Author: daninoadeux

• America is on its way…

  Maybe this Trip was but a long site inspection… In my business years in the travel industry, I must have taken a dozen dozens of these trips. Let me explain, when my clients came to America in advance of their groups, to decide which hotels they prefer, which restaurants to include, to try menus, etc..…

• Ready to go home? Not so fast Danny boy!

  Plot twists galore, this needed an update, for those who follow.. First night in Brazil, at Foz de Iguaçu, I zoomed thru the border, as directed by officials dressed in fatigued fashion. I somehow hoped that this freedom would allow traffic to go to a more appropriate border station, but no! Nope! I later learned…

• Don’t cry for me, Argentina !

  Tupiza, Bolivia, was a welcome respite from the arid environment I had been riding through since Uyuni and the salt flats. In a green valley along the Tupiza river, dramatic red rocks formations jut upward to the sky contrasting with the coarse dry terrain I was accustomed to the past hundreds of miles. It was…

• And the Incas saved the day.

  I was fed up with Peru, the trash, the rain, the altitude but I arrived in Cusco or Cuzco if you prefer, both spellings apply. America was being taken care of, her ailment was benign, and I would get her back on the morning of departure. I was a pedestrian again, and what city would…

• Getting high in the Andes…

  Lima, the capital was my objective, it took 5 days of hard riding from the border to get there. 4 overnights on the way, forgettable cities, still trash everywhere… I can’t help it but this point alone makes me dislike Peru, it is too prevalent, children playing on monds of trash, it’s bound to make…

• Peru, the land of Machu Pikachu…

  Ecuador was wet, and muddy… But of stunning beauty. I was all set to go to the capital, Quito, but destiny didn’t want any of it… It had to have me cross the country by the easternmost road, thru the Amazon rainforest, let me explain! Everything was perfect in my world, I’m making good time…

• The Ecuador equation…

  Ecuador, did you know the Amazon encompassed this country as well? I had no idea, as a matter of fact, I knew nothing about Ecuador, excepted the name of its capital, Quito. And of course I had deduced that the actual equator line dividing the world in 2 hemispheres must be somewhere in this country.…

• What do you mean half done?

  I am now in Equator or Ecuador, can you believe it? This means I only have one country to recount in my mind, easy! I really enjoyed Colombia, what a beautiful country, crazy drivers but so nice! Arrived in Cartagena, our captain declared that Colombia was a motorcycle country, indeed, millions of them everywhere. I…

• You gonna be a sailor?

  As I am taking a breath here in the Caribbean sea, I still want to document the undocumented I saw in Central America. In Mexico near the Guatemalan border, I started to see some marching people, never in big groups, certainly no caravans, more like extended families. People marching in pairs or threes, carrying small…

• Central America, not Kansas though…

  At the outskirts of San Salvador, huge billboard advertisings for Denny’s restaurant and Wendy’s Hamburgers announced that the end of civilization had also reached this country. The tallest buildings I had seen in weeks appeared on the horizon, yes this is a big city. Did you know El Salvador uses American dollars as their currency?…

• Central America blur, part 1…

  Crossing into Guatemala took a while. Turns out I misplaced my receipt for the Mexican tourist visa, and the bored Señora official didn’t want to give me the passport exit stamp! Even though logic dictates that I couldn’t have entered Mexico if I hadn’t paid, she just wanted another feather in her cap for swindling…

• Now for some serious catching up…

  As I sit here in Managua, its been days and days that I’m supposed to tell the tale from 4 countries ago! This Trip is happening real fast folks, but I should finish the Mexico episode before talking about the blur that is Central America… Still reeling from the high winds of the day prior,…

• Gotta catch up…

  Well well well… Last paragraph written was so long ago! So many incredible things have happened in just a short week, I indeed need to catch up, and I will in a grand swoop. I was going to talk about my restful stay in Puerto Escondido where I stayed a whole 2 nights, what luxury!…

• How far is the ocean?

  I left Queretaro on my way to Puerto Escondido. Of course, there was to be two days of riding before reaching the ocean. First stop: Puebla. I actually stayed in a little town called Cholula outside of Puebla, where I found online a cheap but clean and great hotel. Looking for food I drove aimlessly…

• A vacation from my vacation…

  And so I am now in Querétaro, turns out it is a huge city we’ve never heard of! With a population of 1.6 million, twice the size of Marseille France, my last French address, and growing rapidly, this city is a major player in the Mexican economy. Driving through it on my way to Pablo’s,…

• Let’s go south, I need the sun…

  Well, decisions were made indeed, and I am on my way south, going solo. Steve decided to go home to heal, he rested one more day and then limped back to Tucson, or somewhere in Arizona where he has a friend, and where he could store his Ténéré. We shared each other locations on a…

• Now, for the bad news…

  So we made it to the touristy town of Creel, Chihuaha. I originally had plan to stay 2 nights here, to allow us to take the famous train ride to the bottom of Copper Canyon. This being the most scenic railroad trip on the continent, gasp! with over 37 bridges and 86 tunnels, rising as high…

• You said you wanted adventures? Good and bad, here you go

  Riding a motocycle is in my view one of the best things in life. Being on 2 wheels is the thing that first give you your independence. You start as a young boy on your first bicycle and you can go places. You can escape your parents, siblings, race your friends, discover new regions as…

• Yep, America is in Mexico

  Well it’s been a while, I’ve got to post something now, my readers await, pffft!! Suppressed laughter… So the past two weeks have been so busy, but I somehow magically managed to slim down my to do list. Done with work, can you believe the amount of work I had to do prior to leaving…

• Well… They said you should write a book!

  This actually will be the title, insert appropriate emoji here! So yes, here it is, I’m sitting down, at a computer, using blogging software and actually typing… Long ago I had predicted that soon everybody would be a writer, you’ll be able to self publish and print out your own books even if it’s crap!…