Border hopping in a turtle shell

No Mames Video

Timotep Video

The right direction

As we drove south into El Salvador, people spoke differently. Our favorite phrases to note change were the ways of giving car directions (and the accompanying hand gestures, often misleading), mini mega supermarkets and variations on that theme, and the wacky names and heights of the speed bumps.

child's play

We played soccer with Chiapan teenagers amidst the trees along Lake Tziscao, Mexico. Three on Three. They won because they grew up playing around those trees, so know the lay of the land better than us. We camped along the lake that night.
We often gave crayons and notepads, which we had bought in bulk at Costco, to kids we met along the way.

¡las minas!

During the six weeks traveling with Maxima, Anthony's 1994 Nissan, noone really got it on, not with eachother, nor with anyone else (as far as I know), however we all had fun checking out the local "minas." Maxima only stalled twice in six weeks and often chimed in while we drove, singing a friendly "ding ding".

Stall in the name of love

While Anthony and I grew closer, Spencer and I found ourselves arguing on more than one occasion. I was loud and he was chill. Our first talk was in a bakery in San Cristobal, Chiapas where we went our separate ways. The next was in Northern Guatemala when the car stalled. Capoeira and chapulines-filled tlayudas brought us closer as well, to see eye to eye.

drunk shrimp

The shoot em up incident was follow by an afternoon at Champerico beach chugging Gallo, a fine Guatemalan beer, with a local shrimp farmers and his giant tasty shrimp. Since Spencer held his alcohol best, he drove us back to our hostel in Xela.

Hunting the hunted in Guatemala

By September 1st we were running for our lives. We got in the car as fast as we could, after filming the angry, armed farmers on pickup trucks. As soon as we got far away and assured that we weren't shot, we returned to document the scene of the crime.

The Spanish Wall

Anthony and I sang "Vamos Mujer" and "La Muralla" by Quilapayun zillions of times and Spencer turned me on to some cool Brazilian hip hop. The three of us were very conversant in Spanish although Anthony sometimes corrected me and was our official native speaker to deal with the border guard dudes.

Spicy Mix

The three of us had just met before leaving Los Angeles and we all brought different cd selections. It was an indoor musical exploration, with the car windows rolled up and A/C on so as to not breathe in the fumes of the many trucks we got stuck behind on single lane mountain highways.

Eggs to Legs

The first real leg of adventure was up and crossed. We found ourselves driving through hours of ruthless desert, finishing our Trader Joe's dried fruit stock which was to last us the whole six weeks. Some of it we threw out after a pit stop mid-desert where we left the car doors open and giant flies invaded and occupied the car. For the next two days, we had fly friends along for the ride.

Anthony drives past Anthony

After camping in Las Cruces, New Mexico and then El Paso, Texas, the time had come to drive into Mexico. Since the car was in Anthony's name, we decided he should drive us over. We had stopped at a tourist information center in the town of Anthony, Texas and they recommended we take the main bridge (of 5 possible bridge crossings). Before we knew it, we had crossed the Rio Grande and were driving the streets of Ciudad Juarez. We are our first huevos rancheros breakfast there - six weeks were to follow of the same.

The fire heats up

Our first stop was Tempe, Arizona, temperature pushing above 100 degrees farenheit. At the time, it seemed very hot. But it was nothing compared to the heat we felt in Playa Ventura, Mexico when the three of us slept in a tent and ran ice cubes along each others' backs to cool off.

August 6, 2004

It was August 6, 2004 and we were finally on our way south. I sat in the back seat of Anthony's 1994 Nissan Maxima as Spencer drove us out of Los Angeles on the 101. I had sold everything I owned to be in that car on that day. Spencer had a flight booked back from Panama City on September 15 and Anthony had family waiting for him in Santiago de Chile. I had a fire within.

honeyroad tripbird

welcome to real world on speed where i reminisce about the six weeks i spent in a car with spencer and anthony driving from los angeles to san jose, costa rica in august and september 2006

I once got inspired

I once got inspired and then I got tired
I've burnt my purity with politics
and my creativity with activism
I think about US intervention in Nicaragua
when I used to think impressionism and Monet
I hear the pueblos of Guatemala demanding justice
when I used to hear hear the tension of a minor ninth chord
I see indigenous cultures being decimated
when I used to see colors shapes and beauty in all
The color of capitalism was freedom
in my safe bubble of american youth
Why be active? Why talk?
It has entered my system like a strong dark Merlot
the nicotine, the cachaça, the pisco, the corona
now corruption runs rampant
elite governing amock
I've entered the world of social forums and change
an attempt at diminishing the aforementioned atrocities