May 2013
4 posts
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Volcano Cotopaxi and Quilotoa Lagoon
Finally: bikes packed again, a bit heavier than before, but back on the road… The way out of Quito was not too easy, another 25 km through bad traffic, so lunch still in the city! But then it was a great feeling to leave this huge urban area behind us and feel so free again!
Like always it started raining after a sunny morning, that day already at 1 pm! So we just cycled...
5 tags
Quito – longer than planned but worth the time!
Two nights in Ibarra, one in Cayambe at the nicest firestation we ever stayed at (with own room, new beds and great firemen!), crossing the equator and then rocking on to Quito… Honestly, not one of our best days, Lena’s spokes kept on breaking on fast downhills, and we only had two spares left… Finally police helped us out and took us up for a few kilometer on the long climb up to...
Frailejónes wonderland – the Páramo at El Ángel in...
First day in Ecuador we stayed at the Bomberos (firemen) in Tulcan and were surprised how well done and brand-new everything was. Luxury indoor camping, hot showers, WiFi and a really good cooking lady who even invited us for dinner with her husband. Not only about the firemen station, but in general we would find out very soon that our image of Ecuador we had before was slightly wrong… ...
More climbing: Pasto, Las Lajas and finally...
Ok, it won’t stop now for the next months: we are in the Andes and we will have to climb every day! There was always still a little hope left not having to pedal up another major hill every day. But well, we’re getting fitter and fitter, and climbing gets easier day by day.
On our way out of the Sibundoy valley we met the Basque cyclist Sebastian and shared a really nice day cycling together...
April 2013
6 posts
Trampolin de la Muerte
We knew it would be one the toughest routes we ever rode – and it truely was! Two and a half days 80 km from 600 m up to 2770 m on bad and really bad dirt roads in constantly changing weather from sun to angry rain, fog and cold… But it was absolutely worth it! We do not regret any suffered minute of this awesome ride. We got directly paid for our endeavours with these...
Back into sun and heat – Desierto de Tatacoa
We were so fed up with the rain that we decided to leave the Central Cordillera via Ibagué and continue further South in the valley of the Rio Magdalena. And yes, it got dry and hot again, especially in the „Desierto de Tatacoa“ where we cycled and camped two days. Actually, it’s a semi-desert, a 330 square kilometers area of ocher and gray brushstrokes of green cactus growing up to five...
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Valle del Cocora – Our first days in the Andes!
Taking off from Medellin was climbing on the Panam – nice landscapes but no fun in the traffic. So as soon as possible we turned left to ride back roads again. But it did not go as we expected! We did neither imagine it to be so hard but nor to be so beautifulamazingbreathtaking at the same time! Honestly, we had days in that we were only climbing without one meter down and only made 25km in...
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Bienvenidos a Colombia!
Colombia treats us well from the very beginning! So well, that we actually needed some time to get used to it. Although Turbo defintely not belongs to the nicer towns in Colombia, people directly welcomed us so warmly and friendly that it seemed not right, just too much… „Si Senor… si Senora, con mucho gusto!“ At first we did not want to fall for these typical offers like bringing...
9 tags
Lancha hopping to Colombia
Day I Panama City to Isla Franklin
There we were: standing in Carti harbor, just a small riverbank, trying to find a lancha to bring us four and the bikes to one of the little beautiful Islas San Blas. We ended up on Isla Franklin, a very small island that you can run around in two minutes, with nothing on it but some palm trees and cabanas.
The islands are all owned by the Kuna Yala,...
March 2013
3 posts
9 tags
Panama City and the great question how to cross...
Days of camping along the beautiful and quiet road to Sona and Santiago and then damn hard cycling on the dirty and crowded Panam against one of the strongest winds we ever had, through hot and boooring landscape… Finally a we took bus for the last 200 km and slept one the night at the Bomberos in Arraiján – these were the days before we arrived in Panama City.
An impressive and...
Panama - A little bit of everything
The last one in the pile of all these little Central American countries was of course Panama. This long stretch of land offers it all: the Caribbean, the Pacific, a beautiful mountain range, the huge controversial and cosmopolitan capital Panama City as well as little indegenous communities living their traditions as good as they can.
We knew we would have about a month of time to explore...
Costa Rica – feel the difference
We saw, we smelled, we felt the difference as soon as we entered Costa Rica – like we never did before moving ourselves from one country into the other…
First of all: this country is sooo clean! No rubbish and junk in the streets, tidy little gardens and an obviously well working waste separation. We can drink the tab water without worrying, people on motorcycles wear helmets and...
February 2013
4 posts
Off the beaten track through Nicaragua
As we try to avoid the Panamerican Highway as much as we can we decided to take a route around the Eastern side of Lago Nicaragua down to Costa Rica. This decision was against Ometepe, the little Volcano island in Lago de Nicaragua, against the beautiful beaches at the Pacific but for a route with a very different beauty. A beauty of loneliness, rawness and realness. Dusty roads through...
Faces of Nicaragua
We are really impressed by the open-minded and solidly mentality of the Nicas. Thank you for all the help and great moments on our way…
First days in Nicaragua – Leon
Shacks made of plastic sacks
Children in frazzled hammocks
Nothing to buy, no street stalls, no tiendas…
On our first 50 km in Nicaragua this country seemed to be even poorer than Honduras. People had just nothing, a sad welcome to be honest. It was hot and dry… and then suddenly turned into a lush green when we came to the delta of Estero Real, rich in colors and...
Quick and dirty through Honduras
Still in El Salvador, we met the Dutch cyclist Albert who immediately decided to ride with us through Honduras as this is not supposed to be the safest road. So, the group kept on growing…
Some 50 km before the border to Honduras we cycled into a strike that caused a traffic jam for nearly 10 km. Workers were demonstrating against work conditions and blocked the whole street...
January 2013
9 posts
El Salvador: four days in Nueva Esperanza
A special community with an interesting history. In the quiet village Nueva Esperanza in the middle of El Salvador, everything seems to be alright. Although the people are obviously poor from our point of view, they consider themselves to be rich. They survived the Civil War, they hold together and help ech other. Everybody here owns some animals, has enough to eat, most people live in stone...
4 tags
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El Salvador: New Year in El Zonte and camping at...
With Harco the Velosophics group had a new member for about two weeks. But Lisa was missing! We had to find her again for New Year – and so we did in El Zonte, a friendly little village and surfing spot at the Costa del Balsamo.
The first night there was horrible. We stayed in a small half private house half Hospedaje. At four a clock in the morning a drunk couple, maybe also on drugs, came...
6 tags
Leaving Guatemala – Entering El Salvador
It was time to leave Lago de Atitlan, we couldn’t wait to be on our bikes again. Too much sitting and eating, too big bellies…
Now we were a trio: We left San Pedro la Laguna together with Aaron in the early morning on a beautiful lancha (little boat) ride. On the way out of this mountanious region we had lots downhill cruising – what can be nicer than that??? We went back to camping...
5 tags
Christmas at Lago de Atitlan
Half of Lisas bag was packed with „Christmas presents“ for us: new tires, tubes and guide rings from our Sponsors (thank you Continental and Cosmic Sports), sunscreen, magnesium and delicious German CHOCOLATE! Oh yes, we four had a great time and good food!
One day we climbed up the „Indian Nose“. The astonishing view was worth the rip-off prices – no ticket house but different locals asking...
5 tags
5 tags
San Pedro la Laguna: Escuela española a Lago de...
We were so much looking forward to it: learning Spanish and being able to communicate with the people, more than with our few words and mainly using hands and feet. Finally, we decided to spend two weeks at Lago de Atitlan in San Pedro la Laguna to take Spanish lessons and be there for Christmas. San Pedro is a friendly little town and famous for its cheap but good Spanish schools. And not...
3 tags
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Meeting friends in scenic Antigua
Mauricio, one of Hardy’s former colleagues, came to El Salvador in November/December to visit his family with his girl-friend Mina and their little son Nilo. It’s his first time back in his home country after 11 years! We knew he was planning it for a long time but then it happened all so quickly: „Hey guys! We’ll come to Antigua tomorrow, can you somehow make it there in the next two days?“ ...
December 2012
8 posts
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Guatemala Highlands: Semuc Champey (where the...
Semuc Champey is a natural spectacle of the Cahabon River in the middle of the central Guatamalan mountains: turquoise pools going down in steps while most of the water runs beneath them – beautiful!
We were so sure we wanted to bike up there, we knew it would take us a few days, about 114 km from El Estor, 1500 m up on a dirt road through very remote little villages in the...
5 tags
Across the country: Guatemala from North to South...
Guatemala’s most important sights definitely are Tikal, Semuc Champey, Antigua, the Lake Atitlan, Quetzaltenango and some more. We of course wanted to see as much as possible in this beautiful country, so they kind of built the corner points of our chosen route. But the really great thing of travelling by bicycle is: We experience so much more than these touristic spots – we see the real life...
5 tags
Buenas Cosas – a family working for the good...
First www.warmshowers.org experience
First time meeting other touring cyclists since Europe
First time staying with a Guatemalan family
From Tikal it was not far to cycle to San Benito where we stayed three days with the Buenas Cosas family in the small barrio Bellas Horizontes outside of town. Three days full of learning about Guatemalan life, exchanging cycling experiences, bicycle...
3 tags
Entering Guatemala – Yaxha and Tikal
Boom, boom, peng, peng! We just crossed the border into Guatemala and thought: „OH NO! Five minutes in the country and directly got into a shooting?!“ But it was only fireworks welcoming us – the people on the street were laughing and told us we have to get used to that when we will cycle through their country. Fireworks belong to every kind of fiesta here. And when a child is born, you might...
6 tags
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6 tags
Jungle Commune at „Bugs Inn“
We were looking forward to stay at a Couchsurfer’s place in San Ignacio before entering Guatemala. But we were a few days later than expected and did not manage to contact Kevin online. The only thing we knew was his first name and that his place was somewhere outside the little village Bullet Tree Falls close to San Ignacio. So we went there asked for him in the village and finally found his...
November 2012
10 posts
8 tags
Holidays from cycling: Crooked Tree and Caye...
Enjoy yourself – that’s what these days were about! We spent some beautiful days at Mick and Angie’s Crooked Tree Lodge, camping in their garden (with a little crocodile as our neighbour), kayaking the lagoon, updating the blog and enjoying some nice evenings with them. Although we were camping we felt like living in luxury as they shared their great, nice styled living room and their...
4 tags
4 tags
Lamanai – a magnificent night at the Maya ruins
Full moon, a million stars, clear and bright.
The roaring sounds of the hawler monkeys, loud and near.
And the view over the jungle and the lagoon which mirrors the moon…
We are sitting on the high temple of Lamanai, 33 m high, in the middle of the night and listen to the jungle noises– an absolutely fascinating moment, we want to hold it forever.
The moon was bright enough for...
4 tags
Belize – Meeting Lance
Entering Belize was easy – 25 $US per person to leave Mexico, that was it. No luggage check (at least for us), no fumigation, no insurance for our bikes, these were the things we were told of before… But: The border official was not willing to give us a receipt for our paying, it was a Sunday morning and he was the only one working there. For us, it was obvious that he took the money...
Earthquake in Guatemala
Hello everybody!
To answer all your mails in one here on the blog: there’s no need to worry! We are still in Belize and plan to reach Tikal in Guatemala in the next days. So we are a few hundred kilometers away from the epicentre and did not notice anything of the earthquake up here except for the news… But thank you all for thinking of us!
Hugs
Lena & Hardy
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Chetumal - Mexican family life
Roberto, Anita, daughter (princessa) Alicia and mom Alicia – thank you for these great days in your house and for integrating us in your huge family and friend circle. You made us feel home!
Initially, we asked via Couchsurfing to stay two nights but finally left after five – this probably tells all. Roberto even hosted another couple, Peter and Julia from Poland. Unfortunately, Peter had a...
5 tags
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Yucatan / Mexico: Highways and dream beaches
We are so happy to be on the road again! But cycling is defintely something else over here. You have to suffer on the road but you’ll be richly rewarded with some dream beaches and beautiful cenotes afterwards. There was no alternative to going on the Highway through the jungle in Yucatan. Luckily, there was a wide side-strip, so we felt quite safe, but it was just hot, humid and boring!...
October 2012
14 posts
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