OverlandSphere
Overland Travel, Expedition & Adventure Information for 4x4, motorcycle and truck overlanders
We left Guatemala with little fanfare, having passed through the country in four weeks. Our last couple of nights we spent with Juan’s friend Rodolfo in Guatemala City. We got to tour his animation studio, and to see some parts of the city that we would not have seen otherwise, including his family’s lovely ranch. Our last morning in Guatemala…
We’ve read that Honduras has the highest recorded murder rate in the world and some of the most corrupt police in Central America. Many overlanders who find themselves near the Pacific coast of El Salvador (and also Honduras) cross through Honduras in ONE DAY. This means two border crossings in a day. Hey, why not, let’s give it a try.…
We are currently in Nicaragua and recently met a couple of young, French surfer dudes who couldn’t believe we had traveled to El Salvador. They asked if it was safe. They had heard that it was too dangerous in El Salvador, so instead, they spent their travel holiday in Nicaragua. Similarly, we met a German/Romanian couple traveling with their 2-year…
by Scott Other surfing overlanders rave about El Tunco, El Salvador so we were looking forward to staying there and surfing the famous point at Sunzal. Things didn’t work out so well. I spent an hour walking around in the oppressive heat, trying to find a decent place to park for the night. Then, I spent another hour walking around…
As you can see from the title we have been busy suffering Central America’s notorious border crossings, first let me say that technically they aren’t difficult but the standing around in full bike gear sweating more than in a sauna in 40 Degree heat and high humidity makes it all a little more trying, however no point in moaning because…
Why is that I never have any pictures of us in the heat of the moment, when my moto is laying on its side, mirror spun around, GPS kitty wompass and my pannier dented to hell? It’s because when you have a knarly wipe out, the immediate reaction is to get busy picking it up and assess the damage. I’m…
We hit the road early and make it to the honduran border crossing. There’s a chance we’ve read too much about the trip through honduras, because even though its only about 80km until nicaragua we’re a bit worried about it. We’ve read countless accounts of how corrupt the country is and the last post we read described 14 checkpoints within…
We pull into tunco knowing that it’s a bit too busy for us, but needing to get online again and knowing we can meet up with Tad and Gaila of Overland Now for dinner. We return to the discoteca parking lot and make camp; then head out for some food, some internet and another smoothie. If theres anything that would…
Our time in el zonte is a paradox between the tranquillo serenity onshore and the power constantly crashing just meters away offshore. We spend our time endlessly watching the waves, our days bookended by glorious sunrises and sunsets at opposite ends of the beach. We talk with Raul, our host, and enjoy the smile that takes up his whole face…
We have been taught many lessons thus far on the trip but the most important one is to simply slow down and enjoy life. It is far too easy to fall into the mundane everyday tasks and not take the time to truly appreciate what is around you. Living the simple life is really working well for us. We are…
We eventually learn that in this small bay there are many things that can be difficult to find. Internet it seems is one of them. There is a guy with a usb modem, but on days like this with a lot of wind it doesn’t work. There is also very little to offer at the tiny tienda behind Raul’s place…
Nothing but wind and waves in El Salvador. All night the wind gusts through the shade structure that is our sleeping quarters and while we see nothing but darkness you can make out the white mass that is a wave trailing from right to left on the horizon. Other than the crashing waves and the occasional howling of the wind…
Yikes, way too much effort to get this post up. Sketchy net connection means no supporting video just yet… So these last few days have been interesting. Sometimes quite eventful and sometimes just dull & boring. It is 8am on the El Salvadoran pacific coast and we are prepping for a simple breakfast listening to the endless waves breaking onto…
its a bit slower than planes, trains and automobiles, but we make it work… In the morning we decide to use the shade of the parking space to swap out the wrench come washer for some real washers we picked up during our drive yesterday. We get the bus jacked and are propping up the transmission when POP – our…
Now finally a trip to the beach. We spent an amazing day north of El Zonte. We had a cabana for shade. The sea here is like bath water. We enjoyed ceviche and sopa de mariscos. We also tried an El Salvador treat cheese puffs and salsa. There were all kinds of shenanigans including mud fights and interpretive dance. There…
After Mexico and Guatemala, arguably the most daunting of countries, were under our belts the way ahead felt like a breeze. We rolled out of Guatemala City and straight away took a wrong out of the gate, after 20 odd kilometres the superhighway became a small spaghetti junction at which point I re-interrogated the GPS… after a very quick look…
We visited the Joya de Cera archeological site. It is known as the Pompeii of Central America. The site was covered in volcanic mud and ash at least 14 times, beginning around 260 A.D, with the last recorded around 600 A.D. It was discovered by accident in 1976. There is also a small museum here housing displays explaining the discovery,…
Hearing that there were some German riders in El Tunco we all went out to meet Katja and Jens. It was great to hear some of their stories from the last 2 years. We enjoyed a few beers and some oysters at sunset. When we got “home” Fernanda had made us New York Cheesecake. We had a nightcap too of…
Kurven satt in den Bergen beider Länder Kati: Etwas wehmütig haben wir dem schönen und abwechslungsreichen Guatemala Lebewohl gesagt. Doch auch El Salvador lockt mit toller Landschaft und Vulkanen und soll laut anderen Reisenden die nettesten Menschen Mittelamerikas beheimaten. Dass es gemeinsam mit Honduras zu den Ländern mit den weltweit höchsten Kriminalitätsraten gehört und fest in der Hand der…
We had a great experience at Motorider in San Salvador. Mario Lecha has an amazing shop and team of mechanics. They fit us in at very short notice even though the shop was very busy. He also had the synthetic oil Daniel wanted and that we had been looking all over for in the last 2 months. They are also…
We were down and out for a few days with 1 sick team member, but now we are back to full force. We spent 2 days at a nice hotel in Santa Ana while Daniel was ill. We planned to meet up with Mario and the other riders from the Touratech rally at Apsunga. This is a riverside day resort…
Setting out from Antigua at 11 am Daniel, Orvar, and I rode thru the capital towards Cuilapa and south to the border town of Pedro de Alvarado. On the way we were stopped waiting almost an hour at a construction zone. We met a nice couple Shimon and Veronica from San Salvador there and we stopped down the road with…
We left the the war torn hills of south eastern El Salvador to meet up with family of friends in a small town just outside of San Salvador, the capital city. Mayte and Luis are the aunt and uncle of a former co-worker of mine back in my Henkel days. Mayte is a professor of English at the University in…
After our hike in El Imposible, we decided to stick together as a group a bit longer and visit the renowned feria gastronomica, or food festival, in the small mountain town of Juayua. I mean, who doesn’t crave some freshly grilled iguana after a long hike in the sweltering heat? We arrived in town just in time to watch the…
I left Guatemala City and headed towards the El Salvador border. I decided to make towards the Pacific Coast border crossing down south. I rode into the border town of Ciudad Pedro de Alvarado. Immediately on my arrival I am greeted by a guy asked to see my papers. This is the start of a common border scam. Scam is…
Our current view in Antigua First of all I’d like to formally apologize to our readers, all five of you, for the serious lack of updates we’ve had over the past few months. I hadn’t realized how far behind we were until we won the award for “Most Slackerest-Ass Blog” (new word courtesy of James at Home On The Highway). …
Couldn’t of said it better myself! Leaving El Salvador we were up for our biggest day of border crossings to date. We had decided to just drive straight through Honduras in a day as we were on the Pacific coast and all things interesting in Honduras were on the Caribbean coast. Word had it that the Honduras borders are the…
After mastering the Spanish language in just two weeks, Jed and I were off to conquer the rest of Guatemala. First stop was to be the beautiful Chemuc Champay. We took back roads north from Lago Atitlan and were surprised to find that they were mostly all paved. Nevertheless, the ride still felt remote, and the views were gorgeous as…
Entrer au Salvador, ce n’était pas gagné avec Bip Bip et son volant à droite… Mais on n’a pas baissé les bras! Chris a passé pas mal de temps à chercher une solution sur internet et finalement a contacté un club de land rover du Salvador. José Mario, responsable du club et très impliqué dans le développement du tourisme dans…
Made it. Touch and go for a bit since Bippers has a steering wheel on the wrong side. Our new frends – Jose Mario – with the ES Landrover Club came to our rescue with a well timed string pulled. Vid and explanation to follow. In the mean time for your viewing pleasure..( you can whistle to yourself the ‘I’m…