Thursday, November 29, 2007

Chapter 3



Welcome to the 3rd installment of the trek to Costa Rica..... You ready for it??? Alright here we go!!!

Since the last entry we have traveled from Manzanillo, Mexico to La Libertad, El Salvador and inbetween we have.... Hold on let me look at my trusty little notebook here to remember.

Looking down at the place where all of our shit got stolen



- Danced the night away with Guadalajaran smooth girls and "Chilo" boys in Manzanillo, along with Mexi slang, dancing horses, our first hotel, 4 tacos, a partridge, and a palm tree.... Minus the partridge.

- Journeyed to the city only know as the place where we got all of our shit stolen, had a lightning filled sunset surfsesh, chilled with our Guatalajaran lookalikes, and of course.... got a lot of our prized posessions robado off the top of our car.
- Items to include: 4 sufboards, 2 pairs of flippers, 1 surfbag, 1 80s dayglow wetsuite, 1 skim board, 1 80s GNU epic snowboard, 1 fish spear, and a little piece of my heart that will always remain in the town now known as the "Place where all of our shit got stolen."


the playing field is evened out in the mustach showdown


- Brendan, Josh, and Jim stay in a cozy little beach town called Nexpa while Ian makes a 5 hour drive to retrieve his laptop which was left at an internet joint 2 1/2 hours back up north

Ian finally arrives in Nexpa



- Drive through Acapulco, the metropolis of mexico, in search of Walmart ( I know what your thinking... it's wicked convenient though). Go in with huge list of things to get, and emerge with a bunch of beer, and Pina Colada in a 2 Liter bottle which we thought was the most amazing thing since sliced bread, even though sliced bread really isn't that amazing... but the Pina Colada was


- Driving, Driving, Driving, Puerto Escondido, Surfing, Body surfing, Amazing Sunset, lots of babes, Ian chats the night away with french girls in Spanish which both only speak "un Pocito" which resulted in lots of picture drawing, hand signals, and in the end turned out to be one of the best games of charades in the history of mankind.

- Thanksgiving Day..... prepared for the amazing feast which included...... A gnarly surf sesh at the oh so elusive Barra de La Cruz, a mustache showdown, a leaky box of wine, a locked gate, a removed fence post, a plastic chair thrown at our car, lots of cursing in spanish ( directed at us because of the fence post if you didn't pick up on that), a military checkpoint, a packet of cookies, a coke, and a cozy bed under a bat infested bridge close to the Guatamalan Border. This we are Thankful for.

Thanksgiving day at Barre De La Cruz



- Cross the border into Guatamala only to realize that we have been in Mexico illegally without a permit for the past 10 days..... pero no es una problema, 20 bucks will fix anything in Mexico.

- Cimbed 9000 vertical feet through winding jungle roads in Guatamala, overheating the 4 banger 4 runner only once suprisingly.

Chillin down after climbing into Guatamala



The 4 runner overheats so we all take a little refreshment break



- Stayed in a little place called San Marcos....... Ian gets a tour of the town on a 12 year old's motorcycle, we eat some street tacos, and Ian gets chased and spanked by a bunch of kids in devil costumes (Don't worry, it's Guatamalan Tradition).


- Journey to Lago De Atitlan in Guatamala, take a ferry to a town bordering the lake called san pedro where..... We rent dirtbikes, Ian wrecks his dirtbike, Brendan and Rammy have a showdown in the middle of town instigated by Brendan "spilling beer on Rammy's 2pac shirt in Manzanillo" all resulting in a torn pair of Brendan's boxers, known in middle school as an "ultra Wedgie"!!!!






The Road out of Lake Atitlan



- Finally find a tienda that sells Fireworks or bombas. Learn that Guatamalans don't like boom booms (aka cherry bombs) going off at night by their houses as we found out when testing out what we were looking to purchase only to be confronted by an angry Guatamalan with no shirt and a pistol stuffed in the front of his pants.


The boat taking our car towards the Guatamalan Border


- Searched for surfing in southern Guatamala, none of which is to be had so........ We had an epic floaty sesh in the ocean, and organized a quaint little pool party outside of our bungalow. The next morning we loaded our car up on to the "ferry" which was actually a floating platform big enough to squeeze 2 cars onto, powered by a 15 hp motor.

Pool Party!!!



- Spent 4 hours trying to get through the Guatamala/ El Salvador border

- Found a surf/ camp spot next to the house/shack of an extremely nice El Salvadorian family after having one of the shocks fall off our car, Rammy gets his surfbag stolen, El Salvadorian family's father hunts down thief in the morning with his machete, and thief brings back surfbag.( Rammy still had to pay him $10 american to get it back.... Ya, it's as weird as it sounds).

- El Salvadorian's family's kids play with our floaties, and light off our boom booms (aka cherry bombs) in the morning. A girl from the town hits on Brendan by telling him she wants to "buy his eyes", Brendan contemplates and kindly declines.


The shock that fell off our car, and our new getto rigged bushing made out of a sandal


El Salvadorian kids and their new floaties


This was before Ian wrecked his


And that takes us up to La Libertad where we currently reside. Over the next 10 days We'll be making our way through the rest of El Salvador, blow through Honduras, and finish the final leg of the trip through Nicaragua into Costa Rica. Stay Tuned!!!