Two Moto Kiwis Arctic To Antarctic May 2012...

Mahahahaha Or should that be "Bahahahahaha....

Hey Kiwis.

I'm just checking in to see how the adventure is going...
- Congratulations on one year on the road.
- Sorry to hear about Maya and yourselves.
- I don't have a drinking problem... in fact I'm really good at it.

I'm looking forward to getting caught up on your trip when you get around to posting it up.

Q~

Eh....followed your other thread, time for an update on this one. Glad you are staying with the KISS principle or.....Use what you got!Darn Made at Xmas babies.....are we all like that????I know a few!We all seem to learn that lesson at about your age, applying it can be difficult depending on the circumstances.:eek1

Had to ride to Kaslo yesterday for coffee,, was getting really frustrated about a GS and some dealer's F-ups.A BIG one that, read $$$$$ and could have been a serious safety issue had someone missed them cracks like they did. Got to call the owner now and listen to some(lots of) cussing in French.:huh And then try to find a solution....

Then maybe I can GTF out of here....up to N and pick up a parts bike I bought from Ken for my XR.....back here and check on a possible guest I may have to dry/warm out.....Yada yada yada.

I finally got to see the "rib" pic.I think you'll get lots of them down in Chile, that's where all our ribs at work come from.

.... memories of old emails come haunting me

Heya Edward .. .great to hear from you mate

Adventure has a capital A on it at the mo ... more on that later.

Maya is fine .... other than a few love scratches and the world map took a beating :eek1 ... South America had a rough time so we will have to go down and apologize

Ellen all good, just me damaged.

Drinking not a problem, verified

New reports next day or so, relocated to Antigua now so recovering here, Maya coming in the next few days as I can't ride her ... nutha 4 weeks

Heya Pierre .. promise more updates as above.

Still undecided if we are gonna ditch the camping gear or not, the pendulum still swings on that one.

Sorry to hear about the GS fups, say gidday to Ken too next time ya see him

Yeah ribs ... those things... are we sure we need em, they call them spare ribs so WTF

Back in Antigua now starting the recovery process and to formulate a sensible game plan....well semi sensible

Xela to Antigua, The Weekend No Four

Sabado (Saturday)....a cruzy start and pack up Maya for a trip to Antigua.

Juan took us out of town to make sure we didn’t nic anything on the way out, we rode together until his turning point that waved goodbyes from there.





Stopping along the way we took in the sights, this was one stop on a tall bridge, looking straight down at the river.





We continued on our merry way and turned off to the road that Julio (Guaterider) had recommended, it started off loaded with potholes and washouts, the road then improved very quickly into world class motogp circuit roading then just as quick dropped off onto shingle with rolly rocks.





Road race quality road



Then straight onto rocky stuff



We continued along the road through a few villages getting up to great heights within fog, it was a beautiful road and so much better than the main road fitting chicken buses and trucks for space.

A few wee interesting features carved into the lime walls



Banos (toilet) stop and drink of water at the top



We eventually made our way down a small rutted shingle road/track toward Antigua making good time, so good we arrived nearly two hours earlier in fact.



We waited for Julio and Luisa to arrive back from Guatemala City and we had made plans to meet outside the cathedral ..... well with celebrations on we could not get near it so plan B was hatched.

Maya was creating a bit of interest with some locals



After some toing and froing (and Julio having a comfort stop) we all met up and followed Julio and Luisa back to Guatecasa where Maya was allowed to sleep under cover with a BMW R1200GSA.

Julio is a cook and a half so treated us to some home cooking, this was very very nice indeed.

The is Julios "I hate frijoles" (black beans) look



The following morning Julio and I went for a local hoon taking in views around Antigua before meeting the girls for breakfast. (no frijoles )

The two other girls playing well together.





On returning from breakfast we stripped down Maya and started replacing all the bits and pieces that had failed, Julio had kindly taken delivery of a large box of stuff for us which was simply outstanding and a huge help.



On completion of the repairs we had another Julio home-cooked tea, this time we were armed with two bottles of Chilean red wine we bought earlier in the day to complement the chefs cooking.



Larfs and chats were had .... good times.

Next morning Julio took us to the Macadamia farm for breakfast for panqueque (pancakes), this was also outstanding and extremely nice.

The macadamia desheller



Macadamias in shell



The result



Ellen and I then spent the afternoon in town getting stuff sorted and enjoyed a superb Antiguan sunny day with the Volcano not only peeking from behind the cloud but preforming a full frontal !!!!



Next day was organised with Richard Chang picking us up from Julios and leading us astray to Guatemala City, I really wanted to see the Guatemalan sinkhole but they had filled it in.:huh

With our final night we yet again had red wine, chats and Julios famous home cooking, A very nice way to finish.

Happy to see that you are back on the road again. Julio and Luisa have become true ADV ambassadors and treat all the riders like family. Enjoy your stay in Guatemala, and keep up the RR.

Hmmm not quite back on the road ... more like the road to recovery, sorry for the confusion.

Just catching up on ride reports, only one more before nothing left to say break ribs day.

We are back in Antigua now recovering, making the most of the place doing some more Spanish lessons and tormenting Julio.

Maybe not too many fun pics in the next few weeks then hopefully all go again

It is expensive to crash and get better but the bonus is we are not is the USA or I would had to have sold Ellen to a sushi making factory by now

Hahaha! I thought you were back on the road also.. I was thinking "that was quick" :huh

Good luck man!

NO! Don't let them make her into sushi!

Ya have to admit she does look pretty 'tasty' though .

Ye haaaa! You're on the map again

Mate I wish that was the case, Maya is still in Guate City and won't be back here until it is sunny.

Getting there bit by bit tho .. doing a heap of walking t keep a level of sanity

Hmmm ....didn't look at it like that .... still taste like chicken??

Can't argue that .. well I could ....spose a few more broken ribs wouldn't matter :eek1

Heya Pete

We have a part time SPOT that only feels like talking when IT wants too, rest of the time it sit there in silence :huh

They are replacing it with another talkative one.

Hey Kiwi - just because you have broken ribs doesn't mean no updates - get on with it.

Patiencia bro... new report out tomorrow ... promise....I think

Doc told me to take it easy .....so I am

It's not like you've got broken fingers...