LONG day! Woke up really early to patch Marc's tire – went pretty
smoothly – we found the puncture and patched it with a little help
from Eduardo, Moira's helper – and then we hit the road.
The sun was intermittent throughout the day, the roads were very good
and the scenery was very nice – jungle mixed with some mountains.
We had to take a round about route to get to Coban since the direct
route was flooded. Turned out that we had to take an even longer route
since one of the roads we were going to take was unpaved. 100 miles of
unpaved road plus the rain plus the risk of a flat tire and the fact
that it would get dark soon made us decide to go through the much
longer but paved route.
It was our longest ride so far – 350 miles in one day – starting
around 10am and stopping at 8pm with an hour lunch break.
The final stretch to Coban was very twisty but must be gorgeous – we
will find out today on the way to Lake Atitlan.
The temperature dropped dramatically as well – we are at 4000 feet now.
Off to a meeting with the non-profit organization Marc is working with
and then hit the road again.
Photos and videos still to come – waiting for a good internet
connection.

From Motorcycle NY to SP

Eventful night!
While we were taking the showers and getting ready to go back to La
Plancha a light rain turned the roads into soap.
In the first 10 meters of road Marc slid off to the side. I turned
back to help and saw that the problem really was his rear tire that
was on the ground!
The first flat of the trip and the first time we stay in the same city
two nights.
We parked Marc's bike in the hotel's small garage, I removed my side
bags, and Marc hopped on my bike.
Back on to the soap we managed to cover 3 miles in about half an hour,
1 complete lay down of the bike, a couple of saves where the bike
didn't make it all the way to the floor, and endless slides.
The mud here clings to your tire. I could literally feel the bike
getting taller with the mud accumulating. Not to mention the complete
loss of traction!
When we got to the hotel we took a look at the bike and could not see
any of the tire's rubber – just mud.
Anyway – dinner was great and very funny. It ranged from a random guy
taking pictures of our table to a girl showing off her impressive
ability of sucking air in and then forcing it out her private part
making it sound like a fart – ha! It even rhymed 🙂
Rachel's sister was very glad to meet us. She greeted us as "the
bloggers" and went on to explain that she had Googled "Belize to La
Lancha" and the first search result was my blog! She read it and
couldn't believe that it was from the previous day and that in fact
Rachel and Filipo had met "them" and that she was meeting us today!
The coinciednces of this world 🙂
The ride back was better – the roads were dryer and I was a but more
used to it.
Tomorrow we will fix Marcs tire and keep going.

Quick post today – writting from my iphone – photos and videos tomorrow night maybe 🙂 Had a great breakfast at the hotel (La Lancha, Jobompiche) and waited a little for the rain to subdue.
Rode to Tikal (1/2 hour) and walked around for around 2 or 3 hours.
Very interesting place and with a lot more visitors than Palenque in Mexico.
Our plans have been changing quite a bit because the route to Coban that we wanted to take is flooded and unpassable. A round about way was shown to us and we were told that it would take 6 to 7 hours! Quite a bit for one day – we would have to be on the motorcycles by around 6am to get there before dark.
The choices were to keep going today to make some progress or stay another night close to La Lancha and do the early bird option.
We met a very nice couple last night (Rachel and Filipo) at the hotel who invited us for dinner tonight with about another 12 friends of theirs who were arriving today. They are all going to do some travelling in Belize and then to Rachel’s sister’s wedding.
We decided to decide after Tikal.
We left there pretty late so after about an hour of riding we got to the intersection to go south or straight. We needed cash so we went straight. And then it got dark. So we went towards La Lancha and stopped another hotel right before it. Tomorrow I will post more on the dinner and the videos 🙂
On a personal note – made my father sad – and for sure my whole family with my Freudian slip – I did not edit out a part of the video which I was smoking a cigarette. Something I am not proud of and have been doing on and off. Crazy addiction.Decided to stop once again. Threw away the pack…Well – not such a shirt post after all – been getting pretty quick with this keyboard 🙂

From Motorcycle NY to SP

Mood swing day for me. The weather was not nice so we decided to skip
the Cayes and head out of Belize into Guatemala.
As I was getting my bike off the center stand I dropped it and the
helmet fell on the ground – no harm done but it just ticked me off.
Then we looked for a place to eat and there was only a small shack
that semi-descent. Ate a small chicken patty and we hit the road.
The border crossing came up pretty soon after some flooded roads –
nothing like we saw yesterday though.
The process itself was not that bad… took about an hour and half…
had to go through a spray to kill germs and insects – which I went
through without the helmet – not too smart. Marc simply went around
it 🙂
On the Guatemalan side the process also went smoothly – had to run
across a bridge to get photocopies of our licenses, passports, and
registration.
The road in Guatemala was pretty bad – barely paved with massive pot
holes – quite fun actually. Ari would be proud of us – no slowing down
this time – hahahaha!
We drove for about another hour and got to Francis Ford Coppola's
boutique hotel called La Lancha. Now I feel like I am getting my
birthday treat (as if this whole trip isn't a privilege as is).
The hotel is small and extremely well decorated. The huts are
distributed along the hill going down to the lake. Will take some
photos and videos tomorrow when its light.
Tomorrow we shall go to Tikal – one of the most important ruins in
Central America – more than 3000 buildings have been found and many
more to be uncovered in the jungle. We might get a guided tour this
time to get more information about it all.
Just a couple of photos:

From Motorcycle NY to SP

Ari, who we met in La Paz and rode with for a couple of days has posted some photos of Marc washing his bike 🙂 You can see the rescue operation.

From Motorcycle NY to SP

So we crossed Mexico!!
The border crossing wasn't that bad after all – a few procedures though:
1. Pay a fee for having stayed longer than 7 days in Mexico
1a – Get cash at an ATM to pay the fee
2. Cancel the Mexican insurance
3. Go through the border
4. Go through the "free zone" between the two countries
5. Get the bikes sprayed
5a. Get money in the free zone bank to pay the bike spray
6. Go through Belize immigration
7. Go through Belize customs
8. Go through the border
9. Get Belize insurance (required)
Uff!!
The language spoken here is English… we got so used to asking things
in Spanish that at first it feels strange to go up to people directly
in English…
We stopped at the first little town and got some gas – the most
expensive gas we've seen so far – $5/gallon! Good things the distances
here are not that great but I think from now on gas price will be
pretty steep. The guy at the gas station told me that the gas prices
are going up on Monday and that he usually crosses the border to
Mexico to fill up his car.
The road down to Belize City was OK… small roads… absolutely no
markings on the road but I enjoyed seeing the countryside and the
different style of buildings. Sugar cane and cattle – that was
basically what we saw on the way.
Then we hit the water – on the road – a LOT of it! I saw some cars
crossing so decided to go for it realizing that it was not that deep.
Unfortunately I pressed the record button on the camera too soon – it
was still booting up – so I didn't record that largest section but got
some of the other flooded areas on tape.
It is the second big flood they have this year. We were told that it
does not happen every year so this time around several houses and
businesses were seriously affected – for the second time. Quite sad.
Getting into Belize City was a little disappointing. I kept thinking
that it would get a little – just a little – nicer when we got to the
"Tourism Village" but it didn't. At least the guide book took to a
quaint hotel called The Great House Inn… the internet here is
flawless!
So it was a short day riding – we stopped around 3:30 – unpacked the
bikes – gave the hotel a HUGE laundry load – ate at the hotel – Cajun
Chicken – quite tasty – local beer and then went back to the room.
The day was gray and we were tired… slept till now.
Figuring out what to do tomorrow… probably go out to the Cayes
(pronounced keyes) to see the good part of Belize.

From Motorcycle NY to SP

"Trajen perico?" (Are you bringing any cocaine?) asked the Military
officer
"Que es perico?" I innocently replied knowing what he meant…
He then proceeded to walk around our bikes with a device that looked
more like a vibrator with a TV antenna attached at right angle to the
tip. The antenna swung towards my headlights and then swung towards
Marc's top case… at that point he gave up and let us go.
Quite unlikely that such a small device with no buttons, no display or
LED lights was a drug sniffer…

We saw the our first Mayan ruins today! Very impressive in terms of
size and how intricate the cities were – several buildings with many
divisions within.
We ran into two other motorcyclists from Texas riding BMW GS 1200
Adventures – nice guys – they were in Cancun for a wedding and were
heading back to the US.
The road was pretty straight and boring – swamps and flatlands all the
way pretty much – but it made for good progress. We did 320 miles
today leaving at 2pm and arriving around 9pm.
No major incidents apart from being stopped twice at Military check
points… they were looking for drugs mostly.
So we finally made it through Mexico! Tomorrow we do the actual border
crossing into Belize!
Photos:

From Motorcycle NY to SP

"The power of the sun!"
Drying up our gear like magic! We left the gear out all night and they
were still wet this morning. Now with half hour of sun they are almost
dry!