South America and back on a 250 Super Sherpa Minimalist Adventure

I'll be waiting, RR make the day at work bearable! I have to confess, I'm terribly jealous! I am headed to DF for work next month. I'm really looking forward to that.

I wish I known more Spanish back then. All we knew was "Dos Mas Cerveza" and "Donde es el Bano" but somehow we manged to survive for 3 weeks


Not to hijack your thread, but I thought of this pic when you were describing riding in Mexico. I took this pic back in 85 driving down some road, not sure how but we all made it through ok...

I see that on a regular basis. Plenty of room on the right for the Sherpa. No problema. They
usually give the courtesy of flashing their headlights twice to let you know they're coming
as a warning to move over. Plus the dirt shoulder is an option if the guy's been drinking
or the front end is loose and he's swerving a tad. Bigger always has the right of way in Latin
America.

Highjack away. Keeps things interesting.

Saludos,
Juan

Excellent report. All caught up. Safe travels and thanks for all the hard work keeping us up on your adventure.

Welcome Daniel,

Glad you are enjoying armchair traveling. It is the best traveling out there when you are in between rides.

Kindest regards,
John Downs

As promised here is dawn in Puerto Angel off the balcony looking across the bay:



Its my job to inspire you to get on your bike and hit the road sooner rather than later. I take my job seriously. I remember back at home reading these ride reports through last winter. It makes life better to have good reading material in between rides. And I will provide it for you on a regular basis this winter to keep you entertained.

Looking back at the room I am staying in at first light from the beach. The upper corner room on the right in the white building with the round portal and the light on:



A fisherman coming in with his catch getting ready to gun his boat and lift the motor as he parks up on the beach:



The action shot of him hitting the beach was too blurry. Sorry. Here is a shot from the end of the pier looking back at town:




And a lone fisherman heading out around the point as the only cloud in the sky turns pink with the sunrise:



Looking back the other way from the pier is a shot of fisherman's market on the beach as people are looking for fresh ingredients for their daily fish tacos:



Here is a closer shot over on the beach of today's sushi offerings:



Pretty kicked back place at this hour. Should probably stay here for the rest of my life, but I owe it to you, dear readers, to saddle up and hit the road so I can report back more tales from the roads less traveled.

Adios amigos,
Juanito

Hola Roberto,

Good idea! As Chief Executive in charge of flight ops I defer to your infinite wisdom. The coast is going East/West once you get down this far in Mexico and I hate riding East at sunrise.

Heading west for Mazunte beauty shots . Palenque beauty shots coming later.

Saludos,
Juanboy

As of yesterday I have been on the road for a month.

Since I am at the beach it seemed like a good time to add up what I have spent so far and report back how this paypal donation thing has been going so maybe you will have a better idea of what it takes to travel down here.

I charged all my gas and food coming through the U.S. for the first two weeks and that came to just under 300.00. Mind you, this is skewed low because I stayed with very generous ADVriders like Throttlemeister, Schizzman and Tricepilot who provided me with food and shelter. And the ranchers in Bassett gave me a place to stay and meals in southern Texas.

But I also spent 202 bucks on a spare clutch cable, new brake pads, spare oil filters and a new killer RK X-ring chain that is holding up really well. Thanks to Throttlemeister for that idea.

So around 500.00 including bike parts, new gloves, pawnshop camera and all the other odd bits for the first two weeks.

I don't know about the Mexico charges for the bike entry. They charged my credit card 356 bucks plus a ten dollar credit card handling fee. But I think I get back 300.00 when I leave the country. So figure 66.00.

And I have about 100.00 left from the 500.00 I changed at the border and that is the only thing I've been spending in Mexico. Yesterday I spent 484 pesos on food gas and this expensive place I'm staying in Puerto Angel. So around 400.00 for the two weeks I've been in Mexico. But once again this is skewed low due to the generosity of people like Arte in Reynosa, MikeMike in Veracruz and even Tony Diaz from Oaxaca. These folks have given me food, shelter and even gas.


So it looks like just under 1000.00 for the first month of travel. Mexico and Costa Rica were the expensive countries when I went to Panama last time, so it should get cheaper next month.

People have been donating money from around the world on this paypal thing. Who knew? There are a lot of people out in the world. It is currently at 1433.06 after paypal deducted their handling fees. Plus the 100.00 the nice lady gave me in Bassett as a going away present and the 40.00 a guy handed me at the Roll the Bones rally in Texas. That adds up to 1573.06.

So that means another month or so of travel than what I would have otherwise.

Now this donation figure is skewed high because of some generous large donations for over half of this amount. And by reporting this figure I imagine people at home will go WTF? and the donations may be 20 bucks next month. I don't really care. I will ride this pony as long as the money lasts and then head home and work for a living like a normal person and save for my next trip.

At least now I know how some of these people are out there for years at a time. I just assumed they were rich trust fund babies. Haven't you wondered how they do it? I know I have. Nobody ever reports this financial stuff back so I am making it my duty to do so. Along with GPS waypoints for good camping spots and how much stuff costs. I know that is some of the most useful info I pick up from other people's ride reports.

And I will donate to future riders who follow this idea. More money for the kickass ride reporters out there with the killer pics that keep me entertained in between rides. I'd rather read good ride reports and donate money than pay for cable TV. So I hope to encourage others to try the paypal route if you're poor and desperate like me. I'm no genius. If I can do it surely you can too. Mind you, if I were well off I would just write ride reports and be like a normal person. This isn't a get rich quick scheme.

I am just reporting the facts. And hope to encourage others that maybe they can follow in my tire tracks. I am also going to donate ten percent of everything ADVriders donate to this site since it seems like the right thing to do to help support the people who so selflessly keep ADVrider going. If it wasn't for ADVrider none of this paypal stuff would work. So I'm sending them $143.31 this month.

I will continue to report back money that comes in and goes out as this ride continues. I'm just as curious as you are to see what the future holds.

But for now I think Throttlemeister is right. About 1500/month all in for travel if you add in border crossing, bike repair and the whole enchilada is a comfortable amount of money to budget for third world travel. 1000/month and you will be camping half the time, eating frugally and living like a monk. Of course, if you have 2 or 3 grand a month you can travel in style and eat like a king. Nothing wrong with that.

Kindest regards,
John Downs

Good on ya Juanito!

When you posted dawn pics it was still dark PST, looking up you were CST.
I'm in the middle of re-reading your other long RR. It's all good.
The student is ready teacher.

"Such is the nature of love, those with the least give the most."

Best Regards,
OldPete

JD, thanks for the awesome reports. It's been inspiring!

Quick question though, not sure I saw where this was answered before, but where did you learn Spanish?

Thanks

Hola QforA,

I am self taught on the road. I find translate.google.com more useful than Spanish primers for the phrases I need like ¿Puedo acampar en su terreno? (can I camp on your land?)

And fellow ADVriders will help fill in the slang in their ride reports if you read enough of them. You won't find chinga, puta and mierda and all the other useful slang on Rosetta learning tapes.

Best,
John Downs

So I ate a big breakfast in Puerto Angel and laid in the hammock that comes in the room next to the bed and woke up at 1 in the afternoon:



I'm on Mexican time. Thought about staying another day in Puerto Angel. Pretty nice place. But I followed Tricepilots advice of heading up the coast to look at some of the other beaches. You need to see the options in southern Oaxaca for when you get down here.

Because wood rots in the tropics, everything is made of cement. Even the power poles. Here is an electrician using rope sling stirrups to climb the pole across the street:



Heading back up the coast first stop was San Augustillo I think the name was. Only a few kilometers up the coast. Nice beach with cantinas serving food and beverages. No gringo tourists here just ilke at Puerto Angel not sure why:



this is looking down the beach one way:



and up the coast the other way. Pretty kicked back place. Mostly Mexican tourists:



Just over the far peninsula was Zipolite beach:



Lots of gringo tourists over here. Mostly European backpacker crowd type. Nice place. Very kicked back.

A few kilometers further was Mazunte beach. This place had more Mexican tourists and nice cantinas on the beach. This is looking down the coast:



And looking up the other way:



I liked the way they were power washing the parking area with a tank truck. Here he is just firing it up. When he let it rip it did the job:



Stopped and talked to these guys who were cementing in a new wider river rock apron for the entrance of a new hotel they were building:



They were living in the unfinished hotel. I asked about pitching my tent but the head mason didn't want to make waves with the owner. No problema. I continued back down the coast to Huatulco. Really has grown down here. This is more of an upscale tourist destination. Wide avenues and nice landscaping:



Plenty of rich Mexicans, shopping plazas, and upscale hotels:



Probably a good place to meet your wife for a break on your trip. Pretty nice upscale place.

There were dark clouds coming down from the Oaxacan mountains so I jetted south. :



The road south of Puerto Angel for a 100 miles is nothing but curves. Really fun riding. There was some road construction through Huatulco where they were widening the road. But other than that it was cranking and banking all afternoon on decent pavent with no potholes to speak of. Stopped at this little palapa on the side of the road for a break as the wind picked up. The Sherpa bodega:



My man Javier rode up in his mototaxi and stopped to chat:



Javier said his mototaxi cost 50,000 pesos or about 4,000 bucks. He had worked up in L.A. to save up for it. I asked about camping on the beach in Rio Seco where I was at, and he thought it would be fine. But there was still daylight so I headed on until dark. Stopped in Salina Cruz. The wind was picking up and I remember how it was riding through the night in epic winds down here last time through the isthmus of Tehuantepec so decided to call it a day.

That's it for today.
I spent 423 pesos on food gas and hotel today plus internet is probably 25 more pesos. So call it 450 which is around $36.00 U.S.

Hasta Luego muchachos,
Juanito

Hi John,
Great RR as always. Your photos of Puerto Angel and Monte Alban brought back a lot of fun memories. What I wanted to expand on, though, was your ease and use of languages. For instance,the time we walked into a motel on Vancouver Island and the owner/clerk was talking on the phone to his son in his own language, trying to ignore two dusty, bug spattered motorcycle bums. You immediately started talking to him in Korean. He did a double-take like he couldn't believe what he'd just heard. Where did that come from? Self taught. Have fun, keeping on riding, J&A

I have found that when you travel it is good to learn some basic phrases of the countries you travel in and the alphabet so you can read the signs. When you get home you can fake like you know the language if you can say hello to a Hindu gas station attendant in Calgary Alberta or a French tourist in Baja along with a few basic phrases.

You don't need to know that many words to carry on a polite conversation. For instance before this trip I memorized 2500 Spanish flashcards. My grammar sucks but they get the idea if you know the basic words. I haven't been around anyone other than two ADVriders that spoke any English for the last two weeks so my conversations are getting longer. I pick it up through osmosis I think.

Look forward to seeing you folks whenever I get back.

Best,
Airheadjohn

Another armchair traveler checking in on this great report on a great adventure.
Im paying it forward and donated a day of PayPal travel funds for your trip.

Keep safe and please keep it coming!

Hey John,

Good to see that all is well with you and that your mode of travel is working out. It's very instructive for many of us to follow your RR. Sounds like it actually PAYS to ride your way. And that's a good thing.

When I close out my TVIPs the credit card company always reverses the foreign transaction charge so I end up paying just the permit fee to Banjercito. Your card should do the same.

Buena suerte,

JD

Thanks for the breakdown on costs, and I agree with your approach. We can all help each other travel and experience in this manner.

Keep on truckin! This RR is invaluable. I'm proud to support it.

Another good post, thanks Juanito.

AirheadJohn? Well only one on the Super Sherpa. I had a R100RT at one time.

To others. Trice offered this teacher in one of his RRs... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLTlcz19T6M&feature=relmfu


Best to ya,
OldPete