We are writing this entry from beautiful Vancouver where we have been resting for the past few days. Resting from a quick tour of some of the best the US has to offer. We started with a drive into Texas and took the opportunity to hook up with our old friends Ken and Claudine (and their 2 children). They're on a 2 month road trip, touring just about all of the US...

Now that is a happy family! So together we all visited San Antonio...

So after our visit of the canal and the Alamo we all headed off our seperate ways and decided to meet up near the Arizona border. Being in a campground provided us with the perfect excuse to break out a couple of tequila bottles we had brought over from Mexico. As you can guess, it wasn't long before we started clowning around...

As soon as we entered Arizona the scenery started to get a bit more interesting...

The above picture was taken at a campground just outside of Tucson. We had gone there to attend Overland Expo, a meeting of overland travelers from across North-America...

Then it was off to start our visit of some of the National Parks. We started with the Grand Canyon...

Then took a ride into Monument Valley...

Arches National Park in Utah (yup, the weather was getting a little intense)...

Still trying to live as cheaply as possible...

But still having fun and relaxing once in a while...

This is Bryce Canyon National Park, just stunning...

After all of that wonderful nature we somehow ended up here...

We spent the next few days exploring the Vegas strip and attended the wedding of Ken and Claudine (!). But eventually it was time to go once again and we made our way into California. We had received a wonderful invitation from Richard and Jacqueline, a couple of experienced riders from Benicia near San Francisco so we went to stay with them a couple of days. They are a very nice couple and we hit it off immediately...

Richard is quite good around bikes and he was able to teach me several good tricks for tuning the bike...

Our last couple of days in the US were not the best. As soon as we left the comfort of Benicia we drove right into cold temperatures and rain. But despite the weather we still enjoyed driving among the redwoods of northern California...

So that was it, our 1 month tour of the US condensed into a rather picture intensive entry. Hope you enjoyed it. Next up, CANADA!!!!

Brian

OK, I know that the last entry was supposed to be the last for Mexico but I just wanted to share a short (and shaky) video with you. Watch till the end. Oh, and no motorcyclists were injured in the making of this video...

Alright, let`s wrap things up for Mexico by picking up where we left off, Oaxaca and working our way from there. We decided that this time around, rather than take slow coastal roads or staying on secondary roads as we had done back in 2007 we would take the easiest option available in order to travel to the north of the country beyond the capital, taking a toll road from Oaxaca to just beyond Mexico city. It`s expensive but saves a massive amount of time.

What we had planned on doing was visiting Copper Canyon in the north west of the country. But the bike had other plans which we found out about just after filling up in the middle of nowhere. She just would not start leaving us scratching our heads...

After a few hours of this we finally managed to push start it as a temporary solution. But we had to cancel our trip to Copper Canyon in favour of a more direct route to the US and a repair shop (if needed). The semi-permanent solution was devised a few days later at another gas station on our way towards the border. But this time, we were armed with some know how and our trusty multitool...

The problem was a faulty clutch switch as well as a faulty neutral switch. The procedure pictured above was to bypass the clutch switch. And with that we were on our way to explore Cuatro Cienegas once again. Here are a few pictures of this magical place...

Brian

During the course of this trip we were lucky to have been visited by both friends and family a few times. This past month, our good friend Pierre came to meet us in Oaxaca for a week. We spent our time eating great food (lots of mole, a kind of spicy chocolate sauce that is usually served with chicken), visiting the local ruins and exploring the surrounding areas. Here are some pictures of our time there. First up, an explanation of the finer points of Mole...

A visit to the local market...

A strong argument for becoming a vegetarian...

No matter how much I pleaded Pierre simply refused to share...

A run down church somehow maintains some charm...

Monte Alban...

Oaxaca at night, always festive in the Zocalo (town square)...

It was great to be back in such a cultured and interesting city. Next stop, northern Mexico.

Brian

After El Salvador and our much appreciated beach time our little adventure took us to Guatemala and a little closer to home. During our first visit to this fascinating country we had spent the better part of a month learning Spanish in the town of Todos Santos. It is a bit out of the way but we both wanted to return there once again. But first we had to deal with customs to get into the country, always a pleasure in Central-America. This time, it was a faulty generator that caused a 6 hour delay in getting our temporary import permit. Here is the culprit...

Eventually we got our papers and spent the next couple of days heading towards Todos Santos...

Seeing the town once again brought back lots of nice memories, especially when we went to visit the Spanish school where we had spent so much time back in 2007. But before long it was time to hit the road once again...

Next entry we'll explain why we were almost refused entry into Mexico. Ah! The joys of paperwork!

Brian

I'm writing this entry from the Tortuga Surf Lodge in El Tunco, El Salvador. We had spent a couple of weeks here back at the beginning of our trip soaking in the sun and the beach. That was now over 2 years ago and I can't help but reflect on how much has gone on since then. I remember feeling like we had come a long way since Montreal, that we had lived a lot in those short few months.

But that was just a question of perspective. Relatively speaking we had lived a lot when you compared those few months to the 9 to 5 grind that was our life for several years prior to our departure. And now, having since completed our drive around the world and slowly heading home it once again seems like we lived a lot since we were last here. It is all relative I guess.

Where our feeling of accomplishment was mixed with a certain degree of uncertainty for what the road would bring, it is now mixed with a feeling of being at peace. As if what lies beyond the next border (and the next) is not so scary anymore. Things all seem to make a bit more sense than they did before. And in a way, this is the reason we travel.

Brian

The day we left Somoto we entered Honduras and had an unpleasant encounter with some police officers at a routine roadside checkpoint. I wrote the following text for a motorcycling forum which describes an incident with the police in Honduras. Here it is:

When we crossed through Honduras were stopped 3 or 4 times. Only once did things get a little "complicated". At first it appeared as a routine checkpoint (just past a stop sign) with several vehicles being checked until the police officer signalled us to pull over with what seemed to be over-enthusiastic body language. Those who have ridden Central-America will know what I am talking about. A typical tactic to try and get you rattled on the get go.

So we pull over and the officer asks us very politely where we are going and for our papers. We responded in good Spanish and handed over our temporary permit and my real drivers license (my second mistake, the first was to speak Spanish). Once he had my license in his hands his demeanour immediately changed and he demanded to see our reflectors. I pointed to the small reflective tape all over our bike knowing full well he wanted to see those little triangles that cars must carry (but not bikes). He started talking about paying a 20$ fine at which point we suddenly could no longer speak Spanish. This seemed to piss him and his 2 friends off to no end. Especially when we spoke rapid fire french to him simultaneously for the better part of 3 or 4 minutes non-stop.

So they switched tactic and tried some intimidation. Once of the officers put on one of the gloves I had taken off, made a fist and then took a few slow pretend jabs towards my head with a big grin on his face (like he was boxing). Nice.
The other then started to repeatedly tap my arm and my back in a not so friendly gesture. I was getting pissed and so was Marie.
At one point Marie got off the bike and tried to grab my license out of his hands. He held firm despite her best attempt at retrieving it. This was getting out of hand so she backed off and we said and did nothing for a few short seconds. I guess they had enough of us because they then gave us back the paperwork and license and told us to get out.

We never paid a thing.

Brian

Getting the bike over the Darien Gap by plane proved to be just as easy as the last time back in 2008. The only difference was that the price went up to 725 USD from 550 USD and it took longer to clear customs on both sides this time around. In fact, we spent an entire day at the Girag offices in Bogota getting the bike ready for shipment and another half day on the Panamanian side getting it cleared through customs.

Fresh from our early morning flight from Bogota we proceeded to get our bike set-up for the trip out of Panama city...

We fixed ourselves the goal of making it from the airport cargo terminal in Panama city to David, near the border with Costa-Rica. We had visited Panama City before and needed to make up some time so we just drove though the capital city...

We have been fortunate in that we have rarely gotten sick on this trip. But riding through Panama that began to change as my intestines decided they weren't into eating strange food any longer. In fact, they were more into spending quality time on the toilet, any toilet really, even on the side of the road where there are no toilets. Just bushes that sometimes hide ants nests that are discovered under foot at the most inopportune time.

So when we arrived in David we splurged on a nice air conditioned room with what must have been the cleanest bathroom we have seen so far. And I should know as I spent all of the following day studying the tilework. At one point I even found myself studying the inside of the toilet bowl. It really was spectacular.

After our day of rest we took to the road again and entered Costa-Rica. We had heard about the use of radar guns by the police so we were particularly careful. So you can imagine our surprise when we were stopped by a police officer and told we were speeding. He clocked us at 93 kph in what he said was a 40 kph zone. He started by explaining that there was a big fine to pay. When we asked how much he informed us it would be 400 USD. Ouch! But I guess he was in a good mood because after a bit of talking he decided to let us go without paying anything. We continued on to the town of San Isidro and rode through the remainder of the country the following day and into Nicaragua. Our first stop in Nicaragua was the city of Granada...

And the next day to Somoto...

The day we left Somoto we entered Honduras and had an unpleasant encounter with some police officers at a routine roadside checkpoint. More on that little incident in the next couple of days.

Brian

After our visit of the coffee region we loaded up the bike once again and headed for Santa Fe de Antioquia which is about an hour north of Medellin. But to get there we decided to take some back roads, easily one of the best ways to get to know a country. For the first time since our arrival in the country it was hot. Real hot. But we still took the time to visit the town a bit...

Two days later we were on our way to Mompox, a colonial town a few hundred kilometres to the north-east of the country. In order to get there we had to take a small ferry...

The ferry ...

But even something as simple as taking a ferry can get a little complicated in this part of the world. In this instance, 3 young men latched onto us the moment we pulled into the lot that serves as a waiting area for vehicles. We were both hot and thirsty and somehow we missed the fact that these three people were not employees of the ferry service. So we made the mistake of asking one of them at what time the ferry arrived. For providing us with this information they felt entitled to receive a dollar each. And when we refused to pay them they threatened us with a beating once we would get to Mompox...

The promised beating never took place. We feel that this was probably due to the extreme heat in Mompox. The kind of heat that will melt the marrow in your bones and leave you without a desire to live. And forget the effort required to raise your fists. Not gonna happen. Truth be told we never did see them again and spent a pleasant day visiting the town...

Santa Barbara , an old baroque style church...

Public transport...

Our exit from Mompox via a different route turned into one of those epic days. It was supposed to be a bit of gravel until we reached the main highway than links the Atlantic coast to Bogota in the interior. But the “bit of gravel” ended up being about 90 kilometres of sometimes very deep bull dust that hid jagged rocks and potholes...

This little stretch of road took us a good 4 hours to get through. It was only once we made it safely to the main highway that we noticed our mudguard was missing and presumed shaken to death. There was no way we were turning back so we pushed on towards San Gil, a nice tourist town a couple of hours from Bogota...

The main plaza in San Gil...

Our final stop for our month in Colombia was Bogota from where I am writing these words. The city was our home for a month back in 2008 and once again we found ourselves sampling some good food and visiting some fine museums.

The gold museum impressed us a lot...

So tomorrow we will be bringing our motorcycle to the airport for the flight to Panama city with Girag, a Colombian air cargo company. Let's hope all goes well.

Brian

After the arduous ride from Popayan we were hoping that the ruins at San Augustin would be well worth it. They are, after all, recognized as a UNESCO world heritage site. I wish I could say that we were blown away by the ceremonial tombs that comprise the site but we were not. They are rather modest. But if you're into how dead people were buried 3000 years ago I guess you might find the site interesting. A few pictures of the statues and sarcophagus...

Tierradentro, another Unesco site several hours away, was more what we had in mind. Once again the road to get there was a bit of an adventure in itself and once again it is a site dedicated to the dead but in this case we found the area and the tombs very interesting.

The road to get there...

Burial sites:
First you go down...

Then you look at what is inside...

View from our room...

Brian