August/September Summary

For those who don't have the time to wade through my volumous trip reports ( forget that some of you suckers still have to do real work :-) what follows is a brief summary of my trip to date.

[Addendum: After I composed this message, but before I got a chance to email it out, I suffered a battery failure which wiped out some critical software on my palmtop, including the software to send and receive email. I found a commercial Internet Access Provider in Antigua, Guatemala, and with the help of Paul Thompson and Dave Jevens back in the San Francisco Bay Area was able to reacquire the needed software via FTP, and I'm back in business it seems.]

WHERE AM I NOW?

I just crossed the border from Mexico into Belize on Tursday October 2, at the town of Santa Elena, Belize, the most northern town in Belize, near the Mexican city of Chetumal. I'm writing this from Corozal, Belize, about 10 miles south of the border.

WHY HAVEN'T YOU HEARD MORE FROM ME SOONER?

Basically, the phone system in Mexico sucks (my apologies to any Mexican citizens reading this). I've been in Mexico the past 5 weeks and found it virtually impossible, with my palmtop computer, to call back to my ISP in the States to send/receive my email.

None of the cheap hotels I'm staying in have phones, and since I'm not carrying an acoustic coupler, pay phones were out.

There were many long distance phone "stores", private businesses which have several phones and allow you to call long distance, but the problems there included:

The human attendant at the store dials the number for you on a separate phone, and when the call goes through you pick up your phone This means you can't just have your modem dial the number.
Often it's physically impossible to connect my computer because the phones are hardwired or do not have modular RJ-11 jacks. And it's not like in a hotel room, where I could use my splicing kit to tap into the correct wires. They're pretty much watching what you do.
Several times when I found such "stores" which had the required RJ-11 jacks, I was simply told I could not hook my computer up to the line, that they were only for voice communications. My Spanish was not good enough to get a clear answer as to why this was the case. I sort of got the feeling that they felt that by using my computer I wa avoiding their higher-priced FAX services.
I use Sprint to call to the States, and Sprint has a toll-free number from within Mexico to access the Sprint operator. When I place voice calls from pay phones it works like you expect: I don't have to pay anything locally, and the call gets billed to my Sprint account back in the States. Well the long-distance "stores" always tack on their own surcharges, even for toll-free or collect calls. And it varies from store to store.

Here in Belize I've found it's almostly completely opposite. The government phone offices are located in almost every village and town, and the staff ar very helpful and friendly. The Sprint toll-free number is really toll-free, no surcharges. I dial 115, ask for the Sprint operator, at which point I ge a dial-tone to which my modem can dial my Sprint account number, followed by the number of my ISP, and bingo, I'm connected. Very nice and relatively painless.

BIKE PROBLEMS?

Nothing major.

After heavy rain in New Mexico, got water in the ignition system and the bike died. It fixed itself with the help of me pulling the sparkplugs
Flat rear tire in El Paso, TX
Developed a couple pinhole leaks in the rubber driveshaft boot. Fixed it with silicon sealant. Suspect the root problem may be a slow leak at the final drive seal.
Went to adjust my valves for the first time and discover I don't have my feeler guages with me. Adjust them by sight/feel. Buy some feeler guages a week or so later.
Dropped the bike while taking it off the centerstand. In the process of picking it up, I rip out the rivits holding the seat latch to the seat pan. Am able to force a couple of the rivits back in, and hold the seat on with a nylon strap.
While the bike was parked, a bus clips it, knocking it over, breaking the handlebar perch where the front brake lever bolts to it. I call Cal BMW and have the part shipped to me by DHL. I am forced to spend a week, waiting for the part, on the Carribean coast of Mexico at Playa del Carmen Life is tough.

ANY PROBLEMS WITH THEFT, VANDALISM, POLICE, CHECKPOINTS?

At the checkpoints, whether they are military or civilian, the young guys are usually more interested in the bike, my GPS, and where I am from and going, than hassling me. I have not had any problems. Often we end up talking about the bike, until they look up and see that 4-5 cars have lined up behind me, at which point, they wave me on.
I had a small flashlight and a pair of lightweight leather gloves stolen off the motorcycle one night at a small hotel. The bike was parked in an inside courtyard, and I got lazy and didn't put my cover on it like I usually do. The next morning those items were gone. I think the proprietor's small sons took the items, but by the time I discovered the items missing the boys and their father had left in their car, so I could not directly confront them. I blame myself more than the kids. The stuff on the bike probably looks like a million bucks to them, and leaving it uncovered is just a temptation.

WHAT HAS MY ROUTE BEEN TO DATE?

The following is a brief summary of my route, naming thecity/town I stayed in that night.

August

14      Leave Sunnyvale, CA
17      Arrive Ft. Collins, CO to visit sister
21      Leave Ft. Collins
28      Cross Mexican border at Del Rio, TX
28      Matehuala
29      Real de Catorce
30      Jalaca
31      Tula
September
1-2     Teotihuacan, NE of Mexico City
3       Parque Nacional La Malinche
4       Alvarado, Gulf Coast of Mexico
5       Villahermosa, Tabasco, Gulf Coast
6       Teapa
7-8     San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas
9       Palenque, Chiapas
10      Campeche, Campeche
11-13   Ticul, Yucatan
14-16   Merida, Yucatan
17      Celestun, Yucatan (western Gulf coast)
18-19   Progresso, Yucatan (northern Gulf coast)
20      Chitzen Itza, Yucatan
21      Coba, Quintana Roo
22-23   Tulum, Quintana Roo (Carribean coast)
24-30   Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo
October
1       Chetumal. Quintana Roo
2       Crossed the border into Belize
2-3     Corozal, Belize

WHERE AM I HEADED FROM HERE?

I'll probably spend 7-12 days in Belize.
There are 2 remote Mayan ruin sites, Lamanai and Caracol, I6d like to visit, however the roads to them are supposed to be very difficult in the rainy season, and October is the transiton from the rainy to the dry season. So I'll have to see how bad the roads are.
There a number of wildlife sanctuaries, a couple of which I want to check out, including howler monkeys (locally called baboons), jaguars, and stork
If the US Embassy in Belize City will store my bike for a couple of days I'll take a boat out to the Cayes offshore for a couple of days. Belize's offshore reef is second only to Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
From Belize, I head west into Guatemala, where I will visit the ruins at Tikal, in the El Peten region of NE Guatemala.
From there I will head south in Guatemala, eventually ending up along the Pacific coast and the Highlands of Guatemala, where I plan to stay for an as yet undetermined period of time, taking a home-stay language course.

Doug Ruth druth@bayarea.net

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