12. Guatemala the beautiful.

Guatemala is truly a beautiful country and a great place for adventure travel.
Trek through rain forests, climb active volcanoes, explore Maya ruins, dive into a Spanish colonial past in Antigua Guatemala, or just enjoy the beautiful sights of colorful Indian markets, mountain lakes or tropical rivers.
Every foreigner I met who had spent some time in this country wants to come back.

Check out the BAMBA website for a start, you´ll love it!

http://www.bambaexperience.com/

It is a pity there are still so many children in Guatemala who would have absolutely no chance of getting an education and progress in life without the help of the many Rotary clubs, NGO´s and religious organizations who come to this country to dedicate their time and resources to the poor.
Every day, at the Guatemalan airport, tens of tourists arrive, bags bulging with medication, clothing and all sorts of goods. Medical doctors travel to remote villages to do surgery, give dental care or train young mothers how to care for their babies.

Nothing makes you feel better than knowing you have made a difference, if only in the life of one underprivileged child.

BUY A MILE FOR THE CHILDREN OF AK´TENAMIT AND TREAT YOURSELF TO A DAY OF HAPPINESS!! 1. Buy miles: Buy one or more miles at $10.00 per mile. There are 3,500 miles to be sold. 2. Sponsor a local event when I am in your area (a ride, a barbecue) for a $200.00 minimum. 3. Become a Student Sponsor at Ak´Tenamit for $30.00 (one month) or $360.00 per year 4. Become a Health Care Partner for $10.00 or $120.00 per year. Donating is easy, just go to http://guatfund.org/ , tick the box ¨Trans America ride¨and authorize a charge to your credit card. For more information, see Chapter 5 of this Blog. JOIN THE RIDE FOR AK TENAMIT. If you would like to join me for a day or a week or if you would like to organize a local ride or rendez vous somewhere along my route, contact me!! LIFE IS GREAT, ENJOY THE RIDE! JEAN VAYSSIER THE RIDING DUTCHMAN transamerica.tenamit@gmail.com

12. Ak´Tenamit Class of 2009

Ak´Tenamit publishes a news letter about the project, which is well worth reading.
http://aktenamit.org/newsletter.pdf

Congratulations Graduates
They did it with your help!
These happy faces are the Class of 2009 of the Tenamit Tom Moran Education Center.
They received a unique, vocational education
that is appropriate for their rural environment, and will grow into teachers, entrepreneurs, social workers, community leaders and other agents of positive change.
The school combines classroom time with work experience at organic farms, restaurants, shops and internships with local organizations
Most are the first in their families to complete high school.

Please sponsor a student and transform a young life.

If you want to sponsor a child, become a health Care partner or simply want to buy one of the 3500 miles of the ride , just go to http://guatfund.org/ , tick the box ¨Trans America ride¨and authorize a charge to your credit card.
For more information, see Chapter 5 of this Blog.

LIFE IS GREAT, ENJOY THE RIDE!
JEAN VAYSSIER
THE RIDING DUTCHMAN

transamerica.tenamit@gmail.com

11. Donations coming in!

Mary Ellen of the GUATEMALA TOMORROW FUND informed me they promoted the Trans America ride at the meeting of the Incoming Presidents of Rotary who met last weekend in Orlando. There was a lot of interest and enthusiasm for the ride, and, best of all, HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS OF DONATIONS WERE RECEIVED AND MORE ARE EXPECTED.
We also hear from friends in Chicago and Milwaukee that fund raising events are being organized there. This is going to be GREAT!
THANK YOU , ROTARY!!

I want to make a special mention of Chrismar from Switzerland who came to Guatemala, heard about the Trans America ride and spontaneously gave a generous donation to the cause.
She also offered to promote the ride in Switzerland, so we expect more donations to come in from Europe.
THANK YOU, CHRISMAR!!

DONATE FOR THE CHILDREN OF AK´TENAMIT!
If you want to sponsor a child, become a health Care partner or simply want to buy one of the 3500 miles of the ride , just go to http://guatfund.org/ , tick the box ¨Trans America ride¨and authorize a charge to your credit card.
For more information, see Chapter 5 of this Blog.

LIFE IS GREAT, ENJOY THE RIDE!
JEAN VAYSSIER
THE RIDING DUTCHMAN

transamerica.tenamit@gmail.com

10. Getting ambitious...Ride the world??

I have now convinced my wife Carolina to join me in Seattle, WA for a week vacation after finishing the Trans America, and before heading South.
We will visit friends in Seattle and explore Vancouver and Victoria together.
After that she will join me on the ride to San Francisco, and then fly home.

I will store the bike there for a few months and then continue South towards Albuquerque, NM. where I started my trip around the US.

For those who really get a bad itch about long range motorcycling, a ride around the world might be the cure. There are LOTS OF people with the same problem and you find their reports in motorcycle websites.

Two that caught my eye was the following:

www.2ridetheworld.com
Between 2003 and 2009 Simon and Lisa have ridden all continents on their R100GS and F650GS. And they plan to go on another 4 years!

For those who like to ride the world in an organized fashion, the Discover the Earth Expedition, November 14, 2010 to July 20, 2011 might be the ticket.
248 days and 40,000 miles! check it out at www.edelweissbike.com

A few days ago, at the BMW store in Guatemala , I met Bob and Judy. They were checking out items at the yard sale and looked like they had a long ride behind them. It turned out they were riding their 1200GS from Arizona to Costa Rica. We agreed to keep contact and Bob invited me to visit him in Phoenix and ride up to the Grand Canyon together. It will be a pleasure to do that, after the Trans America ride.
Bob told me about his habit of doing a kindness to strangers. I looked it up in Wikipedia and it says:

RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS
A random act of kindness is a selfless act performed by a person or persons wishing to either assist or cheer up an individual or in some cases an animal. There will generally be no reason other than to make people smile, or be happier. Either spontaneous or planned in advance, random acts of kindness are encouraged by various communities.

I could not agree more. If we would make a habit of doing this at least once a day, ours would be a better world.

JOIN THE RIDE FOR AK TENAMIT.

If you would like to join me for a day or a week or if you would like to organize a local ride or rendez vous somewhere along my route, contact me!!
Want to buy miles or or donate to Ak´Tenamit? See Chapter 5 of the Blog

LIFE IS GREAT, ENJOY THE RIDE!
JEAN VAYSSIER
THE RIDING DUTCHMAN

9. ¨The oasis of my soul¨ by ARA

http://theoasisofmysoul.com/

Today I found a wonderful website/blog by Ara Gureghian, a personal chef who works out of Naples, Fla. That sounds nice already, but the best is yet to come. THIS GUY IS A STAR PHOTOGRAPHER and SUPERB WRITER!!!
Just seeing the pictures makes you want to get on the road and spend time under the stars.
Check out the photo albums he put on his site under the title:Lifelong Journey under the Stars

http://theoasisofmysoul.com/zenphoto/

The caption of this picture is:

The end of another camping day in Valley of the Gods, Utah, amongst the onlooking ships moored for the night.



A very true piece of wisdom from his blog


“The Dream.
Every soul has one. Not every soul dares live it.” ~ Voni ~

So put on those riding boots and RIDE FOR AK TENAMIT.


If you would like to join me for a day or a week or if you would like to organize a local ride or rendez vous somewhere along my route, contact me!!
Want to buy miles or or donate to Ak´Tenamit? See Chapter 5 of the Blog

JEAN VAYSSIER
THE RIDING DUTCHMAN

8. A ride to El Salvador

My friend Peter, his sons and I started at 7am from Guatemala City, taking the highway to the Pacific coast. We took the road to Taxisco, which runs past large cattle ranches and fertile sugarcane fields, a wonderful picture of the wild and beautiful Guatemalan lowlands.

Here is a typical Guatemalan breakfast: eggs, frijoles, cottage cheese, plantains and tomato sauce, accompanied with sour cream, chili and tortillas..and lots of coffee.Yummy!




We reached the Salvadorean border Pedro de Alvarado before 11 am and crossed with little formality. The first 5o miles are in bad shape, lots of potholes, but that changed as soon as we hit the coastal road to La Libertad.
It is one of the nicest roads for motorcycles with lots of curves, hills and valleys, even some tunnels. And gorgeous views of the Pacific ocean to boot. There is no coastal road in Guatemala, because the farms and ranches run right to the beach.
We took off our leather jackets in the tropical heat and continued in riding vests.
At noon we reached the seafood restaurant Don Beto, 10 miles north of la Libertad. After almost 5 hours in the saddle we drank our beers.. standing up!


We met up with our friend Bernd and his wife for a great lunch. The design and setting of Don Beto is stunning, the food great! The oysters are as good as New Orleans and we had Salvadorean conchitas, a type of shellfish which must be eaten alive (just put lemon on them, if they squirm, they are fine, if not, you discard them).









After lunch, we took the road to the capital, San Salvador, and returned via the frontier of Las Chinamas. The road was good and except for some roadkill, sunburn and and one flat tire we experienced nothing special.
6 pm saw us in Guatemala City and we had a last beer with a view of the city. The return trip took 4 hours. Total mileage around 300.

A GREAT DAY!! AND BERND, THANK YOU FOR LUNCH!


The TRANS AMERICA RIDE FOR AK´TENAMIT supported by the Rotary Club Guatemala Sur to raise funds for a school for Qékchi children in the rain forest of eastern Guatemala. http://aktenamit.org/

READ MY BLOG: http://transamericatenamit.blogspot.com/

Want to buy miles or or donate to Ak´Tenamit? See Chapter 5 of the Blog

If you would like to ride with me for a day or a week or if you would like to organize a local ride or rendez-vous somewhere along my route, contact me!

JEAN VAYSSIER
THE RIDING DUTCHMAN

7. Contacting Rotary Clubs

LUXURY RIDE: THE LADY ON THIS BIKE DID NOT ANYTHING BEHIND!!


Today I started to promote the ride in the countries where I have most contacts: Germany (I worked for Bayer Leverkusen), Holland (where I was born) and Belgium (where I went to school), and the countries in Latin America and Asia where I lived at some point in my life.

I am contacting Rotary Clubs, motorcycle Clubs and Associations and websites dedicated to touring and adventure travel. The possibilities on the internet are endless!!

GOOD NEWS, I already received the first donation from a dear friend in Switzerland, details later!

The website ADVENTURE RIDER is a must for guys who like to shuck it all and take off on a long long ride. Check it out: http://www.advrider.com/
If you ever decide to come this way, here are some tips on how to ride in Central America by JEFF MUNN, very sound :
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=141751



IMPORTANT FOR ROTARY CLUBS: The Rotary Club Guatemala Sur will host a visit to Ak´Tenamit for those fellow clubs who will raise the largest amount of money. BE ONE OF THEM!


The TRANS AMERICA RIDE FOR AK´TENAMIT supported by the Rotary Club Guatemala Sur to raise funds for a non-profit community organization in the rain forest of eastern Guatemala. http://aktenamit.org/

If you would like to ride with me for a day or a week or if you would like to organize a local ride or rendez-vous somewhere along my route, contact me!

JEAN VAYSSIER
THE RIDING DUTCHMAN