11-17-05

It turned out to be beautiful days to be riding a moto (as the Spanish speakers say) through the mountains. These mother mountains are really something of beauty. The high parts are almost all pine forest with other trees interspersed. The lower parts have more lush forests with more big leaf types of trees growing. I like the high country the best I guess but it does get cold up there at cruising speeds. I had to stop not too far out of San Christobal and take this photo of the sheep a couple of Indian women were moving into a pen. The sheep seem almost like Shetland sheep but some do have long tails. Some of them that have long coats really look like the Shetlands. This batch had several with white top knots that they didn’t shear.

I saw several batches of sheep along the road and they mostly all were colored and small.

The next thing I saw was a couple of guys actually one was a kid, making cement blocks. I have seen this before but never had a chance to stop and take pictures.

I would guess that they will be building on to this building and need blocks. There were two guys making brick and they were making two different kinds. The young kid was making the smaller solid blocks. They would fill the mold with a mix of sand and cement and then pick it up and smack it down on the big block of tree trunk they were using to hold the mold.

after it was setteled good. They would put more cement mix on it and pack it down in that mold with a big club that has a rubber faceplate. You can see the packer in the photo above.

This really gets that thing packed tight. They then take it over and turn the mold upside down and lift off the mold. This leaves the bottom of the mold on top of the brick which they lift off and replace in the mold. The guy making the double hole blocks had a much harder time getting the mold off as well as the insert that made the holes.

The guy making the double hole one then cleaned up the mold and then lubed it up with what looked like a little used motor oil.

It was a nice simple operation and by the looks of things they were going to make a lot of blocks. You might notice that they mix the cement on the ground and I don’t think I have seen a cement mixer since I have been down here. You see people doing this all over and making foundations, slabs, roofs and pillars. They fill a five gallon bucket with mix and hand over hand pass it up a ladder. That is tough work.

They sure made nice blocks. My brother Dan worked for a few years in Montana at a block factory and I am sure he will enjoy seeing this much different way of making block. The equipment price was a little different as you might imagine. I was just reading an article on the internet and they were talking about the housing boom and how it has been good for the economy as for each house there are approximately 20 jobs created making the materials, transporting them as well as doing the building. Did you hit that link about no mortgages in Costa Rica in one of those last road logs?

I got a good early start and made it to the place where the Mexicans have their immigration facility a couple of miles just there side of the border. I went in with all my papers and stood in line waiting for the couple ahead of me to get done. A guy came in and stood behind me and asked in English if I was riding that motorcycle. It turns out that he is an American citizen but is really a Mexican. He was born in the states but now lives in Guatemala part of the year and in Florida helping his brother the other. He married into a family that raises coffee and he was coming back to harvest the crop. His name is Carlo and he is German descent. His great grandfather was a 49er but came to Guatemala to build the first railroad in the country.

The border gate was a real trip. There was stuff going on everywhere as well as lots of these little three wheel scooters delivering passengers. They are the local form of cheap taxi.

I cant believe it. Last night when I was writing this the computer went blank and then the word sony came across the screen and then nothing. It wouldn’t do anything so I had to turn it off with the switch. When I turned it back on it gave me a message that something terrible had happened and I should send a report to Microsoft to let them know about the problem. This word doc was nowhere to be found because I never did save it as is my usual practice until I am done or close it for the day. Well when I turned the darn thing on this morning, it came up as a ‘recovered document’. Wow, that is so cool and saved me more than an hour or so to redo it. Sometimes this little bastard can make me smile.

There had been a lot of rain in the area and I was stopped at a road block to let traffic through only one direction when a couple of guys came up to me from behind and one of them spoke really good English. It turns out that he has a Ducati dual sport and was interested in my bike and what I was doing. He and his partner sell chemicals for the textile industry that is happening in these hills. We talked quite a while and he was really nice guy. He is also of German descent. He and his buddies come into this area because very few people have cars and they walk everywhere. There are trails all over these mountains he said and are a lot of fun to ride the bikes on. He also competes in enduro racing. When I pointed out that he had gray hair, he said he rides with a group of guys that they call the mummies. He lives in Guatemala city and may come up this weekend if he has a chance. I will write him an email and see if that is still possible.

His name is Estaurdo Nanne and he gave me his card with email address and his home phone number. He was telling me that I need to stop in and see the BMW dealer in Guatemala City as he is a GS rider and has been to the end of South America. He says that he is a really nice guy and when I asked if he spoke English, he said he speaks it very well as well as several other languages. I have to go through the city anyway so I will see if I can find him just to say hello. Ah, I got an email from Bill  and he said that it is a very confusing city and he had to hire a cab to lead him through and out of the city. Humm, that doesn’t sound good, does it?

I will have to say that Guatemala is a very beautiful country, at least in these parts. The hills are covered with small farmlands. It is cut up into very odd size fields or that is the way it looks according to the crops that are being grown. I am starting to see quite a bit of |vegetable crops being grown as well as wheat. It is so good to see that quite a few of the farmers, actually most of them are using terrace-farming methods rather than just straight up and down hills. It is hard to believe that anyone would plant, weed and harvest wheat on the terrace method but I guess if you want bread, that is what you do.  It is all handwork that is done, as it is way too steep, no roads and small fields. The crops look really good and I am seeing a lot of cabbage grown as well as maybe pole beans and I see a lot of watermelons for sale along the road. I think they are growing the melons in the corn crop. The hoes that they are using are about a foot across so they get a lot done when they hoe. The people are harvesting the dried corn ears and filling huge sacks and toting them to the road on little trails. It is amazing how much those little people can carry. There is a lot of wood being harvested in two foot lengths. They get a huge pile and put it on their back and with the load carried on their forehead, with a strap, off they go. I see small kids with large loads as well as the parents. The women often carry large loads on top of their head. I have been seeing that since I got about half way down into Mexico.