Oregon to Ushuaia on an XR650L

Hello,

I'm all in.
Thanks much, enjoy!!

Heirhead

So if you die I get your Harley for good right?

No, I want to be buried on it. Just make sure that when you put me on it in the grave it has a full tank of gas so I can reach Vallhalla. You can keep the XRL, if you can find it!

I'm staying at San Pedro de la Laguna in Guatemala on Lake Atitlan. This is an incredible place; amazing climate, amazing people, and amazing scenery. I'll try and post some pictures tomorrow. It's also dirt cheap. All told, you can live pretty comfortably on less than $40 a day if you aren't buying gas. If you want to cook for yourself, you can really live cheap.


The only thing wrong with San Pedro is the number of Expats and tourists. Some of them are cool, but the vast majority are a little weird or a little too interested in getting high and making a nuisance of themselves. There are some cool ones though, you just have to look around.


My Hotel is called "Hotel Peneleu". It's a crazy, ramshackle affair, over four stories high with several seperate buildings, several of which are still under construction. It has several nice balconies overlooking the lake and the view is incredible. The hotel is very clean and the family that owns/operates are extremly nice. There are a lot of Euros here as well, but most of the time they are fairly quite and polite. My hotel room costs about 30 Quetzals or about $3.80 a night.

Finally, I was riding around yesterday, and I saw this licence plate holder from Tri-Cities, WA, which is really close to my hometown in Hermiston, OR.



It's kind of odd running into something like this over 3,000 miles from where it's supposed to be. This licence plate holder is on the garbage truck that comes by every morning to collect our dirty toilet paper.

Haha tri cities plate cover.... Who would of thought.


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Global Economy these days

Bike is just fixed now and leaving Guatemala city tomorrow am. Off to El Salvador. Catching Stahlratte on 7/8th Dec.

Finally, I was riding around yesterday, and I saw this licence plate holder from Tri-Cities, WA, which is really close to my hometown in Hermiston, OR.


Hey, Ulyses

What terrible luck you had in the kayak in the lake; with all of that water out there, what were the odds that the captain would pilot right over the top of you. It is a good thing that the Jefe told the responsible captain to stay on the other side of the lake; otherwise, your brother would have had use of your toys for several years, while you toiled away in a prison--nobody wants that to happen.

Funny thing about the garbage truck with the Pasco placeholder. Hermiston hometown? Tri-Cities for me.

Keep your cool, everybody here is rooting for you to finish this adventure in one piece.

PD

Dang man, I'm glad you are alright. I've been on one of those boats, they just haul ass across that lake. But I'm amazed the idiot did not see you, specially in a bright colored kayak. That is a beautiful area, try to enjoy it then move on. You don't won't to end up in a Guatemalan jail. It's funny my only complaint while I was there was the same, the few rude people I ran into were fellow Americans. I guess they want to have an "authentic" experience so don't want to talk with other Americans.

oh ya and subscribed...

Awesome! Where are you from? Richland, Pasco, or Kennewick?

Haha! Thanks! Yeah, there are some really funny expats and vacationers around here. Oh well, in a few days I won't be around them anymore. When were you here?

I don't have time to do proper justice to this story right now, but I'll come back to it later. Until then here is a little teaser: yesterday, I realized that Osama was still trying to kill me from the grave when I found a stack of his IED's at a tienda in San Pedro:



Apparently the Seals didn't really kill him and he escaped to Guatemala where he's now making fireworks........

In other news, while searching for an appropriate location to detonate my bombas, I finally realized my dream of driving a tuk-tuk through the mean streets of San Pedro:



I've got to run to Spanish class now, but I'll post some more about all of this later.....hasta luego!

I was there 5 years ago. We are going down again next Christmas, 2013. When at Lake Atitlan we stayed in Panajachel at a great little hotel. My wife is from Guatemala so have been to many parts of the country. Haven't ridden a motorcycle around it yet but will do at some point. If you get in a pinch in Guatemala City let me know. We own a house there, my wifes family lives in it. They speak very little english but really good people. My brother in law rides as it is his daily transportation. Ride safe.

Awesome! Thanks! If I get in a bind, I'll give you a ring!

I went to Spanish School this morning and managed to drop my computer on the ground, resulting in a broken screen! Luckily, my spanish teacher agreed to walk around town with me and haggle for a new computer. Unfortunately, laptops are a little more expensive in Guatemala than they are back in the states. However, credit is a relatively new concept in this country, so people tend to buy things on credit, fail to make the payments, then have them repossessed by the credit company. Which mean that a lot of poor kids buy laptops and have them repossessed......

So, for 1,600 Quetzals (about $240) I managed to find a used Acer netbook. It has no battery life, only has a 150GB hardrive, and Windows is in Spanish! Oh crap.......



So here are my two computers: the old broken HP netbook on the right, and the new/used Acer netbook on the left. I've been trying unsuccesfully for the last four hours to find the English Language Pack for Windows.....

PM sent with a few MS links. Those tuk-tuks are fun. Gutless, but fun. I remember driving them around Papua New Guinea when the XR250 couldn't carry what I needed it to. Even better when you load them up with 5 guys and try to drive up a steep hill. Then again, that was before I discovered either beer or scotch...

Haha! Awesome! Thanks for the PM man, you're a life saver!

Hey, Ulyses,

Liking the beard. Don't shave November, or something like that?

You know, it's funny. There is somebody on the XRL thread with the moniker "Bomber." He has no idea.

Col-Hi.

PD