I spent two days in Zacatecoluca and I can say I really don’t like the town, or at lest the part of town that I saw. These people are extremely trashy. The sidewalks, gutters as well as the street were just covered with trash. I guess they must clean it up some time as it didn’t look weeks old but it was pretty disgusting when I was there.
The hotel was actually rather nice in that it was quiet most of the time. There were a few busses that came by that were noisy but not too early or late at night. One interesting thing about this place is that I was not given a key. I had to have the hotel gal open the room for me each time I came back from leaving my room. I asked for a key but she seemed happy to open the room for me.
The little internet shop just down the street was nice too. They had fairly good computers and a good fast line. I haven’t been even trying to hook my little laptop up anymore and just putting the |road log on the memory along with the photos I want to post to the blog site. It is a little irritating to have several kids in there playing games with the sound turned up as well at some rather loud music playing but with my ears, it doesn’t really bother me much.
I left Zacatecoluca fairly early in the morning and followed roughly along the coast. I probably should have taken a side trip to the actual coast, as I was never able to actually see the Pacific Ocean. The road was in great shape and the traffic light. I did pull into the town of Puerto Cutuco and found an internet shop to check my email. My friend Charlie has been working on getting my stolen debit card canceled and ordering me a replacement. I will have to find a place for him to send it to me somewhere in Puerto Rica or Panama?????
I started into more flat and faming country where I started seeing tractors again. I Haven’t seen tractors in quite awhile in the mountains. I am seeing a lot of sugar cane being grown as lots of grazing ground. In the hills I can see clear cuts so I guess they are farming up there on the hill sides too. I have seen lots of oxen carts too and kick myself for not going back and taking a photo of on of the carts right along side the road. It had a beautiful pair of oxen and the cart was out of almost biblical times. It had the solid wooden wheels with an iron tire around the circumference. It had wooden pole sides and it was a truly beautiful outfit. I sure like the speed that they travel at too, it is such a difference from what I am doing. I have a several year jump on him until the end of the oil, and then he will still be moving while I sit by the side of the road out of gas. That is one thing down here that if there is no gas, things will keep going on as they have and not come to a screeching halt as it will do in the usa.
When I got to the border region I first had to get out of El Salvador. A young man came up and said he would charge me a dollar to get me through the El Salvador border and a dollar to get me through the Honduras border. It was rather easy to get through the fist but the Honduras border was a freaking nightmare. The actual visa for myself to travel was fairly simple and only cost three dollars. The bike was a whole different matter. Those assholes just dollar ya to death. With double copies of everything and then more double copies and more money I paid well over a hundred bucks to get the bike across and into Honduras. I cant think of any bad words that totally would explain how pissed off I am at them. I spent about two hours getting through that border.
The only good thing about going through the border was that a guy I met back at Creel, Mexico was at the border crossing at the same time and going through the same bull shit I was. When I first met him he was traveling with a friend on a bmw but now he is traveling with his wife. They are from BC Canada and their names are Dan and Bonnie. They made it through the border before I did but I caught up with them not too far down the road where we both had to find an atm machine to replenish our money supply. It was really nice to have more than one person as Dan stayed with the bikes and Bonnie and I went to find the atm. When we came back Dan said that he counted 12 or 14 guys with rifles just on that one street corner. It is a little intimidating to have so many guys with rifles and dressed in camo or uniforms around with guns. I can’t imagine why they have so many as there couldn’t be anything of much value in that little town.
We continued down the highway and had to watch constantly for the huge potholes in the highway. When we left the border the road was great and we thought that all that money we gave them for road tax and stuff must be going to the nice roads. Well, after that first bike-eating pothole, I think we all changed our minds. The potholes were big and deep and would have killed a tire or bent a rim if we would have hit one.
One thing I have wanted to report but haven’t thought of until now, it that the trucks, busses and even some of the little vehicles just blow out huge clouds of black smoke. Ever since Mexico it has been very noticeable. I don’t know why that is as Estuardo said that the gas was supposed to be better in Guatemala but there must be something going on. It could be that they just lug they motors more but it doesn’t sound like they are lugging. They drive like racecar drivers given any chance and you would think they would roll those busses as fast as they take those corners.
Dan, Bonnie and I are staying over another day here at this place. We have nice rooms and it only cost me 110 Lempiras or about ten bucks a night. The room is plain for sure but it has a nice fan and if it gets cold I have a sheet I can put over me. The bathroom in the room has one handle for the water, no hot water, but who needs it? We went to the little restaurant here at the hotel for late breakfast and had rolled up pancakes with some sort of cream or something to pour over them as well as a cup of coffee. It is all different everywhere you go. Dan had a nice map of the central Americas and I borrowed it from him and went and had some copies made sections of it I will be traveling through. My map that I bought only covered the Mayan section so now I have paper maps of where I will be traveling through. I did finally get my gps unit working again. I found a wire that had been squashed and broken on the leads to the mount, so now I have that to help me although I was doing fine without it. It is nice to have a backup check and I find myself looking at it and preparing for major intersections. It seems to be following closer to the actual road than it was in Mexico. I think we will be traveling together at least for another day as we need to cross out of Honduras (assholes) and into Nicaragua. I guess I should say that the border people were assholes and I shouldn’t take it out on the people. The people I have come in contact with since then, have been very nice, even the cops. It will be great to have a friend at the border. Both Dan and Bonnie speak some Spanish, which helps a great deal. I still struggle along without much but trying the best I can.
Sorry about no photos this time, but for some reason it the computer asked me a bunch of questions in spanish of course and it will not let me add photos. i only had two i wanted to post anyway, one of Estuardo´s bike and another of the nice wide road in el salvador.