Off Yer Bike, Lo Estamos Haciendo

Well, well...its been a while since we wrote about our travels, so I guess I have some catching up to do!

We left our bikes in Flores and continued southward into the Guatemalan heartland. Here is a snapshot of our last days in and around Peten:

Bollos de Peten, a local delicasy in San Andres

Our host family in San Andres, Rosa and Carmen Chabin

Our two biking companions in Flores, Anna from Australia and Paul from the US

This place sells guns, for real...in Santa Ellena

The water vine, saves lives in the Jungle - Reserva Bio Itza

Going on a tour of the Reserva Bio Itza, a community project of San Jose

Little forest friends in Bio Itza

Colette likes mushrooms at Bio Itza

Our next stop was Lanquin and Semuc Champey, one of the most beautiful places in Guatemala, if not on earth! We had a little stomach trouble during our days here, but the scenery more than made up for it. On our last day at Lanquin and a new funky hostel named Zephyr, we decided to walk the three hours from Lanquin to the magical place that is Semuc Champey.

Our loft room at Zephyr in Lanqiun

Crazy wood sculpture at Zephyr in Lanquin

The view of Zephyr and the Lanquin valley

This we bought agreed was some of the steepest roads that may exist anywhere, so much so that once we returned to Zephyr to pick up my forgotten passport after hanging out in Semuc, we ran into Anna again here with whom I made a bet that the road to Semuc was simply unridable, even for her! I haven´t heard the results yet, but I suffer in anticipation to hear whether the little Aussie engine could...

Very near the protected park area of Semuc Champey we stayed at El Portal, a nice little hostel and bungalow hangout. This place is right on the river and we used that privilige to the fullest, the only regret is that I hesitated jumping off the bridge that crosses it after many urging pleads from my dearest - only to later run into a whole group of wacky Ozzies who were more than keen to jump off it, and jump they did. Nevertheless, I did jump and crawl on pretty much everything else down at the river, a little like Golum I guess.

I like jumping off things

The paradise that is Semuch Champey, the best swimming pool on the planet

The mighty Cahabon river gushing into the underworld below the serene pools of Semuc Champey

Just upstream of the cave like passage for the river

Me sitting just next to the mouth of the river cave (if you were to venture down there you would be gone for 47 days and then wash up very dead on the other side)

Colette looking stunning in a well framed shot at the rivers edge

So much beauty exists here, layers upon layers of it

This place is walled on both sides by a thick magnificent jungle

The exiting end of the river makes a lovely waterfall, this is after the crystal clear water pools

Power of nature, stupidity of tourists - just about all these guys smashed their back end into the rocks hidden in the white water simply because they didn´t think to see what happened to the person before them...figures,  Darwin where are you!?!

We left this amazing area in a whirlwind, and deciding to keep some of the rough flavor of bike travel, we wanted to get to Rio Dulce only on the back of pick up trucks and the such by hitchhiking. We think that this was a wonderful decision in hindsight, albeit risky. We saw and experienced some of the most amazing scenery in the Alta Verapaz, and rode on the back of a chicken manure truck through some very remote little Mayan villages. The rural road between Lanquin and Lago Izabal (through Cahabon) is just stunning, it follows the river and boasts some of the most untouched scenery in this part of the country.

Once we reached Lago Izabal, just before dunking down into the valley we were treated to the most stunning view one could have of the lowlands leading out to Rio Dulce, nothing short of breathtaking. Once we reached the lake side we decided to stop over in El Estor for two nights, Colette still feeling a hundred percent and me wanting to fix my shoes...well we just stayed, and had some nice market food aswell.

Skipping past Finca Paraiso, we pressed on to Rio Dulce (the town) in a regular collective bus (really a van) where we planned on taking another week of intensive Spanish classes. Rio Dulce is a little like Florida, or at least the everglades. It even has the old american marine-loving tourist population which really gives it the Florida authenticity, either way we don´t know whether it was the chicken or the egg, but apart from the lush forest greenery all over it really does seem like Florida.

Never had a single thing at the Sundog Cafe, but Colette is pretty (apparently this place is a famous Gringo hangout in Rio Dulce, but the first night we were here we ran into a couple of drunk ones and they said it sucked?)

It turns out that this is the place where thousands of yachting folk pull in as a well liked spot, and later many head on to the Bay Islands of Honduras...some seeking crew. We might have to consider this delicious option. We also spent a few nights in Livingston prior to starting classes in Rio Dulce. Livingston is Guatemala´s version of the Carribean and it has that Garifuna, rasta flavour to boot. We enjoyed some good food, some heavy drinking of cocktails and even some hot dance hall action! The town is quaint and charming, but has a very heavy air of social and infrastructural decay, the town´s street dogs are by far in the worst condition we have seen anywhere (Cambodia´s Phnom Penh and Mexico´s Punta Allen included).

Hold production at Ford Motor Company, what is this in Livingston!?!

One of two public laundry cistern things, this one is decomissioned and the other is still heavily in use (people use these to manually wash their clothes, like a communal washing machine) - Livingston, Guatemala

We are really getting up to speed on Spanish, at least we feel so, but it seems that there are just layers upon layers of hidden tables of grammatical irregularity in this crazy language. Thank God we are not learning French - I think I would have given up long ago! The place we are staying Xalaja is very beautiful and right on the town´s edge. There are some lovely people staying here, the spanish teacher (also a pediatrician) is very good and both the restaurant staff and food is world class...makes it very hard to want to cook for yourself. An interesting and funny story, the other night we had dinner with two Afghani´s, an Israeli lighting designer,and us two vagabonds (a South African and a Croatian) - eating chow mein and chop suey at a Chinese pizza restaurant in Guatemala´s Carribean region. How´s that for a joke!?!

The Rio Bravo Chinese Pizza Seafood in Rio Dulce, yes here too!

Where will we go next? Will we head out sailing to the Bay Island of Honduras for a week, or will we head to Atitlan for more classes?! Who knows!?! Not even we do...but come back later on for our next instalment of RoundTheBendProject to find out what happens next!

Lost in translation

Part of the week-long fair in Flores,
these lovely ladies are danced through the streets daily as part of a folklore story  

The marimba gets carted around the streets behind the ladies

Being severely handicapped in the local language can have many interesting outcomes. Conversations inevitably end in internal frustration, external awkwardness and communal confusion. On one hand, you are limited to repeating the same conversation daily. Not only are conversations about what I had for breakfast yesterday, what I am having for breakfast today and what I will have for breakfast tomorrow utterly boring for the obvious reasons, but also because breakfast is ALWAYS eggs, beans and tortillas. Perhaps a refried plantain on the odd occasion to stretch my vocabulary a bit.

The semi-outdoor smkoy kitchen where our beans, eggs and tortillias are ritually produced.
Note the meat smoking over the fire.

On the other hand, the inability to communicate can also have unintended but hilarious consequences. Vinko, Rosita (15) and I were watching cartoons and nursing our common cold when a young cousin wanders in and mentions something about some accident in a nearby town and a big building on fire (or simply a big fire?). When pressed, more details about an accident and the possibility of cars being involved emerged, followed by a definite confirmation that whatever happened happened on the road and something else about “muchas personas” and something about being dead.  Later we enquire about the fire and/or the accident, but nobody else seems to know anything about it.

This is how the traditional bollos were made:
mazie porridge stuffed with beans, then wrapped in banana leaves,
then steamed in a giant tub over the fire for a few hours. Any takers?

The next morning Doña Rosa, mama of the house, sits down with us and explains that the main meal of the day will be in the evening instead of at noon as is usually the case.
 
“Is it because it is Sunday?” we ask.
“Yes, it is Sunday.”  Close. Keep fishing.
“Is it because of church?”
“Yes, I am going to church this morning.” Closer.  “The meal is a special traditional meal called bollos – it´s usually made this time of year when the festival in Flores is on.” Bingo! 
 
But then a string of words came at us like bullets, of which we caught on to: “I´m going to church this afternoon… death… traditional meal… walking… 3pm…” Pause.  “…cousin of Don Carmen… muchas personas… the festival… go if you want…”
 
“Death? Was it because of the accident last night?” we tentatively enquire.
“No… No accident… … … … … … … … muchas personas… walking.”
 
Righto. Afterwards we agreed that whatever it was, we were being welcomed to participate in the events of afternoon. We returned home around 3pm, certain that we at least understood its significance as the start of some activity. We snuck into Darling’s room, armed with dictionary and notebooks.
 
“Vas a ir a la iglesia este tarde?”  [Are you going to the church this afternoon?]
“No.”
“Y Doña Rosa? Ella va a la iglesia ahora?”  [Is Doña Rosa going to the church now?]
“Si.”
“Porque?” [Why?]
“Por la entierra de la sobrina de Don Carmen.” Frantic dictionary search ensues. 
“A funeral? His niece died?”
“Si”. Ah.
 
Now what? We retreat to our room to consider our options. Under the impression that it was some traditional fiesta that started at the church and walked through the street ending in traditional food, we had nodded enthusiastically that we would like to tag along to experience local culture when Doña Rosa invited us along this morning.  But now there was a body, a burial and “muchas personas” involved. Vinko – dictionary in hand – trotted back to the house to express proper condolences and to kindly decline the invitation to attend.

A few minutes later he returned.
 
“I understand now what happened.”
“What?”
“There was an accident. The lady was a relative of Carmen´s.”
“Yes, his niece right?”
“Yes. She had diabetes… and she was very sick… and she got kicked in the head by a horse.”


Raised eyebrows. Suppressed laughter.
 
“It´s not funny. It was an accident.”  Pause.  “Rosa definitely said a horse.”  Pause.  “Although I´m not sure which one happened first - if she was kicked by the horse before she got diabetes. I mean, I don´t know if it was the horse or the diabetes that killed her.”  Pause.  “But she died.”

Moral of the story? In life (and translation) only death is certain.

The view towards the east from a restaurant in San Andres. You can see San Jose on the peninsula. 

A Tribe of their own

One of the reasons why I personally like travelling so much (aside from the evolving scenery and sense of discovery, which rank top on the list) is the transient, non-committal feeling of it all. I like the constant shift between being here and being gone, being part of a defining moment in time and taking off before the moment loses its magic, the feeling that any of these haphazard, kindergarden-constructed days could change your life. The sense of freedom and wonder is exhilirating, addictive. Because of the fleeting feeling travel necessitates, it is unusual and more concrete when you get to experience moments within a group. The combined energy of the tribe opens a whole other universe of potential.

First encounter camping at Lake Peten. Sunrise at El Encantandero campsite

Westwards across Lake Peten.

We had a feeling like this between Christmas and New Years when we stayed in Flores, a heritage island in Lake Peten where the little Spanish stone houses were built on top of an old Mayan city. Cobblestone roads, colonial houses painted in M&M colours, flowerpots on the balconies... you get the picture. And in this charming town, in one of the colourful houses is Los Amigos Hostel, complete with a garden courtyard, yummy restaurant, bookshelves, a parrot a cat and a sausage dog, oversized pillows and plenty of hammocks. And a resident community of travelling macrame artists (the kind my sister would call nasty-ass-cracker-backbackers, complete with dreadlocks and flappy hemp pants), who loved the place so much that they have been stationed in the same hammocks and pillows for over 3 weeks working away at bracelets, necklaces, earrings and the like. This groups became our tribe, no thanks to the fact that Vinko picked up some macrame skills in Cancun and was keen to expand his repertoire (191 things you didn't know about Vinko!) We didn't quite join in the Kumbaja singing on the last night, but I was genuinely sad to part with these people three days later.

But we were barely on the road when we met the first member of another phantom tribe we belong to: the Crazy People on Bicycles Tribe. Everywhere we have been so far, the people who weren't utterly shocked at our travel methods were the ones who had encountered a bike tourist before. We keep hearing about this mysterious Swiss guy who always seems to be 2 weeks ahead of us, or another couple from 2 years ago. And more are coming out of the woodwork weekly, for example a Cairo to Cape Town rider raising funds for Tour d'Afrique Foundation. We were starting to doubt the authenticity of the rumours since we have not met any other cyclists. But on our way out of Flores we met Anna, an Aussie going all the way from Alaska to Argentina on bicycle. She's been going for about 18 months now, and has covered over 22,000km. With our day-glo orange milk crates and clearly ghetto arrangement of bags, it was no wonder that she could barely contain laughter. It was both an inspiring and intimidating first encounter with the phantom tribe.

Our current tribe is the community in the small village of San Andres, where we are living while struggling to get a grip on the Spanish language. We love it here. A bundle of colourful houses with rusty tin roofs tumble down the green mountain, connected by impossibly steep roads and hidden cobblestone stairways that usually lead nowhere but will dead-end with a spectacular view of the lake below. In the oppressive midday heat (welcome to winter in Peten province!) it's a ghost town - save for some feral dogs skulking around - but at sundown kids spill out onto the roads to play football, neighbours sit on front steps to share jokes and a lone fisherman cuts across the violet, pink and orange surface.

Streetscape, San Jose (2km from our house)

Sunset from Ni'Tun Ecolodge, New Years Eve

San Jose, about 2km east along the lake from San Andres

Our host family through the Eco-Escuala de Espanol program is Don Carmen and Dona Rosa Chabin. The family currently has 8 members living here, although some other rooms around us are rented out to include another 6 or so people milling around at the call of the rooster, which never fails to be at some random hour like 3am. We have our own little bungalow (glorified play hut), which looks across the short side of a 5x10m courtyard into the "open-plan" hand-wash laundry. Behind that is the "semi-open-plan" kitchen where Darling makes over 100 tortillas on the fire every day to feed the hungry masses. A cold shower ensures that everyone gets 2 showers daily without a line up. It's an ideal detour into village living for us, although the communal nature means that we are all sharing the same common cold now. I guess it comes with the (tribal) territory.

Part of laundry day (everyday) - this sweet arrangement is right under our window

An adventurous holiday

We arrived in Guatemala around 10 in the morning of 23 December, leaving Belize and the comforts of conversing in English behind. Our initial enchantment with the country was again dampened a bit by its magnificent hills - beautiful to look at but absolute torture to ride up. When all else failed (which it did), we had the pleasure of pushing our bikes up a monster of a hill for 35 minutes straight.

Once we arrived at El Sombrero Ecolodge, we had vivid flashbacks to our time in Vietnam, where showing up independently and unannounced will reward you with blank stares and a good serving of bewilderment. But the location right on the Yaxha laguna and only 3km from the archeological site is unbeatable. It's also the only option in a 20km radius or so, and we were thrilled to camp up in the little "tree house" platform for a mere $5.

This is camping luxury my friends - El Sombrero Ecolodge, Yaxha

Our visit to the ancient Mayan city of Yaxha, which flourished during the Late Classic period, was magical despite an unusual arrival. My brakes were acting up the past 2 days, so we arrived at the bottom of the gravel hill to find a large group of American tourists pointing in our direction and looking rather disappointed that all the raucous was caused by a silly girl on a bike rather than a jaguar chasing some wild pigs down the hill. I believe the whole saga was captured on at least 6 camcorders to enthrall the family back home with... apart from this group who left after taking a few photos, we had the whole site to ourselves. Yaxha is structured around a central axis with one of the avenues stretching down the hill to connect directly to the lake. We climbed the stairs from the lake through the forest and progressed through grassy tree-covered mounds to half uncolvered small structured to perfectly restored temples. We sat for a long time on top of one of the temples that towered of the green canopy listening to the howler monkeys and contemplating human nature and the rise and fall of civilizations.

Christmas dinner was a turkey with all the trimmings, shared with the owners of El Sombrero and two German bird watchers who were visiting an insane number of mayan sites on their short trip. Pre-dinner we realised that we didn't change enough money at the border, and we were already $3 short to pay our bill, and the closest ATM is a day's ride away. Hunger won, and it was decided that we would feast for Christmas Eve and spend the following day (Xmas) tagging along on the Germans' tour to a remote Mayan site called El Naranjo, since they were passing through a town with an ATM on the way.

We started the El Naranjo adventure at 9am. Sebastian was driving, Gabriella was commentating, Carlos - a short but sharp Mayan man we picked up along the way - was giving driving directions through the cattle fields and what little jungle remained, the Germans were checking their watches and looking anxious, and we sat in the back of the pick-up bouncing around like popcorn and not knowing where we were or where we were going. By noon we had to call a mechanic out to the rocky road to come and remove some small rocks from the brakes. By 1pm we were a mere 4km from the site when the road disappeared into a meter deep cement-like black mud (a guaranteed stuck) and we had to turn back. By 2pm we had backtracked most of the way, found an alternative path, asked permission from the farmer to cross his land, removed some trees from the road and now stood facing a locked gate ($%#?????) at the bottom of a steep hill. Reversing was not an option, turning around was impossile, and my suggestion of just ramming the gate down was disapproved. By now the Germans looked thoroughly distressed. We ate some wild mushrooms while we waited for Sebastian, who had hiked 2km back to get a key, to return. We figured any outcome from the mushrooms would be an improvement to the situation. We were disappointed.

At last the key arrived, we crossed that last of the 5km on a track barely fit for horses and arrived (Merry Chistmas!) at 3pm at El Naranjo archeological site. The site is currently being consolidated by a team of over 100 people, who were all home for the holidays, so we wandered through the completely deserted site in peace. Carlos - the Mayan guy - worked at the site for 8 months drawing every piece of the main temple for the catalogue, and he had lots of cool information to share. As with other post-classic sites impending doom could be foretold by the architecture: the rish and powerful lived in impossibly high structures; they built their own courtyards high in the shy and walled off the entrances to avoid contact with the suffering masses. Ornately carved walls were not as common anymore and the building stones were much smaller because the quarries were depleted. The sacrificial temple was hence augmented. Again we pondered civilization.

We had a really adventurous Christmas, but we did miss our families and a more familiar festivity. We hope you all had a wonderful time and relaxed till you were bored!

Acknowledgments

We wanted to start 2011 by thanking some people who truly deserve it. Travel adventures such as this one are not possible without the support of truly good hearted people. Our ability to carry out this trip is not through our means alone, to the contrary there is a long list of people in the chain that streches from its inception to the present day. The successes of our travel belong in part to the people that made it possible. This page is dedicated to these colorful individuals.

First and foremost, thank you from the bottom of our hearts to our families for all their support and most importantly for loving us for exactly who we are despite our crazy ideas. A big thank you to all our friends back home, wherever that may be, who stood besides us at the crack of dawn sharing outmost optimism. Our dear friends, you are all part of a much bigger family, we gauge our sanity by you.

Thank you very much to Paco and his dear friend Jesus in Cancun for setting us off on the right foot. For taking part in our adventure and providing the neccesery pushes along the way, thank you - the capable hands at Hadza Bikes in Cancun; Luis and Fabian in Puerto Morelos; Wilbert and son of Santa Fe Cabanas in Tulum; Pepe and the welcoming staff of CESiaK, Dan Hazard of Xamach Dos; the whole loving community of Punta Allen; Manuel at Caseta Santa Teresa in Siaan Kaan; Rheine and Elka of Laguna Azul in Pedro Antonio Santo; Stefan and Romana from Austria; Oscar de Alba of Kuuch Kaanil in Bacalar; Manuel and Mansul for Chachoben; Nathalie and Eduardo of Backpackers Paradise in Sarteneja; Katherine from New Zealand; Rawell, Lance and family Pelayo of Lamani Riverside Retreat in Orange Walk Town; Angie and Mick Webb with family of Crooked Tree Lodge; Gabriel the bamboo rasta of FaceItProductionBambuMe; Margo, Brittany and Aretha at Monkey Bay Wildlife Sanctuary; Tim and Corey from Calgary; Rod at The Olde Mill; Marcus and Theo along with their family of Parrot Nest Lodge in Bullet Tree Falls; Abby and Owen from Washington; Nicole from San Francisco; Sandra from New York; Mick Fleming, Lucy and Brionny along with the entire world class staff at Chaa Creek Lodge; Dosio and family of Macal River Camp at Chaa Creek Lodge; Teo and Ramona from Seattle; Sebastian de la Hoz Moretti and his mother Gabriela of Ecolodge El Sombrero at Laguna Yaxha; Jeronimo and his staff of hostel Los Amigos in Flores; Catarina and her amazing groundskeeper Jose of El Encantandero at Jobompiche; Lorena, Bernie and staff of Ni´tun; John, Ally and family from New York...and the list continues to grow.

To all of the above people, a heartfelt - thank you, baie dankie, mnogo hvala, muchas gracias!

Adios Mexico, Bienvenidos a Belize

The last week in Mexico was a tumble dryer; we travelled quickly and struggled in parts of the wilderness, pampered ourselves at an ecolodge and lay-low for a while in a campers hideaway paradise, and even played a small role in the theartical drama of a bustling populated albeit little Mexican town.

The boat to Punta Herrero from Punta Allen was in the end a mystery never to be resolved, the weather did not improve, at least not within a reasonable time bracket for our trip, and we took the rugged road through Sian Kaan to get to Felipe Carrillo Puerto. Cycling through the middle of a biosphere reserve jungle as four o'clock swings around, the day begins to yawn and you have no clue where you will sleep that night can heighten the stress levels just a tad. Luckily for us the lesser visited Caseta Santa Teresa did in fact exist and came just at the saving tick of time, Manuel the ranger working there was a saint and showed us into the very comfortable military style sleeping quarters and bathrooms. We had a great nights sleep after a well deserved warm meal and loads of liquids.

We reached Felipe Carrillo Puerto well into the afternoon after another tough ride and a minor puncture in Sian Kaan. The road closer to Carrillo seemed to be the hunting ground for many a poacher or logger, it was a sad sight to see the scars left behind as layers of jungle were torn out of the thick vegetation. A quick stop at the first little mini-mart, a few cold cokes later and we found a hotel to rest for the night. That evening and early the next morning we enjoyed the delights the regional town markets of Mexico tend to offer, fresh licuados and hot empanadas - yumm!

After the Sian Kaan adventure, the rough nights sleep in Carrillo and lots of headwind, the 75km ride to Pedro Antonio Santos for our next stop was a real, real tough challenge. We crashed for a quick lunch and a rest in one of the random staggered yellow concrete bus stops along the highway. We reached our destination late into the day, it was a beautiful end to our ride - the wind calmed, birds and grasshoppers flew across our view of the setting sun. We rode in these calm, dry and comfortable conditions until reaching the turn off to Laguna Azul, a German run camping and cabana hang-out on the northern edge of the Bacalar Laguna. We stayed for two magical and relaxing nights where we came to a deeper understanding of why people tend to move to live at the edge of a lake.

Vinko and Stefan attempting the world's first canoe launched Kite Surf, Laguna Azul

Our stay in Bacalar was eco-romantic at the Kuuch Kaanil cabanas, again the stunning lake and the relaxing setting made it difficult to cut our stay any shorter (we stayed for three nights). While staying with the nice people at Kuuch Kaanil we explored the lake for half a morning with a couple from Mexico city who were staying there on a friends recommendation. Our guide Angel took us to a 120 meter deep cenote (Cenote Azul - often used by deep sea free divers) as well as gliding through the Canal de los Piratas, a channel used by logging pirates local from the region who used to smuggle out mahogany to be used on expensive furniture made in England and Europe before the 20th century. This area is definitely going on our top picks list to return to and maybe start our eco-venture, it is truly amazing and very well worth looking after. The couple from Mexico city, Manuel and Mansul turned out to be extremely generous people. That afternoon they invited us to come along for a walk around Chachobben (they insisted on paying our entry fee!), a rarely visited group of Mayan temple ruins much more majestic and stunning that anything seen at Chitchen Itza - but this is probably largely due to the fact that you might well turn out to be the only person at the site to experience its calm wonder.

The mission ride to Belize turned out to be quite a bit more difficult (mostly due to head wind - again) and quite a bit further than we initially envisioned. We crossed the border after paying a departure tax to leave Mexico - a common feature it seems in most Central American nations. Right on the border between Mexico and Belize there is a place known as the free-zone, a place of bargain shopping with tax free prices the size of a smaller town, totally lawless and chaotic. Immediately upon entering Belize one could sense the striking differences in culture; the music, the accents, the clothing, the cars and of course the currency. We bought only necessary supplies in the free-zone and snatched a quick lunch at a road stall serving Mexican style buns with chicken and salsa, these went down well with a couple of soft drinks to quench our day's thirst.

We reached Corozal, our first destination in Belize, after a brisk hour ride from the border. Drivers on the road, again were very considerate and took sweeping lines to provide lots of clearance for us - this is even more remarkable when considering the fact that this was highway number one, a road with just enough space for two trucks to pass each other and no painted lines. Corozal is a cute little town with a lovely little central plaza or park, it had just the right number of shops and stops for us to stock up on supplies, get on the internet to complete this website (yay - milestone!) and get a night's rest. We got up very early the next morning for our boat transfer to Sarteneja, an end of the road seaside town with a more regional road access to Orange Walk - at this point our preferred travel route.

Three 250 horsepower outboards, that beats anything we saw as kids on Lastovo!

All in all, we miss Mexico already and having explored just a small number of gems that just the state of Quintana Roo had to offer, we pledge to return again sometime to explore more of this thriving middle ground and rich melting point standing between North and Central America. Belize it turns out, as we predicted, is already a lot more pleasant and friendly than people warned us along our route so far - but that's always the case, isn't it?!

Off the Beaten Track

To follow in the tradition of sharing bike travel tips which helped us out greatly on this adventure, this page is a collection of links to our blog posts containing information on some of the trickier routes we took on our travels, most of these are not available online and some not even from the local community. These will be useful as travel guides for anyone wishing to cycle through the same routes in Central America we took on our trip.

Punta Allen to Felipe Carrillo Puerto (Mexico)
This is a detailed description of the much mystical road that goes through the heart of Sian Kaán connecting the Punta Allen peninsula and the inland town of Felipe Carrillo Puerto.
- 75km through Sian Kaan
- The lookout tower
- Caseta Santa Teresa
- Pictures
- Detail Map



Felipe Carrillo Puerto to Bacalar and beyond (Mexico)
The newly upgraded federal highway heading South out of Carrillo has made traveling this route a lot safer and quicker for bikers.

The highway from Felipe Carrillo Puerto all the way to the border of Belize was upgraded less than a year ago. As a result it was pretty easy and safe for us to take the federal route with a two meter wide shoulder on the side. The road was exactly the same as from Cancun down to Tulum.


- Maya ruin on the side of the road in Limones


Corozal to Sarteneja (Belize)
We took a quick boat transfer to reach Sarteneja which enables us to ride to Orange Walk via a less major road.

We took a boat from Corozal to Sarteneja to check it out and avoid the main road to Orange Walk, this route should be nicer and more interesting.


- 7am boat from dock
- $40 belize for person and transport of bike (just seat is $25)
- 35 minute ride


More interesting roads to come...

Inspiring Adventure Blogs

On Foot Through the World - in 2008 Reinhold embarked on a two year 7,000 km journey from his homeland Austria all the way to the Sahara desert in Morocco, in search of a minimal impact yet rich and sustainable lifestyle.

Captain´s Log Africa - this lady is riding from Cairo to Cape Town to raise funds for Tour D'Afrique Foundation, that´s 12,000kms folks, through Africa - Very inspiring indeed!

Paul Park - biking from Washington to Brazil

Anna Kortschak - travelling the world by bicycle

Up Around The Bend - our brothers in arms!

Down the Road - our original research source

The Gibbart Adventure

Cow Spokes

Calgary Family, they bike everywhere - Colette has info on this

14 Degrees

Jesus and Sarah, biked around Southern America - we met in Borneo (July, 2010) and they will be riding home to Spain from there

Bikes and Equipment

The first thing we should explain is that no single method of travel, packing or financial planning for a trip like this is equally suitable for everyone. That being said, for our trip we decided to purchase our "hard equipment" once the trip got under way from Cancun in Mexico. By hard equipment, we refer to the bikes themselves, cooking and cleaning utensils, ingredients, food, and pretty much anything else that can be used up in under a month or so.

We strongly encourage anyone planning on starting a trip like ours to decide exactly what things they are willing to compromise on and also take into account the likely conditions of their mode of travel in their region of travel choice. For example, buying and fully equipping your bikes back home will save you a lot of hassle and will undoubtedly avoid any uncertainty about what you will be able to find once you arrive at your first destination. However, this will probably cost more money first of all, and in some cases equipment you buy at home may not be repairable abroad or the parts which might need replacement might not be available where you are heading. Ofcourse one major thing to keep in mind is that anything that is more advanced and you pay more for at home, you will probably be precious about on your trip. Take some time to consider how many such items you would like to take with you and how it may impact upon your travel freedom and overall peace of mind.

The last thing to mention is that we were able to pack fairly lightly on each bike because there were two of us. For obvious reasons some things were only needed in singles e.g. tent, 4L water bottle, cooker stove, tarp, tools, water filter pump, etc. just to name a few. If you plan on traveling by your self, either find a crazy friend to join you or plan on packing much, much lighter than this.


Ok, enough about introductions - here is all the info on bicycles and our equipment list below.



The Bikes

As we mentioned above we decided to buy our bikes in Mexico once we had arrived in Cancun. We knew that buying the bikes in Canada (where we boarded our flights from) would likely cost much more money and we´re uncertain whether we would be able to find parts and the technical knowledge to repair more advanced bicycles on our trip if something were to go wrong. We also decide to find our means of actually carrying stuff on the bikes once we got there, so having bikes from Canada may limit our choices in terms of what and how we can fit on them once we got to Cancun. In summary, simple and cost effective was our approach for pretty much anything bike related.


Cancun turned out not to be the best place to purchase bikes for two reasons, the first is that pretty much everything is more expensive in Cancun than in any other nearest major town (Merida, Valladolid etc.), and the second being that Cancun is a major tourist destination and most local people work and live around this industry therefore there is generally a very small market for the kind of bikes and racks we were looking for in Cancun which meant that choices were limited.


There were a few bike shops in Cancun central which we were able to find with the help of a dear newly made friend and resident of Cancun, Jesus. We found the bikes we ended up buying at Hadad Bikes, which is located here. There was also another decent bike shop with many mountain bike choices, located here.


Our bikes were Mercurio, a Mexican brand whose home operation was located in Merida. The model was Urban Concept which was a good hybrid mix between mountain bike and road bike, these bikes are well designed for touring or transport riding which what we were looking for. The bikes alone cost us 2250 pesos each, and another few hundred pesos for all the other bits and pieces (rear rack, front basket, bottle holder, two spare tubes).


To carry all our equipment we modified the bikes a little. The first addition was a piece of decking plank which we purchased at Home Depot in Cancun (they also cut the plank to measure in store, this was very cheap even with the taxi cost included). We used a drill at Hadad Bikes to make holes in the piece of plank and zip-tied it to our rear rack - this was all to allow a plastic crate to sit more evenly on the back and to prolong its life. We bought the plastic crates from Wal Mart (there are more than a few in Cancun) for 140 pesos each and it turned out to be strong enough and the right size for all our stuff.


To tie down the crate to our adjusted rear bike rack, we used ockie straps (you might call these bungee chords - essentially they are those elastic things with hooks on both ends that your dad took on camping trips). Three pairs of straps were enough, and we decided that a well tied but temporary solution was better so that at times we could take off all our stuff from the bikes in simple chunks, leaving the bikes bare but being able to take all our stuff with us (storing it in our tent flaps, in a room, a locker etc.). Sometimes it just made life easier to take the stuff off and carry it a little across sand than to push the bikes all the way to where we were camping fully loaded.


The only other addition we made to the bikes was in Puerto Morelos, it turned out that the original rear rack was not enough on its own and over time for the ride from Cancun to Puerto Morelos (2 hours and 40 kms), the back load was almost touching the tires. We stayed two nights in Puerto Morelos where we spent a day finding someone to weld vertical steel support struts for the rear racks. Once this was done, these babies were tough and ready for the bumpy roads ahead.


All up our bikes had the following features and were able to carry around 25 kg of packing each pretty comfortably:

• Mercurio Urban Concept (26 inch wheel hybrid bikes with medium tires) - Hadad Bikes, Cancun
• Steel rear rack attached to seat shaft (reinforced with twisted iron vertical support struts welded on later) - Hadad Bikes, Cancun + Sirena Bikes, Puerto Morelos (we cut the vertical struts off another set of rear racks from this bike shop)
• Front steel cage baskets attached to the handle bars - Hadad Bikes, Cancun
• Steel bottle holder - Hadad Bikes, Cancun
• Rear timber plank attached to rack with zip ties - Home Depot, Cancun
• Large plastic crates (40 cm wide x 30 cm long x 30 cm deep) - Wal Mart, Cancun
• Ockie Straps (bungee chords) used for packed crate tie down - Canadian Tire, Calgary + Wal Mart, Cancun (needed a few more)
• Straping tape and piece of foam mattress - the handle bars were little hard for all the riding distance we had to cover so we improved the comfort by slicing a strip off our foam mattress´s and strapping it to the handles of each bike (much more comfortable and soft for all those hours of numb fingers)

That´s it for the bikes, now if you are interested read below what the bikes and all this setup gear was actually carrying.



Equipment List

The following list describes some shared items and some which each person carries for obvious reasons:

Bought in Canada or Australia - these things are intended to last the whole trip and more

• Tent - Salewa Denali II (2.5 person dome shaped tent with extra side flaps, ours is an older model...maybe 2007)
• Sleeping Bag
• Sleeping foam mattress (open cell - 1/2 inch thick) - NOT WATERPROOF
• Thermarest self inflating mattress - MORE WATERPROOF
• Cooking Stove - MSR Dragonfly (Omni fuel, which means it burns anything; white gas, kerosene, diesel, aviation fuel, Unleaded Petrol)
• Fuel Canisters - 2 x MSR 600mL (you can fly with these only if they have never been used or appear so)
• Water Filter Pump - Katadyn Hiker (made in Switzerland and pumps 1L per minute at 0.3 microns with glass-fiber filter)
• Head Lamp - LED lights and 3 AAA batteries (we bought a backup pack of batteries)
• Torch Flashlight - LED lights and rechargeable (we bought this crazy little thing for $3 US in Vietnam from a random hole-in-a-wall electronics vendor in Nihn Binh, it plugs directly into a US socket for charging via slide out prongs which it does rapidly, it has two settings; normal torch and stand up lamp just by pressing the button again - it simply kicks ass, Chinese made!)
• Leatherman - Wave (no need to say more, very useful and powerful)
• Field Knife - Excalibur flip knife with leather pouch
• Permanent Marker - Black Sharpie (multi tip, useful for marking stuff)
• Bike Pump - Bontrager small but powerful hand pump
• Bike Tire Puncture Repair Kit - Mountain Equipment Co-op regular brand
• Bike Tool Set - small Mountain Equipment Co-op regular brand
• Padlocks - Two tough and big padlocks from Canadian Tire (for locking up bikes and whatever else)
• Bike Lock Cable - Canadian Tire, just cable and loops (we used the padlocks, more versatile this way)
• Waterproof Tarp - Small 3 x 3m from Canadian Tire
• Ockie straps (bungee chords) - Strong set of six 24 inch from Candian Tire (wish we got more)
• Water bottles - 3 x 750mL aluminium water bottles
• First Aid Kit - Small travel type, upgraded with some better band-aids and iodine solution
• Zip ties - 50 x long ones from Wal Mart (in all honesty we should have left them for Cancun - they have Wal Marts there)
• Pack of cards - this was really from Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, but nonetheless important for passing time
• Multi Vitamins - Pack of 250 from London Drugs generic brand
• Clif Bars - 12 x Backup energy and nutrition bars, they are tasty and awesome and must be bought in North America
• Gshock Watch - Tough and reliable watch for keeping time and setting alarms
• Duct Tape - could have been bought in Cancun
• Strapping Tape - same as above (useful for injuries and improving the comfort of handle bars it turns out)
• Nylon Rope - same again (100 meters, waterproof and light weight but strong)
• Freezer Bags - tougher than basic zip-lock bags and keep things dry
• Pain Killers - Basic Ibuprofen
• Random lady products (obvious) and contact lens goodies (spare lenses and eye solution) - Colette took enough to cover a full year in case our plans changed (Colette requires prescription lenses and wished everyday to have had laser eye surgery instead of dealing with contact lenses and glasses on this trip)

Bought in Mexico - these things are usable items and were easy to get on Cancun or otherwise

• Cooking Pot - Found at Wal Mart in Cancun (this was just a very basic raw aluminium cooking pot, very light and cheap)
• Cooking Cups - We bought two from Wal Mart (same as above, the added bonus is that our cooker fits snugly inside one)
• Cutlery - Wal Mart (two spoons, forks and steak knifes, very cheap and simple)
• Spatula - Wal Mart (very cheap plastic type, its hybrid so works as ladle and spatula)
• Lighter - A trusty little Bic lighter from Wal Mart (always useful)
• Matches - put in zip-lock bags for keeping dry
  
• Zip-lock bags
• Garbage Bags - for keeping things dry and dust free (we wrapped our sleeping mats once rolled inside a bag for each ride)
• Dish-washing Liquid
• Soap
• Mosquito Repellent - DEET type for tropical insects (keep in mind not to use these often as they damage the environment, and their use is prohibited in all protected areas and when visiting cenotes)
• Suncream - 50 SPF (same as above, contain metal oxides)
• Fishing tackle - Bought in Punta Allen and comes in very handy when near the coast, should be thick line and suitable for beach fishing (fresh fish for dinner, yumm!)
• Powdered Cordial
• Salt Grinder
• Oil
• Herbal Tea - A nice alternative to just plain water sometimes and handy when you have to boil it anyway
• Rice
• Tiny Pasta
• Tomato Puree
• Garlic - may seem silly but it makes a big difference, and it´s super light
• Canned Tuna - good source of protein as back-up
  
• Other food stuff - we ate fresh produce whenever available, the above is mostly for backup or filler
• A stick - for warding off chasing dogs and hoisting up yer pirate flag (ARGH!)

So there it is folks, hope this helps or provides some guidance should you require any. Quite a lot of the things we bought prior to departing for our trip and those which were mentally prepared for finding once we got there came to mind due to other peoples bike travel blogs which we researched beforehand.