Date; 5th November 2011, Saturday
Distance：160 kilometre
Departure Time：8:30
Arrival time：13:30
Weather：Bright Skies
Temperature：34.5℃
After check out in the morning, I go to the parking lot. Something felt wrong yesterday with the bike, and I check a number of points that pop into my mind.
What worries me, is that on both sides of the wheels there are too many balancers (too much weight in total) attached.
Normally, this many balancer are only attached to wheels the breadth and width of a car wheel.
After some thought I then spontaneously decide to take them off altogether. Then I head off.
However, the driving feeling isn't any different at all.
When the road is good, the bike is somehow more unstable than before ...
Maybe it is a problem with the tyre itself?
The worries are not resolved yet and currently still ongoing (:D)
I have received quite a few concerned message from the readers of this blog.
Thank you so much for taking an interest, and I'm sorry for causing any worry.
All is OK though, and I'm in good health!
At the start of today's journey, the last refuelling in El Salvador.
Somehow the high-octane petrol version lacks a bit of 'gas' (:D)
I refuel with regular petrol.
Finally, arrival at the Honduras Border , which has a rather miserable (?) reputation.
If I believe the rumours, a bit further on from the border crossing, swarms of guides and money changers approach people fairly forcefully (:D)
I've seen this continuously since Africa though.
Most people just ignore the border guides altogether.
The group of two I intend to hire as guides.
In fact, they have previously argued over my custom :D
I show them the picture of the phony guide from Saburo-san's blog
Do you know this person? He's famous now due to what he's done ...
The details about the incident is widely known.
So is all the useful information: How much for what service etc. all is publicly availa
and suddenly their behaviour became nice and friendly – or maybe I just imagined it? (:D)
Indeed, there is a long queue in this place.
In the heat,
the guides run around for the errands of their customers.
The paper work to depart from El Salvador is completed, and the next stop is the Honduras border
The Rio Goascoran river is the national border.
In the background you can see a bridge constructed by Japanese.
Also in Honduras the guides take care of most of the paper work that needs to be completed.
To receive the Permiso (permit for a single importation of a vehicle) the owner is required to be present in person, hence I enter the customs office.
This female officer turns the screen of her PC so that I can read it.
And she uses a translation site to let me know what she want to tell me!
This is rather emotional. This lady proves to be a really sensitive person :D
The paper work that I had to submit was numerous, however, also at the Honduras border there were many friendly and good people.
Then, when the guides, who had always been accompanying me, left the room for a moment,
the customs lady bends over the table and whispers “please be mindful of these people!”
into my ear.
It indeed seems that if you're not being careful this can turn ugly.
However, usually the seedy guides join forced with the border officials, but here this seems certainly not to be the case.
Once I finished the paperwork for immigration, I had the guides help me with the Child Interview.
As they wanted to receive a tip, their footwork however grew increasingly slower :D
And after much effort they managed to secure an interview with a child of about 10 years of age.
The interview with this child has become one I will remember in my heart.
I'm looking forward to uploading it.
As I separate from the guides, they tell me “Talk well about us in the internet, and let your friends in Japan know. We're waiting for them”
They've been rather successful with their message, haven't they :D
「Good-bye, El Salvador, Hello! Honduras!!」
The roads in Central America have been overall well maintained up until Mexico. However, as I go South, they are progressively getting worse.
There is a lot of nature!
People are nice, too!
And driving along, I feel happy and content.
Then I enter the city of Choluteca.
I wasn't able to reserve a hotel in advance, so I keep looking for a place to stay while asking around.
When I entered what I thought was a hotel, it turned out to be a private house. But the owner spoke English and directed me towards the best hotel in town.
There were rooms available, and I checked in without a hitch.
The hot water is only a trickle, and the room is bustling with baby lizards (or baby geckos?) and other bugs. But actually, I'm just happy to have secured accommodation safely.
This is the looks of Choluteca, a city of some 100'000 inhabitants.
I drove once around the town but actually there isn't really anything to see.
To eat lunch, I go to the town centre
When I enter a tiny shopping mall adjacent to the bus terminal, the elderly owner of a restaurants keeps making signs at me.
Like always he says in Japanese “would you like to eat something?”, and exchanging gestures, I manage to order what I want :D
Rice, meat, potato, spaghetti, tortilla and a soft drink, all for 60 Lempira (250 yen).
When I was looking at the white balls a lady at a stall next to the restaurant was selling, she suddenly and unexpectedly gives me one as a present.
It was a tangerine.
In Honduras they it them by opening them up a little bit and then adding salt.
The kids too walk around trying to sell the many different
things dangling from their shoulders.
Beggars keep approaching me non-stop, first while I was crossing the border, and now also here while eating lunch.
The poverty of Honduras is visible at first sight.
Border crossing information
[El Salvador] Time required: 30 minutes
One copy of the permiso, 1 Dollar
[Honduras immigration] Time requires: 1 hour
Immigration country entry stamp: 3 Dollars
Permiso: 36 Dollars = 682 Lempira (It was not possible to by in Dollars)
Disinfection: 3 Dollars (although in reality it's not performed :D)
Copies: 2 Dollars
Bribe: 5 – 10 Dollars
Guide: 5 – 10 Dollars.
Distance：160 kilometre
Departure Time：8:30
Arrival time：13:30
Weather：Bright Skies
Temperature：34.5℃
After check out in the morning, I go to the parking lot. Something felt wrong yesterday with the bike, and I check a number of points that pop into my mind.
What worries me, is that on both sides of the wheels there are too many balancers (too much weight in total) attached.
Normally, this many balancer are only attached to wheels the breadth and width of a car wheel.
After some thought I then spontaneously decide to take them off altogether. Then I head off.
However, the driving feeling isn't any different at all.
When the road is good, the bike is somehow more unstable than before ...
Maybe it is a problem with the tyre itself?
The worries are not resolved yet and currently still ongoing (:D)
I have received quite a few concerned message from the readers of this blog.
Thank you so much for taking an interest, and I'm sorry for causing any worry.
All is OK though, and I'm in good health!
At the start of today's journey, the last refuelling in El Salvador.
Somehow the high-octane petrol version lacks a bit of 'gas' (:D)
I refuel with regular petrol.
Finally, arrival at the Honduras Border , which has a rather miserable (?) reputation.
If I believe the rumours, a bit further on from the border crossing, swarms of guides and money changers approach people fairly forcefully (:D)
I've seen this continuously since Africa though.
Most people just ignore the border guides altogether.
The group of two I intend to hire as guides.
In fact, they have previously argued over my custom :D
I show them the picture of the phony guide from Saburo-san's blog
Do you know this person? He's famous now due to what he's done ...
The details about the incident is widely known.
So is all the useful information: How much for what service etc. all is publicly availa
and suddenly their behaviour became nice and friendly – or maybe I just imagined it? (:D)
Indeed, there is a long queue in this place.
In the heat,
the guides run around for the errands of their customers.
The paper work to depart from El Salvador is completed, and the next stop is the Honduras border
The Rio Goascoran river is the national border.
In the background you can see a bridge constructed by Japanese.
Also in Honduras the guides take care of most of the paper work that needs to be completed.
To receive the Permiso (permit for a single importation of a vehicle) the owner is required to be present in person, hence I enter the customs office.
This female officer turns the screen of her PC so that I can read it.
And she uses a translation site to let me know what she want to tell me!
This is rather emotional. This lady proves to be a really sensitive person :D
The paper work that I had to submit was numerous, however, also at the Honduras border there were many friendly and good people.
Then, when the guides, who had always been accompanying me, left the room for a moment,
the customs lady bends over the table and whispers “please be mindful of these people!”
into my ear.
It indeed seems that if you're not being careful this can turn ugly.
However, usually the seedy guides join forced with the border officials, but here this seems certainly not to be the case.
Once I finished the paperwork for immigration, I had the guides help me with the Child Interview.
As they wanted to receive a tip, their footwork however grew increasingly slower :D
And after much effort they managed to secure an interview with a child of about 10 years of age.
The interview with this child has become one I will remember in my heart.
I'm looking forward to uploading it.
As I separate from the guides, they tell me “Talk well about us in the internet, and let your friends in Japan know. We're waiting for them”
They've been rather successful with their message, haven't they :D
「Good-bye, El Salvador, Hello! Honduras!!」
The roads in Central America have been overall well maintained up until Mexico. However, as I go South, they are progressively getting worse.
There is a lot of nature!
People are nice, too!
And driving along, I feel happy and content.
Then I enter the city of Choluteca.
I wasn't able to reserve a hotel in advance, so I keep looking for a place to stay while asking around.
When I entered what I thought was a hotel, it turned out to be a private house. But the owner spoke English and directed me towards the best hotel in town.
There were rooms available, and I checked in without a hitch.
The hot water is only a trickle, and the room is bustling with baby lizards (or baby geckos?) and other bugs. But actually, I'm just happy to have secured accommodation safely.
This is the looks of Choluteca, a city of some 100'000 inhabitants.
I drove once around the town but actually there isn't really anything to see.
To eat lunch, I go to the town centre
When I enter a tiny shopping mall adjacent to the bus terminal, the elderly owner of a restaurants keeps making signs at me.
Like always he says in Japanese “would you like to eat something?”, and exchanging gestures, I manage to order what I want :D
Rice, meat, potato, spaghetti, tortilla and a soft drink, all for 60 Lempira (250 yen).
When I was looking at the white balls a lady at a stall next to the restaurant was selling, she suddenly and unexpectedly gives me one as a present.
It was a tangerine.
In Honduras they it them by opening them up a little bit and then adding salt.
The kids too walk around trying to sell the many different
things dangling from their shoulders.
Beggars keep approaching me non-stop, first while I was crossing the border, and now also here while eating lunch.
The poverty of Honduras is visible at first sight.
Border crossing information
[El Salvador] Time required: 30 minutes
One copy of the permiso, 1 Dollar
[Honduras immigration] Time requires: 1 hour
Immigration country entry stamp: 3 Dollars
Permiso: 36 Dollars = 682 Lempira (It was not possible to by in Dollars)
Disinfection: 3 Dollars (although in reality it's not performed :D)
Copies: 2 Dollars
Bribe: 5 – 10 Dollars
Guide: 5 – 10 Dollars.
