Our short stay in both countries probably doesn’t do justice to them, but we didn’t feel like ‘exploring’ these countries more thoroughly. Why? To be honest, Central America didn’t touch our hearts so far.
For the last couple of weeks it’s been hot, humid and busy with cars and people shouting ‘Gringo’ all the time. Sure, there are paths away from it all, but the whole situation kind of sucked the energy out of us to explore these routes. Is it a shame? Will we regret it? Perhaps… we’ll never know. It’s these ‘lows’ that make us appreciate the ‘highs’ even more, so we know they are here for a reason. And we know we are lucky to even be riding here, but we just miss the ‘freedom’.
For us, travelling by bicycle is a way to experience complete freedom; when it doesn’t matter how many kilometers you cycle in a day, no fixed destination, being able to just pitch our tent anywhere, cook our pasta meal and enjoy amazing sunsets or even freezing nights. Tough routes we like, we have a fetish for hard work and being one with nature and that’s what’s missing for us here in Central America. We are hostal bound, spending our evenings surfing the internet and that makes us lazy! We are sooooo looking forward to go camping again, to feel the freedom again, to be able to do what bicycle travel should be for us…
So, we spend 1,5 day in Honduras and all we can remember is ‘He Gringo!’ and ‘He Gringa!’, dry landscapes, a lot (and I mean a lot!) of trash on and near the roads, poverty and the usual sweaty days. Same goes for El Salvador actually. With the exception of Playa El Tunco, where we spend a few days hanging around in the swimming pool trying to get back a bit of energy. The people we do actually get to talk to are really, really friendly. That’s really a positive thing we’ll hang on to remembering these countries.
Don’t get us wrong, we are still happy gringos on a bicycle and wouldn’t want to live a different life, but we are looking forward to the real life on a bicycle again. It’s all part of travelling for such a long time and it makes us who we are. Lessons of life! 😉 See you on the road!
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