Great to hear from you Di... glad all's well, I'm doing fine. The Klim gear is holding up fine, but to be honest I haven't really given it a good test yet. Only a few rainy days in the entire trip... a couple of crashes but only small ones so I wouldn't call them crash tests. I know Bob's is a dangerous place for you so I'd plan something else for his "gear evening" if I were you! ;-)dlgarrett75 said:
Escape from DC
- Thread starter dcstrom
- Start date
Yucatan and "the Mayan Riviera"
From Calakmul it was a fairly short ride to Chetamul, my first stop in Quintana Roo (state) and first glimpse of the Caribbean. I never imagined water could be such pure turquoise! I stayed in a nice hostel that night and the owner was asking me how her hostel compared to others I'd stayed in. I told her I'd been impressed by the hostel in Oaxaca, which included not only breakfast but a shot of mescal in the evening. So, not to be outdone, she broke out the Haitian rum. Turns out her husband is Haitian and is working there while she runs the hostel, and brings rum every time he comes back. Smooth but fiery... I'm happy to help
You know how sometimes when you think you're something pretty special, or at least are doing something pretty special, something usually happens to bring you back down to earth? Well that was me at this hostel. Thinking I'd done pretty good to get all the way from DC to the bottom of Mexico, virtually incident free, I met Joanne from Scotland. She's a redheaded 20-something bonny lass, who started her SOLO BICYCLE RIDE to South America from British Colombia. Holy shit, I could not even start to think about doing something like that. Especially if I was a woman... but she's doing about 60 miles a day, camping out when she has to (something I didn't do in Mexico cos it's supposed to be dicey). Amazing. Coincidentally I bumped into her again at a hostel near Tikal in Guatamala... reminds me, I should check where she is now...
I had a couple of things to do on the "Mayan Riveria" - one, catch up with Matteo, a long term Super Tenere owner in Playa del Carmen (he had his bike long before any of us in the US), and two, find a nice spot by the beach to hole up for a while and take a breather after being on the move for so long. Unfortunately one of my criteria for number two was that it would have to be cheap, and I soon discovered that this was the most expensive part of Mexico so far. So that idea got scrapped pretty quickly.
So I really only had one destination, Playa del Carmen, but between Playa and Chetamul lies Tulum, famous for its Mayan ruins on a cliff overlooking the beach. A stop in Tulum was called for... It was kind of a shock to the system to find so many tourists, and inflated prices, after having seen very few in the previous 2 months around Mexico. I had ideas of visiting the ruins, but I REALLY have an aversion to competing with hordes of tourists (I'm sure most of you appreciate the difference between "travellers" and "tourists" - most of us have been both, but at different times). So the hordes heading to the ruins ruined it for me, so I spent some time on the beach instead. At least you could see the ruins from here.
What's this you may ask? It's one of the first underwater shots with my Olympus TG-1. That's the colour of the water.
Sunset on Tulum main street.
After a couple of days at Tulum I headed to Playa del Carmen, where Matteo met me on the highway a few minutes outside of town. He then guided me to his luxo pad just off the beach and a few minutes walk from the main shopping/drinking/restaurant part of town. Now I have to say, this was a cut above the hostels I'd been staying in recently! Playa turned out to be a very nice place, but one that wouldn't have been in my budget at all if it had not been for Matteo's hospitality. We visited some favourite restaurants and bars, and just hung out in the apartment (did I mention great views over the Caribbean?). Well actually the main reason for hanging out in the apartment... it was raining a LOT for a couple of days. At least we had good views of the ocean, and good tequila
I also discovered a fact about concrete roads that I hadn't realised before. I went out one day to find somewhere to change oil (a clutch repair shop let me use their space). As I was changing it started to rain. No problem, it wasn't far back to Matteo's place. On the way back I felt the rear end moving around... WTF, do I have a flat? Stopped to check, no flat. Continued and at one point, travelling in a straight line, I closed the throttle and the rear wheel locked up. WTFFF? Next I gave it a whiff of throttle and the rear wheel spun up... I thought "did I tighten both drain plugs, have I got oil all over the rear tire?" But I was sure I tightened the plugs. It was pissing rain by now, but I stopped to inspect the rear wheel. The K60 is pretty smooth at this point, but no sign of oil. I was about to blame the tire, but then I noticed the road surface - concrete with drainage grooves across it, but mostly worn smooth. Turns out this surface has almost no traction in the wet, as Matteo confirmed when I got back. Scary...
From Calakmul it was a fairly short ride to Chetamul, my first stop in Quintana Roo (state) and first glimpse of the Caribbean. I never imagined water could be such pure turquoise! I stayed in a nice hostel that night and the owner was asking me how her hostel compared to others I'd stayed in. I told her I'd been impressed by the hostel in Oaxaca, which included not only breakfast but a shot of mescal in the evening. So, not to be outdone, she broke out the Haitian rum. Turns out her husband is Haitian and is working there while she runs the hostel, and brings rum every time he comes back. Smooth but fiery... I'm happy to help
You know how sometimes when you think you're something pretty special, or at least are doing something pretty special, something usually happens to bring you back down to earth? Well that was me at this hostel. Thinking I'd done pretty good to get all the way from DC to the bottom of Mexico, virtually incident free, I met Joanne from Scotland. She's a redheaded 20-something bonny lass, who started her SOLO BICYCLE RIDE to South America from British Colombia. Holy shit, I could not even start to think about doing something like that. Especially if I was a woman... but she's doing about 60 miles a day, camping out when she has to (something I didn't do in Mexico cos it's supposed to be dicey). Amazing. Coincidentally I bumped into her again at a hostel near Tikal in Guatamala... reminds me, I should check where she is now...
I had a couple of things to do on the "Mayan Riveria" - one, catch up with Matteo, a long term Super Tenere owner in Playa del Carmen (he had his bike long before any of us in the US), and two, find a nice spot by the beach to hole up for a while and take a breather after being on the move for so long. Unfortunately one of my criteria for number two was that it would have to be cheap, and I soon discovered that this was the most expensive part of Mexico so far. So that idea got scrapped pretty quickly.
So I really only had one destination, Playa del Carmen, but between Playa and Chetamul lies Tulum, famous for its Mayan ruins on a cliff overlooking the beach. A stop in Tulum was called for... It was kind of a shock to the system to find so many tourists, and inflated prices, after having seen very few in the previous 2 months around Mexico. I had ideas of visiting the ruins, but I REALLY have an aversion to competing with hordes of tourists (I'm sure most of you appreciate the difference between "travellers" and "tourists" - most of us have been both, but at different times). So the hordes heading to the ruins ruined it for me, so I spent some time on the beach instead. At least you could see the ruins from here.
What's this you may ask? It's one of the first underwater shots with my Olympus TG-1. That's the colour of the water.
Sunset on Tulum main street.
After a couple of days at Tulum I headed to Playa del Carmen, where Matteo met me on the highway a few minutes outside of town. He then guided me to his luxo pad just off the beach and a few minutes walk from the main shopping/drinking/restaurant part of town. Now I have to say, this was a cut above the hostels I'd been staying in recently! Playa turned out to be a very nice place, but one that wouldn't have been in my budget at all if it had not been for Matteo's hospitality. We visited some favourite restaurants and bars, and just hung out in the apartment (did I mention great views over the Caribbean?). Well actually the main reason for hanging out in the apartment... it was raining a LOT for a couple of days. At least we had good views of the ocean, and good tequila
I also discovered a fact about concrete roads that I hadn't realised before. I went out one day to find somewhere to change oil (a clutch repair shop let me use their space). As I was changing it started to rain. No problem, it wasn't far back to Matteo's place. On the way back I felt the rear end moving around... WTF, do I have a flat? Stopped to check, no flat. Continued and at one point, travelling in a straight line, I closed the throttle and the rear wheel locked up. WTFFF? Next I gave it a whiff of throttle and the rear wheel spun up... I thought "did I tighten both drain plugs, have I got oil all over the rear tire?" But I was sure I tightened the plugs. It was pissing rain by now, but I stopped to inspect the rear wheel. The K60 is pretty smooth at this point, but no sign of oil. I was about to blame the tire, but then I noticed the road surface - concrete with drainage grooves across it, but mostly worn smooth. Turns out this surface has almost no traction in the wet, as Matteo confirmed when I got back. Scary...
MikeMike
New Member
Hi Trevor,
Like AndyC did, I joined up to say "hi" and thanks for the updates. Looks like the trip is moving along quite well for you!
Nice to see the spare tire on your bike and not beside the barbecue in my storage room, ha,ha!
I am not a Yamaha Super Tenere owner but I can say that bike of yours is really great for Latin American travel. A good bike for here.
Also, I would like to extend an invitation to any members of this forum to contact me if you are coming through Veracruz and you need
advice, help, etc... I have prepared a PDF format illustrated ride guide for first timers coming through Veracruz and how to avoid the
boring areas and focus on the really good riding we have here. Just send me a PM and your email and I will be happy to send anyone
the ride guide, and all feedback on it is most appreciated as I am always looking to improve the content.
Just a quick note for the history buffs, the beach we went to is in "La Villa Rica de la Veracruz" which is not the first beach where Cortez landed in Mexico,
but the site where he dismantled and then burned some of the ships so the crews couldn't mutiny and return. He motivated them to push forward with the
conquest of Mexico by offering them no possibility of return until the outcome of the conquest. Talk about having a tough boss to work for!
Also, the toll stop was at La Antigua which is the oldest municipality in North America. That is the toll stop at the start of the Veracruz video Trevor posted.
And yes, Trevor, too bad you weren't rolling the video when the "international incident" happened, CNN would have loved that one ha,ha!
Just a note, this forum has a great format, easy to navigate and a nice place on the web!
Like AndyC did, I joined up to say "hi" and thanks for the updates. Looks like the trip is moving along quite well for you!
Nice to see the spare tire on your bike and not beside the barbecue in my storage room, ha,ha!
I am not a Yamaha Super Tenere owner but I can say that bike of yours is really great for Latin American travel. A good bike for here.
Also, I would like to extend an invitation to any members of this forum to contact me if you are coming through Veracruz and you need
advice, help, etc... I have prepared a PDF format illustrated ride guide for first timers coming through Veracruz and how to avoid the
boring areas and focus on the really good riding we have here. Just send me a PM and your email and I will be happy to send anyone
the ride guide, and all feedback on it is most appreciated as I am always looking to improve the content.
Just a quick note for the history buffs, the beach we went to is in "La Villa Rica de la Veracruz" which is not the first beach where Cortez landed in Mexico,
but the site where he dismantled and then burned some of the ships so the crews couldn't mutiny and return. He motivated them to push forward with the
conquest of Mexico by offering them no possibility of return until the outcome of the conquest. Talk about having a tough boss to work for!
Also, the toll stop was at La Antigua which is the oldest municipality in North America. That is the toll stop at the start of the Veracruz video Trevor posted.
And yes, Trevor, too bad you weren't rolling the video when the "international incident" happened, CNN would have loved that one ha,ha!
Just a note, this forum has a great format, easy to navigate and a nice place on the web!
Howdy Trevor
Been tracking you on spot but its been blank for a while. Is it me or are you turned off?
Andy-WV
Been tracking you on spot but its been blank for a while. Is it me or are you turned off?
Andy-WV
I noticed the same thing on the Spot Tracking....???
Glad to hear all is well.... stay safe.
Alan
Glad to hear all is well.... stay safe.
Alan
ANDY-WV said:
Blank or stopped? It should show me as being in San Pedro, where I've been for two weeks... I'm getting to that! But on the move again tomorrow...
BTW, good to hear from you ::008:: Hope all is well in West Virginny!
Trevor
Agreed - just wish it weighed something more like your F650!MikeMike said:
Right! I can vouch for Mike's hospitality and local knowledge. I wish I could have spent more time around Veracruz. If you have any inkling to go to Mexico, you should. Fantastic place, not scary at all (most of the time for most people!) and beautiful country, friendly people - and a bunch of enthusiastic expats, many of whom can be found hanging out in the "Is Mexico Safe?" thread on ADVrider.com http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=546927
Mexico - just do it! (Hope Nike doesn't sue...)
Yeah right Mike, thanks for pointing out that I'm a slow learner at history as well as languages... ;-) I have been reading a bit about Cortes since leaving Mexico. Some strange stories for sure... Typical, I should have read them BEFORE going to Mexico.
Who cares? The most important thing is that Mike paid the toll
Trevor
Day ride to the end of the Yucatan
After sitting in the apartment for a couple of days watching the weather blow in off the Caribbean, and drinking waaayy too much tequila, we finally got a bit of a break in the weather. Matteo had a day ride figured out - let's try to see some flamingoes!
There's a narrow strip of land at the top of the map, part of the Parque Natural Ría Lagartos. The park is famous for its 350 species of birds, and formerly crocdiles. Unfortunately, they are like the Monty Python parrot, no more.
Roads in the Yucatan tend to be fairly straight, unlike the other roads I've been used to in Mexico. However, it makes up for it with the spectacular coastline. Matteo and I road for a few hours to get to a small fishing village on the southern end of the park. We found a nice restaurant for lunch, where Matteo ordered up the freshest of fresh seafood - and raw at that! Ceviche mmmmmm....
Just out of town was a sandy (but firm) dirt road that took us through the park - ocean on one side, marshlands full of birdlife on the other, separated by less than 100m of dunes in places.
The road was a blast, with lots of puddles from recent rain. We just ripped through them, Matteo just about having an oopsy coming out of one of them but managed to hang onto it.
Most spectacular though was the wildlife. Yet another place I would like to have spent more time!
The ride back was pretty uneventful, until... the rain came again, this time heavier than it had been most of the 2 days we'd been holed up in Matteo's apartment. Not bad on the open road but by the time we got closer to Playa del Carmen it was getting dark, and wet wet wet. And guess what kind of road we were on? (this is a reading and comprehension test...). You may remember I mentioned about slippery concrete roads in Playa in my last post. That was around town, and speeds below 30mph. Now, were were on concrete again, but this time on the main highway, in the dark, streaming wet, and doing 60-70 mph to avoid being run down by surrounding traffic. Visibility was poor and on a wet night you can't tell what kind of surface you're riding on - asphalt, or concrete? The way I knew was to open the throttle at 50mph in 4th gear. If the rear spun up, then it was concrete. At one point out of nowhere the front wheel just about washed out from under me, took me completely by surprise. Matteo said later that yeah, there is some drainage across the road at that spot, a sheet of water is running across the road there but you can't see it at night.
I needed a couple of stiff tequilas by the time we got back
After sitting in the apartment for a couple of days watching the weather blow in off the Caribbean, and drinking waaayy too much tequila, we finally got a bit of a break in the weather. Matteo had a day ride figured out - let's try to see some flamingoes!
There's a narrow strip of land at the top of the map, part of the Parque Natural Ría Lagartos. The park is famous for its 350 species of birds, and formerly crocdiles. Unfortunately, they are like the Monty Python parrot, no more.
Roads in the Yucatan tend to be fairly straight, unlike the other roads I've been used to in Mexico. However, it makes up for it with the spectacular coastline. Matteo and I road for a few hours to get to a small fishing village on the southern end of the park. We found a nice restaurant for lunch, where Matteo ordered up the freshest of fresh seafood - and raw at that! Ceviche mmmmmm....
Just out of town was a sandy (but firm) dirt road that took us through the park - ocean on one side, marshlands full of birdlife on the other, separated by less than 100m of dunes in places.
The road was a blast, with lots of puddles from recent rain. We just ripped through them, Matteo just about having an oopsy coming out of one of them but managed to hang onto it.
Most spectacular though was the wildlife. Yet another place I would like to have spent more time!
The ride back was pretty uneventful, until... the rain came again, this time heavier than it had been most of the 2 days we'd been holed up in Matteo's apartment. Not bad on the open road but by the time we got closer to Playa del Carmen it was getting dark, and wet wet wet. And guess what kind of road we were on? (this is a reading and comprehension test...). You may remember I mentioned about slippery concrete roads in Playa in my last post. That was around town, and speeds below 30mph. Now, were were on concrete again, but this time on the main highway, in the dark, streaming wet, and doing 60-70 mph to avoid being run down by surrounding traffic. Visibility was poor and on a wet night you can't tell what kind of surface you're riding on - asphalt, or concrete? The way I knew was to open the throttle at 50mph in 4th gear. If the rear spun up, then it was concrete. At one point out of nowhere the front wheel just about washed out from under me, took me completely by surprise. Matteo said later that yeah, there is some drainage across the road at that spot, a sheet of water is running across the road there but you can't see it at night.
I needed a couple of stiff tequilas by the time we got back
andyc740
New Member
Love that last flamingo picture. If you're interested in Mayan ruins, don't miss Copan on the north side of Honduras.
Six months out, 20,000 miles down...
Well the 20,000 mile mark of this trip fell only a couple of days short of the 6 month mark. Makes it easy to work out what the annual mileage might be!
I'm now in Antigua, Guatemala and heading for El Salvador tomorrow, looking forward to getting the "Stahlratte" to Colombia at the end of the month.
Updated map here;
http://www.everytrail.com/iframe2.php?trip_id=1948542
I posted the 15,000 mile summary here;
http://www.yamahasupertenere.com/index.php?topic=5583.msg114424#msg114424
Not much new on the Tenere side of things to report since then.
- An oil change.
- A leaky fork seal (fixed with a Sealmate).
- A new rear K60 yesterday @11,130 miles, and a front one to come next week in San Salvador.
That's it. A chassis lube, oil/filter change, air filter clean, new pads f/r (I think 33,000 miles on the stock front pads is outstanding) and general going over coming up next week.
As for me, I'm just about getting used to this lifestyle. Always something new to see, new food to try, people to meet, roads to ride. There are some downsides - it can get lonely sometimes. But every day I'm aware of how fortunate I am to be able to do a trip like this. Especially with such an able steed, "El Caballo Azul"!
Budget it working out ok - was a bit expensive in the States but since crossing into Mexico 3 months and 10,000 miles ago, I've averaged $48/day - including the $356 for a set of K60s. I was aiming for $50/day, so I'm on track there...
more soon.
Well the 20,000 mile mark of this trip fell only a couple of days short of the 6 month mark. Makes it easy to work out what the annual mileage might be!
I'm now in Antigua, Guatemala and heading for El Salvador tomorrow, looking forward to getting the "Stahlratte" to Colombia at the end of the month.
Updated map here;
http://www.everytrail.com/iframe2.php?trip_id=1948542
I posted the 15,000 mile summary here;
http://www.yamahasupertenere.com/index.php?topic=5583.msg114424#msg114424
Not much new on the Tenere side of things to report since then.
- An oil change.
- A leaky fork seal (fixed with a Sealmate).
- A new rear K60 yesterday @11,130 miles, and a front one to come next week in San Salvador.
That's it. A chassis lube, oil/filter change, air filter clean, new pads f/r (I think 33,000 miles on the stock front pads is outstanding) and general going over coming up next week.
As for me, I'm just about getting used to this lifestyle. Always something new to see, new food to try, people to meet, roads to ride. There are some downsides - it can get lonely sometimes. But every day I'm aware of how fortunate I am to be able to do a trip like this. Especially with such an able steed, "El Caballo Azul"!
Budget it working out ok - was a bit expensive in the States but since crossing into Mexico 3 months and 10,000 miles ago, I've averaged $48/day - including the $356 for a set of K60s. I was aiming for $50/day, so I'm on track there...
more soon.
Nice job and great update Trevor!!
Keep going, the world awaits!!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk which means there are more than likely spelling errors!
Keep going, the world awaits!!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk which means there are more than likely spelling errors!
Screwed over at the border
Well, it finally happened... I got royally screwed at the border. I wasn't going to cross today, f*ckers at the hostel were partying till 4am, I didn't sleep much so, wanting to have my wits about me for the crossing, thought I'd get close to the border today then hit it fresh in the morning. Got to a town close by, couldn't find a hotel so asked a cop. She asked me if I was going to the frontera, she said, "follow me". She obviously didn't get the bit about the hotel, but I thought at least if she's taking me to the border (it's not as if it was hard to find from where I was) then maybe she has friends there or something and she'll smooth the way. No such luck, she just dropped me at the border. Nice of her, but, big deal, really. Plus I saw a hotel a mile after I started following her, should have just stayed there.
Got to the border, guy's offering me a decent exchange rate for my quetzals, show's me the calculation on the calculator, looks fine but I didn't do the math in my head. Turns out he screwed me for $30. They must have "fixed" calculators?
At the same time this other guys wanting to help. I said no at first but then it wasn't obvious where I needed to go first (as usual). He spoke good english, so I said OK but I'm not giving you any of my docs, just show me where to go.
Part way through the process we need more photocopies, and while we are getting them he's asking for $44.85 to pay for one of the docs. I say I only have a $100 note - no problem, I can change. So he pulls a wad of $20's and I give him the hundred, but instead of giving me the change he gives the lot to his runner who supposedly goes off to pay the $44.85. Meanwhile the copy guy has all my documents so I can't go anywhere, I don't want to lose track of them.
I'm getting pissed now, and my lack of sleep the night before is starting to show. It's getting late and I'm concerned about getting a hotel on the other side before it gets dark. I should have gone with plan A, obviously.
The guy comes back with some docs, supposedly the $44.85 was due when leaving Guatemala. I said where's the receipt to show it's been paid. He said, it's Sunday, secretaries day off, if you want a reciept you'll have to come back tomorrow. Farrrk - that's when I knew I was being had. If it hadn't been so late I would have made a whole lot more of it.
Off to the El Salvador side, half expecting my docs to be wrong, shunted around a bit but eventually got away from there just before 5pm. No fees at the Aduana? Weird. Hope they don't hit me on the other side.
Now to get a good night's sleep!
Well, it finally happened... I got royally screwed at the border. I wasn't going to cross today, f*ckers at the hostel were partying till 4am, I didn't sleep much so, wanting to have my wits about me for the crossing, thought I'd get close to the border today then hit it fresh in the morning. Got to a town close by, couldn't find a hotel so asked a cop. She asked me if I was going to the frontera, she said, "follow me". She obviously didn't get the bit about the hotel, but I thought at least if she's taking me to the border (it's not as if it was hard to find from where I was) then maybe she has friends there or something and she'll smooth the way. No such luck, she just dropped me at the border. Nice of her, but, big deal, really. Plus I saw a hotel a mile after I started following her, should have just stayed there.
Got to the border, guy's offering me a decent exchange rate for my quetzals, show's me the calculation on the calculator, looks fine but I didn't do the math in my head. Turns out he screwed me for $30. They must have "fixed" calculators?
At the same time this other guys wanting to help. I said no at first but then it wasn't obvious where I needed to go first (as usual). He spoke good english, so I said OK but I'm not giving you any of my docs, just show me where to go.
Part way through the process we need more photocopies, and while we are getting them he's asking for $44.85 to pay for one of the docs. I say I only have a $100 note - no problem, I can change. So he pulls a wad of $20's and I give him the hundred, but instead of giving me the change he gives the lot to his runner who supposedly goes off to pay the $44.85. Meanwhile the copy guy has all my documents so I can't go anywhere, I don't want to lose track of them.
I'm getting pissed now, and my lack of sleep the night before is starting to show. It's getting late and I'm concerned about getting a hotel on the other side before it gets dark. I should have gone with plan A, obviously.
The guy comes back with some docs, supposedly the $44.85 was due when leaving Guatemala. I said where's the receipt to show it's been paid. He said, it's Sunday, secretaries day off, if you want a reciept you'll have to come back tomorrow. Farrrk - that's when I knew I was being had. If it hadn't been so late I would have made a whole lot more of it.
Off to the El Salvador side, half expecting my docs to be wrong, shunted around a bit but eventually got away from there just before 5pm. No fees at the Aduana? Weird. Hope they don't hit me on the other side.
Now to get a good night's sleep!
That sucks! I hate that feeling when you realize you've just been had. It really jades me and I have a hard time trusting any stranger for a while. Just crushes my faith in people. I guess the bright spot is that it was only money (easy for me to say). I can think of lots worse things that could happen to a yank in that neck of the woods.
I hope your docs are cool and the rest of the trip goes smoothly. Love the posts/pics! You're living my dream. Keep 'em comin'!! ::008::
I hope your docs are cool and the rest of the trip goes smoothly. Love the posts/pics! You're living my dream. Keep 'em comin'!! ::008::
Dirt_Dad
Well-Known Member
Founding Member
2011 Site Supporter
2013 Site Supporter
2014 Site Supporter
Sorry to hear it Trevor. I believe you're getting close to the area where your other photocopies are supposed to come in handy. Good luck. Hope this is the worst bad person episode you encounter during the entire trip.
Idiot tax
I'm over being pissed off about letting myself get screwed over at the border yesterday. I should have known better, I should have stuck to my plan and hit the border fresh in the morning rather than tired in the late afternoon. There were some extenuating circumstances (like the cop taking me to the border instead of a hotel, and me going through with the crossing partly because I didn't want to be rude). But basically, it was my screwup, and I just have to look at it as an "idiot tax" and let it go - but try not to let it happen again. People have been so great and helpful on this trip that I've just gotten used to trusting them, and part of the reason I was pissed about yesterday was not so much about the money but because I now have to come back to earth and be WARY of people who may or may not be trying to help.
Still, at least it's only an "idiot tax" and not a "completely and totally moronic tax". I met a young guy in Antigua who was all down in the mouth. He'd met some Guatemalans in a bar the night before, they had some cocaine to sell him. He says, I just have to go back to my hostel to get some money. Does that, returns for the drugs but next morning he finds that all his cash, and his iPhone, is missing. About $400. Looks like one of his friendly drug dealers followed him back to the hostel and watched him when he retrieved the cash, then stole it after he went back to the bar. Stupid on so many levels...
On the up side, the owner of the cafe I'm in now gave me free cake and coffee, because he likes my bike ;D
I'm over being pissed off about letting myself get screwed over at the border yesterday. I should have known better, I should have stuck to my plan and hit the border fresh in the morning rather than tired in the late afternoon. There were some extenuating circumstances (like the cop taking me to the border instead of a hotel, and me going through with the crossing partly because I didn't want to be rude). But basically, it was my screwup, and I just have to look at it as an "idiot tax" and let it go - but try not to let it happen again. People have been so great and helpful on this trip that I've just gotten used to trusting them, and part of the reason I was pissed about yesterday was not so much about the money but because I now have to come back to earth and be WARY of people who may or may not be trying to help.
Still, at least it's only an "idiot tax" and not a "completely and totally moronic tax". I met a young guy in Antigua who was all down in the mouth. He'd met some Guatemalans in a bar the night before, they had some cocaine to sell him. He says, I just have to go back to my hostel to get some money. Does that, returns for the drugs but next morning he finds that all his cash, and his iPhone, is missing. About $400. Looks like one of his friendly drug dealers followed him back to the hostel and watched him when he retrieved the cash, then stole it after he went back to the bar. Stupid on so many levels...
On the up side, the owner of the cafe I'm in now gave me free cake and coffee, because he likes my bike ;D
Go get 'em Trevor! Don't let the bastards get you down.
I look forward to each and every post.
I look forward to each and every post.
Service day yesterday - plan was to grease steering head/swingarm, oil/filter change, new front K60 (and fix a dinged rim at the same time), change final drive oil and inspect the leak, repair a cracking/bending altrider rack, check the K&N air filter.
All went well, with me doing some of the work and Mario's guys doing some. Have to give Moto Rider credit. Local Touratech/Heidenau/Husaberg distributors, best place in Central America for K60's, only about $40 more for a set than the US.
Here's my front wheel being taken "somewhere" to have the ding removed. Came back perfect, cost $25.
We decided to leave the rear end alone until I get seals to fix the leak, then do everything at once.
Steering head feels much lighter now - maybe too light? Of course they didn't have the special torque wrench to tighten locknuts. I remember when I got the properly torqued before I left DC, thinking that it felt a good bit stiffer than if I'd done it by feel.
Front K60 is shot at 11,400 miles.
Rear K60 at 11,200 miilles. Would do at least another 1000 miles in a pinch. Or more. Amazing, considering it's had a pretty hard life carrying 200lb of luggage. I have no idea what Dirt_Dad does to his that he only gets 8000 miles out of them!
Waiting for the rack to come back from the welder, should be tomorrow.
Trevor
All went well, with me doing some of the work and Mario's guys doing some. Have to give Moto Rider credit. Local Touratech/Heidenau/Husaberg distributors, best place in Central America for K60's, only about $40 more for a set than the US.
Here's my front wheel being taken "somewhere" to have the ding removed. Came back perfect, cost $25.
We decided to leave the rear end alone until I get seals to fix the leak, then do everything at once.
Steering head feels much lighter now - maybe too light? Of course they didn't have the special torque wrench to tighten locknuts. I remember when I got the properly torqued before I left DC, thinking that it felt a good bit stiffer than if I'd done it by feel.
Front K60 is shot at 11,400 miles.
Rear K60 at 11,200 miilles. Would do at least another 1000 miles in a pinch. Or more. Amazing, considering it's had a pretty hard life carrying 200lb of luggage. I have no idea what Dirt_Dad does to his that he only gets 8000 miles out of them!
Waiting for the rack to come back from the welder, should be tomorrow.
Trevor
Some repairs
I had a couple of things to sort out when we did some work on the bike at Moto Rider, San Salvador
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Motorider/214646951951393
One was the dinged front rim which was fixed same-day for $25.
I have a final drive oil leak, which we've been discussing in a separate thread. It's not serious but seems that I may need to replace some pinion seals. These are not available here but with some great assistance from Erenet I have a set winging their way to me as we speak. I should have them Monday but if the leak is still only a few drops I may hold off on the replacement. I hear there are some good bike shops in Medellin, Colombia, so if it's still leaking by then, I'll have the seals replaced there. We were going to lube the swing arm here but I'm going to put that off until I decide what to do about the seals. No sense dismantling the rear end twice if I don't have to.
I changed the drive oil and seems to be leaking much less. I wonder if there is something about seal conditioning properties of new oil? Fingers crossed!
The other was my Altrider rear rack, which after 20,000 miles carrying a 25lb top box, was looking worse for wear. Notice the cracks from three of the four bolt holes. Base was also warped.
NOTE Altrider have a 2nd generation luggage rack now and it seems that they will replace parts for anyone with a 1st gen rack that has problems. Good guys.
http://www.altrider.com/altrider-luggage-rack-for-yamaha-super-tenere-xt1200z/pcid/625-14
Sent of "somewhere" to be welded, it's gone from pretty to "pretty ugly". But it looks like it's going to be strong (it weighs twice what it did before). Hopefully no more problems.
I had a couple of things to sort out when we did some work on the bike at Moto Rider, San Salvador
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Motorider/214646951951393
One was the dinged front rim which was fixed same-day for $25.
I have a final drive oil leak, which we've been discussing in a separate thread. It's not serious but seems that I may need to replace some pinion seals. These are not available here but with some great assistance from Erenet I have a set winging their way to me as we speak. I should have them Monday but if the leak is still only a few drops I may hold off on the replacement. I hear there are some good bike shops in Medellin, Colombia, so if it's still leaking by then, I'll have the seals replaced there. We were going to lube the swing arm here but I'm going to put that off until I decide what to do about the seals. No sense dismantling the rear end twice if I don't have to.
I changed the drive oil and seems to be leaking much less. I wonder if there is something about seal conditioning properties of new oil? Fingers crossed!
The other was my Altrider rear rack, which after 20,000 miles carrying a 25lb top box, was looking worse for wear. Notice the cracks from three of the four bolt holes. Base was also warped.
NOTE Altrider have a 2nd generation luggage rack now and it seems that they will replace parts for anyone with a 1st gen rack that has problems. Good guys.
http://www.altrider.com/altrider-luggage-rack-for-yamaha-super-tenere-xt1200z/pcid/625-14
Sent of "somewhere" to be welded, it's gone from pretty to "pretty ugly". But it looks like it's going to be strong (it weighs twice what it did before). Hopefully no more problems.
Hey Trevor,
How is the stone guard screen holding up on the front? I put one on and was just wondering if it will make the trip up the Dempster and Haul Rd this summer.
Alan
How is the stone guard screen holding up on the front? I put one on and was just wondering if it will make the trip up the Dempster and Haul Rd this summer.
Alan