The bordercrossing from Guatemala into Honduras at El Paraiso is a pleasant experience. No helpers, few moneychangers. Eay procedure. I needed to change all my Quetzales to Honduran-whatevers (start loosing track of all money names), so i asked one of the moneyguys to show me the right order of the various steps in the whole proces. In changed what i got left of my Quetzales with him. I forgot to check the exchange rate and asked it at a french guy who was about to enter Honduras with his van. He did this before andhe confirmed that the offered rate, 2 to 1 was ok.
The whole procedure took about an hour. Nice. I do think i didn't pay too much, but then, you never know do you? ;-)
From the border it's a short distance to Copán, much to my suprise this turned out to be a friendly, but touristy town. After sleeping in a dormitory i thought i earned a proper hotel, which i found for eur. 8,- per night, with cable tv, hot shower and more important,safe parking for my bike. View from balcony:
The copan ruinas where beautiful, although not as impressive as Machu Pichu or Palenque. One of the main differences with Mayan art in the stone carved ornaments is the very high detail of the carved caracters. In the museum there's a large collection of ornaments.
Next stop was Lago Yojoa, a beautiful lake with plenty of exclusive lodging. The road wasn't without obstacles though. A truck missed a corner, crashed and burned down completely. Driver included....
Shortcut dirtroad though the mountains from San Juan to Esperanza, saved me about 2 hours.
More great sceneries on the way to Lake Yojoa:
A bit from the lake, just outside Pina Blanca there is D&D, an american guy with his own miscrobrewery. Funny, smart too, he build the whole brewery in a freightcontainer, shipped the whole thing to Honduras and put it in his backyard. Then he made a nice little hostel/restaurant frequented by lots of backpackers. Good business model. All you need is a good reference in the lonely planet and your in business, it seems.
Pricey though, unless you have your tent with you, then it only costs 40 Lempiras, a double room was 200. I hadn't used my tent for weeks, and i needed to save a bit of money to make up for the hotel expenses in Copán. Good idea. But not when your in a tropical rain forest kind of environment. And although its not rainseason, i was treated several days with lots of rain. Good test for the tent though.
So far i used my Vaude ultralight tent only at beaches and good weather. It proved watertight ;-) Although i think, when exposed to rain AND wind, the too short rainfly will not protect rain from blowing inside. Oh well. Probably, by the time i enter Chili/Argetina i will replace this tent for my rock solid Hilleberg again.
Anyway, nice place. Although a bit remote. There's a big waterfall nearby, go can go there just for a walk or hire a guide who takes you in and behind the waterfall. Pretty intense, good experience.
Fun at the playground with Yoshua and Ada. Funny, Yosh bought the cheapest chinese bike possible (200cc engine!!) in Mexico and plans to go all the way to panama. Just with a backback. Cool.
You can hire a rowboat for a trip on the lake or, if you are into it, and who isn't, you can hire a birdguy to do birdwatching.
For some reason i didn't take much pictures between Copán Ruinas and here, Granada. At this point, after about 9 months on the road i felt a bit bored, if that's a good expression. It all starts looking the same. This 'mental condition' has a big influence in the way i perceive my environment. Maybe i should take a break. Or i should start venturing outside the beaten path. Don't feel to comfortable about that though. My intent is to get to TDF in one piece, preferable with this bike.
I met a american guy the other day, coming up from South America on a KTM 950 adventure with 134000(!) km on the clock. Drove without forkoil since salt in Bolivia eroded the frontforks. His rear suspension was dead to. The engine however stil ran pretty good, although a bit rough. We exchanged stories, money and maps. One of them was a map of whole south America. Impressive. Big. Intimidating. So far i ignored the complete picture and took it day by day. That makes it all easier to deal with. But the whole continent in front of you... So much covered so far. And totally clueless about the road ahead.
Anyway.
Leaving Honduras was again a fairly easy event. Or was it? I crossed at El Paraiso / Los Manos. This time i did use a helper. Or rather, they used me. Looking back i think i was ripped off. To leave the country i had to pay, about USD40,-. Reviewing the whole event i think, but i'm still not sure if paying for leaving a country is really neccessary. It was all very nice and friendly though. But Still, looking back my gut told me it wasn't genuine what happend. And i ignored it. I really should listen to my gut more offen i guess. But at that time i couldn't pinpoint exactly what was going on. And going with the flow is easier. A bit expensive though.
One tip: If you use a helper and after immigration he takes you to de Adouana were you have to pay to leave the country, with your bike check if there a network cable on his computer and look at the screen what happens. The guy might be playing patience. I didn't and till today i'm wonderig...
Not that i mind it too much, but having read so much stories about people getting ripped off at orders i thought that i'm smarter than them. I guess not ;-)
Main thing is with crossing alone that you have to divide your attention between watching your bike, keep the helpers away, try to understand what people are saying, watching your papers and money, figure out what the procedure is, and try not to be ripped off. It's just a bit too much at the same time. That is what makes you vulnerable.
Suerte!
The whole procedure took about an hour. Nice. I do think i didn't pay too much, but then, you never know do you? ;-)
From the border it's a short distance to Copán, much to my suprise this turned out to be a friendly, but touristy town. After sleeping in a dormitory i thought i earned a proper hotel, which i found for eur. 8,- per night, with cable tv, hot shower and more important,safe parking for my bike. View from balcony:
The copan ruinas where beautiful, although not as impressive as Machu Pichu or Palenque. One of the main differences with Mayan art in the stone carved ornaments is the very high detail of the carved caracters. In the museum there's a large collection of ornaments.
Next stop was Lago Yojoa, a beautiful lake with plenty of exclusive lodging. The road wasn't without obstacles though. A truck missed a corner, crashed and burned down completely. Driver included....
Shortcut dirtroad though the mountains from San Juan to Esperanza, saved me about 2 hours.
More great sceneries on the way to Lake Yojoa:
A bit from the lake, just outside Pina Blanca there is D&D, an american guy with his own miscrobrewery. Funny, smart too, he build the whole brewery in a freightcontainer, shipped the whole thing to Honduras and put it in his backyard. Then he made a nice little hostel/restaurant frequented by lots of backpackers. Good business model. All you need is a good reference in the lonely planet and your in business, it seems.
Pricey though, unless you have your tent with you, then it only costs 40 Lempiras, a double room was 200. I hadn't used my tent for weeks, and i needed to save a bit of money to make up for the hotel expenses in Copán. Good idea. But not when your in a tropical rain forest kind of environment. And although its not rainseason, i was treated several days with lots of rain. Good test for the tent though.
So far i used my Vaude ultralight tent only at beaches and good weather. It proved watertight ;-) Although i think, when exposed to rain AND wind, the too short rainfly will not protect rain from blowing inside. Oh well. Probably, by the time i enter Chili/Argetina i will replace this tent for my rock solid Hilleberg again.
Anyway, nice place. Although a bit remote. There's a big waterfall nearby, go can go there just for a walk or hire a guide who takes you in and behind the waterfall. Pretty intense, good experience.
Fun at the playground with Yoshua and Ada. Funny, Yosh bought the cheapest chinese bike possible (200cc engine!!) in Mexico and plans to go all the way to panama. Just with a backback. Cool.
You can hire a rowboat for a trip on the lake or, if you are into it, and who isn't, you can hire a birdguy to do birdwatching.
For some reason i didn't take much pictures between Copán Ruinas and here, Granada. At this point, after about 9 months on the road i felt a bit bored, if that's a good expression. It all starts looking the same. This 'mental condition' has a big influence in the way i perceive my environment. Maybe i should take a break. Or i should start venturing outside the beaten path. Don't feel to comfortable about that though. My intent is to get to TDF in one piece, preferable with this bike.
I met a american guy the other day, coming up from South America on a KTM 950 adventure with 134000(!) km on the clock. Drove without forkoil since salt in Bolivia eroded the frontforks. His rear suspension was dead to. The engine however stil ran pretty good, although a bit rough. We exchanged stories, money and maps. One of them was a map of whole south America. Impressive. Big. Intimidating. So far i ignored the complete picture and took it day by day. That makes it all easier to deal with. But the whole continent in front of you... So much covered so far. And totally clueless about the road ahead.
Anyway.
Leaving Honduras was again a fairly easy event. Or was it? I crossed at El Paraiso / Los Manos. This time i did use a helper. Or rather, they used me. Looking back i think i was ripped off. To leave the country i had to pay, about USD40,-. Reviewing the whole event i think, but i'm still not sure if paying for leaving a country is really neccessary. It was all very nice and friendly though. But Still, looking back my gut told me it wasn't genuine what happend. And i ignored it. I really should listen to my gut more offen i guess. But at that time i couldn't pinpoint exactly what was going on. And going with the flow is easier. A bit expensive though.
One tip: If you use a helper and after immigration he takes you to de Adouana were you have to pay to leave the country, with your bike check if there a network cable on his computer and look at the screen what happens. The guy might be playing patience. I didn't and till today i'm wonderig...
Not that i mind it too much, but having read so much stories about people getting ripped off at orders i thought that i'm smarter than them. I guess not ;-)
Main thing is with crossing alone that you have to divide your attention between watching your bike, keep the helpers away, try to understand what people are saying, watching your papers and money, figure out what the procedure is, and try not to be ripped off. It's just a bit too much at the same time. That is what makes you vulnerable.
Suerte!
