11-29-05

11-29-05

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.

more photos

spindle whorls

Santa bikers


water gal

11-26-05

well lets see. I took off yeserday for Guatemala City in the morning. It was a high rise over the mountain to the city from Antigua. It only took a little under an hour to get over but I had to stop and ride through a couple of little towns on the way over. The little towns seem to be all native and I don’t think I saw any European types but there were a couple of the gated communities I think that could be European occupied.
I made it to the outskirts where I met Esturado and he led me into town and we stopped at the bmw dealer. We were very lucky to get to meet the owner as he had just come in from Europe the day before.
Bmw-shop-owner X

He is a really nice man and we talked with him for almost an hour. He just got back froma trip to Terra del Fuego last year. The most amazing thing about it is that he is 71 years old now. He is ten years older than I am and I figured I was almost too old to be doing this kind of crazy shit. Gosh, I may have ten more years of this coming up. Wow. He said he only went down once and that was way down in southern Chile where the road is very bad and the wind actually blew him over.
After the bmw owner we went out to eat and Estuardo led me to a very nice Guatemalan restaurant because when he asked what I wanted to eat I said I wanted to eat Guatemalan food. We had a very good and lots of it, sort of a chicken with vegetable soup with rice and tortillas. I was stuffed when I walked out. He then took me over to the Biltmore a 5 star hotel where he bought me a room for the night. I guess the bmw guys business has a special for bmw riders and Estuardo was able to tap into that. Yikes, what a room. I have never been in a 5 star before and it was really nice. Oh, I need to correct the name of his daughter, it is not Lisa but Leslie. She is a really nice young lady and I sure want to apologize to her for getting her name wrong.
5 star hotel X

I took a cab over to the Mayan museum and unfortunately I had only about a half hour before they closed. I ran through it quite fast but took a bunch of photos which I am not sure was ok, but no one was watching. I took quite a few and will post a couple of nice ones. I hear they have a huge collection in the back rooms but they did have a few nice pieces out on display.
Mayan X




It had a big tv with must have been 80 channels. I finally switched back and forth between the cnn, fox and the bbc for news that I have been away from while I have been down here. Sounds like the same o shit only now there is Christmas advertising. I really don’t like tv especially around Christmas.
I took advantage of the hot water and did my laundry. I had been living in the same shirt and pants for a week or more so it was time. This nylon stuff dries out nice overnight. My wool content sox need a little more time so I packed them in the tank bag where they will dry out.

Esturado met me in the morning and he led me out of town on his bike. He has had it since 87 I think it was and he sure rides it smooth and easy. It sure has been taken well cared for. It is a Cagiva and it the Elephant 650 model.
Estuardo bike X
oops, i dont have the bike photo with me so here is a local police car. they put car tires on them and really scoot around town.

It has a ducati engine in it and he says it is really a strong runner. He has a smaller dirt bike for his enduro riding. He led me maybe ten miles out of town and we climed from some fog up to the beautiful sunny day. It turned out to be one of the best days of riding I have had. It was cool in the morning and nice in the afternoon. I had to go through the border at El Salvador and that took about 45 minutes or so. I did have a kid come along and help me and gave him five bucks for helping. I asked before what the price would be and he said what ever I thought it was worth. I could have done it myself but five bucks wont hurt me and I am sure it will help him. I had to switch back into dollars from Quetzals and now I have old usa dollars in my pocket. Damn things are worth more now I guess with the dollar rising in value so I had pay more quetzals for them. I have no idea how bad I got ripped on the exchange because I didn’t check the exchange rate on the internet before I did it.
As I was heading down the road after crossing into El Salvador I had to stop and take this photo of a woman filling water jugs at a communal water spigot. You can see the padding that she is wearing on her head. A young woman just left with one of these jugs on her head. I don’t know what one weighs but it must be quite a load for the head. it must be five gallons.
Water gal X
i guess they must limit to five or six photos so no more photos. maybe i can post again the photos.
I stopped at this gas station to fuel up. Esturado had told me that it was cheaper in Guatemala and it was by maybe thirty to forty cents. It is the Christmas season and I must be right in style.
Santa bike X

I made it to La Salvador capitol city and it is big and confusing. I finally found myself on a little road that started out as a freeway and turned into a rural road. I knew I was way off so I found a cabby guy and he led me out of town and on the right road. It was a really nice road and I finally made it to Zacatecoluca and that is in El Salvador. It was getting late and I searched around for a hotel but couldn’t find one. I asked several people and finally found some military guys walking around with rifles and one of them knew some English and gave me directions in pigeon English/Spanish and we both laughed a lot. I did find it and it may be the only one in town. I am the only guest and it was ten bucks with the tv. The funny thing is that this tv is huge compared to the one in the 5 star hotel and I think it has just as many channels. I turned it on but had to unplug it to write this as the other plug in is in use for the fan. It is different country here. There are just louver windows and only sheets on the bed. Actually it only had one sheet, the bottom one but the gal brought me a top sheet, they must be expecting a cold night.
I walked up town and happened to find a place that taught English. I went in and visited with the owner who also teaches English in the local high school. He had one of his students there at the time and they are both really nice.
I went out looking for an internet place and ran into a big restaurant looking place. It was the first restaurant that I had seen here as most every body eats at these little stands along the street evidently. I may be in the wrong place for restaurants. Anyway it was a kitchen that was making 800 meals for some sort of meeting but one really nice guy had them make up a meal for me too. Chicken breast, rice, bread and a salad thing I didn’t eat. I have had enough salad for a while. He only charged me $2.50 which I thought was certainly reasonable.
I headed back to the hotel and happened to find an internet place just a block from the hotel. That is really weird as I asked all over town and nobody knew if there was one in town. I asked the guy when they opened in the morning and he said 9 or 9 thirty. If I wait that long I will try to post this.

11-27-05
I have had a little excitement this morning. I found that I have had my ‘real’ wallet stolen. Fortunately it didn’t have any money in it but it did have my real drivers licence as well as one debit card. Damn they are really good to have stolen that from me. I guess I should feel fortunate that they didn’t steal my ‘mugger’ wallet with the thirty bucks that I usually carry in it. I have a money clip that I carry more money in stashed in a different place. I usually don’t have my ‘real’ wallet with me but I had it on me while I went through the border. I have another bank debit card that I will use until I can figure out a way to get a new debit card sent to`` me. The problem is, where will I have it sent and when will I be there?

11-24-05

11-24-05

The place at the church where I put the candles for Roger’s recovery from sickness was not very well thought of or at least no one had put any candles at his place. I had the whole tray to put my candles. They did have a nice flower display for him though. I’m doing all I can for ya here at this end Roger, get well soon please!!
Candles X


I wanted to go back this afternoon to see the ruins of the convent, which is down by the big market. June was going to go down and look at the market so I walked down that way with her. We went through part of the market where they were selling flowers and I had her take a photo of me with some of them. I had given June my road blog link and I guess she had given it to one or more of her friends and they wanted to see what I looked like. I guess I don’t have any photos of me on my blog but I do think I have one of me on my web page but it is with my eye loop on, working at my bench making jewelry. So here is one for all out there who don’t know what I look like.
Rex

The ruins were actually pretty cool. I think this church must have been one built in 1500 or early 1600. The size and thickness of the walls of this thing are truly massive. What I found really interesting is that almost all of the pieces fell inside the walls and I only saw a few outside. If anyone was in there lighting candles when it happened, they are buried under a lot of rock and brick.
Church ruins X

as nice pointsettia bush adn tower

11-23-05
I was actually rather pleased with the results on the blog page with being able to put the photos where they might make more sense than just a few posted at the beginning or end of the blog. I am using the medium size photo selection and I think I may try next time to use the grande or large size and see if it will work with my photos. I tried once before but it rejected all photos when I did it. It takes time to load the photos even with the fairly fast speed that they have here in this town. In some of the more rural places I’ll just have to see how it works. It is much better for me at this end than trying to get them to hook up my computer to the network. I have been writing the blog in just plain text to the memory stick as well as a few selected photos and then just plugging it in their machine. It will protect this little computer from viruses as well that way by not hooking it up to a network line.
I met a new lady in school yesterday. She was headed for the coffee/tea station when I made some dumb remark about how beautiful her red hair was. She put it off and said that blond hair was a much better color. Well I told her that I had a brother and father with red hair and had always been partial to it. (yes, I am a sucker for the red hair). It turns out she is from Ireland and is traveling alone seeing Central and maybe South America. June told me last night that she might volunteer here and help teach English at one of the Indian schools. I asked June how could she do that since she doesn’t speak any Spanish and she said that you do it like she used to do with her students and tell them “I don’t speak any Spanish so you will have to speak English.” I might be getting more out of my lessons if I was made to speak Spanish but I am learning some. I sure am going to need my little Spanish dictionary and my little made up emergency word list.
I think the Irish gals name is Martina. She was telling me that she at one time tended a bar in Ireland so she knows all about them. I had asked her if she had been to a bar that I walk past called Riley’s and appears to be an Irish bar. She said that she had not and told me that it was uncomfortable for her to go into a bar as a single woman. I thought about that last night and asked June and her to go out with me tonight and check out the bar or bars so she could see if they were something she wanted to go to or not. I guess I can stand the smoke and bar bullshit for at least one night with a redhead and a tall blond. It is a tough life down here boys!!!
I went to the textile museum this afternoon and found it a really nice site. It didn’t have much in the way of English information and I think they gave you one of the ladies that was around there to take a tour with if you spoke Spanish. I had a good time just looking at the wonderful collections of old cloth as well as textiles that had been hand embroidered. There were several rooms with examples of the different dress styles that were worn by the different indigenous tribes.
Historic dress X

They had a really cool spinning wheel that had seen some serious use. It was certainly a lot cheaper than the spinning wheels that they sell today.
Spinning wheel X

This was an unusual small weaving loom that I think they used to made the sash belts that they all wear. They still might use this type of loom, I don’t know.
Small loom X

One of the women gave me a demonstration on how they used the belt loom. It really goes behind their butt. The gal said that she would take a year to make a length of cloth by maybe making less than half an inch progress a day.
Weaving detail X

The outfit ready to go.
weaving outfit X

After leaving the textile museum I walked down to the end of the road because I could see some large ruins. It turns out that they are ruins of a convent and by the looks of them it must have been in the colonial days and must have been abandoned after the earthquake. I got there just as the man was closing the grounds for the evening. I could see a big soccer game in progress next door so I went over and watched them. As I was standing there a guy came up and started to talk with me. It turns out that he was a merchant marine seaman and worked ships that went along the coast of the US and Central and South America. He was in the area buying ceramics for his store that he has in Costa Rica. He says that ceramics are cheaper in Nicaragua and that is where his competition buys so he comes to Guatemala, which is more expensive, but he has a different product to sell. He says that he does very well with his business. We were watching the game on an off as we talked and those guys were really giving it hell out there. The field was nothing but hard packed dirt and sand and they fell down a lot and skidded all over the place. He said that there had been play going on all day starting in the morning and he thought it might be some sort of regional competition. He told me that Costa Rica was the most expensive country in Central America but it was the safest. He said that some of these other countries had gang members deported from the United States that had made it really bad. Geez, now I have to deal with gang members? I sure do hope not.
11-24-05 Thanksgiving
We started out looking for a bar that evening. We went by the Riley’s bar but didn’t stop because they didn’t have live music and the girls wanted to have live music. We went on down to the town square and took the side streets and couldn’t find but one or two bars and they didn’t have live music. We traveled back the way we came and finally went into the Riley bar. There were maybe fifteen people in it and they had loud music playing on the stereo. We ordered our drinks and sat at a small table. The girls were able to talk fairly well but the music was so loud I couldn’t hear much. I had lemonade as per my friends suggestion who was down here and doesn’t drink but came to the bars with friends. Wow, they really make strong lemonade down here. We stayed a while nursing our drinks and finally headed home. I think it was the first time that the girls had been out at night walking around. That seems so strange to me as I can hardly wait until supper is over so I can get out on the streets and look around. Being a male and maybe a big one, sure can have some advantages. June made a remark to me about having to be in her room after 7:30 in the evening. Yow, that would be terrible.
June and I were talking this morning about the food that we are getting. When we sat down for breakfast this morning the man of the house had maybe six eggs for himself. We both had a little patty of egg mixed with the leftover spaghetti from last night covered with a strange sauce along with part of a small hot dog cut into strips. There is a basket of bread on the table and it usually contains a variety of what I would call day old bread. I guess we both think that if we are eating the same food that they family is eating, that is just fine but when the family and especially the daughter are eating much higher on the food chain than we are, that is not fair. We also have just one little tiny dim light bulb in our rooms. It is really too dim a light to read with but it hasn’t bothered me because all I do is sleep in here or write on this computer. June says that it is too dim for her to read and study with and that sure is a problem that I have noticed when I try to read a map or something I have to go someplace where there is a good light. The family mean while has lights that you can get a sunburn under.
It was maybe a little cooler last night but it didn’t bother me. June said that she was in her long underwear and was still freezing. There is only one light blanket on the bed with a thin spread. This morning she asked for another blanket and I guess she is going to get one. It will be my last night and I don’t give a shit if I get one or not. It seems like they are just feeding us as cheaply as possible and not the same food that they eat. How can I bitch for ten bucks a day? We both have been talking with some of the other students and they are eating very well and the same food as the family. They even have big bowls and platters that have the food on them and they help themselves to what they want, while we get a small portion and that’s it. Eat it or go hungry. I eat it and am loosing weight, which is good. Bitch, bitch, bitch, but with good results eh?

I made it to the market today and found a guy selling candles. I had to buy a dozen of them on a string but they only cost one Quezales which comes out to only about 13 cents. I figured roger was well worth one Quezales. I went to the church near my house and looked around for a suitable place to put them. There were several figurines on the sides of the church and I was really looking for the guy that carries the little square (I figure Roger would like him) but I couldn’t find him in that church. I finally settled on one of a guy with an arrow shot in his leg and he looked like he was pretty sick. I sure hope that is a good one because he now has twelve candles burning at his feet. Get Well Roger!!!!!!!

11-22-05-photos

here are a few more photos. one on of the photos is of the card telling of the candles that should be lit for different occasions. i am going to get a pink one and take it in one of these churches and light it for my friend roger who has been sick. he is the one that gave me his saint christiopher medeal and it has worked well so far for me. the least i can do is try that.

this is a photo of the handle for a hose bib that i know tova will like.

this one she may not like as much, they are turtle shells that are sold for musical instruments. the mayans used them for instruments as well as a variety of flutes and drums.

now a flower photo or two

11-22-05

11-22-05


Another morning of Spanish lessons. No progress so far. Two more days to go.

I have another student staying at the house I live in. Her name is June and she is a geology teacher in San Jose, California and is on sabbatical for a year. She is very fluent in Spanish but wants to touch up on the finer points of the language. She has lived in several different countries in South America and has traveled many places in the world. She has been struggling with the food we have been getting here and I think is having a much harder time than I am. I am just starving while she doesn’t like the plain cheap food. It doesn’t taste bad to me, but then again it doesn’t taste good either. After lunch today she asked if I wanted to try to go to the café museum and maybe try the massage place. That sounded good to me as my shoulder has been giving me hell probably from sleeping on it wrong. It is the one I have hurt several times and the last being the motorcycle accident I had three months ago. We finally found the café museum and it was really interesting. It is located in an old coffee plantation and they had all the machines as well as old machines that they processed the coffee. I had no idea how coffee was grown and harvested and this was a really nice museum with English language information as well as Spanish. Oh, actually there was a museum of music there as well. It was fascinating to see the instruments as well as they had a video of the indigenous people playing and in local costume at celebrations.

As we were leaving there was a sign that pointed to a nature trail that we took.

It was interesting to see the coffee trees in seedling stages as well as the mature bush/trees that the coffee beans were just starting to ripen on. In Guatemala they grow the bushes under shade trees which makes superior coffee compared to Brazil where they grow it out in the sun which make more coffee but poorer quality.
There were quite a variety of flowers on the nature trail as it went through some sort of nursery or something.

I think they grow flowers there as well as plants for landscaping around the grounds. I got a few flower photos so I will try to get a few posted.

After the tour of the café, music and flowers we headed back and June was able to talk with several people and get directions to the massage place. She did all the talking and got me in the right spot and a guy worked me over for about a half hour. It looks like it cost about seven bucks or 55 Quetzals. I tried to give the guy the info that I wanted him to work on the dang shoulder but that didn’t go over very well. Dang, they have this routine that they go through and he didn’t want to vary his treatment. The dang shoulder didn’t get much work and still is stiff. I will try again some other place down the road if the opportunity presents itself.

On the walk back to our house we passed a little shop that was grinding corn and making tortilla dough. This was a really nice commercial rig much bigger than the little one I posted a photo of a while back. At least I think I got it posted. This one had a spigot over the grain tray and it was wetted down as it went into the grinder. The dough that came out the bottom was scooped up and placed in that big tub. I guess they must have been grinding for the evening market. I actually didn’t look around the shop and they might be just sellers of the ground mixed meal or they could have had a tortilla making machine there as well. I see some Indian ladies making tortillas on the street on old oil drum lids over charcoal fires and I am sure they must buy the dough and not have any way of grinding the meal on the street.

The big house

some photos around the big house

more photos

evidently i have to have text along with the photos. the last photos were.
the bird of paradise
african twin
my home and owners
orchids
Bonnie type, and a good one.

photos

i cant seem to get them to load up for some reason, maybe i need some text. so this is a test to see if i can get up five photos again.

photos

photos

11-20-05

11-20-05
It was a nice day for walking around. I went to a little restaurant for breakfast and had the special of scrambled eggs, bread, beans, butter I think and a little slice of cheese as well as two pieces of fried plantain (?) or something that looks like a banana. I have a little trouble with the fried banana thing but it actually goes down fair. Here at home I have had it in the morning also. I walked over to where the jade factory was supposed to be and found it closed. I decided to go back home and get my camera that I had forgotten to take along. I had spied several nice doorknockers and wanted to get some photos of them, which I did on the way back later. I like the little barred windows so they can look out and see who is knocking.

one of my favorites with the little cross in all hand made and clinched nails

I really liked the ring on the finger of this one.

I came across this new little VW pickup truck and again thought of my VW buddies. Isn’t this one a nice looking little truck? It is nice to see vw making pickups again.

I saw this African Twin at the town square and met the guy that owns it. It has only 500 kilometers on it. It is brand new and evidently they are importing them into Guatemala. This is a really nice looking dual sport bike.

The square has a nice fountain in the center with four maidens giving. This sort of remindes me of when I was in the market yesterday a woman was nursing a baby in her lap and needed to get up and wait on a customer. She just took the little kid off and left her breast out while she waited on the customer. It sure seemed so natural.

I finally did make it back to the jade museum but found it was only a shop that made reproductions of the old jade. I took afew photos but was not happy with most of them. Here is one of turtles that I will put in here for Tova.

There was a very nice salesman that walked around with me that spoke excellent English. I know he was disappointed I didn’t buy anything.
One thing that they had of interest were these drawings of how the Maya worked the jade.
In this one they are using rubbing or a cord with grit on it to cut the stone.

They had to use jade tools to cut and incise the stone. They had nothing harder than jade to work with so jade was what they used.

They used wood and leather with the grit on it to polish the jade.


I met the guy I met on the highway coming into Guatemala who rides motorcycles. I never did get to post the picture with him and his friend, so here is that photo. His name is Estuardo and lives in Guatemala City.

He came late in the afternoon with his beautiful wife Elizabeth and his daughter Lisa. Elizabeth’s parents have a weekend house here in Antigua and we went to that house for our visit. Her dad is has coffee plantation(s) and has owned sugar cane plantations as well as cotton farms in the US. He has money and has turned this place into one of the most beautiful places I probably will ever see. It was a real treat to be invited into such a special place. We pulled up to the big doors of the place and were let in by one of the housekeepers. I had to take a photo of the doorknocker, as that is what I had been doing all day.

There is this cool little look through window and I got a picture of it opened with Estuardo looking through it. This seems to be very common and this one was nicely done in hand wrought iron.

Evidently he bought the hose from an American lady who built the house taking it some of the Colonial remains of the house that was there. When her father bought it he also bought the property next door that had been used for many years as a place to dump dirt. Estuardo said that they took out 1700 truckloads of dirt to clean the place up. They cleaned up until they got down to the original Colonial floors and walls that were still left. Evidently there was a huge earthquake in early 1700’s and they moved the capitol 40 miles away to now what is known as Guatemala City. In one section of the floor they found this mural made of cow bones (the front leg joints). The dark brown ones are original and the more white ones are new but still following the original design. The design it of a two headed eagle. This was just a small piece of the floor but this design was the focal point. It was in an area that I would guess would be more like an outdoor entertainment zone that was covered but open on the sides.

These carved stones must have been built into walls in temples by the Mayans.

The walls of old colonial buildings.

This shows the different construction methods.

This was a nice area that shows the original road surface. The wall on the right is of newer construction.

You can see the same double headed eagle in this old fountain.

This was inside one of the rooms of the house. It is a jade neck yoke that somehow was used by the Mayans. I have seen a plain one and a broken one before at a museum but here there were two of them and both of them were carved. They figure that they must have worn them during special ceremonies. They weigh a lot and couldn’t have been much fun to wear.
On the table was a basket with several flowers on long stalks. I didn’t know what they were but Elizabeth identified them as orchids. Evidently they will be beautiful lovely blooms for several days or even more than a week at which time they are taken back someplace and taken care of for another year and brought out again when they bloom.

On one wall of the room was a display of outstanding Mayan artifacts. The pottery displayed here was very superior to that that I have seen in the museums. Sorry for the weird photo but I stitched two photos together to make it.

Estaurdo said that he had bought them from a collector. I had to get up close and take a photo of this one pot that had monkeys on it.

We sat in this room and had a cup of tea or coffee that Elizabeth and Lisa had made while we were out in the grounds. I asked for a cup of tea and realized later that I should have asked for coffee, as this was a coffee growers house. Elizabeth poured me a half-cup of coffee when I had finished my tea. It was like no other coffee I have ever tasted. Elizabeth apologized for making it too strong, and it was very strong, but it was the smoothest coffee I have ever tasted. It was similar to drinking whiskey in that cheap whiskey is drinkable but with a shudder while this coffee was just a smooth as the very expensive whiskey. With access to this coffee I think I could become a coffee drinker again. I only drank a half a cup but I could feel the effects until very late into the night.
Lisa is 17 years old and is going to the American school in Guatemala city. This school is taught by American teachers and is evidently very exclusive. She sounds like a very busy girl and at the present time is studying for the SAT test. She will have to take that test to get into the universities that she has applied for. She is interested in going to art schools. When she has time and Estuardo lets her, they go motorcycle riding.

I went to a local restaurant and had some supper cooked by a chef that said he spent 25 years in Toronto, Canada and then came back here and opened the restaurant. It was very nice meal and a really pleasant little restaurant. After eating I went back home and worked on trying to get the road log that I had written deleted of the photos and the photos separated so I could publish them to the blog site. I was able to do that as you probably know by now and then noticed that there was Front Page program on the computer I was using. I had completely given up looking for that program on the internet shops as I haven’t found it in many tries. I thought I would try it and was able to load some of the photos I took at the market the other day. I see if I load a photo directly into a page in Front Page, it comes out very big and will probably load very slowly for those with dial up lines. Even with a fast line it took a little to load on that computer which I think has a very fast line. So, I am going to try to load the last road logs with photos to the website to try to make a complete record.

photos again maybe???

one more time.

11-20-05 photos

i tried to make these photos bigger so i will see what i get now.

11-20-05

11-19-05
I took my little memory stick down town last night and found an internet shop that would let me plug in the memory stick. I was able to get the road log loaded ok on the blog site but the darn site was all different than it was when I was up north. I have no idea why it all came up in Spanish but I tried several ways and it still came up in Spanish. When I posted before I was able to post photos as well as written stuff but this time I couldn’t find the button for adding a photo. The reason I picked this blog site was that it was one of the only ones that would let you post photos. It could be that people abused the service and they had to quit it. Bummer, if that is true, as it is sure nice to add photos, as you know.
After I left the internet shop I walked up to the main square or the center of town. There was very little going on up there, which was very different from the Mexican towns I have been in. This is a small town it is true but there are big government buildings all around the square and I am pretty sure there are a lot of people around here too, but not many out on the street for a Friday night. I did walk past a few bars that were doing a fair amount of business but I really am not a bar dog at all. I don’t like the smoke and I don’t really like to drink so they are not much fun for me. The places I looked in I saw quite a few Anglos in them but it seems like all the Anglos I have heard on the street are talking in some foreign language most probably German. I keep looking for another motorcycle that is packed up for traveling, but no luck so far.
I took another walk up town this afternoon and things are starting to pick up for sure. I made it to a historical colonial museum and had the first chance to see in real life the little bits of silver that they used to use for money. They are all different shapes and not shaped in any particular way. They were just pieces of silver that they stamped and from the look of things they were not any standard weight. They had the hunks of iron or maybe they were steel (?) that they used to stamp them (dies). I sure wish they would let a person take photos but some museums don’t allow it. They had quite a few of the old cannons from ones I could pick up to rather large ones. They also had some swords and flintlock pistols and rifles. They had two of those huge rifles that sat in a yoke like an oarlock and they must have really bucked when something that size went off. They also had some really nice old trunks and I was sure surprised at the quality of the wood inlay work on them. They may have had simple tools but they really made good use of them. Everything was in Spanish so I missed a lot of the fine points I am sure. I did find a lady in a tourist office that gave me directions to the jade museum here in town and I got a map that has other museums. I tried to find a couple of them on the map but have not been successful so far. They don’t have street signs at the corners usually so it makes it more difficult for me as I have to count blocks from the church, etc.
I was wrong about this being a small town. I guess they keep the old part sort of low key but from what I understand this was the original capitol and that is why they have such huge government building here. The town was really open and cranking right along but in a different way than Mexican towns. Here there are no street vendors all along the street and sidewalk or at least that is the case in this old part of town. There are lots of restaurants all over but the business is all inside and no tables on the street.
I finally found the big market in town and it is fantastic as I find them all to be really. It was like little rabbit runs all through the place and it is a huge market. I will post some photos of what I found.

11-18-05

11-18-05
I made it to Antigua and found a place that my friend Bill used last year to go to school and study Spanish. It is a small school not far from a church square on a main street through this small town. The road is all cobble stone and they have seemed to make it as rough as possible. It is really funny to hear the cars and trucks go down it. The newer ones go down it just fine but the older ones really make a racket with the shocks banging and loose parts flapping.
The school is called Probigua and I will give the address here in case anyone else coming down this way wants to take a week or two of classes.
Probigua
6A Avenda Norte No 41B
La Antigua, Guatemala

The deal is that I am taking four hours of one on one lessons for a week and I stay with a family just down the street and eat three meals a day with them. On Sunday I am on my own for food but I will be able to stay here. I have my own room with nice bed and electrical plug in which makes it nice to have, to run the little damn computer. There is a shower and toilet just down the hall. The place is really cool look inside a home here. It is essentially a building along one wall that is open on the other side. It has sort of a porch effect with bedrooms along the wall with open space that is roofed partly. The table is at one end and there is a door arrangement that leads to the kitchen and toilet area at the far end. I looked out back and there is a little garden back there. I might try to take a photo as I find this is really hard to write a description of it. It is ‘the photo is worth a thousand words’. I have a key to get into the front door and a key for a small wooden box in my room that I can have my important stuff in. in a way it is funny as someone who wanted to take important stuff could just take the box but it is here for my sense of comfort that the people who live here wont go through my stuff. I certainly am not worried about that as they are really nice people and as the guy at the school said they are all families of middle class that take in their boarders. I have my passport and some money in it now. I guess I could have it in my saddlebags on the bike too but the bike will be locked up for the weekend in the building and I wont be able to get in to it.
I had to go down to the main square, which is about four blocks away where the banks are to get some money to pay for the school. They were ready to take US dollars too and the price was $100 for the school at four hours a day and $65 for the board and room / week. It worked out to 1275 or something like that in their units of currency, which are Quetzals. I was having a hell of a time trying to get the atm machine to accept my card when I noticed that a woman in the room that was trying to use the other machine got the guy with the machine gun to help her get hers going. I asked him too and he pushed the card in and gave it a hard push then and sure enough it popped up. I made a mistake right away and had to do it again but I finally got the cash. Dang thing didn’t read in English like some do and you have to guess. I found it interesting that it would pay me in dollars or the quetzals. I understand that these machines give the best exchange rate but they do take a fee for the transaction so I think a person needs to take large enough amounts to make it worthwhile. I tried a bank in Mexico when I first got there and only got about five bucks and it probably cost me two or three dollars to get it, in \fees but at least I learned that it did work in Mexico as I didn’t want to get down too far and find out that it didn’t work. I have other cash stashed in other places and only hope I am able to find it if needed. I think I do remember where I stashed my credit card and other debit card. Having to worry about keeping track of passport, title, credit and all the border stuff is really frustrating and somewhat scary when you realize you are really screwed if you loose it.

I spent the first day in class today and I can tell you that I feel like I am going to fail big time on this project. I cant seem to remember anything even after I look at it written. I sure hope I get better at it as it goes along. Everyone is saying that one week is a good start but a person really needs two weeks. But then again those that are saying it are getting money from the other week too. I’ll just have to see how I feel about it in a week. I think I did notice it was slightly easier to understand the words that she was saying. The lady’s name I have for a teacher is Myrna and I think she pronounces it mean-ya. It is really hard for me to hear the inflection of the words with a female voice as well as the foreign language. I had asked if there was one of the teachers that was male which might help me but they said that all the teachers are female.
It is really interesting when in the morning we all showed up for class. There was a group of Anglo looking people standing around the hot water pot with coffee and tea available and the Guatemalan women teachers all gathered together. When I walked up to the Anglo group they almost avoided me and completely ignored me. When I see Anglos on the street I get the same reaction and I finally figured out that I am just not that scary looking and the reason is that they are all city folk and they are trained to not make eye contact and stay away from strangers. I finally forced myself on one poor bastard and said ‘como se llamo’ or what’s your name. He did answer me and he did so in very halting Spanish and then switched to English with a foreign accent. It turns out he is German and I think is with another student who is a woman. He sure didn’t want to talk so I guess I am going to be forced to talk only with my teacher who speaks some English.

photos for last road logs

Antigua, Guatemala

BMWDOG

11-18-05
I made it to Antigua and found a place that my friend Bill used last year to go to school and study Spanish. It is a small school not far from a church square on a main street through this small town. The road is all cobble stone and they have seemed to make it as rough as possible. It is really funny to hear the cars and trucks go down it. The newer ones go down it just fine but the older ones really make a racket with the shocks banging and loose parts flapping.
The school is called Probigua and I will give the address here in case anyone else coming down this way wants to take a week or two of classes.
Probigua
6A Avenda Norte No 41B
La Antigua, Guatemala

The deal is that I am taking four hours of one on one lessons for a week and I stay with a family just down the street and eat three meals a day with them. On Sunday I am on my own for food but I will be able to stay here. I have my own room with nice bed and electrical plug in which makes it nice to have, to run the little damn computer. There is a shower and toilet just down the hall. The place is really cool look inside a home here. It is essentially a building along one wall that is open on the other side. It has sort of a porch effect with bedrooms along the wall with open space that is roofed partly. The table is at one end and there is a door arrangement that leads to the kitchen and toilet area at the far end. I looked out back and there is a little garden back there. I might try to take a photo as I find this is really hard to write a description of it. It is ‘the photo is worth a thousand words’. I have a key to get into the front door and a key for a small wooden box in my room that I can have my important stuff in. in a way it is funny as someone who wanted to take important stuff could just take the box but it is here for my sense of comfort that the people who live here wont go through my stuff. I certainly am not worried about that as they are really nice people and as the guy at the school said they are all families of middle class that take in their boarders. I have my passport and some money in it now. I guess I could have it in my saddlebags on the bike too but the bike will be locked up for the weekend in the building and I wont be able to get in to it.
I had to go down to the main square, which is about four blocks away where the banks are to get some money to pay for the school. They were ready to take US dollars too and the price was $100 for the school at four hours a day and $65 for the board and room / week. It worked out to 1275 or something like that in their units of currency, which are Quetzals. I was having a hell of a time trying to get the atm machine to accept my card when I noticed that a woman in the room that was trying to use the other machine got the guy with the machine gun to help her get hers going. I asked him too and he pushed the card in and gave it a hard push then and sure enough it popped up. I made a mistake right away and had to do it again but I finally got the cash. Dang thing didn’t read in English like some do and you have to guess. I found it interesting that it would pay me in dollars or the quetzals. I understand that these machines give the best exchange rate but they do take a fee for the transaction so I think a person needs to take large enough amounts to make it worthwhile. I tried a bank in Mexico when I first got there and only got about five bucks and it probably cost me two or three dollars to get it, in \fees but at least I learned that it did work in Mexico as I didn’t want to get down too far and find out that it didn’t work. I have other cash stashed in other places and only hope I am able to find it if needed. I think I do remember where I stashed my credit card and other debit card. Having to worry about keeping track of passport, title, credit and all the border stuff is really frustrating and somewhat scary when you realize you are really fucked if you loose it.

I spent the first day in class today and I can tell you that I feel like I am going to fail big time on this project. I cant seem to remember anything even after I look at it written. I sure hope I get better at it as it goes along. Everyone is saying that one week is a good start but a person really needs two weeks. But then again those that are saying it are getting money from the other week too. I’ll just have to see how I feel about it in a week. I think I did notice it was slightly easier to understand the words that she was saying. The lady’s name I have for a teacher is Myrna and I think she pronounces it mean-ya. It is really hard for me to hear the inflection of the words with a female voice as well as the foreign language. I had asked if there was one of the teachers that was male which might help me but they said that all the teachers are female.
It is really interesting when in the morning we all showed up for class. There was a group of Anglo looking people standing around the hot water pot with coffee and tea available and the Guatemalan women teachers all gathered together. When I walked up to the Anglo group they almost avoided me and completely ignored me. When I see Anglos on the street I get the same reaction and I finally figured out that I am just not that scary looking and the reason is that they are all city folk and they are trained to not make eye contact and stay away from strangers. I finally forced myself on one poor bastard and said ‘como se llamo’ or what’s your name. He did answer me and he did so in very halting Spanish and then switched to English with a foreign accent. It turns out he is German and I think is with another student who is a woman. He sure didn’t want to talk so I guess I am going to be forced to talk only with my teacher who speaks some English.

BMWDOG

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.
Sheep X
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.
Block factory X
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.
Settling load X
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.
Tamping X
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.
Removing form X
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.
Lubing mold X
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. Removing two cavity mold
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.
Carlo X
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.
Guatemala border X
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.
Estaurdo X

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.