Well, this past break was full of new experiences. From the last day of classes, ending a long a pretty demanding first semester of big boy school, to getting stuck in my first blizzard, to visiting home for the holidays, to bike touring through Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras, getting scuba certified on the way and finally making it back here to wonder full, white Boulder.
So lets start from the beginning and recap my break.
First was managing to get out of this:
Making it home and gettin some stuff done:
Riding with friends and having some good times..
Eating right...
Left good ol' home..
Got back to boulder to pack for the venture to central America.
We started the trip with Jason, Bryan, Wayne and myself. The first day was pretty intense. We took the red eye and 12:40am from DIA. Jason got the best seat on the plane in the very back with non reclining seats. The best part of the flight was the guy in front of J had to sit in between two...well....extremely well fed women. The words that came out of the guys mouth after checking his ticket and looking at the seat numbers twice to make sure was classic..."Oh great, I'm sitting between you two lovely ladies". Jason had to laugh by himself at the time.
After landing and making it through customs we assembled our bikes and started the day that would end up being very long for some of us. The day was somewhat hectic with no one knowing what they wanted or where to get it. However we finally got something to eat in Playa del Carmen. After talking we decided not to stay there and push on to Tulum.J and I had to slow our words down so that these two could understand.
After having it explained to him, Bryan was happy with the idea.
The riding wasn't too great, good roads, however traffic was intense and scenery was non existent. Wayne managed to get a flat.
After Blowing up like a cheap balloon, we stopped at the supermarket in Tulum where i ate possibly the best tasting fajita I've ever had.
The night was coming, nerves were on end, and we had no place to sleep. We ended up staying with a complete asshole who tried to rip us off on multiple occasions.
The next day we ventured out to the cenote (fresh water swimming hole).
Jason was having a blast with his new camera.
The cenote was pretty cool and took us down a pretty cool, stump path.
Here we saw two wild creatures:
The first was a Giant!
After talking to the locals, we found that the second beast we saw was a caveman!
swimming was fun..
The night was spent going out.
Bryan started his trip off right.
The ride home looked something like this.
the next morning before we embarked we went to see the ruins. They were pretty cool, awesome views, and pretty amazing considering when they were built.
Jason decided to bust out his ultra cool puff daddy attire for the day.
DORK!
Jason wasn't having a very good time, and things just wernt what he expected, so he bailed. It was fun while you were there big guy.
With our team down one, the three pushed on to San Fellip Correo. The day was long, hot, ultra humid with nothing in between to break things up, however i was having a good day, Bryan, not so much, Wayne, hanging in. Guess my Texas roots came in for the rescue.
Fellip Correo was a pretty cool city for being in the middle of nowhere. While there we found a nice bike shop.
This was my first night out in a truly third world city. Things are just different. I felt somewhat unsafe, but by the end of the trip i had realized that this was just the way things were.
The next day Wayne wasn't feeling too hot. Montezuma revenge had hit. With that said, we decided to take a bus and let Wayne's stomach take a breather. It was here that we really decided that we would attempt to make it to our final location (Roatan, Honduras) ASAP in order to take our time riding back. After busing down to Chetumal, we ate then rode across the boarder into Belize.
Once in Belize we made it to Corozol, Where we got a hotel, pretty nice for $11 a person.
We woke up and got to the main rode in time to see the new years bike race go bye.
The rest of the day was spent riding to Orange Walk. Not very far, but for some reason, Bryan and I were in the HB. I was suffering from extreme overheating. After pulling over multiple times and dumping water over my body continually we managed to make it. On the way however i found a sign i felt was appropriate to stop at.
After a long/short day we made it to orange walk.
Here we found an awesome room for $12 a night.
Here we watched more Discovery Channel in one day that i hope i never...wait, no it was awesome, i love that channel.
Again on our plan to get to Roatan ASAP we decided to Hitch hike...and hitch hike to Belize City (apparently Sketchy). As bad as that sounds we did it with probably the best person ever! he was the owner of a construction company and took us directly to the airport in Belize city and wouldn't let us pay him. AWESOME!
Dumb and Dumber trying to figure out how to hitch hike.
Once i got out there and showed them how its done we got picked up.
Now the rest of the day was a blur. I didn't have my camera but bare with me...We took a plane from Belize City to Punta Gorda, and from PG we took a water taxi to Puerto Barrios Guatemala...not the smartest thing we could have done. The water taxi was at dusk and we arrived in Guatemala at the eve of night. Here we were quickly summoned by a local to basically get our asses in a hotel ASAP. I was legitimately freaked out. After getting our passports stamped we found the nearest hotel and sought safety. Safety we found and ate at a nice waterfront hotel. We ran the AC to max and are probably wanted in Guatemala for taking all the electricity. It got sooo cold there that when we got up and walked outside with our cameras the kept fogging up!
The next was a day hand delivered to us by the devil himself. Today was a full day of busing. Not just any busing. We took 5 buses in one damn day! From Guatemala to the border (1), From the boarder to Puerto Cortez (2). From Puerto Cortez to San Pedro (3) From San Pedro to scene of accident in which we ran over a little civic as the driver of the touring bus decided he wanted to back up in the middle of an intersection (4) Transferred buses, from scene of accident to La Ceiba (5).We arrived in La Ceiba that night and found a cheap little hotel. We then did what i regret possibly the most on the whole trip...ate at Pizza Hut. The next day i had my first dreadful encounter with Montezuma himself. It was a day long battle, that I'm still not sure who won. However that wasn't going to stop me from making it to Roatan which i had suffered so hard to get to. All the stood in between me and that island was the water. We woke early excited to get on the ferry. We rode to where the beautiful sign said Roatan Water Taxi. However our dreams were shattered when the staff there said they couldn't take our bikes because they didn't have room on the boat. now this was something else. I was too sickly to get mad in fear i would blow up right there. However he said they didn't have room!???? WTF! the little 15 ft boat that took us the Guatemala took us, the tiny cesna 240 that flew us took it but the beast, 5 stories high, the size of the effing titanic couldn't! at this point i wanted to just quit. But there were two alternatives...
This which left at 2am:
or go to the other island, much smaller called Utilla.
After nearly getting mugged/beat up/ killed while eating in downtown La Ceiba we decided to go to Utilla. There was something very aggravating about this...not being able to go to the paradise we had craved since day 1, but after waiting in the heat all day, while fighting Montezuma we gave into Utilla.
After taking the ferry from hell, almost throwing up and having the lady next to me spew which wasnt any help we made it to Utilla. We were greated with a great sunset.
We ended up staying at a dive center for $4 a person. The next day we went snorkeling. which was a lot of fun for a change.
Back at the dive center we had mud chickens.
It was after consulting them i decided i wanted to get certified for my Open Water Diving. This was actually decided since we were going to fly out and the next plane wasnt but 4 day out. So instead of bum i decided to be productve. So i signed up.
The next few days were spent in the ocean (not a pool) and after two pretty full days i was certified. Bryan already being certified decided he wanted to dive and the last day before we flew out we went on two really cool dives.
me learning:
Here are some more pictures of Utilla:
So after spending 4 days on utilla, we were ready to fly out of Honduras and the surrounding area. At the airport we didnt exactly have to board at gate C52, instead it was this place at the end of the street.
Our ride, which was stinky and hotter than a dutch oven, but we were happy to leave.
We were all happy to be heading back to Belize, our favorite country thus far.
Ironically enough, we stopped in roatan to pick up passengers. insult to injury if you ask me. Before we went to Belize we stopped in La Ceiba at the airport. While my experiences with Honduras have not been very enjoyable, the scenery really is something else.
On a side note, the safety standards are not near as strict down yonder.
Despite all odds we made it Belize.
Once at the airport we loaded up and headed off....to the water taxi. YEs thats right, we decided on the plane that our riding had been shot. We hadnt had near as much fun as intended and we thought that we would head to the island of Caye Caulker in order to chillax and have some fun.
Big Wayne struggled to get in the boat.
But we eventually made it in a much, much nicer ride than experienced getting to Utilla.
Wayne met some hotties at the local elementary school and wanted a picture b/c he thought his friends wouldnt believe him. sad i know.
We had some fun that night in celebration of making it out of what i still consider a shitty country.
Bryan was relieved:
The full moon was pretty cool as was the "city" at night.
The next day Bryan caught a fish...threw the eye! he felt bad afterwards. One thing i figured out about Bryan was that he is a little girl when it comes to fish, even if their the size of a perch. This picture says it all.
Yet with our luck, our fun times didnt last very long. This was the last sunset before the rain hit.
Then it hit..all night and morning before we decided to pack up and move out.
We made it to Corozol via ferry and spent the night there.
The next day Wayne decided he had had enough and was ready to go home. So after making it across the boarder, he headed to Chetumal while Bryan and I decided we would start riding again. Now down to two, Bryan and I rode the roads back toward Cancun. On the way we saw the wreck that made the front page.
After raining on us we stopped at a cenote.
We had some fun jumping off into the clear warm blue water. After that we decided to push on to our campsite which we thought was much closer than it was. And of course it rained on us some more.
After what seemed like eternity we made it to the turn off, which i couldnt believe was the turn off. The road was slicker than snot as my dad would say and both Bryan and I crashed on multiple occasions, mine being the worse of the day. Despite being deprived of food and water, being rained on all day, losing a man, crashing...we made it again.
Bryan was the happiest person to finally be free of the masquitoes that i swear only went after him the entire trip.
But something was wrong, very wrong. we were having to nice a time. So to make up for it, the higher powers that be decided to make it dump rain on us, forcing us to put the rain fly up, and since the rain fly was up the descision was made to cut the wind, making our tent an inferno. Bryan had gas all night which didnt help.
The next morning after finding out the forcast...more rain Bryan and I decided to throw in the towel, it just wasnt worth it anymore. So we rode through construction to the next town with a bus stop.
The first bus didnt have room but we found room on the second. Straight ticket to cancun. We made it and stayed at a nearby hostel. Which by the way had a great view.
We changed our tickets and were ready to fly out...minus the bike boxes. So we headed to office depot and got the supplies.
I didnt get a picture but take my word for it, it was a piece of art. I dont really know how it made it.
The experience as a whole was a mixture of feelings. I wasn't very happy with the trip, but it was an experience of a lifetime. It was an experience that i value greatly but i just wasnt ready to have it yet. I wanted to go down and ride my bike, swim and see hot girls, needless to say that didnt happen. I learned a lot about myself, how to travel, how other people live, how what our government does really does impact how others view us, and an overall new knowledge of how third world countries live. It was great experience, and I'm taking everything i can out of it, which is another leasson in its own. Persiverience is a word that comes into mind when thinking of this trip. Thanks to Bryan, Wayne and Jason who all gave this trip a chance. Next year im thinking Europe.
Currently I'm back in the great white Boulder. The last two days i have ridden 3 hrs a day with temps in the 20's, yea im kinda a big deal. I dont have my camera cord so bear with me on the pics for a bit. I hope everyone else out there is having a good time, this next semester should be fun, good schedual, easier classes, and new bikes on their way. Well i think thats all to report, thanks for reading.
