PeurtoDisconcerto

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Soewhere deep in north Honduras....one minute in Guate ..next in Honduras..and you´ll have to excuse the typing cos this is one sicko keyboard..u can see already that the space bar don´t always work..

So, down from the hills and the rareified atmosphere of Antigua..still a quandry as to whether its enjoyable being somewhere just like home or not..certainly a surreal bit of Guate..so, down, down to the coast, hotter and sweatier..then the rain..pissing down, then off to the left, lightning, great bolt hits the ground in the next field, blast of thunder, flashes of light...hole up in a servo until it passes..then down again, out of the coffee and avocado lands, down into sugar cane, bananas..and this where so much fantastic coffee comes from but can anyone make a decent cup of coffee?...like trying to get a decent pineapple in Queensland!...its nearly always instant crap...altho´there were several good coffee shops in Antigua..Huh...

now we´re at Sipocate or Sicopate, can´t remember, beach place, sounds of clapping like the market but this time its the locals slapping the wall-to-wall mozzies..lucky I have the spray can of DEET I picked up somewhere...find another dodgey hotel but with a lockup yard, eat at the Grand Ranchero..back to the lands of fish...followed a dirt road down to some mystical wave and surf camp...on the way back theres a guy on a little 150cc bike and he´s pulling his old grandmother in her wheelchair by just leaning down and towing her by the arm of the chair!.not too fast, but on a dirt road, and us screaming past, and all the trucks and busses, and she didn´t seem to care..god knows howfar they were going!...she must hav had her edication already I´m thinkin...just couldn´t stop for a photo!

Back on the road and off to cross the border..heading out from the beach place, telegraph poles follow the road, off to the side theres a car, or whats left of it, lying in the ditch, the old pole lying beside it, every window and panel busted, a pole shaped indent from the front bumper back to the windscreen...the new pole is up and this probably happened a year or so ago, but its a salutory warning for all who pass by! and its left there for that very purpose.
Lots of yellow school busses, just like the US school busses, hang on, they even have the US school names on them, and districts..someone has a good little business with used school busses going here!

All along the way, wall to wall corn and sugar, and all along the way kids and adults suddenly appear, just pop up onto the road from out of the crops, no sign of any houses or anything...so one has to be careful as they can bounce out at any time.
Someties I make direct eye contact with people, in the towns or out in the sticks, I wonder just what they are thinking, in some of the way outback places we must look like freaking robocops or men from Mars, with the Lex Luther Downer, transvestight black mesh, redtrimmed armour, massive machines with lights blazing, looking definitely BAD from boots to helmets....and some little farm kid, all he knows is tortillas and corn and cows, what does he make of it all?....

All of this is extremely rich and fertile land...you could grow anything here, and they probably do!...but I don´t think the profits get spreadaround very far. Theres the odd BIG sugar refinery and the remnants of little ones off to the side of the road, some cute old beehive shaped brick kilns, now neglected and getting grown over....along with other recent ruinas, sheds with old pipes and chimneys hanging off, rusted walls and roofs caving in...

Get to the El Salvador border, vehicle part out of Guate is easy, visa into El Sal slow and sweaty.. cos its about 40 degrees and 110% humidity, talk to a few friendly truckies waiting also...then thru to the ElSal vehicle part, aarrgghh, anyway, too many days ago... I´ve lost the fine edge of edgy, losing it, sweat and tears....so we got thru´and pushed on ...

Down another dusty road, there´s some widespread dislike of road sigs everywhere south of the US just about...Mexico wasn´t too bad but Guate, EL Sal and now Honduras...shocking..but more on that later maybe...

So, down the dusty lane to the beach, major paranoia as everyone is on our case about security in ElSal...find a sleazy little hotel but it has a courtyard sort of thing turns out to run down from the road right to the beach...and a pretty ordinary beach, with a high-tech security fence at the beach end...a scrappy lattice work affair of bamboo and sticks...even the dogs just walk thru it...and the house dogs, well thats a story for another day...and the place next door where wewent for a beer!..another story as well.

Next morning awake with anticipation....but the bikes are still there!..the mother of all electrical storms during the night must have deterred all the potential burgulars...so we head off to cruise the coast of El Salvador and how sweet it is, lovely winding road thru the hills, down to the coast, up around steep headlands, all lush tropical growth, trees growing right out over the raod, sometimes a complete tunnel of foliage, more corn, and cane, bananas also and lots of other fruits...around a nice sweeper and theres a pile of watermelon pulp on the road, and off to the side a pile of 40 or so melons, and more, and then every half a km theres another bunch, not sure if they are just selling them or waiting to get picked up and trucked to town...still don´t know but I suspect the latter as theres not all that much traffic....the usual trucks and cars and bikes and people walking or packed into the inevitable little ute-backed vans, and now and then an ox cart, yes, fabulous healthy beasts, creamy caramel, doe eyed, floppy eared, here I go again...usually two, elaborately yoked up and this one pulling an enormous pile of fresh hay on an old wooden cart, so fcuking picturesque I could weep....
Paradisical little beaches on secluded bays, we ride down the dirt access tracks and check out the waves, private little beaches, a few odd surfistas, you can get a block of land right on the beach, and get a house built, with pool of course, and security fence of course...about 15,000USD..not too shabby for a beacho...but still, in all these little secluded beaches, all along the high tide mark, the usual detritus of plastic bottles, left thongs, paper, placky bags, all the usual shit!!..
The security fences and stuff are really more noticable here..the woman in the corner store is virtually a prisoner, the whole shop is a steel cage and she lives in there with a fcuking great dog...and everyone has dogs, and they´re surprisingly well fed, and mostly wellbehaved, wherever you stay the dogs seem to know straightaway that you´re ok

The only stand out buildings seem to be churches, new evangelical reed especially, just hope itsnot tied to the aid packages but supect it is...

Then to Zonte, another famous surf spot, aroud the coast and some more speccy roads, some of the longest turning corners I´ve ever seen, some of the must e atleast 270 degrees, just unbelievable, and perfect shape and camber, awesome, and then the tunnels ...oh an, around the corner and into the black hole...the longest was over 500 meters so alls you see is a little light way ahead, andwith the sunnies on, and the scratched visor, another horror stretch!

Looking down off the road, I glimpse a family gathered at their table in front of the house having brekky, the kids in immaculate school outfits, all at the rough plank bench on trestle benches...thre do seem to be lots of schools along the way, but also lots of kids out at work as well!
I think I just saw a sign saying ¨Jesus is saliva´ but I´m not sure
Then to the Horizonte Surf Camp, afabulous little hotel place with little bungalows with air con and fans for us...and tiny cramped rooms for the el cheapos..anda communal area, fridge full of beer and a pool even...and just down the back is the beach, and a few little eateries, sort of one step up from a true palapa but still pretty basic...but great licuardos, sorts smoothies, and cerviches, and fried fish, and they know how to make real chips.andall aroundthe compound, rolls of razor wire and electric wires as well!..

Funny how we were getting really sick of every time we´d stop for a drink they´d bring out the bowl of salsa and pile of chips...like someties you´d just want toscream...but now, hanging out for a good salsa and chips, or maye a guacamole...it all ended in Mexico..a fine tradition that should be continued.

Time to get kicked outa here...trouble sending too...aaarrggghhh...only to be expected..in a 600 year old building with computers built around the same time....hasta

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