Jim Key in Central America

Bivouacked On Top of an Ancient Civilization

I don´t know what it is about jungles, I´m drawn to them, they facinate me. Camping on top of a Mayan ruin is an experience I´ll never forget. Sabine came jogging up the street in San Ignacio about 2:30. Neither one of us really knew how this was going to go, but we both realized at worst it´ll be great.

It´s about a 15 mile ride to the ruins. The jungle canopy closes over the last 7, so it´s like riding through a lush jungle tunnel. I wanted to film the ride out. It can be tricky sometimes messing with the cameras, looking around & paying attention to were I'm going. We going slow, 5-10mph, I noticed the right crash bar camera had collected some leaves & needed to be redirected. I reached down, peeking over my throttle, my eyes darting back & forth from the camera to the trail. I saw the washout at the last second. Not big, but I was going to catch it on the edge.

Getting Even Deeper

I loved Placencia! I intended to stay a day or two but ended up spending three nights. I rode the Hummingbird highway back to Belize city & pick up my gear then rode straight east to San Ignacio right on the Guatemala border. A east ride, belize is such a small country.

I rolled into San Ignacio around 4:00. New towns are always abit confusing , Irode out to where Wendys home is. I wasn't able to find "Bigga" to take me to her home. It was beautiful but to far out from town. I wanted internet & to watch the Christmas festivities. I got a guest house room right by the center of town for $20USD. In no time the big BMW G/S drew Allen & Tony from Arizona over to see who is riding it. Turns out their both riders & produce motorcycle Videos & events. They have done a ton of work for SPEED, TRAVEL & many other channals & networks.

Wendy, Percy & The Howlers

The past two days have been pretty exciting! It's fun meeting people on these rides. I met a women, Pamela, in the Internet shop and got to talking. She and her husband recently pitched it all and moved to a pennisula down in southern Belize. A town called Placencia. It sounded nice and the route to there offered about 80-100 miles of dirt. She gave me her phone number & give her a ring if I make it. I got a late start the 21st.........Wednesday?? It's easy to lose track.

Late start due to rain!!!! At 11:30 I decided to hit the road, hoping it would burn off like it has been. Riding south out of Belize City was confusing. Alot of one way streets always going in the wrong direction. After breaking its grip, it's about about a 40 minute ride to the Manatee road or also called the coastal road. It's a 60-mile dirt ride through wetlands & forest. Since all the rain I was a little apprehensive. I still have the Tourances on and had visions of becoming mired like in Malayasia. The road was muddy but really pretty good traction. Alot of potholes, the edges looked good, but was actully 6-7 inches of muck or sand. The rain would stop until I got the cameras all mounted. I'd have to stop, put them away & remount them at least 3-4 times in the first 30 miles. It was about 1:00 when it finally stayed away. The scenery was amazing!!

Belize Bliss!

Coydog is a nickname I've had for awhile. It's a domestic dog that has mated with a wild coyote or wolf. Wild with a domestic streak. After 11 days of Mexico, Belize feels very domestic. Real Mexico was a struggle. Language struggles, map struggles, internet struggles, to name a few. If you look at those struggles they were all on me. I lost my map, I didn't know their language & internet because I just want to make this ride as interactive as possible. Adventure or global touring is hard. The hard is what makes it great! If it were easy everyone would be doing it. It's funny how the struggles become my favorite stories after the fact.

Belize is very easy or domestic (so far) compared. The coydog comes out of the wild into town. Immigration/ customs took 15-20 minutes. My map is good and there are others to obtain easily. English is the language & internet that works. I'm not at all ranking one over the other, it's just nice to relax & catch up. The wilds make me apprieciate the comforts much more.

Leaving Mexico, Entering Beliz

Hola, It was raining Saturday morning when I left Vera Cruz. I just wanted to get going. I drove out of it in about a hour. If it were not for the huge overloaded trucks & buses, going either 10mph or 90mph it would have been kind of pretty.

Map crappy map made it quite a confusing day. I started out riding the gulf coast to Alvarado & then headed south. I wanted to avoid Villahermosa if possible. It is a capital city which in the past have not been any fun getting through. Things were going fine. The towns on may map were showing up. Signs were indicating all was well. The scenery was getting lush, roads were twisty & the pavement good. South of Acoyacun I decided to stop & get a photo of a flock of Egrits or some kind of white cranes that Ive been seeing along the way. The roads have no shoulder, its about a 8-10 inch drop to get off the pavement. As soon as i stopped the majority of the birds took off. Oh well I took a couple pics & angled to get back on the road. The front tire climbed up no problem, the rear tourance slide to edge not climbing. In used to having TKC´s which would have climbed it no problemo. The bike dipped to the left & I chopped the throttle which pitched the bike right. Over I went! Just a tip over but with all the gear on the bike it would be impossible to pick up. I started to unpack when a pickup came by. He stopped about a 150 yards down the road. He hopped out & walked all the way back & helped me pick up the bike.

Very Gringo in Vera Cruz

Hola!
It is easier to find decent internet in Cambodia than Mexico. I walked & asked directions to this one for 45 mins.The present keyboard Im using is so worn that most of the letters are worn off the keys. Im not one of those who can type without looking at the keys. It took 5 minutes just to get my email to open. My plan was to post nightly if possible. Uploading photos from this computer will take all night. I will do the best I can. I am quite surprised by this.

I am in Vera Cruz tonight. The plan was to leave Tuxpan yesterday but it was pouring. It was supposed to clear last night, so I stayed one more night. I awoke to overcast drizzle this morning. I hit the road anyway & rode the Gulf coast south to Vera Cruz. A short mileage day, but due to construction hold ups & accidents it took all day.

The Adventure Begins

I got a late start out of Denver due to a camera technical problem, then the arctic blast came. I left last Thursday, December 8th. It was about 20 degrees, you figure the windchill at 90mph. I had on good gear and was chilled, but not cold. Surprisingly it stayed chilly until about Torreon (about 600miles south of the border). Yesterday things warmed up, now its about 80 in Tuxpan on the Gulf of Mexico. I feel the adventure is about to begin.

The bike has been running good. The only problem I've had is losing my map out of my tankbag map pocket. I've only been able to find one terrible map since. You wouldn't believe how bad this map is. So far I've only back-tracked about a combined 15 miles, which is a miracle. My best Spanish phrase has become, "Donde puedo comprar bueno mapas mexico," which translates to "where can I buy good map of Mexico." The problem is understanding the reply.

I've been pulled over twice by policia. They just wanted to say hi and was wondering where I'm going. I was pulled over at a federally check point for the first time yesterday. All the others just waved me by. They searched my tankbag and then I got into a "where the hell am I (with my crappy map)" and they didn't bother looking through everything else.

So far I've rode about 2300 miles. December 14th - today I'm going to take a break, hang out take photos, drink cervezas and look for a map.

Jim Key