And So It Ends...

One of my worst fears was played out and as a result, the cycling trip has unfortunately ended.  On September 10th we were about 5km from the Nicaraguan border when two young bandits jumped out from the side of the road with a gun and machete.  They ordered us off the road and to get down so no one would see us.  At first I thought it may be a possible kidnapping but later it was clear they just wanted as much as they could get.  It was obviously one of the worst experiences of my life and I am quite thankful both Trevor and I made it out in one piece alive.  They threatened us many times by pretending they were going to shoot their gun and even gave me a couple of whacks with the machete (only hitting me at the last second with the flat side, not the sharp edge).

We gave them our money, but they continued to take all our cameras, music players and both our front pannier bags.  As a result, I also lost my Netbook.  Luckily they didn't take our Canadian passports but got our Swiss one's.  I am somewhat surprised they didn't take everything.  

They eventually were satisfied and crept back into the bush with our things.  We then jetted off on our bikes towards the Nicaraguan border to seek help.  A few kilometers later we met with the police.  I explained the situation but they were useless.  They kind of laughed it off and said nothing could be done.  This incident totally proved the point you are pretty much on your own when you enter Mexico and head south.  

Since we had no credit or debit cards, we were left in a predicament of how to return home.  Luckily Trevor had some Euros in one of the pannier bags they didn't take.  He also had his laptop.  Major lifesaver.  That night we took a minibus back to Choluteca and spent the night there cancelling our credit and debit cards.

The next morning was frustrating as it was Sunday and nothing was open.  We first needed to exchange more Euro into Honduran Lempira and that took a lot of time and stress.  But eventually I managed to find a place to exchange (Texaco of all places).  From there we took another bus to the international airport in Tegucigalpa, the capital city.  Since we still had the bikes we wanted to know the logistics with shipping them back home.  It again was a frustrating process as no one down there does anything or helps much.  Seemed like we couldn't catch a break anywhere.  To make matters worse I also purchased some chocolate milk at this grocery store nearby and drank a good quarter of it before confirming with others it had gone bad even though it hadn't yet expired.  Ugh.  Luck has definitely not been on my side these past few days.    

After spending a night in a filthy hotel, we cycled to a good bike shop where we finally caught a break.  The owner spoke fluent English and provided us with a ride to the airport once the bikes were disassembled and packaged.

That night I wasn't feeling great again so it was another rough night.  To pass time, however, it was nice watching the men's US Open tennis finals and later the GOP debate on CNN.  

The next morning (Sept 13), the owner of the bike shop kindly drove us to the airport with our packaged bicycles.  We still needed to pay the excess fees as we couldn't pay them online.  This caused another problem and once again added to our ongoing frustration.  The agents made it clear we could only pay the excess fees in cash or by credit card.  When I told them what happened and that we do not have any credit cards they said there was nothing they could do.  We did have a card number but they said they needed to physically see the card.  Money was tight as we still needed to pay the steep airport tax of $37.80USD each (what we were paying for I have no clue because that airport is crap).  I tried to persuade them to make some sort of an exception but got no where.  Time was of the essence as I only had about an hour or so to sort everything before the flight took off.  I then rushed to a nearby HSBC to see if I could exchange more Euro.  Of course, nothing ever goes right when you need it to as they didn't exchange Euro.  I then went to a local bank, same thing.  I finally found a bank that exchanged but they wouldn't accept our 100EUR note as it was not crisp and clean.  I ended up exchanging what I could and then rushed back to the airport.  I was quoted beforehand it would cost us 3,166 Lempira ($168USD) to transport both bikes and returned with that amount and some.  Unfortunately the agent forgot to mention that was just for one bike.  Major frustration as we didn't have enough for the two bicycles.  I was getting real annoyed but was determined to leave that hell hole as I didn't want to stay another night.  The agent suggested calling the credit card company to see if she could work something out.  Trevor had a scan of the card on his laptop and showed it to her.  She then said why didn't we show her this in the first place as that was all she needed to put the transaction through.  Geez, thanks for letting us know that in the first place.  So all that running around turned out to be all for not.

From there we still had a few obstacles to go through as we had a few connections in Atlanta and LA.  All in all it worked out and we are now back in Vancouver with the bikes.  YAY!

Leading up to the robbery, our time in Central America was alright.  We had a great time in Guatemala.  We met a young journalist who works for one of the national newspapers called Prensa and interviewed me about our journey.  It was very cool to do the interview.  We also did a half day in Antigua and climbed up Pacaya Volcano.  I love checking out volcanoes so this was pretty neat.  Unfortunately we didn't see any red hot lava nor did we get to walk around the crater.  

In El Salvador, the roads were smoother to ride on but I had my first punctures since Washington which was strange.  I think it was all that wear and tear on the tire.  On September 9th, the first day of my string of stressful days, we had some problems withdrawing money.  In a town called San Miguel, Trevor tried to withdraw money from an ATM but it ended up eating his card.  We spent the entire morning trying to get it back but in the end it was no use.  It took me ages to get help and when I finally got someone on the phone, they told me we had to go the center and pay some money in order to get it back.  It sounded too complicated so he cancelled the card and we left.    

So all in all, the last 5 days or so have been horrific.  From here, we plan to do what we need to do to get back on our feet and then we will decide what to do next.  Right now, there is talk of continuing to travel around but this time doing it the old-fashioned backpacking way.  Then possibly in the springtime of next year we will hop back on the bikes and cycle the USA and Canada from West to East and circumvent Europe.  Of course these are just thoughts running in my head at the moment.  We'll see though.  At the end of the day one of the main reasons for embarking on this adventure was to see more of the world.  Just have to decide what the next step is to go about doing this.  Stay tuned...        

Here is the small article in the Guatemalan newspaper, Prensa.  

Me on Pacaya Volcano in Guatemala.