http://rumbum.com/1138-the-kindness-of-strangers

January 5, 2010

I got really lucky and Mario had some time to go riding with me…I absolutely love dropping the luggage off the bike and going offroad. Mario said we’d ride into the mountains, an visit a former guerilla stronghold, where now the people were practicing eco-tourism and teaching people to farm. Sounded cool to me!

December 31, 2009

I had been in touch with another motorcyclist, Carlos, from el Salvador, and he had given me a lot of travel / route advice via email. He also invited me to spend the New Year holiday with his family, as it is a bad time to be on the road.

I left Antigua Guatemala early and rode to the Guatemala / El Salvador Border. Carlos and two friends rode there to meet me, and Carlos helped me do all the paperwork on both sides –leaving Guatemala and entering El Salvador.

Following Carlos from Guatemala Aduana (customs) to El Salvador side

My escorts

After 1. 5 hours — I am legal to drive in El Salvador and I have the paperwork to prove it!!!

oops, though we were through with the BS…I get stopped one last time and have to pay a “municipal” tax. This has nothing todo with entering the country–and everything to do with entering the little town the border happens to be in. The fee is $5 and arlos is outraged.  He asks the official to show him the ordinance that says I have to pay it ( I myself would not have thought of this…) We see the ordinance, I pay up, and get to go.

Border town mayhem

Riding down the main road … all sorts of obstacles on the road. It pays to stay alert!

The sweet ride one of my escorts is riding this day (he also has a KTM 990)

Carlos stops roadside, and asks for my camera…how thoughtful! One of the first MR-pics. Behind me is one of the omnipresent El Salvadorian volcanos.

Chicken bus. Chicken bus. Pass the Chicken bus.

Traffic grinding to a halt in San Salvador.

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We got to  Carlos’ house, had lunch, and Carlos left to do some things. I fell asleep on their sofa at 7:00 pm and they tried FOUR times to wake me, and I did not wake up. I completely missed the New years festivities they had invited me to. I woke up when the came home at 4 am…

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The next  morning I was having breakfast with Carlos and his daughter, and his friend Mario called to ask if I would like to go for a ride with. Sure! Mario comes over an picks me up, and we go pick up another motorcyclist, Igor, who is also on his way to Tierra del Fuego.

Igor on his KLR650.

we stopped for gas…and I took a picture of the nice sticker on the front of Mario’s bike. Where can I get one for MY bike?

Note that Mario is also a Twisted Throttle fan…

We rode up to the volcano

On nice tight streets

Igor, Alisa and Mario in the sunglasses. Igor is from Bosnia.

Tourist pic of me at the crater…

Action shot of Igor while riding down the other side of the mountain

…

We rode through the outskirts of San Salvador

And to Suchitoto

Igor decided to stay in Suchitoto, and so Mario led us to a hotel with a nice view of the lake

I rode back to San Salvador with Mario.

No  one was home at Carlos’ house, so I went to eat papusas with Mario and his family

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The next day Carlos helped me adjust my chain

And I added a couple of more wires to the frankenstein job holding my Oxford heated ggrip in place (it is sliding around on the throttle body–nothing wrong with the grip, just the glue let loose)

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Nest day I packed up and headed out. I wanted to ride the coast road–the locals call it “riding the tunnels” because there are 5 tunnels which run through the mountains on the road.

So I rode  south to the coastal town of la Libertad

the coast! Fishermen repairing their nets

I decided to take a picture of my bike at the Pacific Ocean…and proceeded to get tuck in the sand…

Oh happy day

A lifeguard cam running up the beach to help, as did this fellow, also named Carlos. Carlos helped me get the bike unstuck, and stayed with me while I got all the gear back on the bike. He told me it was not safe for me to be alone there. He rides motorcycles (SV650) and used to race a KTM 4++ enduro. he invited me to his private community–I thought he was hitting on me–maybe–not sure–but I was HUNGRY and I thought there would be not harm if in a public place. I give him a ride, two-up, to this place.

So we get there, and he introduced me to his wife. YEAH! wife. I chatted with them while I ate–they are just lovely. Then he insists of bringing me back to their house, showing it off, and washing the sand out of my chain.

I say goodbye, exchange email addresses, and ride on.

Through some farming land

And then where the road gets confusing, at a gas station I pull out the map Carlos drew for me, and ultimately this fellow, with his two kids int he truck, chats me up and then offers to lead me to the right road.

I finally enter the mountain region of El Salvador

And to my destination town, Concepcion del Ataco, which is full of these lovely murals.

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The next day I hear from Carlos: he was able to locate a chain that will fit my bike, and so I ride back to San Salvador.

I’d seen these wooden carts and could not figure out their use…ha! I was surprised at the use

Hello again Mr. Volcano

I am going to jump ahead in the chronology of my tale a little bit..I am so excited.

Mario just made this video compilation of a cuple of days riding together.

Not to spoil the tale, but in San Salvador Mario invited me to ride with him and Igor New Years day. That night I got to eat papusas with his family.

Then 2 days later Mario took me for an offroad ride–seldom seen places in El Salvador.  I am working up to that in the blog–while you wait please enjoy Mario’s photos

• Made it into Honduras after an agonizing 7 hours at the border. Also paid $35 for the privilege–obviously they are not following CA-4 rules #
• Good news! I've connected with a very enthusiastic group of motorcycle riders, and they are trying to set up some press #
• Press will be for promoting early detection of cancer. Very exciting for me, since it's the "give back" portion of my trip #

• I'm in La Palma, El Salvador, and tomorrow I will cross over. I've been invited to dinner with Huracanes MC Club in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. #
• I uploaded a YouTube video — Boys selling bread – San Diego El Salvador 1-5-09 http://youtu.be/Ph_VnY_zBiw?a #

Sorry you have to stand on your head to see it!

Current

Hi everyone,

I’ve been having a great time here El Salvador–met some locals rider folks and they have been so super friendly and helpful–taking me riding, showing me parts of the country most people do not get to see. I am very fortunate this way.

I know my blog is abut two weeks behind–ack! I’ve been tied up actually *traveling* and now what little internet time I get I need to concentrate on getting across the Darien Gap. Sorry for that.

Anyway, I think today will be the last day in El Salvador for me–I want to spend more time exploring absolutely everything, but the fact remains that the weather south of the Equator continues to march towards winter (hard to imagine here when the temps are in the 80’s!) and I need to get south.

Thanks for following,

~MAG

Hi folks,

I took a great deal of time to write up a comprehensive description of what my Guatemala – El Salvador border crossing was like December 31st. If you are a fellow traveler following my log, I hope this helps.

If you are just interested in the process, that I have to go through every time I cross a border, it will be interesting, otherwise you will find it a bit dry…

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I just left Antigua yesterday and crossed over at La Hachadura. The entire process took 1.75 hours, and I was the only one in line everywhere.

A few “helpers” tried to tell me where to park, I generally ignored them and parked on my own.

LEAVING GUATEMALA:

First, Guate Immigration (Migracion). Exit stamp from Guate.

Second, go get 3 copies of that page across the street.
You’ll also need 2 copies of your passport and registration, so get those at the same time if needed.
[The first time I got two copies, it was 1 Quetzal. The second time I got 1 copy, it was 1 Quetzal. I started to argue, but then caught myself.]
I am telling you this because you will need to save at least a couple of Q for your copies…

Third, go to Guate Aduano on the other side of the building. They’ll want 2 copies of the exit stamps from Guate migracion, a copy of your passport and a copy of your registration. They will check you VIN, and then put their own stamp in your passport.

Time lapse: 25 minutes.

Always say thank you and have a nice day.

Total Cost= 2 Q (= 25 cents US)

Ride to El Salvador side.

First, Migracion. Didn’t even have to enter the building…the guard outside asked to see my passport, then told me I did not need a stamp to enter El Salvador (CA-4). Alrightythen. But I wanted one as a souvinir (big mistake!) so I went inside anyway, and after talking to 3 different people, etc. they told me they would not do it. Alrightythen.

Second, Aduano. Here I got 3 forms to fill out. here they asked to see my passport, and asked where my stamp to enter el Salvador was. I explained that they told me that I did not need one (CA-4) and that they would not give me one. But I needed to go across the hall and get a copy of my EXIT from Guate. (Thats why I said to get three, above.) Copy = $0.10

[They use US dollars in El Salvador]

Third, back to Aduano, where they verify all the info on the bike, need a copy of my passport, double check my registration (printed registration from US DMV says the bike is blue–THANK GOD my handwritten copy when I applied for the title says black!!! because I knew Twisted Throttle was painting the bike black instead of blue, and I luckily had the foresight to put that on there–yes I brought a copy of each!)

Mr. Aduano verifies everything on the bike, tells me to wait (if I stand in front of the window in exactly the right spot, I can get some of the AC draft on my overheated body), as he typed everything into the computer. Then he goes and re-verifies everything he has typed on the bike again, and then he hands the paperwork to another woman in the office and motions for me to take things up with her.

Mrs. Aduano re-verifies all my paperwork, then RE-types everything into her terminal, and eventually hands me a piece of paper with a sticker on it, that is my official paperwork for “officially” importing the bike for riding in El Salvador.

Time Lapse: 1:15

Always say thank you and have a nice day.

Total Cost= $0.10 * see special note #1 below!

Note: The Guate officials asked me if I was returning to Guatemala. I said no and officially checked out of the country…however, today I am considering a route that would bring me back through Guatemala and into Coban the back way…I do not know how this scenario would have played out had I said I “might” be back into Guate…one thing is for sure: I would have had to go BACk to Guate and officially check out my bike before leaving the CA-4. So just be sure you know what you want to do before doing it.

BTW, I have had really good luck with showing a laminated color copy of my application for registration in all my border crossings so far. When they start to question it, I point to where DMV has printed the feed paid to register the bike in the top right corner, and I tell them that that is the seal, el sello.

SPECIAL NOTE 1: Once I exited customs, thinking how great it was that I got through a border crossing without paying any fees, other than 35 cents in photocopies, I got stopped at the 500 yards later and was required to pay $5 tourist fee to the “Alcadlia Municipal de San Francisco Menendez Departamento de Ahuachapan”. My escort, an El Salvadorian, was outraged by this and asked them whose idea this way. It was the Mayors. he demanded to see a copy of the article saying I had to pay it, which they happily produced. So I ponied up the $5 while my host went over to the policemen and asked them if this was correct, and they said yes. My host demanded a receipt, which is how I know that I paid the $5 to “Alcadlia Municipal de San Francisco Menendez Departamento de Ahuachapan” .

SPECIAL NOTE 2: I keep all my paperwork in my topbox. During this whole process I was stopped three times to see my paperwork. Each time I had to get off the bike, go open the topbox, etc. You could save yourself some hassle by having the paperwork right handy.

Happy New Year!

I guess I have confused many people by my timeline…I was trying to keep all my posts in order, which are always behind my actual travel time. Currently my blog still has me in Mexico, yet I crossed into El Salvador 12-31-09. I am about two weeks behind in my posts now and I am sorry. When I do a Twitter update, that is up-to-the minute.

Best thing to do is to read the date at the top of the post–what I write, and not the date that the post actually went up.

I am finding it difficult to travel, keep up with the posts, and be authentically “in” my experience and do a stellar job with my blog. Plus, now, I need to be spending more time doing internet research because I need to somehow get across the Darien Gap.

For those o you not familiar with it, I quote from Wikipedia:

“The Darién Gap is a large swath of undeveloped swampland and forest separating Panama (Central America) and Colombia (South America). It measures just over 160 km (99 mi) long and about 50 km (31 mi) wide. It is not possible to cross between South America and Central America by land without passing through the Darién Gap. Roadbuilding through this area is expensive, and the environmental toll is steep. Political consensus in favor of road construction has not emerged. There is no road connection through the Darién Gap connecting North/Central America with South America. It is therefore the missing link of the Pan-American Highway.”

Click here for more info.

I have to take a plane or boat. And somehow I have to get my motorcycle across as well.