Central America
Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama
Our first stop in Belize. We had a nice night here after the boarder crossing.
The "Inland Blue Hole" on the Hummingbird highway on our ride to Hopkins. Neil and I had been here before and decided we needed to stop for a swim again.
The Inland Blue Hole is really just a sink hole but it's a nice way to cool off on a hot ride.
The rooftop lounge at the Crash Pad motorcycle hostel in Hopkins.
The Crash Pad cat. he always hangs out under some of the bikes parked at the hostel
Iggy the iguana across the street from our condo in Placencia
Sunset from the dock at Sunset Point Condos.
Sunrise from the mirador (widows walk) on our building in Placencia.
Looking across the bay toward Independence, Belize from our building at Sunset Poi8nt.
Mayan King Falls
More Placencia sunsets
Sunset Point Sunset
And one last sunrise.
Placencia Trick or Treaters
More Halloween kids in Placencia.
The hurricane coming at Cassia Hills Resort, San Ignacio
Neil's idea to give some diffused light in our room when the power was out during the hurricane.
It worked pretty well!
There were tons of turkeys at the hotel in Tikal. According to John these are Ocellated Turkeys.
A visitor on the door (inside) to our room at the Tikal Inn.
Coatimundi in the parking lot at Tikal. We saw these guys all over the place in and around the park
I just liked the form of this tree.
Inside Tikal Park.
Tikal
IT's nice to be able to wander around in the ruins here. Not so over run with people that they have had to totally block everything off.
Looking out at Temple 4 from the first of the temples we climbed to the top of.
Looking toward the main plaza from Temple IV. This is similar to the shot you will see at the end of the Star Wars movie.
Rather than letting you climb the temples themselves like Terrie and I did back in 1990 they have erected these stairs so you can get to the tops without the danger of climbing the pyramids or harming them.
The stairs are still steep though!
The main plaza from Temple II looking at Temple I.
Temple I
I loved all the various animal crossing signs on the road in the park. While I think this looks like a rat in the sing it's actually for a coatimundi crossing.
We never saw any deer, so I'm not entirely sure what this one is.
Turkey crossing
Unfortunately we never saw the Puma crossing either.
The island city of Flores from our hotel.
The same shot of Flores at night
Taken at one of my rest stops on the 10 mile unmaintained road in the video.
This area truly was beautiful
Another shot to give an idea of what the road was like.
To be fair, maintaining a good paved road though here would be diffecult.
Finally on our way down.
The Volcano Agua from the roof top of Antigua Brewing
One of the ubiquitous "chicken busses" I love the Harley Davidson banner on the side of the hood.
The Antigua arch looking back at Vucan Agua
Not too sure about climbing the scaffolding here but up the guys go.
Antigua Cathedral
Steam coming from Fuego Volcano.. The two peaks to the right make up Acatenango Volcano.
Agua Volcano on the left then Fuego and Acatenango.
Agua Volcano from the rooftop of Antigua Brewing.
Fuego steam.
The most unobstructed view of Agua we had during our time in Antigua. Taken from the courtyard of our hotel there.
First view of Lake Atitlan
Homes along Lake Atitlan
Santa Caterina Palopo on Lake Atitlan.
The view from our room in San Antonio Palopo.
Lake Atitlan as we begin our ride away from the lake.
A couple of very nice homes along the lake. Hard to get to but in a beautiful setting.
A stop along the road. The first 5 miles of this day were on this road with the very steep sections paved. So not too bad at all.
A view of the lake from the rim. Still one of the prettiest places I've ever been
Looking down on San Lucas Tomalin
Along the Pacific coast on our ride in El Salvador. There are no pullouts on the road to take a good picture save in a restaurant parking lot. They were none too happy here that I only wanted to stop and take a pic and not eat. LOL
A cold adult beverage at our hotel in Los Cabanos El Salvador
Pacific sunset at Los Cabanos
Looks like we needed a flash for this pic LOL
One last Pacific coast shot in El Salvador
Exiting El Salvador at immigration
Cacao pods from when we toured the chocolate museum in Granada, Nicaragua.
Parking at the entrance to Mombacho Volcano outside of Granada, Nicaragua.
Our ride up Mombacho Volcano. We thought about walking up. Very glad we didn't!
Beautiful weather at the bottom of the volcano, but totally socked in the fog at the top. On the plus side we had GREAT cell service. LOL
Hiking on Mombacho Volcano.
The path through the fog.
The Tunnel - Mombacho Volcano.
So this will go right over the head of some of you, but this reminded me of Aragorn going though the path of the dead in the Lord of the Rings.
More fun with fog on Mombacho Volcano
This should be looking over Granada and Lake Nicaragua. But there is fog.
When you come down under the fog it really is pretty.
Granada Cathedral from the balcony of our hotel room..
Walking down to the lake in Granada.
At the ferry terminal in San Jorge, Nicaragua before getting on the boat to Ometepe Island.
Lashing the bikes down before the hour ferry ride to Ometepe.
Ometepe is an island in Lake Nicaragua that consists of two connected volcanos.
More Ometepe.
Coming into Moyogalpa, Ometepe Nicaragua
Our hotel room on Ometepe.
Finally got a day on Ometepe where the clouds lifted from the top of the bigger volcano.
Ometepe traffic jam.
Butterfly outside our room in Ometepe.
Neil found a friend. Well maybe I should say that the friend found Neil.
The swimming pool looking out to the Pacific from our house at Rancho Santana, Nicaragua
Sunset from the clubhouse at Rancho Santana
Rancho Santana sunset
We rode the bikes down to this beach at Rancho Santana to go play in the ocean one day
Each day we were at the house these two turkey vulchers would come by and drink from the pool
Sunset from the Rancho Santana house
Another sunset from the house
Rancho Santana beach
Our favorite turkey vulchers
The beach from the home of the owner of the house we were staying at near Rancho Santana
Sunset from our landlord's house
Border crossing time from Nicaragua into Costa Rica
Getting the bikes disinfected as we cross into Costa Rica.
Coming into Liberia Costa Rica. It was raining so hard here we couldn't see so we had to get off the bikes and take refuge under the awning of a bus stop. The other bike is from a guy we ran into at the border and just happened to see already stopped here to get out of the rain too.
Tamarindo Costa Rica. Always good to find a brew pub!
And to have a cold one
While in Tamarindo we took a kayak trip up the river estuary through the mangroves. On the way back we did see one crocodile hanging out on the river bank. Not swimming here!
After Tamarindo we went down the coast to this beach at Samara.
Samara beach
Samara sunset
Another Samara sunset
The ferry ride from Playa Naranjo to Puntarenas
Puntarenas
Our little expedition into the cow pasture on our way to Turrialba. I swear I expected to see Hobbits at anytime here.
When we started to figure out that "residential road" could mean most anything.
Just under the clouds coming into Turriapba
The initial damage to Neil's bike after the accident
This is really had to see, but we were not allowed to get any closer, but it is my first glimpse of a sloth
Maybe a better pic of the sloth.
After having taken the entire faring off in order to start piecing things back together.
Franken bike
Nothing that a bit of duct tape, super glue and zip ties can't fix
Our hotel room in Panama City. I assuming they had to put a "no coat hangers here" sign next to the sprinkler head because someone used it to hang clothes. LOL
The Panama City skyline
Panama City.