Mexico Archives - Iron Roamer

Crossing the Border into Guatemala

After a relaxing time in San Cristabol it was time to tackle the border into Guatemala. I first wanted to get a little closer to the border. But not too close as border towns are infamously chaotic places. I chose Comitán de Domínguez.

Comitán de Domínguez

I arrived early to Comitán. As usual the weather forecast was for rain everyday. But I am discovering the pattern. It is nice in the morning and afternoon. Then late afternoon and into the evening it rains or thunders. So the plan was to get to Comitán before the rain started.

Comitán surprised me! What a nice place. Hardly any foreign tourists and the town plaza was beautiful.

Of course there were the usual amazing churches.

Then the rain struck.

It didn’t last long though and I was back to the plaza to enjoy some wings and beer 🙂

Checking out of Mexico

The next day I tackled the border into Guatemala at La Messila. I had done some research but there wasn’t the detail I wanted to really understand where to go etc. So hopefully here I can provide a little bit more for those who may wish to follow.

First I needed to check out of Mexico. Where to go? Where to go? As I got close to the border I saw on the other side of the street some buildings that looked like an Aduana. I turned around and headed back.

No one was around. I walked into building #1 in the photo and was greeted by a security guard. He said to wait a minute. A little bit later an older man came to the desk. He looked at my passport, visa, and my 500 peso entrance fee paperwork. He handed my passport back and that was it. He didn’t say a word.

As I walked outside, another security guard asked me to pulled my motorcycle up to building #2. He then directed me to the Banjercito bank booth and told me to wait.

Eventually a gentleman came and took my paperwork for the $400 USD temporary import permit for my motorcycle. He then went outside and took a photo of my motorcycle VIN and came back inside. Moments later he handed me back $400 USD and that was it! Pretty simple. No hassle.

Crossing the Border in Guatemala at La Mesilla

Now for the hard part. Well …. it really wasn’t that hard. Just more chaotic.

So there is a long stretch of no man’s land between when you check out of Mexico, #3 in the photo and reach the Gautemalan border at #4 in the photo.

I reached an open gate at the border, #5 in the photos. I did stop before the gate as it looked like a government building there. But I was waved on by a money changer who said the fumingation and border was on the other side of the gate.

Just on the other side of the gate, at #6 in the photo, is where you have to get your motorcycle fumingated. It cost 11 Q or about $2 Canadian.

I then exchanged my Mexican pesos with the money changer that showed me where to go. He was the only one there. I didn’t have much so I really didn’t care about the exchange rate. Plus he had helped me. But the rate seemed reasonable.

Right next door at #7 in the photo is the immigration office. They were really friendly. I just filled out some paperwork, and he stamped my passport. That was it. I hope that is all that was required … huuummmm. I guess I will find out.

The Aduana for my motorcycle entry is just next door at #8 in the photo.

The people at the Aduana were equally as nice. I gave him my registration, passport and drivers license and he spent what seemed like an eternity filling out paperwork. I then had to go next door to pay a fee of 160 Q or about $30 Canadian. Then it was back to the Aduana where he had more paperwork to do ha ha. Poor guy. After all that he came out to my motorcycle and put a import sticker on my windshield.

I was now in Guatemala! I let out a cheer. The policeman next to me said welcome to Guatemala 🙂

Riding into Guatemala

As I left the Aduana it felt like I was riding into the abyss ha ha.

I didn’t want to stay too close to the border but still close enough because I had no idea how long it would take to cross. I decided on Huehuetenango.

Huehuetenango

The hotel I stayed at, La Chacra de Joel Hotel, was tucked in off the street in a quiet treed area.

As usual I decided to explore the town a bit. Boy, there wasn’t much there that I could find of interest.

Tripadvisor did recommend a coffee place nearby, Fuego Café. I headed there hoping it would be a bit a refuge in unknown territory. It was.

I had a victory coffee and sandwich for crossing another border 🙂

My Route from San Cristabol to Comitan on May 15, 2017

My Route from Comitan to Huehuetenango on May 16, 2017

Merida, Mexico

After visiting Chichen Itza I booked another two days in Merida. The reason for this is because I wanted to go to Cuba and the only flights out through Interjet were Thursday and Sunday. My time in Merida was relaxing.

I spent a lot of time researching hotels to stay in Merida. Normally I try to stay within walking distance of the historical centers of towns. However, all the hotels in Merida by the historical center were too expensive. Compared to the parts of Mexico I have been to, Merida is rich. The prices of accommodation reflected that.

The Hotel Zar was on the outskirts. Its benefits for me though were that it was next door to the UPS store who would be delivering my new credit card, and there was a Starbucks nearby 🙂

The hotel had mixed ratings but I found it really good. It was clean, new and modern, good WiFi, hot showers even if you had to let the water run a bit before getting to the hot water, and the staff were friendly and accommodating. They even said they would keep my motorcycle and motorcycle clothes for free while I went to Cuba!

Starbucks

Yes, I went to Starbucks most every morning while in Merida. People love to bug me about that. Some people hate Starbucks as it is a US international company and the boutique coffee shops are in these days. People feel a sense of pride and I would even say smugness about going to a boutique coffee shop. The same goes for craft beer. But that is a different post ha ha. Now, I like these too!! I can be smug at times ha ha. I am in such a place as I am writing this now. But when I have lived in a foreign country or when traveling long term like I am now, Starbucks gives me a piece of home. It is a familiar place in what sometimes is chaos either physically or mentally.

I met a Barista at the Merida Starbucks who spoke near perfect English. I asked her how she learned. She said no classes, just through watching reality TV ha ha. After that she remembered my name and greeted me by name each time I showed up. This made it feel even more like home.

Rich Merida

As I mentioned, Merida is a rich city compared to the other parts of Mexico I visited. Here there are functioning street lights, well maintained roads and nice houses.

Montejo Boulevard led to the historical center from the Hotel Zar. The Boulevard was originally created as a street for the wealthy to live. Many of these home still exist. However, now they have been converted into museums, banks and company headquarters.

Police

Of course, I notice the police where ever I go. The Federal Police always drive nice vehicles, and well kitted, the State Police less so, and the Municipal and Transit Police are in old vehicles and wearing tattered uniforms. In Merida things were noticeably different. The police here drove fancy cars with low profile lights and nice paint jobs. There were also lots of motorcycle cops riding Harleys and what appeared the be BMW 650 dual sports. All of them nicely kitted out.

Historic Merida

It is a long walk to the Merida historic center from my hotel. Every town in Mexico seems to have a Zacalo with a large church at one end. They are the meeting place for people. There is always something going on there. Merida was no different.

La Negrita

One night I looked for a cheap local place to have some Mexican food and enjoy some Mexican atmosphere. I have to admit that up until this point I had been mostly getting cheap food at the local OXXO, a local grocery store and from the Burger King across the street.

OXXOs are everywhere in Mexico. They are like the 7-11s in Canada. They have cheap food well within my budget. I have gotten food from them lots while I traveled Mexico.

Burger King was just convenient.

There was also a McCafferty Irish Pub next to my hotel so I had a meal there to eat some veggies.

Too look for someplace different I checked out tripadvisor. A highly rated restaurant was La Negrita and it was suppose to be cheap. It was a long walk away but I wanted to experience something more Mexican while in Merida. It didn’t disappoint.

Rainy Season

When I left for dinner to La Negrita it started to rain. This was the first rain in a very long time since I have been in Mexico. In fact, I really haven’t even been checking the weather forecast I just assume it will be sunny out.

When I got back to the hotel I checked the forecast for Merida and Havana. Rain for the next 7 days. I guess the rainy season had finally arrived. I will have to start watching the weather for my rides.

My Location from April 11 to 19 and April 27 and 28, 2017

Cancun Conundrum

On arriving back in Mexico I stayed a night in Chetamul and then rode to Cancun to face a conundrum. I was looking forward to Cancun as I have heard so much about it. But my first priority was to get my new Visa credit card after mine had somehow been compromised.

Waiting for my Visa Credit Card

I booked Monday to Friday in the Hotel Margaritas to wait for my new credit card which Visa said they were couriering over. It was suppose to reach me in 2 business days. The one catch was that they said I needed to personally sign for it and that they couldn’t give me a tracking number yet.

Soooooooo, for the next three and a half days I waited and waited and waited in the hotel lobby for my card to arrive.

And spent the evenings in my room, playing Age of Empires and watching Hogan’s Heroes. Love that show.

On day two I finally got a tracking number which helped. It said the package was in Cancun. Later the UPS site said it was undeliverable because the address was wrong. WHAT?! I gave the hotel name twice to the Visa rep I talked to. And read the address to him a couple of times. I got the hotel staff to phone UPS and explain where I was. UPS said it would be delivered the next day.

It didn’t arrive!

By this time I was extremely frustrated. I could feel it welling up inside me. I shot off a couple angry emails to UPS just to vent. They didn’t answer and that made me even more ticked.

By the afternoon of the fourth day it finally arrived. For a moment I was elated. I went to my room and opened the package. The elation came to an abrupt end when I realized Visa had sent me the exact same card I already had! How was this going to solve the problem of my card being compromised?!

I Skyped with Visa and after being passed to three different people they discovered they had made a mistake. I guess those things happen but I was so pissed. I had wasted 4 days in Cancun waiting for this. Visa gave me 5,000 Aeroplan miles to compensate, but this hardly made up for everything. All I could do is phone Visa back when I had another hotel for them to send it to. Cancun was too expensive for me to stay longer.

Searching for Hotels

I had gotten my hotel for a good price from Monday to Friday. But I had wasted those days waiting for my Visa. Everything is expensive in Cancun 🙁 My hotel was going to be double the price over the weekend. At the same time I wanted to see Cancun, especially the famous beaches! So I bit the bullet and booked the weekend at the same hotel.

Cancun Beaches

The hotel had a free shuttle to the beach. I took advantage of it and on Saturday and Sunday I headed for the beach.

When I first saw the white powder beach and the crystal clear turquoise water I got a huge smile on my face. It was truly amazing! I spent most of the day walking up and down the beach in the water.

Cancun Beach Strip

It was hot walking the beach and by the afternoon I could feel myself getting burnt. I headed to the strip to see if I could find a cool place for a drink and use wifi.

The strip is made to party! It is filled with clubs and tourist stores.

This was certainly not the Mexico I had know for the last few months. I settled on going to Hooters as it was one of the few places open. It was only the afternoon so everyone must have been still sleeping.

It was cool inside and had wifi. My server? Well she was from Russia … huuummmm. Hard to tell I was in Mexico.

After my “Big Daddy” beer I saw this sign.

I guess I won’t go back on Sunday ha ha ha.

On Sunday I went to Haagen Daus for ice cream instead. I couldn’t believe it … 136 pesos or about $10 Canadian dollars for 2 scoops of ice cream! Things are very expensive in Cancun! Definitely catering to the reach tourists on vacation. That wasn’t me. This is everyday life for me.

While beach were so nice, the prices weren’t. It was time to leave Cancun.

My Route on April 3, 2017

My Location from April 4 to April 9

Back to Mexico from Belize

Alas, it was finally time to go back to Mexico. This was not my original plan. Before my surgery the plan was to go to Belize and then onto Guatemala. My surgery changed things. Because I spent 2 months at home recovering from surgery, I needed to get my motorcycle out of the country fast. However, I hadn’t seen everything in Mexico I wanted to.

So I went to Belize to get my bike out of Mexico in time and to see the country. Instead of going into Guatemala today, I was heading back into Mexico. I would go to Guatemala from Mexico.

Ride to the Border

As I packed up to head back into Mexico I realized I was going to miss Belize. It had grown on me. The people were really nice. Often people said hi to me as I walked the city. And they didn’t even want anything. I was also going to miss Spoonaz and my server Jolene. And my morning coffee at La Petit Cafe. Oh well … leaving places and people is part of my life as a traveler.

Like every day here, it was hot in the mid 30 degrees C. However, once I started to ride it was OK.

I just hoped the newly updated Belize maps would be a lot better. They were. That is until I reached the border town. Once again I got twisted around. My GPS lead me down to a dirt road and to a waters edge. It was up to me to find the border on my own. It really wasn’t that difficult. I just followed the main road north.

Belize Border

It was now time to do the border dance again. First the Belize border.

I pulled into the parking lot at #1 and went into the building at #2 to go to immigration. However the first booth was to pay $40 US worth of tourism departure fees. Good thing I had US money as I didn’t have enough Belizean dollars left.

After that is was the immigration booth where I handed in my departure form. They directed to teh vehicle booth in the far building labeled #3 in the photo. This was the same booth I attended when I entered the country. There I handed in my Temporary Import Permit and passport for them to cancel the permit. It was pretty simple. They just stamped over the passport stamp where they documented the import of my motorcycle.

From there it was back on my motorcycle to leave. But as I rode down the road I encountered another booth. This one was to check my passport and to make sure I had completed everything I needed to leave. The officer was really nice and wanted to know all about my trip. Now off to the Mexico border.

Mexico Border

As I rode up to the border I parked in the parking lot at #2 where I had done all the documentation when I crossed into Belize. I went inside to go to immigration. People were lined up with their entry cards but I couldn’t find any in the building. Huuuummmmm. So I watched where people were coming from with their cards in hand. It turned out there was a building at #1 where a customs officer questions you and hands you an entry card.

Once I had the card I lined up in building #2 with my card in hand. The immigration officer just asked a couple of questions and stamped me in.

Now I had to get my Temporary Import Permit for Mexico. I attended Banjercito to get it. I handed the woman my passport, vehicle registration, my entry card, and $400 US as a deposit. The woman noticed right away that my vehicle registration was a copy. She said she needed the original. Back out into the parking lot I went to get the original registration from my panier.

Back inside i gave it to her and she completed lots of paperwork. This is where it got a bit confusing. First she asked for 500 pesos as a tourism fee. I gave her that. Then she asked for $50 US (in Spanish) for something that I didn’t quite get what it was for. I handed her $60 US and then she motioned something. In the end she didn’t give me $10 US in return and I forgot all about it until I was on my way to Chetamul. So I am not quite sure if I was taken there or what happened. Also confusing was the 500 pesos as I paid it before when I left Mexico and not when I entered. However, I understand it is suppose to be paid when you enter.

In the end though I got my Temporary Import Permit and my tourism card.

As I rode out I passed a final check by customs officers at #3, but they waved me through as they were already searching all the cars they could handle.

I was now back in Mexico

Chetamul

Since I was crossing a border I didn’t plan to ride many kilometers today. So I stayed in Chetamul for the night.

My Route for April 2, 2017

Crossing the Mexico Belize Border at Chetamul

Crossing the Mexico Belize border at Chetamul would be my first real border crossing. The others did not involve checking myself and motorcycle out of one country and then checking us into another. I had done the research and today would be the real deal. Here is what happened.

Mexico Border

As I approached the Mexico border there were trucks and cars in line. There were no signs, but having done my research, I knew that the place I wanted was at the far end of the border complex. I labelled it #1 on the photo.

So I went around the cars and trucks and headed further down. I saw the building I wanted and pulled up to the window. The customs officer took my passport and asked for 500 pesos as an exit fee. I was a bit suspicious and asked if I could pay at the bank. I knew I had to go to the bank anyways to check my motorcycle out of the country. He said yes.

I pulled into the parking lot labelled #2 and headed into the adjacent building. As I entered the door I saw Banjercito. The clerk at the bank was really helpful and spoke a little English. I gave her the Temporary Import Permit and a copy of the registration for my motorcycle, along with my passport and my tourist permit. After a lot of paperwork and signatures she came out to my motorcycle and took a picture on the VIN. Back inside she gave me the $400 US cash I had paid as a deposit for my motorcycle to enter the country way back in Tijuana and I was done. EASY! Now it was the Belize border.

Belize Border

As I left the Mexican border I knew the next stop was fumigation of my bike. My research had told me that it was just at the entrance to the Belize border labelled #1 in the photo below. But it wasn’t.

Soon after leaving the Mexico border there was a newer building with a tunnel like a car wash that a vehicle was going through. I put an arrow where the fumigation is now in relation to the border crossing. I pulled around the “car wash” and parked to the side. A man game out and sprayed my tires with a hose attached to a generator. For that I paid 50 pesos. I didn’t have any Belize dollars yet. Good thing they accepted pesos.

The plan was to enter the free zone after the Mexico border and before the Belize border to get some Belizean dollars from an ATM. After the fumigation I approached the free zone and saw that it was really run down and I had to pay to get into it. I decided not to go. I had pesos and US dollars so I hoped that would work.

As I entered the Belize border a guy flagged me into the parking lot I have labelled #1 and into the far building I have labelled #2 in the photo.

Once in the building the first step was to fill out a Belize entry card. Then wait in line at immigration for the officer to check my passport and card. That was easy. Behind the immigration booth I saw another booth with a sign that said “Motor Vehicles.” That must be the place to check in my motorcycle.

The great thing about Belize is that they speak English! That made this process much easier.

I gave the woman behind the counter my passport, entry permit and motorcycle registration. She completed a lot of paperwork with carbon copies. Old school! Then stamped my passport and entered my motorcycle information on it. She handed me my motorcycle import permit and asked me to meet her at the booth outside I have labelled #3

As I walked back to my motorcycle the man who had flagged me over approached me and said I needed to pay a 150 peso Belize tourist fee. Huuuuuummmmm. I paid it and he gave me a receipt. It must have been legit I guess.

I road over to the booth where the customs officer was waiting for me. She checked the VIN to make sure it was the one on my registration and then I was free to go. YAY! I was in Belize.

Motorcycle Insurance

Motorcycle insurance is mandatory in Belize. As I left the booth the insurance building is on the right. I labelled it #4.

The gentleman inside was nice and we talked about my trip. Obviously, he had dealt with motorcycle adventurers before. The insurance for 2 weeks was 46 Belize dollars. They took credit cards so that is how I paid.

I did it! I crossed my first border. An easy one I know, but good practice.

Riding to the Belize Border

With my servicing done it was now time to ride to the Belize border and out of Mexico before my Temporary Import Permit for my motorcycle expired on March 28. It would take a couple of days to get there. The first day was getting to Villahermosa.

Villahermosa

The people at the BMW dealership warned me about the dangers of riding to Villahermosa. Of course I was also warned before about riding to Veracruz ha ha. These warnings are pretty typical. I don’t totally discount them though. I believe situational awareness is important in having a safe journey. Recently there had been a lot of violence in Veracruz and I was aware of that. But most of the violence is not aimed at tourists. Still, it is important to know and keep your wits about you.

Once again I took the toll roads to Villahermosa. It was a non-eventful ride.

I stayed two nights in Villahermosa to give my hernia a rest as it healed. There was a Starbucks near the hotel YAY! Other than that, there isn’t much to do in the city.

It was now time for a long ride to Chetumal at the Belize border.

Riding to Chetumal

It was a great ride today despite being long. I had charged up my ipod and listened to tunes most of the way. Very relaxing. I stopped every hour for a rest.

One of my favorite stops is at The Italian Coffee Company. They are scattered along the toll roads.

They usually are clean with acceptable washrooms 🙂 They also have pretty good coffee. Today this Oreo Frap hit the spot!

At Chetumal I stayed at a nice hotel near the Malecon.

Chetumal

Chetumal itself is a pretty quiet town. The streets had hardly any cars on them. Sometimes it was like a ghost town. I arrived early and went exploring for a bit. It was so nice to be near the water again. I grew up near the ocean and so for me it is sort of a comfort thing. As I walked down the malecon a smile came over me. Just the sea breeze and hearing the waves.

The next day was a work day. I would be crossing my first real border where I had to check me and my bike out of one country and check us into another.

In preparing for my adventure I had read a lot of blogs and took notes. I particular interest were the border crossings. I had some anxiety about these.

To relieve the anxiety for this border crossing, I went over my notes and looked at photos of the buildings I needed to go to. I visualized how I would do it and what I would need. Then I prepared all the documents needed to have them ready. This took a few hours of preparation. But I still had time to go out and see the sights. Here are the photos of Chetumal.

As I went to bed I felt pretty good about crossing the border the next day.

My Route for March 23, 2017

My Location for March 24, 2017

My Route for March 25, 2017

My Location for March 26, 2017

Back in Oaxaca

March 14, 2017, I flew back to Oaxaca.

Airbnb

When I arrived I took a cab back to the Airbnb I had left two and a half months ago for 2 weeks ha ha leaving all my belonging behind in my room.

Susanna at the Airbnb was kind enough to take care of my bike and belongings while I had my extended stay back home for surgery.

As I entered into my new room, all my belongings were waiting for me inside! What a great place :-). I can’t say enough about Susanna and her Airbnb. They were so kind and accommodating. I will be forever grateful.

Meeting Fellow Adventurers

I couldn’t stay for long at the Airbnb though as I was meeting Curt and Lynette for drinks and dinner. It was going to be a long day 🙂

Curt and Lynette have been traveling the world for 3 years now. They have been to Europe, Russia, Asia, Australia, and now central america. You can find there website at http://www.twoxtw.com.

I have been keeping track of them as they have bounced from country to country. When I saw we were going to be close to each other in Mexico I wanted to meet up with them. However, I was just going to miss them. Fortunately, they decided to stay an extra day in Oaxaca so we could meet up.

When I got to the location where we were to meet, Brad Ringstmeier, another world motorcycle traveler was also there!

His website is at http://perpetual-moto-discovery.com/.

Our time was spent exchanging “war stories,” discussing what it meant to be a motorcycle adventurer, and advising each other what lied ahead on our trips since I was heading south and Lynette and Curt were heading north.

It was really nice to meet fellow travelers, but I was also tired from a very long day. I could also feel a cold coming on.

A Week in Oaxaca

I had booked a week in Oaxaca to rest more from my surgery and get readjusted to life in Mexico.

The plan was to see the sights I had not seen while I was there before. Plans, plans, plans, … instead I ended up with a bad chest cold. Those plans changed because of it. I just wasn’t well enough to go out and instead needed to recuperate before heading out of Oaxaca in a weeks time.

The week was low key and consisted on going to my coffee shop, Cafe Brujula, for my morning coffee before walking back to my Airbnb to rest up.

It was nice being back in the sun of Oaxaca. Things were pretty much the same. But gone were all the Christmas decorations including the tree and ice rink.

The Zocalo was still the buzz of activity with things happening everyday.

The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption was as beautiful as ever.

And now the flowers were starting to bloom.

This “spring” all seemed strange since it has been hot all of December when I was here last. It had hardly felt like winter. I guess it was spring now ha ha

The week went by fast. My cold was still pretty bad. But I needed to move on as my Temporary Vehicle Import Permit for Mexico was to expire on March 28. That meant I needed to have my bike out of the country by then.

My Location for March 14 to March 20, 2017

New Year and Back Home Hospital

It is almost the new year, 2017, but I am more focused on heading back home to Vancouver, Canada, for my daughter’s wedding.

New Years Eve

To usher in the new year I planned on going to a Mezcal bar called In Situ.

Mezcal is all the rage here in Oaxaca. There are Mezcal stores, tours and bars everywhere. Tequila seems to have taken a back seat. Unlike Tequila, which is only made with blue agave, the Mezcal varieties are achieved with a mixture of different agave families.

I started my New Years Eve with a walk around town to see what was going on. The Zacalo was buzzing with people setting off fireworks. Unlike Canada, there seems to be no regulations. They were being set off everywhere. Some just missing people watching.

It was getting close to midnight so I headed off to In Situ. To my surprise it was closed! I guess it is more of a lounge than a party spot.

There are lots of bars and clubs in town so I walked around a bit to see if there was anything that would interest me. Most of them were pretty quiet and I didn’t feel like going in by myself. So I went back home.

As midnight struck there were lots of fireworks being set off. Interestingly though, there were more fireworks on Christmas Eve. It appears that the biggest celebrations are reserved for religious events.

Like the old guy I am, I went to bed 🙁

Going Home

More important than New Years was that I was going home on January 4 to attend my daughter’s wedding on January 14. The plan was to return back to Oaxaca on January 18 and stay there until the 31st.

The flight home was uneventful. I picked up a rental car and went to my youngest son’s place in Langely where I would be staying while I was here.

The next day we met up with Carllee and her fiance Ian at where else ….. a Mexican restaurant in Vancouver for dinner.

Hospital

After I got back to Nick’s place (my youngest’s son) I started to feel ill. I thought it may be just travel fatique and perhaps something I ate. As the night wore on it got worse and worse. I was vomiting and had diarrhea. Later rather than sooner I realized this was not an ordinary illness. I was in lots of pain. Nick drove me to Langley Memorial Hospital.

The hospital energency room was packed. There was no place to sit. But I had to sit somewhere. I took a chair that was obviously reserved for someone but there weren’t there now. I didn’t remain seated for long. In pain I went to the floor and vomited. That is one way to by-pass emergency room line-ups! It wasn’t long and I was in a hospital bed hooked up to morphine.

Once the pain had subsided I went for numerous tests. The results? I had a hiatal hernia. Complicating matters was that my stomach had slipped through it and was now twisted in my chest! Apparently this is rare for adults. This would require surgery.

The surgeon at Langley Hospital told me the specialist in this procedure were at the Surrey Hospital. A transfer ambulance later I was there.

Decision Time

For the next three days I had nothing but jello and juice 🙁 And for the last day nothing! The Doctor came into my room and said I could have the surgery right now if I wanted.

After some discussion, he said there would be a 20% chance I would miss Carllee’s wedding. But if I didn’t take the surgery now who knows when I would get in again. That meant my trip could be in jeopardy if it took months. Compounding the problem was that my motorcycle permit in Mexico expired on March 28 which meant I needed to get the bike out of the country by then. In the end though it really wasn’t much of a decision. The 20% chance of not walking my only daughter down the asile were odds I was not willing to take. I said no to the surgery.

With the decision made, and my twisted stomach settled down, I was released from the hospital to attend Carllee’s wedding.

My Location for December 26 to January 3, 2017

My Flight on January 4, 2017

I did make a stopover in Mexico City though.

Comitán de Domínguez

Checking out of Mexico

Crossing the Border in Guatemala at La Mesilla

Riding into Guatemala

Huehuetenango

My Route from San Cristabol to Comitan on May 15, 2017

My Route from Comitan to Huehuetenango on May 16, 2017

Starbucks

Rich Merida

Police

Historic Merida

La Negrita

Rainy Season

My Location from April 11 to 19 and April 27 and 28, 2017

Waiting for my Visa Credit Card

Searching for Hotels

Cancun Beaches

Cancun Beach Strip

My Route on April 3, 2017

My Location from April 4 to April 9

Ride to the Border

Belize Border

Mexico Border

Chetamul

My Route for April 2, 2017

Mexico Border

Belize Border

Motorcycle Insurance

Villahermosa

Riding to Chetumal

Chetumal

My Route for March 23, 2017

My Location for March 24, 2017

My Route for March 25, 2017

My Location for March 26, 2017

Airbnb

Meeting Fellow Adventurers

A Week in Oaxaca

My Location for March 14 to March 20, 2017

New Years Eve

Going Home

Hospital

Decision Time

My Location for December 26 to January 3, 2017

My Flight on January 4, 2017

My Location from January 4 to January 12, 2017