Hi Honey, I'm home....and how was your day?

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Well, today I decided to take the secret, back way into Honduras from El Salvador...thats nice dear....
What an epic!...got out of San Miguel, yes, one of many San Miguels, there like the Smith name is to telephone books, San Miguels are to maps of central and south america....found the supposed border town just at the end of the road where they said it would be...but where's the road out?..some sort of mystery...the ongoing aversion to signage!...evryone pointing in different directions but the most credible says ´turn off at the casa de mouse´..so we go to a corner, no casa de mouse, and only a dirt track heading off into the sticks!...ask a few more punters, same story, so its off into the wild dirt track yonder...unbelievably bad road, washouts, rocks, everything a good dirt biker loves...eventually come round the corner, high in the mountains, like after 30 kms or so, theres a little woodsman's hut, three old witches hats across the track and 2 cops/militia whatever. We park off to the side, stroll over with the passaportes, dodgey bike papers, smiles all round, couple of notes in the book and its farewell El Salvador..too easy...another km down the track an impressive concrete driveway into the Honduran border buildings...hopefully this is the start of what appears on the map, as a major highway!...cruise thru the formalities, this is the easiest border ever, but then realise its at a price, like another long stretch of the roughest excuse for a road you could imagine...and there are some cars and busses also going thru but it must take them hours and hours as its soo fcuking rough.
So we get to the next town and head out, at last, on this fabulous smooth, new, thick, wide, bitumen freeway...blissed out I'm just fanging it over a crest and just pull up in time to avoid the crossed planks and signs...roado closedo...and the detour off onto an upmarket fire track...is this a bandito ruse I wonder, I've heard all the horror stories, seen the movies, passed on the rumours....but, no choice so we're off again, hoping against hope that this will just detour around the hill and we'll be right, you know how it is, slight diversion hehehe...couple of hours and 50 odd kms later we limp in La Esperanza....ordinary little town, Sunday arvo, some sort of festivities seem to be winding down, ride around a bit, see a fantastico road so head off alongit, abso maddest run for about 30 kms, one of the finest roads you could imagine...sweeping down from the mountains, just caning it after all the hours on the rough....finally we admit to ourselves...this is not the right road, we're definitely heading south, not north...have the usual fruitless conversations with locals...we might as well be asking for directions to New York!...they just operate, or think we do, in a totally different zone...anyway, back to La Esperanza, does that mean something to do with hope?...like in ¨I hope I can get out of here¨..I mean, we took so many turns, tried every way out of this town, and it was getting later, and the locals getting curiouser...most people, seemed to be saying roughly the same directions but every time we went out that way there was just another fire track...oh no...what about the fabbo road...on the map its supposed to continue...please, tell us where you've hidden the autopista...eventually...yes, its the flipping fire track...80 kms thru to Gracias...ha, what a name, gracias for letting me get there!...at least we're getting more used to it and start pushing harder along these mountain trails, occasionally getting stuck in the washout lines, littlle ravines across the road, not so bad when you're going straight down hill, but inevitably they spear off over the edge...thats the time when you have to work out how to bail!!
Then, at the 40km mark..whoo hoo...we're back on the bitch..far out, get to Gracias in no time, Gracias for this ..fang on...but, you know how it is, just another local election promise part fullfilled, only 10 kms and back to dirt...altho' from here on in a lot of it was shaped and graded.
So, into Gracias...and a pretty sweet town at that, big history, ok hotel with the bikes locked up in the chookyard at the back..guarded by chooks, a dog and 2 rabbits...not surprisingly safe in the morning.

There´s still something about firewood, did I mention it before, still people strung out along the road, (I mean physically I've got no idea about their mental state) with bundles of cut wood, really its ´hacked´wood , all the men carry great machetes, some in rather nice leather holders with tassles and all, sorta like a Harley riders handlebars bizzos, altho' most just have them dangling, I'm sure quite unitentionally, but menacingly all the same...and as they walk right on the edge of the bitumen, I'm always inclined to veer out and give them space...so theres the little kids with a bunch of kindling stix, Mum with the biggest load, I mean, after all, she uses most of it in the kitchen, and Dad with a biggish load...but they also have it stacked on bikes, carts, horses..this place is going to be de-forested unless someone hurries up and invents gas or briquettes or something...

And up in the mountains we're once again with the eagles, why do they fly soo high? I know they can see a mouse from 20,000 feet, but by the time they get down the mouse has bred 50 times and is probably glad to be done with it all...the crow on the other hand just sits on the fence, sees a mouse and jumps on it...where's the evolutionary thing there?.....and the vultures, they just hang out on the road with a side order of dog...
Anyway, now where at the famous Copan Ruinas..more old Mayan ruins being dug out, restored, maintained, all very fantastic I´m sure. Altho' gotta cut thru the cynicism, it is a v mellow plkace, it woiuld be good to have a couple of days to just hang out there and soak it up, and I notice that feeling much more here than at other ruinas. so there!

Crikey, I forgot a few pages of notes on ElSal...maybe tomorrow...and I'll try and get some photos happening again...cya...
Welcome to some new bloggees and keep the feedback coming...thanks to all who have....

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