A near miss - and slumming it ... Honduras style

Frustrating lines of traffic faced us as we crawled south from SPS earlier today. With poor road conditions the norm, the traffic weaves it's way all over the road at the best of times; and with lines of traffic both ways this creates some in interesting circumstances. We had been leap frogging semi trailers and buses for an hour or so, then found ourselves stuck behind a car driver that unwilling to commit to an overtaking maneuver. He would pull half way out to go round, and then change his mind and swing back in behind every time. This had been going on for five minutes or more with no end in sight.

In a fit of impatience, I pulled out to go round both the car driver and the truck in front, but found myself woefully short of room with an oncoming semi trailer. I very brief internal debate commenced - do I try to swing back in behind the erratic driver (if this is even a possibility) or do I look for an alternative option. With time running a bit short (seriously short) I elected to hit the offside road shoulder, meaning that the north bound semi would pass between my bike and the rest of the south bound traffic. Taking a bike onto the broken and potholed shoulder at 120km is heart stopping at the best of times, let alone with an oncoming laden semi about to hurtle past the handlebars in seconds. Once the semi had cleared, the next problem was bringing the bike back up the couple of inches of road shoulder and back onto the roadway at speed. No dramas for the crusty demons I'm sure, but plenty of dramas for an middle-aged try-hard.

It's been a long while since I have had a cock up as serious as that, and i can't even claim a burst of testosterone-driven machismo. It was an error of judgement, pure and simple. The error cost me a round of drinks at the bar later that evening, but I was bloody glad to be there to pay for it.

We have pulled over for the evening at Gloria Finca, about 80km south of SPS. This is part ranch, part accommodation; and all built in lovely stone and old timber. The rooms are luxurious, and all have a clear view of the lake that is less than 50m away. Having dined sumptuously in the onsite dining room, and are now ready to fall over in the usual end-of-day stupor.












Accommodation : $27 per person.
Dinner : $50 for 4 people (including drinks, dessert, and a round of cocktails)
.......... Doing it tough ............

Location:80km south of San Pedro Sula, Honduras