Around The World In 80 Waves

I have travelled the length and bredth of the Americas since I started this trip back in December, but the time has come for me to move on.

It also means that I will no longer need to keep butchering the Spanish language that I have learned to some degree as I have moved south from the USA.

There have certainly been plenty of highs as well as a few lows to keep me grounded on the road, but as ever it is time to move on because the planet has so many more waves on offer for me to enjoy along the rest of this trip.

Rather fittingly I saw this road sign next to the pizza place on my last night in Chile.

It translates to The Waves, which is an odd name for a road if you ask me, but the sign was pointing westward towards the east and that is exactly where I am going.

There is the obvious language connection with Spain, but even so I have been staggered but the extent of the support for the two giants playing in La Liga.

On my way south through Central America I have seen buses, taxis, cars and even newsagents dedicated to either Real Madrid and Barcelona.

The shirts of the two teams are on view throughout the continent. It is only really in Panama I have seen a significant number of other shirts (for the national side) being worn at all.

I took this picture of one of the many crowds that were forming around each television in the shopping mall during one of the recent Champions League semi fainals against the two German teams.

With both Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich putting four goals past their respective opposition during the recent games the collective disdain was palpable.

There are a lot of Tuc-Tucs in use throughout Central America.

Most have not been modified more than a bright paint job.

However I saw this one while driving through the Honduran border which had me chuckling away and was a welcome relief to the overpowering heat.

The picture was taken from a moving vehicle so please excuse that it doesn’t capture the whole of the vehicle, but check out that spoiler.

He is going to need that down force I’m sure! Maybe he wants to wheelie the thing?

I am amazed that there are any school buses left in the USA!

All though Central America they are the standard form of transport, and are known as Chicken buses because you often will see a crate of the feathered birds strapped precariously to the roof.

I saw one such crate fall off one in Nicaragua only to be immediately blitzed by the pickup truck between me and it in an explosion of feathers.

They are usually decorated in riotous colours although not so much the further south I have travelled.

This one I saw in Guatemala, where they are driven by maniacs who are only interested in doing their standard route as many times as they can during a day. I struggled to pull away from one on the Pan American highway, eventually giving up because of his driving right up the back of me doing about 85mph down a twisting mountain descent!

For some reason the three most common themes for decorating the buses throughout the continent are Batman, The Transformers and messages praising Jesus or God. I have no idea why that may be.

I have not used one yet, but have previously ridden something similar in China where they also cram an additional 20 people on just when you think it couldn’t possibly hold anything or anybody else.

I don’t know much about their safety record but suspect it is not that good!

Since being in Central America I have been reading quite a lot about William Walker who seems to have lived quite an extraordinary life. Marlon Brando portrayed him in the 1969 film ‘Burn!’ which I have not seen

The rest I have lifted from Wikipedia because I have too much writing to do, but I would recommend you take the time to read about him.

(May 8, 1824 – September 12, 1860) who was an American doctor, lawyer, journalist and adventurer, who organized several private military expeditions into Latin America, with the intention of establishing English-speaking colonies under his personal control, an enterprise then known as “filibustering.”

Walker became president of the Republic of Nicaragua in 1856 and ruled until 1857, when he was defeated by a coalition of Central American armies, principally Costa Rica’s army. He was executed by the government of Honduras in 1860.

I have been without internet for a few days so have some catching up to do.

I had a quick surf session at Las Flores before leaving, including a scary wipeout near the rocks, but was still on the road early. The road from El Salvador to Honduras was quick but unbelievably hot. It is ok when the car is moving but as soon as I stop I feel like I am melting. At one stage the thermometer in the car read 49C ! It didn’t drop below 40C all day and even then only once it had got dark. It was still over 30C at 10pm.

Both the borders I crosses were at bridges over rivers and there seems to be a substantial space of no man’s land at each one. This doesn’t help me much because at every border I am driving around looking like a lost soul trying to figure out which one of the shacks, if any, at a given place is an official building such as migration, aduona, the place where you get the car sprayed for some pesticide or other or just a checkpoint where they inspect paperwork before you are allowed to move on to the next bit of guesswork.

Apart from the usual hawkers, searching for a photocopier, etc it is relatively painless at both borders apart from the heat. However I did fall foul of the law upon arrival in Nicaragua, but before going further on this I have a confession to make. I have been having a few cigarettes ever since I was able to drink smoke and gamble in Las Vegas. I know it is bad for me but it has been alleviating some of the boredom on the road, and I was enjoying a smoke upon successfully navigating the the El Salvador-Honduran border. At the final checkpoint a traffic policeman waved me in to the side of the road which I did without question. At this point he tells me that smoking is illegal in a car, which is clearly bullshit, and he is just trying to exact a bribe. I am quite hot and bothered already and not in the mood so play him at his own game feigning terror and asking if it is a serious offence and then if we must go to the police station all the while blowing smoke in his face whilst still behind the wheel. He laps this up thinking he has me on the hook, that is until in perfect Spanish I say ok if you drive there I will follow. Mild panic spreads across his face and he pauses afor a moment before deciding that it is not in fact an offence and tells me I can go. I do so grinning from ear to ear and chuffing away as I pull off.

Not much else to report apart from telling you that the road I travelled in Honduras resembled Swiss cheese because there were so many holes in it.

The next country on the map is Honduras.

However the Pacific coast of this country is so small, with most of it being sheltered, so I am just going to drive in, across the country and then out again in a day and get on to the better wave prospects of Nicaragua. 

I am sure there is much to offer in Honduras north of my route but that will have to wait for another trip.

I am conscious of the time it may take me to sell my car in Panama and need to get there as soon as possible to ensure that it does not impact on later flights, travel opportunities, etc.

I have sorted out a new phone number for the next few weeks.

If you need to call or text me please use +502-5249-5779 until further notice.