I made it through both Phoenix and Tuscon, AZ. Got to experience rush hour on two consecutive days in major cities in 90 degree heat. I hope that doesn't happen again any time soon. I find it hard to believe that this many people would live out here in the middle of the desert, especially when there are places like SE Alaska to live.

I had dinner last night with a young man in the Air Force in Tuscon who graduated with our daughter, Emily on Prince of Wales Island. This morning, he took me around to do some last day shopping in the U.S. I am in Nogales, AZ right now and will make my "break for the border" in the morning. Hope to find a vendor for Mexican liability insurance for the cycle this afternoon.

The ride South of Tuscon was through forested hills. That is a good sign for me. I might not be a desert person.
Bill

 

well, i am over 100 miles into mexico. I've stopped for the day in Hermasilla in the Mexican state of Sonora which is North Central Mexico. i am trying to type with this hispanic key board. that is a challenge. i had to ask where the @ key is because it is not on the keyboard anywhere. (you have to use the Alt key + 64 (for some strange reason). i guess the u.s. military did not have the spanish key board in mind when they were developing the internet.

the countryside here has more interesting features in my opinion that the area in southern Arizona. I´ve learned that to be able to exchange words with somebody, all I have to do is pull out my map and scratch my head. notice that I said 'exchange words' because most of the time the word we each speak do not communicate anything of much value. the patomining is great though. that gives somebody a chance to laugh at me, which definitely breaks the ice.

i played my harmonica for a couple of teenage boys at a rest stop whose windshield cleaning business with the touristas was not working too well. already i like mexico. going through immigrations was no big deal. it took about 15 minutes (icluding going to a special kiosk to get copies made for all my documents).

time for dinner. did not eat lunch. there is a Dairy Queen right down the street. Maybe I can get them to put some chili peppers in my Blizzard so that i can get into the culture more. have a nice room for the night with security for the bike. things are looking up.

until next time, thanks for your time.
bill

 

well, i have been going almost two days now deeper into mexico. i am now in Creel, Chihuahua which is in the area known as the copper canyon. that would be´Barranca Cupra' en espanol and Creel is SW of Ciudad (City) of Chiuhahua.

yesterday was an interesting day. i started out from Hermosilla in the state of Sonora and went SE down a paved two lane road on one of the most beautiful roads i've ever ridden on. the roads were curvy and mountainous. i had to watch out for cars/trucks/buses in my lane as well as rocks which fall off the canyon walls. there was not much traffic, tho.

i passed a lot of livestock in the road which added to the challenge. i saw a freshly hit braham bull and a downed donkey. the dogs in the villages don´t seem to like motorcycles either. so riding in this environment is a little different than on Prince of Wales Island.
the bike fell over once when i was resting by the side of the road. i flagged down a pick up truck as i couldn´t get it righted by myself even with the luggage off. Four caballeros help me put it back up and then wouldn´t leave til they made sure the bike started. then after they left, i heard them honking. the honks were to warn me because when i got back on the road, there was a dump truck right in the middle of the road stopped to do repair work right after the next curve from where i was stopped. the honking of my helpers alerted me to the danger. so i truely believe that my guardian angel(s) are on the job. also, my bike was cutting out at high rpms right before i stopped. after the bike fell over and was re-righted, i had no more problems with it.

i´ve passed two military check points so far. at the first one, the officer went through my two pannier boxes, and didn´t seem to like it too much that i couldn´t understand him. his helpers knew some English, tho, so it went ok. i spent the night camped out in the hills. really got cold last night. it was not real easy finding a good spot as there are not many side roads.
i have a room at ¨Marguarita´s¨Hostel here in Creel. This is sort of a tourist town in that this is the first place in the last two days that I have seen any other folks no Mexican. There are 6 other guys on motorcycles (like mine) at the hostel - 5 from Okla and the other guy looks to be european. I hope to talk to them tonight. I get dinner and breafast with the room.

Will head south from here. just not sure how yet.
bill

 

latest update. on my way today toward the state of Durango. will go south in the central part of the country for a day or so, then hope to head over to the Pacific coast (or whatever the coast is called between Baja and the mainland. the following is a synopsis of riding around the rim of the Copper Canyon:

saw several van loads of tourists so just followed them to see where their paid guides were taking them. went on several gravel roads that paralelled the canyon. it was nice to be able to go at my own pace. talked to two mexican fellows who own a restaurant in omaha (as in nebraska). they are originally from this area and now can afford to return as touristas. that is kind of interesting. folks have been very friendly and helpful. i wish our country was more that way with folks when they come to the U.S.

it is nice to be able to speak english here. lyle, the guy who showed me how to use the phone invited me to his house for ribs and beer tonight. he also just invited an english couple we just met on the main street riding on a bmw cycle. (henry and sarah - riding double) we only talked for a few minutes, but henry was hinting around that we should ride together on the way south of here. they are riding solo (motorcycle talk for not going with anyone else). i checked out a road today that went along the rim of the copper canyon, then south in case i might want to take it out of Creel. not in very good condition so i am very hisitant to try it on my own as it is a gravel and dust road. might do it if i was riding with somebody else to help me pick up my bike if it falls.

lots of indians selling stuff in town and at the viewing spots around copper canyon. the ladies and kids wear traditional brightly colored dress. got stung by something on the ride back to creel this afternoon. just took a benadryl so that and the sunshine is starting to make me drowsy. maybe i might just take a siesta nap on the square on one of the benches.

it was nice to spend two days in one place and rest up a bit. looking forward to hitting the road again.
bill

 

i left creel about 11am yesterday and backtracked about an hour to get on the main road East out of the Sierra Madres. had to take a 4-lane for a few hours to hit the next secondary hwy going south toward the State of Durango. the 4 lane was not controlled access so that made the trip interesting. everybody clipping along at a high rate of speed with the possibility of somebody turning onto the freeway at most any point. even past a momma pushing a baby carriage along side the road.

the 2 lane road south was still in the state of Chihuahua. It was beautiful with not nearly the curves as in the mtns. followed a high chapperal looking down on a river valley below most of the way. started looking for a hotel close to sunset by thinking there would be one at the next town on the map. only thing was, there was no town where it said there would be. asked at the petrol station and was told that there was a town 2km off the main road. to ask for Senora Sylvia and she would put me up. found the town, but it took a while to find the senora. a couple of people gave me very detailed instructions on how to get there, but i couldn´t understand any of the words. finally, a young woman simply pointed to the pharmacy and said ¨pharmacia¨. so i went there. that is where i met Hiram, a 14 yo boy who was tending the pharmacy. thru traslation by the bus driver who was sitting in there (seems the pharmacia was the bus stop for town), they figured out that i needed a room for the night. had to wait for sylvia to get back, so went walking around the little town. next to the central plaza was the cathedral and next to that was a basketball court. to make a long story short, i ended up playing basketball with 3 elementary age boys in my heavy cycle boots.

went back to the pharmacia and sylvia showed me the room. didn´t matter what it was like as it was getting dark and this was the only town for miles. turned out the room was spartan but very satisfactory. for 150 pesos (less than 15 bucks), i got a room with lights, two beds, a bathroom/ shower and was told that there would be hot water (aqua caliente) in 20 minutes. so i stayed in a motel owned by the pharmacist in town. ended up going back to the b-ball court with Hiram, sylvia´s son. we went to his house first and he showed me around there casa. very nice. again, i played basketball in motorcycle boots.

met an older Dutch fellow on the road toward Durango today who is bicycling to South America. he started in anchorage. turned out that he stayed in the same room I did behind the pharmacia two nights ago.

on to the state and the town of Durango. I am writing this from the town of Parral where supposedly Pancho Villa signed an agreement with the president early last century to share power. a Mexican American at the hotel, Umberto, told me the history of Pancho Villa in this area. He also gave me a walking tour of the town.
well time to move on.
bill

 

welll, i am definitely in a tourist town now. i have rented a room in a reort hotel on the strip in Mazatlan. thought it was time for a break from the uncertainties of the real mexico so i am in "tourist mexico" now. still can`t get the hang of this hispanic keyboard.

yesterday was very interesting. rode both in the high desert and a pine forest to finally end up in a tropical rain forest. how is that for one day's ride? i went thru the city of durango and then immediately started to climb into the sierra madres mtns again. went from cactus to thick pine forests to tropic forests all in one day. the road from durango to outside mazatlan was even more curvy and steep than the previous roads i had been on. i passed the tropic of cancer which was 6000 ft. that was only 20 miles from mazatlan. that means the road dropped to sea leavel in very short order. the steepest and windiest (word?) i have ever been on. i kept passing little crosses by the side of the road which i took to be memorials for the folks who did not make that particular curve. (and that was not even counting all the donkeys and cattle who were hit as well). i stayed the night in a mid-size town, concordia, about half an hour from the coast.

i stopped at the hotel on the road and the guy said they were full. he pointed at a building up on the hill which he said was another hotel in the middle of town, so i went in that direction. i asked a lady if i was on the right track and she said to keep going. only thing is that there were only one-way roads in the middle of the town. i passed the square and a guy said i needed to turn at the previous road. so i went around the square and the cathederal again and the road was one-way. so i saw the same guy again and he repeated his directions. so i went around the church a third time and still could not figure out how to get to the hotel. this time the guy was waiting for me in the middle of the intersection and directed me by hand signals to turn right the wrong way down a one-way street. the hotel was just a block away. had air conditiioning, hot water and two beds with a view of the town below. well worth the trouble.

took a shower and walked up to the square and a lot was going on in this little town. there was mass in the cathederal, food stalls in the streets, and a huge birthday party at a buidling down a side street. i followed the sound of the music and found a kiddy party in progress. they had about 150 kids with a piñota and a kiddie DJ with mostly moms and a few dads.

rode on down the road the next morning and found the "strip" here in Mazatlan. got breakfast at McDonalds and wished i had gone to a local cafe instead. oh well. NFL is on the TV but the beach is better.
stay tuned.....
bill (on the way south)

 

i can´t remember where i left off on my trip report, but i am writing this at a cyber cafe in San Blas on the coast - a quiet little town that has a few ex-patriots walking around. It has a huge plaza with the mandantory big catholic church on one end. had a cervaza with a retired couple from Minnesota last evening at a patio cafe. we were swapping travel stories. they have been all around the world. they particularly enjoyed SE Asia - especially Thailand and Viet Nam.

I did spend two days of R & R at a resort hotel on the tourist stip at Mazatlan. But when it came time to write about the experience in my journal, i found it interesting that i did not have much to say. i mean, what can you say.....? lay on the beach, drink piña coladas, get under a beach umbrella, drink a marguarita, go to the oyster bar next door, and try the local beer, etc, etc. i did make a new friend, a canadian named brad. he was obviously there by himself and we ended up at the oyster bar together (now that i think about it, i never did see anybody eating any oysters there) Anyway, Brad reminded me of a character from the Red Green show. In fact, he admitted that the show was a favorite of his.

yesterday morning i had breakfast with an american who has transplanted himself semi-permanently in Mazatlan. Glen had ridden a bike like mine to the tip of Argentina about 7 yrs ago by himself. He even wrote a book about the experience, "Terror on Two Wheels". The terror part came in when he was kid-napped by guarillas and tramped around the mtns of Columbia with them for 5 weeks as their hostage. he admitted that he was lucky to be alive. i was curious about what advice he would give. got some very important suggestions from him on what to do and what not to do. mainly cultural things. he did recommend going through Columbia which i thought was interesting.

my guide book says San Blas is a surfing town with a lot of old hippies hanging around. several beaches south of here. guess i better get out and check them out. if i am still in town tonight i am suppose to meet the minnesotites on the plaza.

better to make tracks while the sun shines. come to think of it, i´ve only seen clouds once now while being in Mexico.... and they were way off on the horizon.
bill

it is hot and humid here. but the ride down the coast has been beautiful!! was hard to get to sleep last night at the hotel as a group of ranch hands showed up in the bar-restaurante last night and closed the place down. they were trying to out-yell each other after a time. the road has been up high above the ocean most of the time. some times the view is looking down sheer cliffs. should get through acapulco tomorrow.

it has still not rained on me in mexico (two weeks now)

the road ahead is pretty sparse as far as towns go. hope to get somewhere with a place to sleep before dark.
bill

 

i can´t remember when i last sent an update. it has been hard for me to even know what day of the week it is. i am still traveling down the pacific coast. i haven´t seen another ex-patriot tourista is a couple of days now. it has been lonely in that respect but a part of the trip that i have been expecting. the road contiues to be good and the scenery spectacular. lots of things to see along the way. it makes it hard to keep my eyes on the road. and keeping your eyes on the road is a very important thing to do here because of the ¨topes¨or ¨sleeping policemen¨, ie the speed bumps. Often times there is no warning that they are there and sometimes they are on the road in the middle of nowhere. It does accomplish the task of slowing motorists down. I kind of like that. It makes you slow down, especially in the village or town areas. you have no choice.
the countryside is definitely what i would call jungle now. the most intense shades of green. the vegetation grows right up to the side of the road. this morning is was like riding thru a green tunnel on curvy roads. almost like a carnival ride, complete with buses blasting by you in the other lane of traffic (or in your lane of traffic occasionally).
i passed thru Acapulco yesterday afternoon. a young mexican on a harley sportster caught up with me and asked if i had really ridden down from Alaska. he found it hard to believe. said he wanted to continure on with me south, but he had to work there as a waiter in a fancy hotel. he told me how to get out of downtown Acapulco and for that I was very grateful. i have had my fill of resort towns now. mazatlan was enough. i definitely like the smaller villages better. i did get lost again on the far side of town. i thought i was following the highway and ended up at a deadend at a very popular beach site for the local mexicans. also, lots of buses for mexican tourists which i gathered were from Mexico City, the largest city in the world. Acapulco is the closest beach resort city to that town. i had to backtrack out of there in the heat of the mid afternoon sun. in ended up on a beautiful secondary highway that ran right along the beach. it wasn´t on my map but i discovered that it was going in the right direction. again, only mexicans used this road. no tourists from out of the country. i got a room at a quaint little hotel right off the beach. very popular area but nobody else at the hotel. just me and the peacock in the interior courtyard. i kept hearing it in the early morning, but didn´t know what the sound was til i saw the big bird by my door the next morning. the owner let me put my bike in his walled yard for the night. i have yet to see any other people traveling by motorcycle since i left creel, in the copper canyon area, several days ago.
well, i have been in mexico over two weeks now. still have not seen any rain. i´ve seen clounds only a couple of times. it has been hot & humid, but nice when i am riding. can´t complains, so i won´t.
til next time,
bill

 

i spent night before last at puerto escondida and saw a lot of ex-patriots. had breakfast at a bakery (with real coffee!!!!) that had folks speaking english at the tables on either side of me. got to talking to one couple and discovered that they were from Brit Columbia. That they use to live on the Queen Charlotte Islands. On down the beach a ways, i met a guy who works in Valdez in the summer and lives here in the winter. he knew some of the same folks as me. rode on down the coast and met a mexican fellow at a gas station who was interested in my bike and trip. i could tell that he was really envious of my being able to do such a trip. i realized that most any of us in the U.S. could acutally do something like this if we really wanted to do so, but that this guy and other fellows that i have met along the way just did not have the resources. the desire, but not the resources. it seemed a bit unfair to me. anyway, this guy suggested that i turn off the highway onto a little secondary road toward the ocean. he said i would find two villages there that would be worth the 4 mile drive. man was he ever correct. i want to go back to this one village. one narrow street the village was on paralleled the beach up and down small hills. the village was definitely laid back with little cafes, shops, and hotels. folks walking, not many cars, and a beautiful view. i would probably have to learn to surf if i ever made it back there again.

i made the mistake of having to ride after dark last night. i ran out of towns before i ran out of sunlight. i hope never to do that again, but i said that the last time it happened. this time was a bit more interesting a ride as the wind started to blow. on top of that, this area is apparently a drug growing area (marijuana and opium) as i was stopped 3 times after dark by military checkpoints. i guess they are suspicious of anybody on the road in this area after dark. it was kind of surreal having the soldiers go through my panniers with flashlights in the dark with the wind howling around us. at least there was a moon out last night.
bill

 

i came thru the guatemalan border a half a day early. that was a TRIP!! sort of like the Twilight Zone if you have ever heard of that old tv program. when i have recovered psychologically from that experience i will try to write about it. i am hanging out at a town just off the Pan American Highway. Traffic is backed up for several miles and nobody seemed to know why. so i came back to this town for a beer and also found this internet cafe. every hour or so i ride back out to the main highway to see if there has been any movement.
may have to spend the night here. at least now i have some local currency after trying to find an atm machine that works at 4 different banks (or was it five?).

I had a great thanksgiving dinner of chicken stew, rice, tortillas, and a local guatemalan beer at a truckstop cafe next to the hotel I was in last night. fortunately the guy at the hotel took u.s. dollars. he wouldn't go for my left over pesos, though. niether would the bank. will try to sell them in antigua when i get to spanish school. my one week class starts on Monday.
hasta la vista,
bill

now that a couple of days have passed, i wanted to share how my Thanksgiving Day went. i had intended to spend the day at the town of Tapachula on the Mexican side of the border with Guatemala. That didn't happen. Rode on a good 4-lane road all morning. About 30 miles from the border, a guy in civilian clothes steps out in the road and flashes an official looking ID at me. had the colors of the mexican flag and his name, etc. this guy points to my tourista sticker on the bike's windsheild and asks for my temporary vehicle import permit. then he starts talking real fast and keeps pointing to the back part of the seat of the bike. i thought he must be immigration for mexico and i knew that you were suppose to turn in this vehicle permit before leaving the country. finally i convince him that i am not leaving the country yet, that i intend to spend one more night in mexico. at least i think i convinced him of that. so he gives me back my permit and i go on my way. about 10 more miles down the road, but still about 25 miles from the border, a second guy with the same id steps out in front of me on the highway and tells me to pull over. he also points to my sticker. i remember that upon entering mexico, i did not actually go thru mexican immigration and customs until about 20 miles past Nogales into the country. so i figure this guy must be immigration and wants to certify that i am acutally taking the bike out of the country and have not sold it illegally. i had to post a bond upon entry to be sure i don't sell the bike.
well i was wrong about who this guy was. he also indicates that he wants to ride with me on the back of the bike. i figure he wants to go to the immigration office near there. wrong again. he points the back way to the guatemalan border crossing. we ride about 20 miles to the border and this guy has me pass all the cars lined up to cross the border. turns out that he was an expediter agent who works on commission to facilitate the paperwork of the border crossing. he has me pull into a walled parking area and introduces me to his counterpart who has a guatemalan ID. these two guys work together as a team; the mexican guy reels the "client" in from several miles withing Mexica. he identifies potential customers by their tourist sticker on the vehicle. the guatemalan guy facilitates the entry paperwork for his country.
i ended up with an entourage of about 5 guys: the two "agents", a guy to watch the bike, a guy to stand with me to reassure me, I guess, while the other two dudes are doing their thing with my passport, original title, and drivers license and the mexican paperwork from when i entered that country. i also was assigned my own personal money changer for guatemalan quetzales. i really didn't want to get money at the border but decided to pacify this guy by unloading about $20 worth of mex pesos. i got a lousy rate (which i figured would be the case) but was later glad i had a bit a local currency once i was in guatemala. my whole group of 5 guys went with me as i went through the various stages of the process: mexican "migration", guatamalan migration and customs, vehicle permit (supposedly good for 4 different central american countries), and fumigation. the last step was a cursory spraying of some chemical on my tires.
when i was done with all of this, my personal guatemalan agent said I now needed to pay off the other 4 guys for their services. i reminded him that our agreement for his fee was for EVERYTHING involved in the process. He grumbled about that, but he had already given me my paperwork and a deal is a deal. he came out alright, i got through the border and everybody seemed happy - except, perhaps for the money changer who said he would have much perfered U.S. dollars over Mex pesos.
And that is how i ended up in Guatemala a day earlier than expected
only 4 more central american border crossings. can' wait!!!

 

hello from antigua, guatemal. the plan is to stay here for a week as i am enrolled in a spanish language class for 6 days. to get here, i left the pan american highway and took the backroads -as the traffic jam did not dissolve on the main highway after several hours my first day in this country. this smaller road was incredible. it was paved (mostly) but was made up of a constant series of switchbacks. i climbed several thousand feet in very few miles. no guard rails, but much to see. it was hard keeping my eyes on the road. guatemala is much poorer than mexico. much greater population density as well. also, i noticed many different kinds of churches than in mexico. almost as many as in north carolina....
i did stop in a larger town for breakfast - at a McDonald´s. I know i said i would not do that again, but i was craving some coffee. Nescafe was getting old. and McAdoo´s has photos on their menue of what you are ordering - even here. so i opted for the desyuno tipical (traditional breakfast) and it was great!! scrambled eggs, refried beans, corn tortillas, cheese wedge, sour cream, picante sauce and fried plantains as well as coffee and orange juice. and nice friendly service. right after that, i got lost on the city streets. the highway just sort of goes into the downtown and then i am on my own trying to figure out the maze of city streets. but i always get through. so far.
i stayed one night at a touristy town on Lake Atitlan. a place called Panajachel. this lake is a travel destination for the "adventure traveler" set. lots of beautiful mayan handicrafts, though, for sale throughout the town. enjoyed the break from the unknown but tourist towns are not as interesting as the regular local places. visited a well known local native market at a town off the main road on my way coming here to antigua. and now i have just finished my 3rd day of spanish classes. Anna, by tutor, is probably wondering why she was assigned to somebody like me with very little spanish. she is very patient, though. several missionaries are here as fellow students at the school. one couple with the missionary aviation fellowship was in zaire the same time we were back in the '80's. we know some of the same people. what a small world!!
i went on a field trip sponsored by the school to a coffee plantation this afternoon out from town. there were 3 other american students who went, all from portland - two physicians assistants and a river kayak guide. we cheated and spoke english to each other (even in front of the teacher who went with us. oh well). we took local buses to get there. it was so nice to be able to communicate easily again. tonight i will be going out to a local restaurant with a group of 4 ladies from Denver who are staying at my hotel. one of the ladies owns a home in nicaragua so i have been learning a lot about that country from these gals. i´m really looking forward to going there now. sounds like another great place to visit.
the plan is to meet sarah and the kids in mid-december in Costa Rica for Christmas. Can hardly wait.
write to me directly if you get a chance. email: bsaltland@hotmail.com i try to answer all emails directly if possible. especially if you have questions about my trip. i enjoy stopping at the little internet cafes along the way and checking emails. these stops make for a perfect rest stop. the world is really getting to be a much smaller place: email access in small towns in guatemala, mayan indians talking on cell phones while waiting along side the road for their "chicken buses" and american movies on cable in most hotel rooms here.
until next time,
bill

 

i´m starting to get into the pace of being stationary here in Antigua. that has me worried a bit. starting to feel a sense of security as things are easier when you know what to expect. no unknown challenges just around the corner like when riding on the road. but it has been nice to just stay in one place to rest and relax although i am getting anxious to get back on the road. i guess it´s therapeutic for me to just let my mind wander as new things flash by along side the road. there is always something new to look at and think about. at least that has been my experience. just pulling over for a rest stop can be interesting. folks generally want to know where i´m from and where i am going. also, the big question is how big the motorcycle is and how fast does it go. not as fast as a chicken bus. my last afternoon with Ana, my spanish teacher, we played the card game Skip Bo. The idea for this was to teach me how to say my numbers. I think it also provided a break for Ana from my bad Español. She definitely needed a break. My last morning in Antigua, i walked around in the early morning light looking at the empty streets and taking photos of the old colonial buildings. the city is definitely a beautiful place. i changed out the blown headlight fuse on the bike and discoverd that i was about to loose the seat when i removed it to get to the fuse. one seat bracket had lost both it´s bolts and the other two brackets were about to do the same. the blown fuse was a God send - literally. luckily i had replacement bolts. I secured all the bolts with loctite. it sure made the seat more comfortable. a lot less vibration. i had to go through Guatemala City on the Pan American Highway soon after leaving antigua. huge city with confusing roads and a LOT of traffic. i got off track from the main highway twice. the signs were either absent or unclear. the second time i was lost I stopped and asked the police for directions. i guess i didn´t understand them because i ended up circling around and came upon the same two policeman a second time. they decided to just show me how to get to the main road by telling me to follow behind them in their police pickup. so i was given a police escort out of town, so to speak. I did see a Taco Bell at the edge of town. To me that seems very ironic, a Taco Bell in Central America. I guess that is where the world is headed. Too bad. Excellent food in this part of the world. For my last night in Guatemala, I stayed in a mid-size town closest to the El Salvadore border... a place called Jutiapa. Found a great hotel just off the town square within a half a block of the main shopping area. By shopping area, i mean very narrow streets with lots of vehicle and pedestrian traffic. Again, i was the only gringo. It was fun just walking around and looking at the people and the shops. They were definitely looking at me. Whenever I caught somebody´s eye, more likely than not i was rewarded by a big smile. Ate dinner a local restaurant and ordered chicken. I usually don´t go wrong with chicken.... especially when i can´t reconize any of the other items on the menu. It was good, very good. Again, I believe I was the only guest at the hotel.