So our grand plan was to take the dotted (4wheel) roads out of Dulce Nombre de Culmi, east to the Rio Coco. There the road crosses Central Americas biggest river (maybe by a bridge or boat..?) and goes back into honduras again and continues up to the Leimus border. We thought this might take two days and maybe we would find someone to stay with and food to buy from a house.
The map shows that the road crosses through a Biological Reserve so should just be beautiufl jungle. What a great way to go. Two river crossing, the Wampu and the Patuca seem to be the toughest problems, but the Patuca should be big enough for a lancha or canoe to fit the bike on.
We asked a few men in Culmi about the road. They confirmed what we hoped. "yes the road goes through"
So we took off early. the road was steep and pretty. some small water crossings. Pine forest then jungle. the soil was all packed sand. birds of paradises were growing wild. After about 2 hours, we came to an intersection, chose, continued, then reasessed. We turned around and stopped an oncoming truck, - one of 2 we saw all day.
So we asked the nice men in the pick up with semi-automatics and pistols, for directions. The driver got out, told us we were on the right road but that it doesn't go to rio Patuca. you have to take a 5 hour boat from Wampu to Patuca. We said ok we will continue. thanks. Maybe his truck cant make the road , but our bike can we thought...
They caught up again down the road at a stream crossing and he asked us if we were still going to continue. so we said yes. He said, ok, you will see a house at the top of a steep hill , then it goes steeply down hill and you go left. That was a pretty crucial direction becasue the left, we never would have taken. it was much smaller than the other road. but we took it.
Some parts of this road was super thick jungle canopy, great trees and flowers. some cool colorful birds. Mountains in the distance. The road started getting very red and we were very happy it wasnt raining because it looked like it had the potential to be very clay greasy. This road had nothing that resembled a switchback as we know them. The road just slightly turned and gets steeper. After 3.5 hours total we got to the Rio Wampu. it was way too big to cross, and remember this is the end of the dry season. The road continued in both directions along side the river and across on the other side. We went back up 50yards to the last house of which there were very few. I walked into their yard as they were feeding about 7 excited pigs. Yip, vectors everywhere in this country. snorting all around me.
This man seemed pretty sure that these roads did not continue very far. they all end. You can not get to the Rio Patuca from here. you have to call by raido, the man with the motor canoe to take you 5 hours down river. but it is too low to go now and he cant take your bike.
that was pretty deflating news so we decided to go sit at the river, make some gatoraid, and probably turn around. bigfatbummer
Then a nice cowboy comes trotting up and askes us what we are doing.. He seems pretty confident that the road continues in our direction. infact "the machine" just came through not too long ago and the road is good. The pig farmer came down on his horse too and they discussed it. i asked him what he thought and he didnt want to speak against his friend.
So we heard what we wanted. Maybe mister pig farmer just doesnt travel much...? So i told him we would try it and maybe we would be seeing him on our way back.
We continued and went through a cattle guard immediately and, because it had rained a couple days before, we then went through a big cowshit mud puddle. But, tracks of "the machine" were evident so we pushed on. more shit mud puddles, more compressions filled with water. more tight cattle fences. I was stupidly optomistic and wanted to continue.
we went for a couple hours, tough conditions. super steep. Walking alot for me. feet in the mud for both. so many river crossings, I few up to the exhaust pipe. some small some very wide. most pretty shallow but some up to my knees. most were clear others i had to stand in the water and point out the big rocks for Steve.
In another hour, we saw another cowboy with a big gun, and he said the road will not go through, only on foot. but there is a man with a boat you can hike to.. blah blah. I guess we were still hopeful.
Eventually we happend upon a few groups of cowhands walking home. we asked two groups about the road continuing on and they said yes, Rio Patuca, it goes through. so we went on. At the next intersection, the only intersection we had to wait and ask the guys again. the last group we didnt ask, we just drove by and smelled pot.
when they caught up to us we asked them and they didnt know anything, not from around there. staring very intensly, i dont like them lets go. So we went for the side where they said their village was thinking we could ask again. immediately the road went staight into the stream and kept going down it out of sight. so i have to walk with the machete weilding boys. who are staring at me strangley and are too quiet for my comfort. they wont get in front of me, even when i slow down on the edge and feign a shoe problem or something. all i hear is click click of machetes and splashes of boots in the water.
i finally see steve, still in the stream wating for me and i give him the oh-my-god eyes and i ride with him down the river.
when we hit the next cattle fence i couldnt get on and off fast enough to keep the boys at a distance. creepy. Our only creepy encounter. never saw a village.
this was at about 12:30 the time we said we would turn around by if we thought we had to or if it was too uncertain. We were feeling good with the way the cowhands said yes it goes through, no problem basically. And the road was relatively wide. it was only for cows and full of shit puddles, but it was a road. why build a road all the way out to here in the middle of nothing and not continue on to the bigger river to move timber...?
maybe an hour more. We seemed to hit the end of the road but had passed an intersection so asked another man with a big gun if it is the other road we want. He said neither continue, you cant get there, only on foot. he could even pinpoint our position on the map. this would have been a good point to believe the negative.
I told him that we are going to see where it goes, you might see us again. This is just how i answer someone who´s advice i am blatenly ignoring.
When we hit the next river that was surrounded in mud, we took a break. ate some stale pound cake. i crossed the river and took a walk down what turned into single track until i saw a house in the distance. we decided to drive to the house.
crazy singletrack with a heavy bike and two full boxes later the stunned ladies at the house, who had good sence of humor confirmed that it was single track form here on out and we would get lost. it was after 1:00 and we had been gone 6 hours. So we were sure to arrive back at the shit town after dark for another night at the shit hotel. wow, low point.
back on the single track, through the river, stuck in the mud again. this time i get covered from the back tire. insult to injury. half hour later, could this happen? rain, rain rain. now we are in a whole different position. the roads are dangerous. i walk a lot on the steep stuff after having already slid backwards on dry roads and bailed off. running up hills. bags off to lighten the load, run back up and get them. skitch on the back to slow the bike due to caked brakes and locked wheels. bigger rivers. muckier rivers. gave a wave to the pig farmer. at least the cowshit puddle stretch is over. back into the awsome, thick jungle and "Romancing the Stone" flash backs with mud rivers running down the road cuts.
log in the middle of the road where it hadn´t been before.
Oldest bandito trick in the book.
so i get off the bike and check out the immediate jungle, coast is clear so i pull and lift and push, look in the jungle, and bend things. And the tree is all hung up on another. So i have to hold the bike on the steep hill while steve gets the tree out of the way and we quickly take off. Scaarryyy.
no one shows up. either it really fell or the banditos got bored waiting for a truck.
We made it back tired, cold and soaked to the bone and happily drank day old coffee and ate microwaved fried chicken in the gas station, where we repeatedly apologized for the mud puddle we left in our wake on their shiny white floor. Then we drove about 10 minutes into town in the dark, hung every item that was soaked and laid out about 100 bills of soaked money and wrinkled up passports.
now we have to go to Las Manos to cross and cant cross through the biologial reserve which unfortunately is far from pristine.
our big adventure, that we couldnt find any information on .... smacked down.
but no flat tires, no banditos, no submerged mufflers and no injuries. Just a bit humbled
