haha. it was actually a mixed group of mormons and gentiles. some were not impressed with my lecture about how good nicaraguan rum is.

disaster has struck again at home, so we are beelining now unfortunately. a month or so ago a huge ice roofalanche came down and broke my gas meter, filling my house with gas and necessitating a major operation from the gas company and fire department. last night there was another one that bent my chimney at a 45 degree angle so there is a small waterfall coming into my house.

i am pretty fucked now because there is no way in hell i can afford this after this trip and my wife quitting her job. the timing is awful.

i am in gracias, honduras right now(more easy border crossings to get here) so i am looking at maybe 11 days to hammer it for home.

Damn, that's bad news on the house catastrophes. Keep us posted on things. For now, though, concentrate on keeping the rig sunnyside up on the way home.

So sorry to hear. I'm sure it is hard to keep from warp speeding your way home. Appreciate the vicarious trip south. Thanks for taking us along.

Oh Man! Your old house that I stayed at or the new one? Man! I'm sorry to hear that. Good luck trying to get it sorted by remote control and safe travels north. I hope Peter or somebody is around who can take care of it till you're there.

I almost feel guilty for the spray now...

hey graham,

the problem is at the new house - peter owns the old one you stayed in. eddie has crashed at the new one so he can fill you in on what it is like. its a bummer.

i am in rio dulce guatemala right now. got up really early this morning and went to the mayan ruins at copan, which were really spectacular from a sculpture perspective. getting up really early again tomorrow and going to tikal ruins and then into belize tomorrow. its a bummer to rush this gorgeous country, but no choice!

on a good note, 11 border crossings down and only 3 to go, all of which should all be easy. guatemalan border officials are awesome - no doubt this country is easier and more pleasant to drive in and out of then any other country in north america.

Tikal is really cool. I also went to Copan and Palenque, but Tikal was by far the most impressive.

This next photo is for oenephore. I think the Honduras border guards are almost always having lunch, so this is the drill while I wait at the customs shack.



I'm in Veracruz Mexico now, which feels like I am almost home. One more border crossing to go. So far its only cost me about $80 to get back here from Panama.

My information about difficult Central American border crossings came from a book I read a couple of decades ago by a couple of guys who had an ambition to travel between the motorable antipodes of the Western Hemisphere in an SUV; from Tierra del Fuego to Prudhoe Bay on Alaska's Arctic coast in two weeks or less. They just barely made it, no thanks to Central American border personnel.

Yeah, I am familiar with that book. This trip would have been a lot harder even 10 years ago, and nearly impossible 20 years ago. Honduras especially used to be really hard to drive in and out of because they were trying to keep out the civil wars going on in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua.

Now that stuff is long over. The only place where security seemed a bit touchy was Guatemala - there is definitely tension there between the Maya and the latinos. Its the only place I felt uncomfortable hiking in the boonies without a local guide.

Well, I'm back. Its a shock to be here in the cold and the huge amount of snow. Don't like it much and its tempting to sell everything and head back south Eddie style.

How's the house?