defrag4
Road Warrior
Ha acutally tried that, the hole was too big and in too weird of a spot for the soap to do much of anything. It did make my gas puddle smell IrishSpring fresh though :costumed-smiley-007
San Francisco to Ushuaia in an 87 4Runner.
- Thread starter defrag4
- Start date
Ha acutally tried that, the hole was too big and in too weird of a spot for the soap to do much of anything. It did make my gas puddle smell IrishSpring fresh though :costumed-smiley-007
defrag4
Road Warrior
ALIENS
cc93cruiser
Observer
Thanks for the updates, been checkin here and on MUD for the updates.. Be safe, and keep us posted..
defrag4
Road Warrior
Havent gotten to writing the Honduras blog yet, Its only on Facebook at the moment
defrag4
Road Warrior
We spent 4 weeks in San Pedro La Laguna, Guatemala taking spanish school. It was a great learning experience and we really enjoyed slowing down our pace and getting to know one location intimately. However, after a month in one spot our brains were burned out on spanish and we were ready to move on.
Our last night at school they threw a big bash for all the students. We cooked up a traditional meal of Chuchitos and Jicacma tea. Laurens teacher loaned her a traditional mayan outfit for the event.
The school got together and started cranking out Chuchitos (basically a Tamale with a lot less work) You take a ball of maiz flour and some oil, mash it up into a tortilla shape and fill it with some chicken/vegetables, close it up and wrap it in a leaf from a ear of corn.
Chuchitos ready for cooking
Throw them in a pot on top of the fire with a bit of water, steam for 45 minutes.
Serve with salsa and EAT!
For a beverage, take a pot of water, add a boatload of Jicama (Hibiscus) flowers, and some sugar. Heat for a while, add sugar, and serve. Jicama tea.
We are going to miss our cabin in San Pedro, but all good things must come to an end and the trip must continue!
We said goodbye to our teachers at Corazon Maya spanish school in San Pedro La Laguna, Guatemala. We became very good friends with our teachers. You spend 4 hours a day for 3 weeks talking to someone and you form bonds. We often wonder what our guatemalan teachers are up to these days…
We said goodbye to our sweet *** cabin
And took in our last views of Lago Atitlan…
Were off to Guatemala City to get some much needed repairs done to the truck (reoccurring theme??) and meet up with some friends.
Our last night at school they threw a big bash for all the students. We cooked up a traditional meal of Chuchitos and Jicacma tea. Laurens teacher loaned her a traditional mayan outfit for the event.
The school got together and started cranking out Chuchitos (basically a Tamale with a lot less work) You take a ball of maiz flour and some oil, mash it up into a tortilla shape and fill it with some chicken/vegetables, close it up and wrap it in a leaf from a ear of corn.
Chuchitos ready for cooking
Throw them in a pot on top of the fire with a bit of water, steam for 45 minutes.
Serve with salsa and EAT!
For a beverage, take a pot of water, add a boatload of Jicama (Hibiscus) flowers, and some sugar. Heat for a while, add sugar, and serve. Jicama tea.
We are going to miss our cabin in San Pedro, but all good things must come to an end and the trip must continue!
We said goodbye to our teachers at Corazon Maya spanish school in San Pedro La Laguna, Guatemala. We became very good friends with our teachers. You spend 4 hours a day for 3 weeks talking to someone and you form bonds. We often wonder what our guatemalan teachers are up to these days…
We said goodbye to our sweet *** cabin
And took in our last views of Lago Atitlan…
Were off to Guatemala City to get some much needed repairs done to the truck (reoccurring theme??) and meet up with some friends.
Toyotero
Explorer
Very cool man, Atitlan is one of the most beautiful areas of C.A. What a great place to spend a month :-D
BTW, hybiscus tea in Spanish is Agua de Jamaica (Jamaican water - pronounced "huh-my-kuh") made from 'flor de Jamaica". Jicama is a root/tuber, aka the Mexican Turnip.
BTW, hybiscus tea in Spanish is Agua de Jamaica (Jamaican water - pronounced "huh-my-kuh") made from 'flor de Jamaica". Jicama is a root/tuber, aka the Mexican Turnip.
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defrag4
Road Warrior
We made some friends off the internet (surprise, surprise) who offered up their place for us to crash in Guatemala City while we got some 4runner repairs done (by another friend from the internet!). We pushed into Guat City with no real idea where we were going. Guatemala City is a crazy town, traffic is horrible, the streets are a maze, and the signage slim. After driving around in circles for a while, making a few payphone calls, and being lost for about 2 hours we finally found our way to our friend Julio's place. Probably the nicest home we have seen so far in Central America.
Julio and his wife Karina welcome us into their home. We busted out the bottles of booze and became fast friends. They asked us what we missed most from the states. Our answers were… #1 Chinese Food. #2 Movie theaters. (It doesn't take much to please us…
That night we went to get some Chinese food. Wantons and Brahva beer!
Our new friends, Julio and Karina.
After stuffing our face we went to the movies and watched Girl with Dragon Tattoo (subtitled in spanish). In one fell swoop Julio and Karina satisfied our American desires. (Tickets were $2.50 each for a state of the art movie theater, Julio couldn't believe we paid $10-$15 to see a movie in the states)
Next morning we took the truck to our mechanic Adrian in Guatemala City. I had a laundry list of things I needed done/fixed on the truck. Adrian said he would treat the truck as his own and we placed our baby in his hands.
The repairs ended up taking a while and we spent the next few weeks partying it up with Julio and Karina. We met all their friends and family and got to see a side of Guatemala City most travelers never see.
Guatemala Cities “Eiffel Tower”
The worlds biggest plate of Guatemalan typical snacks. Julio got very excited.
Capital building of Guatemala (The Green House)
Guachitos! Guatemalan Drunk food. Greasy delicious hamburgers served up till 4AM.
Old town Guatemala City
Read the rest of the story and see more pics on the blog at http://homeonthehighway.com
Julio and his wife Karina welcome us into their home. We busted out the bottles of booze and became fast friends. They asked us what we missed most from the states. Our answers were… #1 Chinese Food. #2 Movie theaters. (It doesn't take much to please us…
That night we went to get some Chinese food. Wantons and Brahva beer!
Our new friends, Julio and Karina.
After stuffing our face we went to the movies and watched Girl with Dragon Tattoo (subtitled in spanish). In one fell swoop Julio and Karina satisfied our American desires. (Tickets were $2.50 each for a state of the art movie theater, Julio couldn't believe we paid $10-$15 to see a movie in the states)
Next morning we took the truck to our mechanic Adrian in Guatemala City. I had a laundry list of things I needed done/fixed on the truck. Adrian said he would treat the truck as his own and we placed our baby in his hands.
The repairs ended up taking a while and we spent the next few weeks partying it up with Julio and Karina. We met all their friends and family and got to see a side of Guatemala City most travelers never see.
Guatemala Cities “Eiffel Tower”
The worlds biggest plate of Guatemalan typical snacks. Julio got very excited.
Capital building of Guatemala (The Green House)
Guachitos! Guatemalan Drunk food. Greasy delicious hamburgers served up till 4AM.
Old town Guatemala City
Read the rest of the story and see more pics on the blog at http://homeonthehighway.com
defrag4
Road Warrior
lol young at heart, brother, young at heart!
defrag4
Road Warrior
defrag4
Road Warrior
Before our trip we researched all the countries we would be visiting on the PanAm. Overwhelmingly, overlanders reported the most issues with border crossings, corrupt cops, bribery, and theft in Honduras. From what we read the cops seem to like to play it fast and loose in Honduras with “official laws” changing daily or even in between car checkpoints...
We came prepared with our “Anti-Bribery toolkit". 3 reflective triangles, 1 fire extinguisher, roll of reflective tape, crappy porn mags and cheap cigarettes.
We mentally prepped ourselves for chaos and headed towards “El Florido”. We reached the border, nestled in a small valley between some large green hills.
What we found was not quite the insanity we expected. In fact it was actually a pretty sleepy frontera with just a few trucks idling about. Not a single scamming tramidor or corrupt official to be seen.
Equipped with our new spanish skills we asked around a bit and figured out the process. We found the aduana office and talked with a customs official who took care of stamping our passports out of Guatemala and canceling our car permit. We gave him all the paperwork and just sat back, he ran around various offices taking care of everything for us. Gratis! (Free)
Well… that was easy. It must get crazy on the Honduras side right??
We get back in the truck, drive a few hundred feet down the road and park in front of the Honduras Customs office. A man in a customs shirt comes up to us and says he is headed to lunch... OK?
Apparently, the customs office closes daily for lunch. (OVERLANDING PROTIP: Get your border crossings done before 12:00PM)
The official instructed us to get our passports stamped into Honduras and then come back later to handle the truck paperwork. Alrighty… We didn't really have much of a choice so we stamped into Honduras and headed over to the comedor (restaurant) to have some lunch.
We entered the small lunchroom and the customs official waved howdy to us over his bowl of soup. We spent an hour eating lunch with the entire customs office watching “Scrubs” dubbed in spanish on the lunchroom T.V.
FYI: I don't think “Scrubs” style of humor translates to Central America… though that Zach Braff sure is dreamy.
When lunch was over we headed back with the customs official to the office. A bunch of stamps, bunch of copies, and we were in. No strange fees, no bribes. Easy. Just how we like it.
As long as you have plenty of time to hang out for lunch “El Florido” is a great border crossing.
Welcome to Honduras.
I read somewhere that 75% of Honduras is on at least a 25% incline. I believe it, this country is full of rolling hills and mountains.
Our first stop in Honduras was Copan Ruinas. We had heard tale of a bar there with a german owner who was brewing up 100% organic hefeweizen and other german beers. After drinking nothing but tasteless lagers for the past 5 months I was dying for a beer with some real flavor. Oh ya. I heard there were some Mayan ruins nearby too…
We pull into the city of Copan Ruinas and start asking beer questions, someone points us in the direction toSol De Copan, German Bar and Restaurant.
We walked up and met Tomas outside smoking a cigarette, He saw our truck driving down the street with the California plates. He said “You guys must be thirsty?”
We spent the rest of the entire day and evening hanging out with Tomas and making all kinds of new friends in Copan Ruinas. Once Tomas said we could just camp outside the bar we REALLY hit the sauce…
I don't recall much from that night. I do remember we woke up the next morning in a fog. We drove 5 hazy minutes to the ruins, stepped outside the truck. Looked at the steep hike, looked at the hot sun, and then looked at each other… We jumped back in the A/C cooled truck and headed to the beach chugging water and tylenol the whole way.
Maybe next time Ruinas!
Up until Honduras the weather has been fairly mild, not too incredibly hot, not to cold. The instant we crossed into Honduras it started to heat up and humidify quickly. We thanked baby jesus that Adrian fixed our A/C in Guatemala City every time we stepped foot out of the truck into the inferno outside.
The palm-tree lined sandy shores of Tela, Honduras were more our speed on that hot day. We sat in the shade, ate fresh ceviche, and nursed our hangovers.
Sunset over the Caribbean. Tela, Honduras
We came prepared with our “Anti-Bribery toolkit". 3 reflective triangles, 1 fire extinguisher, roll of reflective tape, crappy porn mags and cheap cigarettes.
We mentally prepped ourselves for chaos and headed towards “El Florido”. We reached the border, nestled in a small valley between some large green hills.
What we found was not quite the insanity we expected. In fact it was actually a pretty sleepy frontera with just a few trucks idling about. Not a single scamming tramidor or corrupt official to be seen.
Equipped with our new spanish skills we asked around a bit and figured out the process. We found the aduana office and talked with a customs official who took care of stamping our passports out of Guatemala and canceling our car permit. We gave him all the paperwork and just sat back, he ran around various offices taking care of everything for us. Gratis! (Free)
Well… that was easy. It must get crazy on the Honduras side right??
We get back in the truck, drive a few hundred feet down the road and park in front of the Honduras Customs office. A man in a customs shirt comes up to us and says he is headed to lunch... OK?
Apparently, the customs office closes daily for lunch. (OVERLANDING PROTIP: Get your border crossings done before 12:00PM)
The official instructed us to get our passports stamped into Honduras and then come back later to handle the truck paperwork. Alrighty… We didn't really have much of a choice so we stamped into Honduras and headed over to the comedor (restaurant) to have some lunch.
We entered the small lunchroom and the customs official waved howdy to us over his bowl of soup. We spent an hour eating lunch with the entire customs office watching “Scrubs” dubbed in spanish on the lunchroom T.V.
FYI: I don't think “Scrubs” style of humor translates to Central America… though that Zach Braff sure is dreamy.
When lunch was over we headed back with the customs official to the office. A bunch of stamps, bunch of copies, and we were in. No strange fees, no bribes. Easy. Just how we like it.
As long as you have plenty of time to hang out for lunch “El Florido” is a great border crossing.
Welcome to Honduras.
I read somewhere that 75% of Honduras is on at least a 25% incline. I believe it, this country is full of rolling hills and mountains.
Our first stop in Honduras was Copan Ruinas. We had heard tale of a bar there with a german owner who was brewing up 100% organic hefeweizen and other german beers. After drinking nothing but tasteless lagers for the past 5 months I was dying for a beer with some real flavor. Oh ya. I heard there were some Mayan ruins nearby too…
We pull into the city of Copan Ruinas and start asking beer questions, someone points us in the direction toSol De Copan, German Bar and Restaurant.
We walked up and met Tomas outside smoking a cigarette, He saw our truck driving down the street with the California plates. He said “You guys must be thirsty?”
We spent the rest of the entire day and evening hanging out with Tomas and making all kinds of new friends in Copan Ruinas. Once Tomas said we could just camp outside the bar we REALLY hit the sauce…
I don't recall much from that night. I do remember we woke up the next morning in a fog. We drove 5 hazy minutes to the ruins, stepped outside the truck. Looked at the steep hike, looked at the hot sun, and then looked at each other… We jumped back in the A/C cooled truck and headed to the beach chugging water and tylenol the whole way.
Maybe next time Ruinas!
Up until Honduras the weather has been fairly mild, not too incredibly hot, not to cold. The instant we crossed into Honduras it started to heat up and humidify quickly. We thanked baby jesus that Adrian fixed our A/C in Guatemala City every time we stepped foot out of the truck into the inferno outside.
The palm-tree lined sandy shores of Tela, Honduras were more our speed on that hot day. We sat in the shade, ate fresh ceviche, and nursed our hangovers.
Sunset over the Caribbean. Tela, Honduras