Guatemala – Honduras – Nicaragua

Sorry it’s been a while. Guatemala and Honduras offered little in internet access and telephone service from our travel perspective. We were moving quickly as we had a lot of ground to cover and some truck maintenance to deal with. So here is a review of the last week or so of travel.

After our very exciting jungle segment we headed to the Isla de Flores Guatemala area. The trucks were in need of some parts, nuts and bolts mostly and we desperately needed power washing to expose the trucks for proper inspection, they were filthy to say the least. We located a local hand wash (auto lavado) and they had a cement ramp which allowed an underbody inspection after the trucks were cleaned. This was very beneficial and yielded additional obvious repairs were needed. Another benefit is that a local gentlemen (Neil) was at the car wash having his truck cleaned, as always he was very curious as to who we were and what we were doing. In the end he asked us to stay at his hotel/resort on a bluff of the nearby lake. This had a magnificent view of the Isla de Flores, which is a great tourist city on a small island. He even took us for a boat ride around the island. Overall it was a great stay in the area.

 Next we headed to Rio Dulce (sweet river) also in Guatemala, we stayed at Brunos Marina. This was a very interesting area as there were many large boats at the marina. I knew we were far inland and wondered why such large boats were present on just a river and small lake area. With investigation we realized that this river goes all the way east thru Belize to the Atlantic Ocean. So these boats come up the river for repairs and refuge in storms, a proper harbor and shipyard industry has resulted. My brother Todd would have liked all the large Sailboats and Catamarans.

Ps. At this point I’m stilling removing ticks from the jungle..

The next morning we crossed the busy border to Honduras. As always it’s a bit stressful crossing these borders. It requires patience and keen observation. But overall everyone was helpful with the process and we had no problems. A few hours later we stood in Honduras with our vehicles imported for the short term. There were 4 BMW F800GS motorcycles (one of my favorites) at the border, they were on a trip around the world sponsored by BMW, to cool.

Next we head to Copan de Ruinas. This was a very nice little city next to the Copan Mayan Ruins. We enjoyed the city while the others visited the Ruins. Did I mention I sat on the bowl all night! At least I was in a hotel and not camping. Must of have picked up a bug somewhere…

We then headed to Los Naranjos, we heard of a Micro Brewery there on a lake. Arriving at night we were able to get a beer but the kitchen was closed already, so to bed with just a snack. The beer was raspberry and chocolate, I liked it a lot.. Stacey had a Stout and liked it too..

In the morning we drove out early headed to Valle de Angeles Parque Nacional outside Tegucigalpa the capital city of Honduras.  This was an incredible drive on dirt roads thru the mountains and thru tiny villages with fields of various crops. It was great to see these people living so simply, but not in complete poverty, they were living off the land. Building houses and having occupancy in the truest sense of the biblical phrase. Scott Brady was driving in the lead, and we happened to be right behind him for a bit, normally we have been in the back of the group for support purposes. Two motorbikes passed him and were headed toward us, the first guy stopped in the middle of the road broadside and looked back to check out Scotts truck more,  seconds later his friend T-Boned him at about 15mph.. Photo in the blog. They were both OK, only egos were hurt.

The park was a great camping spot, with exceptional views from the Pine trees. In the morning we headed on the road and drove thru an extensive mountain cloud forest. We were in or above the clouds many times and the views were spectacular.

Later in the day we crossed the Border to Nicaragua. Stacey made friends with a little boy that she wanted to take home. He was very cute. But our truck is overloaded already and besides he won’t be a little boy for long..!

Our first stop in Nicaragua was a night in Esteli. This is a very busy small city in the northern mountains of coffee and tobacco country. We met a Local government official at our campsite by happenstance. He is the National Minister of Biodiversity. Basically he’s in charge of all the parks. After exchanging some autographed copies of the Overland Journal he wrote us a letter of passage to guarantee no problems with police or officials at tourist cities like parks etc.. This may come very in handy. It even included his cell phone number. We may need to use it tomorrow as we are going to attempt to camp at the mouth of an active Volcano.

For now though we are in Leon. This is a colonial city from the 1500’s. We visited 3 museums today, one of which was all insects. Did you know that ticks are not insects?? I learned that piece of useless information at the insect museum. However it was very interesting.

Tomorrow we head to Volcan Masaya. I expect not to have internet again for about 5 days.

You may notice the images load up a bit faster now, I’m reducing their resolution to aid in the upload process. Also keep in mind this trip is very much about the Overland Journal, so we can’t share every great photo, if it has a chance of being published we have reserved it for review first. Photos and Video that have been on the internet first will not be used in the magazine or HD movie production.

Miss you all, looking forward to our return but having a great time..

James Y Stacey..

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