Onderroad

Mexico and Central America 2005

Beginning in mid-January from Austin, I am travelling south into Mexico, Guatemala, attend a BMW convention in El Salvador, and then on to Costa Rica and Panama.

Day	Starting Point	Day Miles	Trip Miles	Highlights/Comments
Sun 01/23/2005	Austin, TX	225	225	Left late and planned to drive to San Antonio but ended up making it to Corpus Christi, cold day, high in the mid 40's, but heated gear made it pleasant to drive through the Texas night. Ring around the almost full moon.
Mon 01/24/2005	Corpus Christi, TX	168	393	Drive south along the flat coast to Brownsville, bought Mexican liability insurance and got ready to cross the border.
Tue 01//25/2005	Brownsville, TX	182	575	Crossed the border into Mexico at Brownsville / Matamoras. Drive along the very flat coastal plain to Ciudad Victoria. Very flat but eventually the small dark spot of the mountains appears in the distance.
Wed 01/26/2005	Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas State, MX	246	821	Up over the mountain pass, from 400 feet to almost 5000 feet above sea level, than south on the super highway to San Luis Potosí, watching the sheep, goats, donkeys, horses, cattle in the median of the highway.
Thu 01/27/2005	San Luis Potosí, SLP State, MX	127	948	Explored SLP during the day and then a quick trip on highway 57 to Queretaro. Beautiful evening at coffeeshops and restaurants, sitting outside, listening to music on the plaza in the warm evening air. Life as it was meant to be.
Fri 01/28/2005	Querétaro, Querétaro State, MX	246	1194	Wild day, through Toluca, accidentally found myself in the heart of Mexico City during rush hour, 3 hours of bumper to bumper traffic, driving through the night on the cuota and arriving in Cuerenava at 10 in the evening, after some searching ran into my friend Lola and found the excellent hotel, El Camino Real Sumiya in Cuerenvaca, it was like finding heaven after a long day on the road.
Sat 01/29/2005	Cuerenavaca, Moreles, MX	262	1456	First day riding with Lola and he taught me how to drive motorcycles in Mexico, driving through heavy traffic getting out of Cuernavaca, dodging through traffic, darting around trucks, it was quite the experience - my motorcycling will never be the same. Beautiful country roads, winding mountain passes close to 8000 feet above sea level, small towns. Hotel and dinner and coffee in the historic plaza at Oaxaca, with people strolling the street and mariachi bands playing, drinking cerveza fria. Life is good.
Sun 01/30/05	Oaxaca, Oaxaca, MX	417	1873	Longest day of the trip, leaving Oaxaca (around 5000 feet above sea level), travelling through the eastern ranges of mountains toward the coast. A day of transitions, from dry, arid, mountains, with beautiful (but hazy) high mountains, curvy and twisty roads unlike what I have seen before (except small stretches in California), and descending to the western coastal plain, with increasing green, humidity, temperature and tropical plants. Stop in Tapachula and crossing into Guatemala tomorrow.
Mon 01/31/05	Tapachula, Chiapas, MX			40 km to the Mexican-Guatemalan border, 1 1/2 hours to cross (thank goodness I was with Lalo, I hate to think of doing it alone with no Spanish), and then an incredible ride through the highlands of Guatemala, climbing from sea level to 10,000 feet elevation, the towns are incredible, many men and women and childredn dressed in tradition colorful clothing, and stopped for the night in Panajachel on Lake Aititlán.
Tue 2/1/05	Panajachel, Guatemala			Walked around the city of Panajachel and bought some beautiful hand woven Guatemalan crafts at very good prices - $5 for a nice t-shirt, $4 for a woven mans belt, I would like to buy more but I did not have room. Took pictures of beautiful Lake Aititlán, and drove through Sololá, which was ablaze with the colors of the native dress and the busy market and crowded streets. Stopped at the Casa Santo Domingo, a beautiful hotel built around the ruins of a destroyed 17th century convent and monastery, incredible rooms, views out to the volcano, spectacular hotel, and only $104 per night.
Wed 2/2/05	Antigua, Guatemala			Short ride on highways from Antigua to Guatemala City, rich areas and some very poor areas, stopped at the BMW Dealer and had my oil and filter changed, and Jose the service manager gave me a ride on the back of his adventure to the hotel. We stayed in Zona 4, went to dinner in a very nice area of the city, looked like any place in the US.
Thur 2/3/05	Guatemala City, Guatemala			Hooked up with a group leaving from the BMW dealer, met a group from Western Mexico that are going on to Panama and I plan on hooking up with them. An hour drive to the border and then a 5 minute wait at the border for our passports to be stamped and a 3 hour wait while the clerk prepared our immigration documents. Drove through the El Salvador night very fast (160km per hour, 100 mph) at times, senses peeled. Reception for the BMW convention at the hotel, cocktails, food, 200+ attendees from throughout Central America.
Fri 2/4/05	San Salvador, El Salvador			First whole day of the convention, ride to the beach, first time I saw the Pacific Ocean on this trip. Lunch, siesta, traditional Mexican music in the little cabanas, lunch, amazing to ride with 200+ other bikes, we had a police escort who blocked off the roads, lots of people looked on with amazement to see all the motos. The El Salvador club arranged a stunt man, Jean Pierre Goy , to perform a private showing of his motorcycle tricks, wheelies, front and back on his F650GS, R1150 and the BMW cruiser bike.
Sat 02/05/05	San Salvador, El Salvador			Drove with a small group, and met the larger group at a beautiful lake up in the mountains, a volcanic crater that had filled in, similar to Crater Lake in Oregon, but much larger, spectacular scenery. Final dinner at a nice country club, my friend Glenn won the award for person who travelled the farthest, and he shared it with me, very nice.
Sun 02/06/05	San Salvador, El Salvador			Today I am leaving with a small group of Mexican riders and we are heading to Honduras and Nicaragua.

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