increadeble beautiful here in Mexico. It is relatively flat from El Salto, but some vallies are made by the rivers and they are very deep. The vegitation is in the beginning pine trees with yellow grass. It actually looks a bit like in Norway some places.

Then from Durango to Fresnillo it looks more like Africa. Flat areas with yellow grass and some single trees here and there.

In Jerez I found this very nice hotel called Posada Sta. Cecilia. It is in the center of the town. The people running the hotel is very helpful and I am allowed to park Scotty in the hall, and just opposit of the hotel is a internet cafe. The town is just wonderful.

I have put new picures on the net. Check link to my pictures to the right. I will comment upon them later.

El Salto, Mexico, 9/1-2007

Route: Mazatlan - El Salto
Since I had gotten a bit late to Mazatlan I decided to spend some time in Mazatlan before I headed toward the mountians. I had a look at the beach that Mazatlan is so famous for and a little peak in town before I left.

To get into town is easy. To get out again is the difficult part. After asking for directions severeal times I finally found a sign leading in my direction. In a light crossing I spotted two motorcylists, riding KTM 950 Adventures. This was the first bikers I had seen, so I decided to stay on their tail to see if they were going in my direction. I raced between cars and managed to catch up with them, and it turned out that they did not mind company.

We went to a gas station to fuel up. There I introduced myself for Shane and Forrest which came from Utah. They were planning to go south along the coast and since I was keen on traveling together with someone I decided to change my plan and go with them, even though I probably would slow them down.

However, when we were going to leave the gas station, Forrest got problems with his bike. For those that have KTM 950´s they know about the starter problem, and that was what Forrest got. I stayed together with them some hours, but then it turned out that they could not fix the bike and they had to stay in Mazatlan. I therefore changed my plan back again to the original and headed toward the mountains. I really hope I meet Shane and Forrest again when they have fixed the bike.

I had had a look at the map and the road that I was going was 175 km to the nearest town, which is El Salto. In the beginning I thought that it had to be an error, since the distance in the map could not be more than 60 km, however, I soon understood why. I have never ridden such a curvey and steep road before. The senery was just magnificent and the road was like made for motorbikes. If I had been riding my CBR900RR, the day would have been perfect. Scotty, however, does not handle curves as good, and the spare tires had a tendency to touch the road in the tightest curves.

I am not sure which altitude the road reaches, but I passes a sign saying 1990 m, and I was going upwards after that. It was just increadeble and the road was just spectacuar. When I thought I had reached the top, the road did some turns, and then it just countinued up.
In the beginning the senery was steep mountains with forrest. Later it got very flat, with pine trees on yellow grass.

However, the progress was slow, and since I had spent half the day together with Shane and Forrest, it started getting dark. One of the rules about traveling in Mexico and Central America is not to drive when dark, but now I just had to continue. When the sun dissapeared it also got colder, and I had to put on some extra clothes.

When I was passing trailer, I suddenly saw some red traffic cones in the road with light in them. It was a military search post and naturally I was pulled over. The military have check posts to look for arms and drugs, but since I had none of those (except from my dirty underwear that could be used as chemical veapon maybe) I was let through.

I then got to El Salto around six. However, this turned out to be Oyvind time, since I had not adjusted my clock since leaving Los Angeles, and the time actually was eight. I stayed in a hotel that was located close to the main road and I had my own gas oven in the room and warm water.

Mazatlan, Mexico, 8/1-2007

Route: Navajoa - Los Muchis - Culiacan - Mazatlan
The hotel had breakfast included in the price. It was continental breakfast. Now I know what continental breakfast is in Mexico. It was two different cerials, milk, bread, butter and strawberry jam. It works for me, but it was not actually what I was expecting.

Now the road goes through more cultivated areas. There are green fields and channels leads the water to the fields. At once there are no channels, the landscape is more desert like.

Most of the trip so far have been on toll roads. These are quite expencive, around 50 pesos (5 us dollar) which means that they are not that heavily trafficed. These toll roads are very nice with two lanes in each direction, and no pot holes, and you can go pritty fast . However, the road is pritty bumpy, so sometimes you wonder if it something wrong with the bike.

The last part of the road i chose to go on one of the toll free roads. This road had only one lane in ach direction and was not that heavy trafficed as I supposed it to be. The road was more curvey since it was located closer to the mountians, but I enjoid the going this way.

I had heard that mexicans were recless drivers. This is however not my view. The only one you should watch out for is the busses. The busdrivers drives as if he have stolen the bus and taken the passengeres as hostiges. Lorries and trailors go fast, but they are more careful. The speed limit, however, are not often respected. Usually it is 80 km/h, but people usually go 100 - 120 km/h. On bigger roads there are often 110 km/h and then people go around 140 km/h, I guess. My crusing speed is usually arond 60 - 70 miles/h which is around 100 - 110 km/h. I have not have had any problems with the police, but they focus their effort in towns and populated areas and there people usually stick to the speed limit.

Along the road is small memorials that the familys make when someone are killed on the road. These small crosses and small stone houses are decorated with flowers, and it makes you think twice before racing. I have not seen the statisticsfor the number of killed in the traffic in Mexicon, but judging from the number of memorials along the road it can not be pleasent reading.

In Mazatlan I found a nice hotel by checking the travel guide. It was called Lerma, and was a cheap hotel with relatively good standard (120 peso). Lerma also had secure parking, which is good when you are going to spend the night in a bigger town.

After checking in, I went to town to have something to eat. Again a bought something that was sold on the street, which is good and the price is ok. I then tried to call one guy living in Mazatlan and drives a motorbike, but could not get hold of him.

Navojoa, Mexico, 7/1-2007

Route: Hermasillo - Guaymas - Obregon - Navojoa

I started by going to Guaymas to have some breakfast. Guaymas is located at the ocean side and was a nice little town. I had my breakfast down close to the ocean and some Mexican tourist came over and took some photos of this stange blue eyed guy from Norway that was planning to go to Panama.
I then headed toward south and got to Navojoa. There they were planning a big party, so I just had to check out how Mexican people are partying and decided to stay the night there. I found a nice little hotel that had four stars, which naturally can not be compered to a four stars hotel in Norway, but the standard was much better than the one the previous night. I think it was called California and were located along the main street.

On thing that is interesting in Mexico is that the road goes through the town and this street is the main street in the town. This street is usually crowded by different colored comercial signs which makes the street look a bit untidy.

The party was great. Different local musicians played in the beginning, then it was some speaches and fireworks before some of the popular bands started playing. It is fun being in Mexico. It is not that common with blue eyes and the people stop up and stears at you when you pass them.

Hermosillo, Mexico, 6/1-2007

Route: San Luis - Sonoyta - Santa Ana - Hermansillo

When I woke up there was almost no wind. This was fortunate since the road from San Luis to Sonoyta crosses a desert area with no shelter. The road follows the US border and Sonoyta basicly is located at the border. When leaving San Luis you passes a sign saying that the next gas station is after 186 km, so you better tank up before you go. It is a good thing that Scotty have a big tank. Almost 8 gallons, which is increadeble for such a bike.

Sonoyta is basicly a couple of gas stations and some houses, then the desert begins again. The landscape gets more hilly here, and there are alsom more vegitation. Old brown vulcanos sticks up of the yellow desert sand and at some of the vulcanoes there have been mining earlier.
After Sonoyta it is another 150 km without fuel options. There are some places which maybe have some petrol in some barrels, but how good the quality of this petrol is is questionable.

Santa Ana is also just a couple of petrol stations and a couple of houses. When you see the landscape you can understand that it is not many people living here. Along the road there are sporadicly some ruins after houses, but the climate and the wind here must be tough to cope with.

From Santa Ana to Hermosillo it is more gas stations along the way. There are also some small funny looking resturants, which basicly are sheds with cooking facilties. Different food are served here and the prices is low. The vegitation here is mostly yellow grass.

In Hermosillo I stayed in a motel that had rooms that looked as prison cells. Everything that was in the room was bolted to the walls. However it was not much. A sign outside told that they also had television in the rooms. And yes, there was a television there, but did it work? Nope!
However, I had had a long day on the bike and was tired, so I just went out in one of the small local home made food places and had some tortillas and went to be.