This is some of the finest cruising in the world with banked and curved roads snaking through the jungle and mountains. Very little traffic and the laboring trucks are easy to pass. Occasionally the jungle is right to the fog line. Sometimes the moutain clouds fog the road with their mist- just enough to sharpen the senses. This photo is of a passing tourist or native, either way another idiot on a motorcycle. But I wouldn't trade for a towncar!

Once out of the mountains and onto the Limon plain the rivers are wide and shallow. This one is Rio Sucio because "sucio" means dirty. But other rivers are clear. All are clean until one reaches the coast. The water slows and the natives dump sewage and the like into the water.

The mountains rise on each side of the road. Sometimes I am under a jungle canopy and other times in the tropical sun. The air is sweet and clean after the daily rain. The speed limit is 40k which is about 24mph. but I cruise this road at 50mph. Sometimes 40 for the sharp turns...always keeping an eye for the Costa Rican eager to pass me!

The bunches of bananas seem to be bagged while they are still on the tree (and before they are harvested.) Is this the local version of burning and then pillaging? I'll find out more on my next trip to the Carib side.

No more eggnog and burbon~this is how we do it way down in Central America. Tropical yogurt and Jamacian rum! M-m-m-m good.

Insect, animal or vegtable? Would you eat this??

Rip it open and pull out the core. It has a pit the size of an olive´s. The white skin tastes like peppermint. Suck for awhile and spit!

Warning. Do not make this trip if you have high blood pressure or ever had a stroke. If you need to know exactly where you are or where you are going. If you must know what you are eating or drinking. If you bruise easily or have weak joints. If you can´t sleep in strange places or on the ground. If you ever panic. If you feel threatened by strangers with guns. If you need hot showers or cold drinks. If personal hygene is important. Otherwise...enjoy!

The is the main gate to the Masonic Temple compound in El Salvador. The building and grounds are immaculate. They show great respect for their institution in this manner.

El Salvador. The war is over and we won. Best roads yet. Eleven feet wide and then a wide paved shoulder. This is a lovely country. I was offered a furnished place with daily maid for $300 a month. The beer is $1.25 at the beach and I had an oyster cocktail for $3.50... plenty of oysters too. I also learned that Corona and La Victoria are the same brew. tomorrow in Nicaragua and then Costa Rica.

I got rained out in Guatamala and stayed in this little cabin. Nice and dry inside. $33. I don´t get soaked anymore because I´ve learned my lesson and have plenty of garbage bags and a poncho. No sense in fighting it. Just stay put. I tried to go on but a nasty slide convinced me otherwise.

Horray!! Out of Mexico and 85% done. My thanks to the many Mexicans who gave me directions and drew maps. Especially to the farmer who emptied his 79 Ford sedan of empty water cans and drove me to town to get a flat repair. And the three who loaded my broken moto into their pickup and took me to a mechanico for an adjustment. Curses to the official at Tecate who told me I could not get importation patpers there and to all the drivers in Mexico City who made several attemts on my life. The toll roads are excellent and costly and good value.

Cortz and I have both conquered Mexico City. The smog is worse than LA . The only thing to compare it to is gas training in the Marines. The experience was horrific. My right eye closed and the left was just barely working, I finally pulled over and washed out my eyes with my drinking water and carried on. The drivers in MC are the worst. Rude, pushy, stupied and wreckless. Especially the bus and truck drivers. Even the locals will agree. Of course, all the streets are beyond crowded. I left Reno intime to pass through MC around 2pm. It did not matter. A night passage would have been impossible because the highway and street signs are not illuminated. I am now in Minatitlan, Mexico and expect to be in Costa Rica in five days.

There are many emergency telephone and water stations along the highway. Bring your own telephone and bucket on a rope. The water us about three feet down and someone stole the telephone. The water is refilled by a service truck from time to time. I have seen overheated vehicles pulled up.

A Pemex station along the highway. They are uniformily clean and efficient. There is always one or two restaurants placed with.

This is a great solution to the occasional
no paper crisis in a public stall. Photo taken at a roadside Pemex station. Pemex is Mexicos only fuel company on the highways. I bought some from another company, but that was a man with a stack of 5 gallon bottles in Baja. I was desperate.

So my Clamper buddies know they are not forgotten. E busca vido.

West of Mexico City when coffee with milk is ordered, you get hot milk with a jar of instant coffee. Two spoons of instant and it reminded me of my moms Ovaltine. Anywhere else in Mexico, coffee with milk means alittle milk on the side.