3.26 - 3.28 Utila Island, Honduras

Report to be added....

*Cliff Notes* Police Officer getting picked up by his throat against the fence by agro local guy and getting and punched in the face while his three other cop buddys fleed the scene. Nuts!

Also Shane and Jeff have been slacking on the blog updates but they have finally got their passports, left Mexico and are currently at the Copan Ruins in Honduras. They are riding to La Ceiba tommorow and will meet me on Roatan Island. Fun will ensue.....

3.25 Roatan to Utila Island

Zev and I decided to take the Catamaran over to Utila Island for a few days so we all pack up and move out of our room. Lauren was supposed to leave at 5am that morning to catch the ferry back to the mainland so he could fly home but events from that night made that impossible so he was going to get the 2pm one instead. We give our farewells at the dock to Lauren and the Noregian girls we had been hanging out with and sail out of the bay towards Utila which is about a 4 hour trip.

The boat trip was great, we chilled on the nets in the front and drank beers with a couple from New York and even got escorted into Utila by a school of about 10 dolphins, jumping and following the boat.

Utila is much different then Roatan, its way more funky and backpackerish while Roatan is on the upscale side. We get off the boat and walk into town to meet up with a friend of ours Natalie who we stayed with in Costa Rica on our last trip. She had emailed us saying she was taking her dive master course on the island so we cruised around for about 10 minutes until we found her at a dive shop on the water. She got us a room at the dive shop overlooking the ocean, very sweet.

The shop had a cool old bar and we hung out there and met some of the divers and locals until we went out. Two locals, Alan and Peter took us out to some bars and we kicked it with them for a while.
One place called Tree Top stuck out, the bar was up in a tree and it had catwalks that went all over the place up in the tree’s. There was also a huge garden area decorated in very strange and interesting art that looked like it was designed by someone tripping on LSD. There were huge Banana Spiders all over the place that are very poisonous so you had to be careful where you walked. As we were walking around a friend of ours Tosh walked right through a huge web and started freaking out and taking off all his clothes thinking there was a spider on him. Luckily there was not.

My shoulder started hurting very badly from all the movement it had gotten on the boat and walking around town so I went back to the room to get some pain pills and ended up just going to sleep while Zev stayed out all night.

3.21 - 3.22 Island Livin

3.20 Roatan Island, Honduras

I wake up to my alarm at 730am and see another guy across the room in another bed, we say whats up to each other and I ask where he is going and he says I dont know. He asks me the same and I tell him I am going to Roatan Island to meet up with some friends, wanna come? Hell ya he says, he is super stoked and we jump in a taxi and head to the ferry terminal. His name is Peter from Austrailia, very cool and funny guy. You will be hearing of him more later.

We buy our tickets and get on the ship around 930 and sail off into the open sea's.

As we pull into the island we are both blown away at how awesome it is. Lush tropical jungle with crystal clear water and the entire island is surrounded by the 2nd largest living reef in the world. There are ship wrecks in the water near port that look very cool as well

We step off the boat and are so excited to be here, this atmoshphere is what ive been waiting for the whole trip. You can feel the Carribean Island vibe.

Last I talked with my friends they said they were at a hotel on the beach and to find them somewhere there, so we taxi it into town and get dropped off on a amazing beach along a little dirt road laced with small hostels and fruit smoothie stands. I ask someone if they have seen a really tall guy and a buff guy and they point down the beach. There they are! I run over and get some celibratory hugs and just bask in the amazingness of this place. I am instantly treated to a lounge chair on the beach with a bunch of Noregian girls and a cold beer. Yes I have arrived!

We all kick it on the beach for a while and then go grab some super good chicken wraps. Dam this island is expensive, but worth it fully I can already tell. Lauren gets a bottle of Flora De Cana Rum and we mix up some drinks with about 9 other people and just chill out and swim for most of the day. Lauren and Zev both work at the local cantina and decide to have a bonfire and music party behind the cantina. We go out back and clear out a area for the fire and set up seating for everyone.

By now it is almost sunset so we all cruise over to the sunsetter bar and meet up with everyone and chill out with some drinks and watch a picturesk sunset

Back to our cabin by the beach to get ready for the night. A bunch of people show up at the bon fire and we hang out there and listen to live music by lauren and some other musicians from all over the world, was a good time.

When the bar closed we walked about 5 minutes down the road to a dance party and things got crazy.

You could say Peter was very drunk by this point and was busting out the craziest dance moves ever. He had a differnt dance for every animal in the jungle and even had a dance dedicated to me "the dislocated shoulder" lol.

He was seriously hyphy and pumping everyone up till pretty soon everyone was going nuts. I almost died laughing, I really wish I had my video camera. Other unmentionable things happened that all led to a great night! I love this place, I dont think I can ever leave.

3.19 Guatamala to Honduras

Wake up at 3:30 and pack up everything and am out the door at 4am and get a taxi to the Bus. Get on the bus and am very surprised how nice it is especially the 1st class section where I am at. Ahhh so glad I spent the extra money, the seat reclines almost all the way back and I get a blanket and pillow and fall asleep in like 2 minutes. I wake up and we are at the Honduaras border crossing and once again im the last one off, not again! I am pleasantly surprised by how mellow the situation is, the immigration office is clearly marked and there is no one hassling me for anything. The whole process took 10 minutes and was a breeze. Nice!
The rest of the ride went well and I even got my own VIP wating room between buses, it was pretty baller I gotta to say.

Got into La Ceiba around dark and got a dorm at a hostel and went to sleep early so I would be rested and ready to go to Roatan Island the next morning and meet up with Zev and Lauren.

3.17 Taking Off To Guatamala

I bought a new bag for my travels, pack up and say bye to Jeff, Shane and everyone and get on a bus at 5pm heading to the Guatamala border. Both Shane and Jeff have still not received their motorcycle titles or Shane’s passport so I’m not sure what their status is at this point. The ride was 12 hours but I was able to sleep most of the time and arrived near the border at 6am then caught another bus to Guatamala City at 7am.
The bus stopped at the border and everyone had to get out and go through customs. Since I was sleeping I was the last one off the bus and had no idea where everyone went. I was instantly barraged with “helpers” who basically just try to get money out of you. You have to pay the border crossing fees in their local currency so they also have money changers who are also there to scam you. I forgot to check what the current exchange rate was before I left and I changed out 1000 Mexican pesos and received 130 Guatamalan Quetals in exchange. I later find out I got ripped off super hard on that deal. I find the first customs guy and give him my passport and tourist visa and he starts spouting off something about how my visa is no good and how ill have to go get a new one in the last town. I know my visa is good for 180 days, he is looking for a bribe. Since I lack the Spanish skills to even begin to argue with him a quick 20 dollar bill in passport gets the stamp and he gives it back to me and points down the road. So off I go with literally 15 guys following me telling me I need to give them money for this and that and how I have to hurry cause the bus is going to leave me. They are seriously masters of confusion and it worked. They are also carrying fake ID cards saying they work for the bus company as well as the government.
Since I really have no idea where to go and think I am going to get left by the bus I end up paying one of the guys 50 dollars to get my passport dealt with. He did get it taken care of quickly but the entire time he wanted more and more money which I did not give him. Having a random guy have your passport is not a good feeling and was pretty stressful. It worked out in the end and I got back on the bus negative 70 dollars. Lesson Learned. We arrived in Guatamala City around 4 and the bus drops me off who knows where. All I have heard is bad about Guatamala City and how it’s the murder and robbery capital of central America. My guide book pretty much says don’t go there its extremely dangerous so im kinda on edge. I find a chill taxi driver that speaks English and he takes me to the next bus station so that I can book my bus for the next morning to Honduras. He is a genuinely nice guy I can tell and this puts me at ease. He says he will take care of everything and wait for me while I get the tickets. I book the tickets and decide to splurge and get the Executive Seats because my last 12 hour journey was kind of uncomfortable. The bus leaves at 5am and I have to be there at 4am, brutal. Get back in the taxi and he takes me to a ATM so I can get some money then recommends a hostel near where the bus station is.
The hostel is very nice and 2 American guys who are staying there greet me and we start talking. One of them is 19 years old and was home schooled his whole life and this is his first time out in the real world. He is seriously ADD to the max and lacks major social skills, he latches onto me like im his best friend and just gets way to friendly way to fast. Starts asking me how to pick up girls and how he is in love with some girl in El Salvador and is going to go see her even though she does not like him, haha sounds like a great idea. Woah you are to much to handle right now so I go out and get some food and buy a new Digital Camera to replace my lost one. I get back and there are 2 girls from Norway there and dude is all over them being super annoying and I can tell they are very turned off with his ridiculous advances. I pull him into the room and give him a 20 minute pep talk on what not to do around girls, which is everything he was doing. I felt like I was a old man giving advice to a middle school kid. Since I have to get up at 3:30am I call it a night.

3.14 to 3.16 Puerto Escondido

The last few days have been spent in Puerto Escondido mostly consisting of lounging around the hostel, going to the beach and partying at night with the rest of the group here. A big chunk of the people left on Friday to go to a little surf town about an hour or so south and they returned on Sunday. Meanwhile a bunch of new travelers showed up to join the festivities including Edward 40 Hands, Bottle Cap Beer Pong, and The Douche Strikes Back. Again Jeff will have to chime in and upload the pictures, some are quite funny.
Since I lost my laptop in the great loss of 09’ I decided to buy a new one here in town. What I did not realize is that any computer bought in Mexico is preset to Spanish and cannot be changed. So now my entire computer is in Spanish and I have no idea what is going on haha. I worked out a deal with the owner of the hostel to leave my bike there for a month or more while I take the bus to Honduras to meet up with my friends, this worked out very well.

day 36/37/38

Yesterday we moved out of our hotel and into the hostel down the road. I rode my XR over there and it was hell on my shoulder even for only a 2 minute ride. We check in and the room is much nicer then we expected and a whole new group of people have moved in along with a few from days earlier. One of the girls who is a nurse convinces me to see a doctor again about my shoulder so I find one who happens to be a shoulder and joint expert. He looks me over and I tell him our story and he basicly said I would be a idiot to continue riding without letting my ligaments heal because they are all torn. He also said I would need surgery for sure when I got back and I would be out of commision another 6 months. So I have a decision to make.
We go out that night with the whole crew and im sure by now you know it was a interesting one. I wont get into it now but jeff will post the pics later as I lost my camera and his memory card reader the other day. doh!

BIG UPDATE
Today I make up my mind that I am going to leave my bike here in Puerto Escondido and fly to Honduras to meet up and travel with my life long friends from Mendocino, Zev and Lauren. My last trip to Nicaragua and Costa Rica, Zev and I traveled together and had a blast. Im sure this time will be no different. So tenative plans for me from here on out are to travel around Central America with them and let my shoulder heal for a month or two, then fly back here when Shane and Jeff are on their way back from Panama and ride back to California with them. Im sure we will all meet up again multible times somewhere along the way. I am really bummed I cant keep riding with them the rest of the way but I think this is my best option and a smart decision I will be thankful I made later in life being able to have a fully functioning shoulder.
We are going to continue the blog with both me and Jeff posting our stories and pictures on our seperate adventures until we meet again.

Day 35 Douchel Robinson

Shane and Jeff wake up really early to ride 150 miles to Oxaca to try and get a new passport for shane while I chill in Puerto Escondido. The ride ended up taking them 6 hours each way and was twisting at 20 mph for most of the trip. Elevations reached 9000 feet 30 miles from the coast and it got very cold. They found the US Consulate and did all the neccessary paperwork and were told to call back on thursday and they would tell us when we could come get the new passport.

Meanwhile I met up with some of the Austrailian guys from the hostel and we went swimming in the ocean for a bit and got some smoothies down on the beach and just kicked it.
Went over to the hostel and met everyone there and was cooked a amazing meal by a guy from Isreal named Tom. The group of about 10 of us sat down and had a nice dinner and drank wine and talked of plans for tonight.

Then somebody busted out the Wine Coolers, oh ho ho ho! You ever rode that train? It...is...rough. You have about 70 of those and you are flying! lol. In all seriousness I went back to our hotel and grabbed our big bottle of tequilla which we were told was one of the best in mexico and we passed around shots to everyone until it was time to go out.
Jeff and Shane showed up right on time and met up with us at a local bar where everyone was. I ended up bringing the rest of the bottle into the bar and was pouring shots for everyone again. The owner saw me doing it and gave me a thumbs up, I love mexico. As I am carrying around a huge bottle of tequilla, not wearing a shirt and having girls hang all over me I came to the realization that I may have become one of the douche bags that we always make fun of. When we looked at the pictures the next day, the douchness of myself was revealed and confirmed. lol

Day 33 The Great Loss Of 2009

     We left town around 10am and rode south on the Mexi 200 Highway trying to get to Puerto Escondido. Went through a Military checkpoint with no issues and kept going. About 20 kilometers later Jeff notices that we have not seen Shane in a while so we turn around to see what happened. Everytime we loose eachother I always think the worst like I am going to come around a corner and see them hit by a truck or off the side of a cliff. Dont find him for about 10 minutes and we are getting worried. We then see him coming towards us and everything looks ok until I notice that one of his bags on the bike is gone. Oh no, he doesent even say anything but the look on his face tells it all.
     Our main bag with my laptop, all of our helmet cam footage, tons of money, cell phone, tools, shanes passport and ALL of his paperwork for his bike had somehow fallen off without him noticing. He keeps going to check the road ahead while we backtrack all the way to where we left that morning scanning all over the road for the bag. No luck its gone. Someone must of found it and took it or it flew off a cliff into the jungle never to be found again. Wow this is a disaster. After looking for it for about an hour we give up and go get some hydration at a local store and recap how much we really just lost. Basicly everything important. We cant cross into Guatamala without his passport and motorcycle paperwork so we are kinda screwed.
      Well nothing we can do so we keep going to Puerto Escondido with the intention of doing a day trip and going to the US Embasy about 150 miles away the next day and trying to get a new passport sent. Good news is Puerto Escondido is a awesome town to be stuck in for however long this ordeal takes. Got a great place to stay with a pool, legit parking, our own balcony overlooking the ocean and 3 beds finally so no more cuddling with Shane, sweet!



Cruise around for a bit and meet some of the guys from the hostel in Aculpoco and a few other people. There are alot of travelers here and they tell us tonight is going to be going off.
Kick it on our balcony for a while and get 2x1 margeritas delivered to us from the restraunt across the street and yell at people walking by.
A couple hours later there is a group of about 30 people from the hostel down the street storm by so we catch up with them and take a taxi to this raging party at another hostel. Place was packed with travelers and the girl to guy ratio was very promising. Woah dident expect this.



     We rock the night away and Shane and Jeff end up going home while I stay out and end up at some afterparty then turn down the after after party beach rave because I dont think I can handle anymore crazyness for one night. Ahh my liver needs a vacation but I dont see that happening at this rate.

Day 32 Aculpoco to Pinotepa Nacional

As mentioned in the last post last night never really ended so we left Aculpoco heading towards our next destination of Puerto Escondido. We rode very slow and only made it about 100 miles before we thought it would be a good idea to stay somewhere and get some actual sleep. Ended up in Pinotepa Nacional which is a fairly big city and am now laying in bed, beat and ready to go to sleep. Good night'

Day 31 3/7/09 Zihuatanejo to Aculpoco

I was seriously contemplating leaving my bike in Mazatlan at Glenn's and flying home to heal my arm and then fly back later and get it but decided to keep going and just take it easy until it feels better. Jeff is now riding my XR and I am riding his KLR. We left Zihuatanejo around 11am and headed south to Aculpoco. The ride went well and my shoulder only hurt mildly until we got into Aculpoco and the traffic was just a mess. Moving at slow speeds and turning the handle bars while not moving puts alot of strain on my shoulder. We got past the traffic and onto the Beach Area and found our Hostel. Great place with a big bar and terrace overlooking the ocean and the most people our age we have seen since Cabo.
^^^ View from hostel on main strip

We walked around town for a bit and checked out the scene it looks pretty crazy. It is spring break here so tonight could get out of hand, to be continued....

Update from last night. Wow where to start. First of all EVERYONE we talked to said don't go to Aculpoco it sucks you wont have fun its dangerous...blah blah blah.
Ended up hanging out at the hostel until about 1am and then going out. Haggled our way into a huge club called Paradise with open bar all night. There were probably about 1500 people there and the place was going nuts. I have never been to a actual spring break event like on TV and it was pretty much exactly as I expected. Wet T-shirt contests, huge swimming pool, girls in bikini's...ect.
It was spring break for all the colleges in Mexico so it was all Latin people besides us and a few other guys from Chicago and Canada. I mentioned earlier how we were always getting shy provocative looks from all the local girls on the trip and didn't know what to think of it exactly until tonight. They were not shy anymore, it was almost comical. Our Spanish is still very bad. I guess it doesen't matter. Not going to get into details but it was one of the best nights so far. Were out until the sun rose and it was still 75 degree's out the whole night.

I didn't sleep at all and got back to our hostel at about 8:30am and met back up with Shane and Jeff. It was about 100 degree's out by now and we packed up and left town.

Day 29-30

Been just takin it easy pretty much the last couple days in Zihuatanejo, walking around town and going to the beach. Met pretty much everyone in town and felt like locals by the first few days. I tried to ride for the first time since the accident on friday and it went decently well. I used Jeff's bike since it is much easier to ride mellow. We set up a little arm rest on the gas tank so I can ride with one hand and my messed up one resting when we are crusing on the highway, feels much better. We became friends with Harry the owner of one of the bars in town and he showed us some good times at night. Zihuatanejo is for sure a place I will come back and visit, probably my favorite town of the trip.

Day 28 3/5/09

Get up before 10am and get some huevo's mexicana at the restaurant downstairs before we go and meet our "guide" we met the day before to go out to Ixtapa Island for the day. We are kind of late and missed the van so he walks us through town to the bus station where we catch a bus into the next town of Ixtapa.
A very lively senior meets up with us there and we get in his pimped out van complete with "Mexican style" midevil trap door lever opener.
He introduces himself as Neopolean and starts going off about how he just got a 22 year old barbie doll wife and how he is 48 years old and not handsome. This guy is seriously pumped on his situation and we hear all about it the rest of the day. He explains to us how he will be our tour guide, dive master, and captain for the day. Great guy for sure.
We get out the van and jump onto a boat where he takes us across the ocean to a little island with a bunch of Polapas and restaurants. We get out own little table and umbrella and he tells us about their lunch special that is a whole red snapper fish with quote "corn for rabbits" meaning carrots, lol.
Spend most the day lounging in the sun and drinking beers and Margarita's and Shane and Jeff go snorkeling while I just chill cause my shoulder is still screwed up. I bust out my ipod speakers and listen to some music because what is a Mexican Island vacation without some gangster rap right?

They get back from snorkeling and we have a very good lunch and then decide to go explore the island a bit.
We walk up some cliffs that lead to another very nice beach and get some more beers there and lay out on the lounge chairs for a bit.

Continue around another cove and find a corral beach with no one on it. I see a little pathway through the brush and we hike up a mountain and around the island eventually meeting back up with the original beach we started at.

Go for a swim and I do some stretches for my shoulder in the water and it is getting better I can tell. I can almost move it in most every direction without alot of pain, it probably just needs a few more days before I would be able to ride again but I am skeptical on if I am going to be doing permanent damage if I continue on this trip without letting it heal completely. Ive gotten so many mixed answers from people. Alot of older guys say I need to fly home and let it heal or its going to be a life long problem while some people say just tough it out and see what happens.
By now it is almost time to go back so we load back on the boat with about 10 people over the weight limit and go back to shore.
Back into the van and now we have 2 drunk Mexican guys with us and Nepolean says he is going to go pick up his girlfriend along the way so we can meet her, cool. He picks her up on the side of the road and she is not barbie doll status or what we pictured from his description but good for him she seemed nice. We get dropped off somewhere in Ixtapa and say bye then hop on a bus back to Zihuatanejo and head to our hostel to rest up for whatever we get into tonight.