Bang!

Did you hear that? You know what that was? That was the sound of me pulling the trigger. That's right - I bought a motorcycle today!

You know what gave me that final push over the top? A Swiss guy I call Sondro ... I say "I call" instead of "whose name is" because his real name is something else that's really long and probably impossible to pronounce without hours of practice. He also goes by Samba. But that's so close to Simba that I just can't call him that :) Haha! Click on that "Simba" link real quick! Why in the world is his Wikipedia page so voluminous?!

Anyway, here's how it went down. Sondro and I were chatting about travel and I mentioned that I was thinking I'd buy a motorcycle and drive to Honduras. His immediate response was "Can I come?"

In the previous weeks, I had visited every motorcycle store in town (with the exception of one which has been closed every single time I've gone) and narrowed my choices down. This afternoon, Tony and I stopped by VRC Motoshop and and I came away with a new motorcycle!

This thing is probably classified as a dual-sport bike. It's basically a dirt bike that's street legal and has a more comfortable seat. It's only 200cc ... which is actually pretty big for Guatemala. It's reeeeeally expensive to get anything bigger than 200cc. Which is kinda funny, since I don't think you can even buy a motorcycle in the States that's smaller than 250cc, unless it's a scooter, right? Pretty sure Nighthawks are 250cc ...

The brand name is AHM ... I think ... I can't find anything on the internets about it. But the proprietor of the shop said it's a Chinese brand. Not too stoked about riding a Chinese motorcycle, but it only has to last for 2 months :)

Anyway, I was a little sketchy on it to start out with. I've never ridden a dirt bike before and it handles a little differently. The biggest difference is the higher center of gravity. I'll be honest, I killed it a few times while I was getting accustomed to the clutch. But I took it for a spin around town and I'm driving like an old pro now!

Pero ... a mi no me gustan los calles de Antigua porque (but I don't like the streets of Antigua because) they're made of cobblestones! It's a cool look, but it kinda shakes you up on a motorcycle. Tonight I'm going to take my first night drive - see how that goes. Pretty soon I'll be ready for passengers! All aboard!