Hello everyone, I've got some new adventures to share!
A quick overview of the trip so far: I started in Illinois, on November 4th. My plan was to hustle on down here to South America and meet a friend from the job I used to have and we would climb a mountain.
I made good time through the states, Mexico, and Central America. I took a day off from the frantic pace of the trip to go paddling with Uncle Ken and Gladys there in Arkansas- very enjoyable.
I took a day off to meet some old acquaintances from university in Jaco, Costa Rica- it was good to meet up with them after a long time, and also cool that I made the point of getting over to Jaco, a place that was once trendy and now is left-over-trendy, but most of the high-rise construction is stalled midway to completion, and there are lots of "se vende" signs on property that was at one time hot but now is a burden to someone. Between Ken and Costa Rica, I had plenty of interesting stops but probably the best was in Antigua, Guatemala, where I stayed at the office of a non profit which is partly run by a fellow freeporter- I never actually met the fella, since it was a weekend and I was pushing through town pretty fast- but all the same, it was a great refuge for me and a place where I could take enough time to change oil, cook a real meal, wash clothes, and chill with some of the kids who were involved there with the organization Casa Sito.
(El Salvador Coast)
The time from illinois to panama was just 16 days, even with those detours; I think sixteen days for such a journey is quick.
Panama was interesting and good; in keeping with the spirit of the trip, I passed it pretty quickly but did take time to see the canal and wander about Panama city a little bit. I traveled to the north coast and started the search to find a way across into Columbia, not an easy task. It was there that I met a couple of guys trying to do the same thing, and together we were able to afford the 1500 usds needed to hire a boat to take us across.
Travel through Columbia, Ecuador, and now in Peru has been interesting and probably in line with my expectations, only more extreme and exaggerated than I could be prepared for. The natural beauty of the countryside has been incredible; mountains have been thrilling to ride through; the people and culture has been interesting and welcoming.
Columbia took several days since we had to wait on a boat to take us and the motorbikes across to the first town with roads connecting it to the rest of the country, Turbo. While traveling through Columbia my old battery finally gave out and it took us half a day to get another one and get it all fixed up and going again. The transition driving from northern Columbia which is jungle and guerillas, cows and cocoa, generally low lying hot country to the south where the road we took rises up into the high, steep mountains which are at the very northern part of the Andes was very clear and I was amazed and impressed by it.
Crossing into Ecuador and continuing along in the mountains was very enjoyable, high altitude, mountain people, in general fantastic. We made it to Quito, the capital, the same day that we crossed the border, and stayed there that night. Of course to get to Quito from the border with Columbia, the equator must be crossed. Unfortunately it was night time as we were passing that way and misty/rainy; I was in the lead and more concerned with staying on the road than looking for marker signs or watching the GPS so we passed it without stopping. At first I was a little irked about it but decided that I got my tropic of cancer pictures and what we were doing at the time was more important than stopping for pictures of an imaginary line. Ecuador changed also going north to south from mountains to endless banana fields. The last few days have seen us in Peru; we were stalled for three days in Trujillo where we went to meet up with a friend of one of the two I met in panama, and ended up staying waiting for the other to recover from a freak flu or bad water bug. We pushed on, but now are stuck in Lima again where the same boy has had the bug come back. With good luck, we will be able to get on the road again tomorrow.
The delays have also been as expected, however I was still hoping that it would be possible to make it to Aconcagua by this time, burning as fast as possible once I made shore in Columbia. I got word from my friend there though that he would be busy with work and unable to get a break (big surprise working for such a company), so the motivation to get down to Mendoza quickly has all but disappeared. And although I know I could move a lot faster on my own, traveling with two other people is more fun than being alone not to mention safer and probably more edifying.
Missing you all, especially here at the time of the Holidays- but I will have good people to pass the days with, and plenty of adventures to fill the time, so all is well.
Love Trale
