Honduras wasn’t very nice to Bid Bird. We ducked into this country twice, before and after El Salvador and both times he got hurt. As you’ll learn from watching the video, we cycled right into a pothole on a downhill (that seemed to resemble something more of a crater on Mars). After continuing cycling for some time we realized Big Bird wasn’t in good shape and discovered both rims were cracked. Really, both rims! It then became apparent we weren’t able to get our bike tended to in Honduras and so after five rides, one flat tire and 100kms later we found ourselves in El Salvador a day early. Fortunately, we have been carrying a spare rim since San Franciso and that was put to use on the back. We bought a second hand wheel to go on the front while we wait for a new rim to arrive in Costa Rica. All was well with the world again. One thing you have to accept, particularly in these parts (Central America), is that you just have to roll with the punches and realise that things may or may not go according to plan. We have found ourselves constantly making decisions and then changing them numerous times to adjust to whatever the current situation reflects. This place teaches you the art of patience, acceptance, flexibility and to just let go of things that are out of your control – it's not an easy thing to do but we are definately getting way better at it. Although, Big Bird doesn’t have fond memories of Honduras, we thought otherwise (but we won’t tell Big Bird that!). It had beautiful countryside, pleasant towns, our favourite Mayan ruins to date and friendly locals. The Copan Ruins are famous for their sculptures and artistic detail. We also thought the entrance walkway filled with parrots, squirrels and an animal (that even the locals we’ve asked don’t know the name of) scuttling around was really cool. Copan Ruins            Honduras Christopher (Warm Showers) was our host in Copan Ruinas and together we were also fortunate to take in a tramp to a rugged waterfall, an evening dip at a natural hot spring and try the national iconic food (called a baleada, which is a giant flour tortilla stuffed with any filling you’d like). Actually, Roland went with Chris while I tried to get over my second lot of food poisoning. Chris is from the US, working in a school, has a bunch of knowledge about the area and makes a mean pasta to satisfy even the hungriest cyclists! The ride between Copan Ruinas and Santa Rosa de Copan was highlighted by a quick visit to a coffee harvesting plant embedded in thick lush jungle. Here we also caught a glimpse of an unusual looking feline. It was a young tigrillo cub, who could only be enticed to come out from his cool resting place with the bowl full of chicken. Roland even snuck in a quick pat, even though this was probably not a clever thing to do! In Santa Rosa de Copan we had to opportunity to spend two nights with a Honduran-American family. They own and run ‘Weekend Pizza’, a restaurant making delicious organic pizzas from scratch. Claudia (Couchsurfing) had just had her boyfriend from Germany arrive and it took us back to when Roland first moved to New Zealand to be together. We actually ran into Claudia’s mother as we approached the city and immediately knew we were going to be in good company. Claudia’s grandmother was a sweetheart and ensured we were fed, washed and well rested before heading on our way.             El Salvador Although El Salvador is a small country, it’s packed with people and volcanoes. Our memories of El Salvador will definitely be the people we stayed with as we didn’t do anything particularly touristy here. In San Andres, we stayed with Mauricio and Gloria from Couchsurfing for three nights to get our bike fixed in San Salvador and help out on their property. They live in an eco village in the jungle and have a very simple and healthy lifestyle. We had initially planned to volunteer with the Salvation Army, however the contact information and address we had was out of date (the hair salon to which the address directed us to, also assured us they didn’t need any help either ). Still we thoroughly enjoyed the many new experiences of working the land and making bread with some of the local kids, learning how to prepare/grind corn and eating wholesome meals. We also saw our first real live scorpion here. Eeeekkk. From San Andreas the plan was to go around San Salvador, but we missed a crucial turnoff and proceeded to get digested into the belly of this congested city. And of course, who should we bump into but the El Salvador Salvation Army Headquarters. So we joined in on the service with major Wilson and his wife and got some updated contact information. In San Vincente we joined Brad and his host family for a special El Salvadorian dinner of Pupusas, which are like Gorditas in Mexico. We thoroughly enjoyed chatting with Brad and learning some unique El Salvadorian customs/rituals. For example did you know that people in El Salvador cover all mirrors in the house when there is a thunder storm, and to avoid getting arthritis, people do NOT have showers after working or exercising. The route from San Vincente to Amando Lopez, (don’t bother looking on a map, you will not find this tiny village) was surprisingly still blocked off to motorists due to a flood 4 months ago. We still managed to negotiate the damaged road and turn a few heads in the process. Getting off the Pan-American Highway (Hwy1) and on to the coastal Highway (Hwy2) brought many overhanging trees and beautiful views onto the country side. In Amando Lopez, we met up with Nedal, a German Couchsurfing host, who volunteers in the community. Here we had a swim in a nearby river, played and taught soccer to a group of women and had a chilled out evening. Again, guess what we saw.. .. another two scorpions, in fact one managed to make his way on a girl’s leg, very scary! We had planned to exit El Salvador by the north, but while having a break under a tree we met Jose who had cycled his recumbent bike from Montreal, Canada to his current home of Chirilagua, El Salvador. It was interesting to learn of all the other cyclists we knew who had also made a slight detour and stayed with this very friendly and generous man. This being said, we now opted for a coastal route out of El Salvador, which meant a few more miles but less hills, not a bad trade off.                            Honduras for a scond timeOnly a matter of minutes arriving back into Honduras (we had to go back into Honduras to get to Nicaragua) Roland said ¨Honduras hasn’t been too good to the bike, let’s hope the next two days go ok¨. As you can guess, about an hour later…. Wobble wobble….. ¨hey, something doesn’t feel right¨…… yep, our frame snapped again in the same place as in Mexico. We think the impact of hitting the crater (oh sorry, pothole) may have weakened it. Once again, we were back thumbing a ride to get to the nearest town 20kms up the road (which is not on our list of ‘favourite things to do in the world with an extra large bike and trailor’). We found ourselves explaining to the local mechanic that our bike frame is not aluminium, bronze or any other funny metal. The weld didn’t go as smoothly as the first time so we hope it will hold out…. we only have to get to Argentina some 15,000kms away! We eventually and thankfully made it to the beautiful town of Pespire. This really cute town, equipped with a plaza, church and friendly residents was also the home of our warmshowers host Maite. She was super great and we instantly felt right at home. While dining and finishing off some imported Belgium chocolate, we were soon in the company of another creepy crawly. A huge tarantula managed to find his /her way into our shower and presented a problem for the rest of the evening. Belinda refused to go near the washroom or our bicycle for the rest of the day. After a naughty visit to Wendy's in Choluteca to enjoy the cool air conditioning and watch all the middle and upper class locals come and go, we cycled back into the mountains. Our last night in Honduras was spent in San Marcos de Colon and after a traditional meal of beans, eggs, chorizo and fried plantain we slept soundly in the fresh night air.             CommentsHelen Sat, 08 May 2010 20:19:31 What more can I want on a Sunday afternoon than to read and view such exciting and emotional material from the comfort and safety of my home! Thanks guys! I'm sure too that every photo has several more stories that could be told about them! I think your animal is maybe one related to the guinea pig family... sure I'll find one somewhere and tell you!!! Eergh to scorpians and Tarantula though! Keep safe and give Big Bird a eer.. pat??? from me. (What do you offer a bike?) Khush Wed, 12 May 2010 13:29:54 Hey buddy: fred / muriel Thu, 13 May 2010 12:45:12 cheer up kids !! this latest setback with big bird is just ( if you'll excuse the expression ) a bump in the road in the whole scheme of things - after all the tortoise DID end up winning the race!!! Leave a Reply |  Roland and Belinda
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