Do NOT Do This With Your Helmet! – [Central America E17] Moto Travel Diaries

Hey everyone! Welcome back  to Notiers Frontiers Diaries.   In the last episode, we kind of had  our last hurrah in Guatemala. And   in this episode we'll be saying goodbye  to the incredible country of Guatemala,   and heading through the next two countries  in Central America, El Salvador and Honduras.

So El Salvador, when you're going through Central  America, you can actually, if you wanted to, skip   El Salvador, but that's not something we  wanted to do. We wanted to experience that   country if we could. But Honduras has coast on  both sides - the Atlantic and the Pacific. So   you do have to go through Honduras. And both of  those... and everything's with a grain of salt,   but both of those countries were the iffiest  countries of Central America. When it comes   to safety. Yeah. Marisa used to be a teacher,  long, long ago. And she had a lot of refugee   students from El Salvador. Yeah, they were  mostly from a town called Zacatecoluca.  

And I had always dreamed of going past there.  But at the same time, I heard a lot of their   first-hand account stories of their time there,  and some of the violence that they fled. And so,   I had that in the back of my mind as we headed  into El Salvador. Yeah, I mean there's   bad parts of every country. And we know that from  where we're from. So it's not an overall giant   boo on the country by any means, but we just knew  that we'd have to be a little bit more careful   and safe. That's right. Also, this was the very  beginning of our trip still, and we didn't have   that much experience behind us yet of traveling  the world on a motorcycle. And so this was  

the first real area of the world that we felt  like, "Are we crazy for doing this?" Now looking   back on it... It was rookie stuff. Yeah. I mean it's fine, but  at the time, my nervousness was quite high. It's   always good to have a level of caution. Yeah. And  just a little fun fact - El Salvador translates   to "The Savior." And the job I used to work at, I  used to work for Doug Lorde and David Salvatore.   And I was the Inside Sales Manager, and I had 11  people underneath me. So there's 12 of us, and I   would tell them all, I said, "We work for D. Lord  and D. Savior, and one day, one of us is going to   betray him." And it was me. It was you, because  you had to quit to go on this amazing trip. Yes.  

It was a good life choice upon reflection. So  yes, we will never forget what El Salvador means.   And Honduras means the "Depths." So it was  interesting because not just a few days before,   we were in the highlands of Guatemala. We were  up nearly 10,000 feet high. So we were going from  

the heights to the depths of Honduras. And as we  lowered ourselves in altitude going in towards El   Salvador and Honduras, you could definitely  feel it got hotter, and hotter, and hotter. So Santa Ana was a really nice colonial town  in El Salvador, and a beautiful church.   It also has some ruins next to it that we visited,   called Tazumal.

And they were the last of the Mayan  ruins that we visited in Central America, kind of like  the most southern Mayan ruins that they have. And  we visited it. It's a smaller ruin. I think we'd   gotten a bit jaded from all the other really big  massive ruins that we'd seen. And a lot of it,   it surely wasn't a grand finale by any means.  Because a lot of it just wasn't as grand.   But they had poured a lot of concrete seemingly  directly on it, without patchwork.   But they're like, "Let's preserve this  structure. So here's eight tons of concrete."  

Yeah, it had been completely concreted  over. It was still beautiful. And what I refer to it is if you just have gone  through the Amazon on a riverboat tour, and   there's a bazillion different plant lifes. And then  you go into... Your neighbor's greenhouse? Yeah.   So your neighbor's greenhouse is beautiful, so   don't poo-poo on that. But we had just seen all  this amazing stuff. That's right. It was just  

expectations I suppose. But right next to it, and  we passed a bunch of these, was a cemetery. Yeah,   I remember taking pictures through the  little linkage. And they were so colorful.   All the gravestones were raised, and  it's just kind of beautiful I think.  

I always enjoyed looking at the different  colors and ornamentation that they would put   in the cemeteries out there. And the next morning, we  climbed up the bell tower of that amazing church,   and got views of the whole city. I felt like... I  don't know how many people have played Assassin's   Creed, but when you climb all the way to  the top, and then it's like, "New Area Unlocked."  

We didn't do that jump into a hay barrel, but  it was really beautiful. And it was cool.   They let you in this little medieval  spiral staircase in the corner of it. And it   was fun. Yeah. We moved along the way to the  capital city of El Salvador called San Salvador. And it's a big city. And we rented a room in a  little hotel there that had advertised having a   pool, and we were so excited. It was so hot in El  Salvador. And we got there, and we really liked  

this place. Because it had this kind of old...  maybe it had been super grand back in the day, but   it had this charm to it. A little bit rustic now  and run down. It was like Pablo Escobar's ranch   back in the heyday of his cocaine madness, and  then it has all gone to absolute diminished-ness.   But now you can afford it. But now we could afford  it. And El Salvador, they use the US dollar. So   my brain can finally process transactions. But  they were like, "Do you want the expensive room,  

or do you want the cheap room?" And our answer  is always, "Give us the cheap room." So you know   we got the room down in the corner, but it had  air-conditioning. It was great. And they had   a pool. They had a pool. And so we got into our  swimsuits, and we ran out by the pool, and it was   just kind of like the rest of everything. Maybe  a decade, or two decades, or maybe even three   decades ago, it was beautiful, it would have been  awesome. That was probably last time they cleaned   it. Yeah, I even put my big toe in there, because  it might just like sizzle away to the bone.  

Yeah, we immediately were like, "Okay, the shade will be  good." But then we were sitting by the pool, and   then the pool guy comes out with his little  net. And he's just collecting seaweed and slime,   and I was like, "Dude, don't even bother.  There's nothing you could do that will make   me go into that pool." That is the Toxic Avenger's  birthplace. Swamp Thing. Yeah. But they did have   what you were alluding to, these milkshakes there. We  were like, "All right, milkshakes. Let's order   that." They were $1 each. Strawberry... Oh, you could  hear them making it, it was all made fresh right  

there. Those were the best milkshakes of my life.  We were there for less than eight hours, and I   think I had eight strawberry milkshakes. And they  also had $4 steak dinners with mashed potatoes.   Yeah! Big steaks. We definitely felt like living  like kings out there. Yes, and queens.  

It was just a great stay in San Salvador. It  was really, really nice. So from San Salvador,   we headed through the rest of El Salvador,  and we passed by that town where I had   many students who had been from this place  called Zacatecoluca. They have beautiful   volcanoes all throughout there. In fact, all  of El Salvador is just covered in volcanoes.   There's so many.

There's also a lot of beaches in El Salvador,  which unfortunately we didn't get to see.   We were really rushing through in a  way, because I had all of these fears.   Yeah, we were going pretty fast. I  would say we had all of these "nervousnesses."   Yes. If that's a word. Nervousnesses. And I  think a lot of them were unfounded. Because   we met people later on that had spent  weeks on the beaches of El Salvador,   and hiking through forests, and  just having a great time. Robert Death. And we   we missed all that due to our fears.  Our nervousnesses. Our nervousnesses!

I fear nothing. They call me "No Fear Notier." Yes. But I was full of nervousnesses.   And so that is a little bit of a shame. Yeah.  But maybe one day we'll go back. Who knows? So from El Salvador, we headed into Honduras. And  Honduras has this small section that reaches the  

Pacific Ocean that we had to go through. But at  the time there were actually a few good reasons   not to spend too much time in Honduras, because  they'd just had a contested election, and there   were a lot of protests and roadblocks going on.  So we decided to again go very quickly through the   country. And that is also quite a shame, because  I've heard incredible things about Honduras.   So there are street dogs everywhere in Latin  America. Just lots of dogs all over the place,   and for the most part they're extremely friendly  and wonderful. But they do like to pee on things.  

Yeah. So when we go to borders, we were with Phil  and Sapna, which was great because we like to   travel through international borders with other  people. Greater strength in numbers. Also, you   can have some people standing by the motorcycles  watching them as other people are doing paperwork.   Not only that, but I don't speak Spanish very well. So if Marisa's  watching the bike, and I have to go by myself,   she always does the paperwork first, and then I go  up there and I'm like, "Mismo, dee otro blanca... woman."  

Like, "The same." "The same as the other girl." So this was really great, and it was  my turn to watch over the motorcycles   as everyone else was doing paperwork. No,  Sapna was with you. Yeah. And foolish me,   but I'd gotten into the bad habit of putting  my helmet on the ground. And I have a modular   helmet, and I didn't want to strap it to the  bike or anything and have it fall off and   get really hot on the motorcycle. So I put it in  the shade near the motorcycle. Because it was a   zillion degrees out, and my helmet is black. And  it was open like a perfect little urinal, and a  

dog came along. And I saw the dog, and it was  like slow motion. I was like, "Nooooo!"   She was hugging the shade of the building, and all  of our stuff was 20 feet away, 10 feet away.   And I was inside the building talking with  Phil, and I see... I'm like, "Dude, that   dog is totally going to piss right into Marisa's  helmet." He's like, "Oh, no. You should warn her!"   I'm like, "Noooo!" It didn't matter. That dog had peed all  up inside my helmet. So the border between   El Salvador and Honduras did not have all sorts of  facilities. It didn't have bathrooms, or a sink,  

or water. We had Wet Ones. We had Wet Ones. But  that wasn't going to be enough. I mean the pads of   my helmet had really gotten soaked with dog piss.  So there really wasn't much to do. I only had a   little bit of water left in my water bottle, but  I took it, and dumped it in, and squeezed the pads   as best as I could. And when we finished with  the border... She had the grumpiest face ever. I had to put on the helmet, and ride for at least another two hours   with it on. Finally we got to a hotel, and I took  it off gratefully and washed it. So a couple just  

fun facts, right? This episode's all about fun  facts. But leaving your motorcycle helmet on   the ground is actually a sign of distress. So if  another motorcyclist goes by, he knows that you're   you're hurt or something. So that is another  reason why not to. And yet another reason - even   going all across the States, I would put my helmet  on the ground all the time. And roly-polies would  

get into them, weird little creatures, fire  ants will crawl up in there. In Africa, in Botswana, I   had termites make an entire termite colony within  my helmet. Yeah. But the reason   why we started putting it on the ground again is  because when we were... we went to go see a ruin.   Oh, someone had knocked the bike over. We  used to put the helmets on either side of the   handlebars, but people get really curious about  the bike. And so when we're gone, people will  

be like, "Oh, take a picture of me on it," while  we're not there. And they will have no idea that   it's eight hundred thousand million pounds with  the center of gravity that's only three degrees   to either side. Yes. And so they'll jump on,  and it'll knock over, and then that crushes the   helmet. Right. So the smartest thing we do now  is we put it on the center of the motorcycle.  

And that prevents people from getting on it.  Or creatures crawling into it. Or if the bike   takes a nap because the wind is crazy. Or dogs  peeing in it. Or dogs peeing in it. So use all   of that information to decide whatever you  want to do with your helmet. That's right. Speaking of Robert Death, he actually spent a  long time, a good portion in El Salvador and   Honduras messing around, which we did not, sadly.  But when we had a conversation back in Guatemala  

over a couple beers, we were drinking and we  were discussing what it actually took to say   that you've traveled to a country. Because  a lot of people fly in over layovers.   We knew we were burning and turning  through these two countries. And he's like,   "You know you can't just spend a day driving  through it and then say, hey, I've been to   El Salvador or Honduras." And so we made a  golden rule, or a brown rule that said in   order to say you've been to a country, you've  had to have at least one bowel movement.  

I think that's a good rule. But it  gets weird, because there's gray areas,   or more brown areas, if you will. Because then  by our own rules, I had been to Honduras...   And I haven't. And she hadn't. And she was on the  same bike. So I don't know, it's weird. That is  

very weird. But we just stayed very briefly in  a hotel in this one town, and we went to dinner   there. And we really had a great time. That very  short amount of time that we were in Honduras,   it was a wonderful meal. We'd already had  some "pupusas," which are these wonderful   filled tortilla-type things that you can eat  with all different sauces. And her kids   that she used to teach were like, "Oh, when you  go to Honduras, you have to try the pupusas."   In El Salvador, it's famous for their  pupusas. So they have great food, and it is  

a shame that we weren't able to explore more. So we had  a brief, but still very impactful time through El   Salvador and Honduras. And it does definitely make  us want to go back one day. Yeah. And from there,   we headed off to the next country in Central  America, which was Nicaragua. And in that country,   we were going to spend a lot of time. That was a  blast. We do tons of exploring. That was fun. So that   will begin in the next episode.

Oh, goodness.  Come on, buddy. Yeah, come on Modes, it's okay. You   can cut it out or not, I don't care. But you're a good dude. Yes, he is. So thank you so much for watching. I hope   you liked this episode. If you did, please give us  a thumbs up, and hit the subscribe button below,  

and we'll be seeing you next time.  Stay safe everybody. Bye! Peace.

2022-03-18 20:24

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