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The Americas 2013

A Motorcycle Diary
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6 May 2013

06 May

I left the hotel by 06h30 in order to miss the Monday morning traffic of Tegucigalpa, (pronounced Teg-oo-see-galpa) the capital city of Honduras, and was glad I did because by the time I hit the outskirts by 07h00 the gridlock heading into the city was already manic.

Days ride

Another 400km day…

I made a statement yesterday that Honduras didn’t hold much visual appeal; this statement was premature and I withdraw it. Tegucigalpa is in the mountains at an elevation of 1100m so its cooler but as a result also has a different microclimate to what I experienced coming into the city yesterday. The route north and inland towards the Caribbean coast and the Guatemalan border is mostly mountainous and lush jungle or forest. The roads heading north are mostly pretty good although there were stretches where the phrase “pothole” would be better described as “sinkhole” and although I had 400km to cover again today the ride was mostly fast, cool and beautiful.

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Beautiful Honduran countryside…

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Jesus is big in these parts…

I am spending the next 2 nights in the most beautiful little town called “Copan Ruinas” in the North west corner of Honduras about 10km from the Guatemalan border! It looks and feels like I have stepped back in time 200 years or onto the set of an old western and the little hotel I am staying in; “Yat Balam” helps to complete this picture. The town of Copan sits next to one of the southern most Mayan ruins called Copan which I am going to go and explore early tomorrow morning.

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Little street in Copan in front of my hotel. I will have more and better pictures tomorrow…

Honduras has turned out to be an interesting country to visit. Its one of those places that seldom features on a bucket list although it has a lot of natural beauty and Copan itself is CERTAINLY worth visiting. The country and its people are quite aspirational although there is a lot of poverty here much the same as in a lot of south and central America. Honduras, like Costa Rica, is also quite “Americanised” with tons of Pizza Huts, McDonalds, Burger Kings, large Malls and all other sort of Americana being common and prevalent.

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The Fat girl got a well deserved wash today….The kids were so excited to wash her they were almost willing to pay me to do the work!!!

 
Be a sport Many of us have the means and wherewithal to undertake the dreams we want but elect to choose otherwise, many however, do not and that is the purpose of this plea. Afrika Tikkun (http://afrikatikkun.org// ) is a South African non governmental, non profit charity organisation run by the Lubner family that in essence does just that; re-provide the possibility to dream and to create the possibility of turning those dreams into a reality.

Unlike many pleas of this nature, I am not looking for any kind of sponsorship for my trip, but I am looking for your donation, regardless of its size to Afrika Tikkun. Please pledge generously as this is a fantastic cause that will assist them to provide food, care, education, health and social services to those that are desperately in need.
3 Comments

Posted in The Americas 2013

 

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  1. Richard Clark

    May 7, 2013 at 6:41 am

    What a Beautiful Bike. Seems to be ripping up South America in true BMW style. You being so rested that you can timeously report to us all. So much better than the bone shaker.Good Choice.

     

  2. Pete

    May 7, 2013 at 2:22 pm

    Once again ,envy you.so many different facets to life.great blog .like clean bike .travel safely .Pete

     

  3. Scotty

    May 7, 2013 at 9:20 pm

    Great to keep receiving the updates, thinking of you and the trip far more than the volume of comments indicates…and I think I speak for most – keep it up!