Vochos!

Vocho (or bocho as I wrote it in my blog until I discovered the correct spelling...Spanish spelling and pronunciation 'v' is very similar to 'b') is the local vernacular term for what we in Europe know as the VW Beetle and it is endemic to Mexico.

The VW beetle was introduced to Mexico in March 1954 and local production was started in 1961 using parts assemble locally but produced in Europe. A local factory started turning out cars in 1962. A purpose built factory opened in October 1967 and produced beetles until it closed in 2003 which was the last plant in the world producing these iconic cars.

The car is mechanically robust, used simple engineering and is easy to work upon by anyone with a screw driver and spanner. Hence its attraction to the local market and it sold in huge numbers. There were lots of variations and home made adaptions so it was an ideal vehicle for the rough roads and lack of repair facilities at the time.

They can be seen throughout Mexico and Central America in large numbers and it became a challenge to take as many photos as possible of the cars as I travelled through the area. My quest for photos of different vochos rubbed off on the rest of the group and soon people would shout out when they saw a vocho. Which colour did I not get a photo of?

For the blog I have also added some other vehicles using the excuse of a road transport theme to justify their inclusion. Hence the first three pictures are of buses in Tequila including a chilli bus and a barrel bus plus a few other forms of road transport.

The first vocho...maroon.

An ox cart passing the petrol station where the above white vocho was parked...plus a tuk tuk.

A tuk tuk blockade on the main road in protest at new government (tougher) regulations on tuk tuks.

A dog trying to attack a vocho seen whilst I was riding a horse near San Cristóbal de las Casas.

A tuk tuk near Bonampak.

A blurred picture but the colour combination was too good and unique to miss!

I chased this vocho through the main square in Merida trying to get a good side view and didn't succeed.

A red vocho parked in front of Betsy, my transport for the journey from Anchorage in Alaska to Panama.

 A vocho on the Mexican Belize border.

Some vochos in Flores and Antigua in Guatamala, plus a chicken bus and a tuk tuk that I shared with Seb who had bought two heavy truck batteries for Betsy and Steve which together with the driver struggled to get up the hill back to the hotel as tuk tuks typically only small two stoke engines.

Then on to El Salvador and a picture of a 4X4 as well as a vocho in Nicaragua.

Lake Nicaragua with a vocho and a couple of chicken buses on Ometepe Island.

 Plus a trail bike but not of me but with which I had a lot fun riding across the island to a spring for a swim.

 Its not a vocho but this was a plane themed restaurant in which we had a lot of fun posing for photos.

By the time I got to Panama, there were no more vochos and the chicken buses weren't so colourful either.

But there were still plenty of sightings of vochos by others on the trip. Here is a small selection of some that I didn't photograph and I am indebted to Zoë for sharing them with me.

Farewell to Panama via Portugal, Saturday - Monday, 31st October -2nd November

It was an early morning start after the farewell dinner the night before. The sunrise over the roof tops of Panama City.

After saying an emotional goodbye to many friends at 7am who were flying to Colombia it was a free day. It was also my last chance to say goodbye to Betsy who had taken me from Anchorage in Alaska all the way through western Canada and some of the lower forty eight states to Mexico and through central America and ultimately to Panama.

She had had several oil changes, new windscreens, had problems starting on slopes facing uphill (so she had to be parked facing downhill which involved several interesting manoeuvres before parking up for the nigh), and loads of work under the bonnet but she had made it (with loads of help from Seb). Now Seb was going to drive her back to Flagstaff in Arizona for a refit.

Another small group left at 10am and another farewell meeting which left the rest of the day for me to explore Panama City before my flight in the evening.

Some of the ships waiting for their position in the queue for the canal.

 Views from the shore of a 4kms stretch of water front between the new centre with its high rise buildings and the old centre with church spires peeking above the low rise old town buildings.

 The old centre of town

Many of the buildings are oofless but the walls are still standing waiting for a major refurbishment.

 The central plaza of the old town.

The Casa Blanca restaurant, the scene of the previous nights farewell dinner and entertainment laid on by some dancers in the main square.

 More pictures of the old town.

Seb collects licence plates so I thought of him when I found this shop. Here was a store that sold plates in a tourist shop but I am sure that Seb always got better deals from garages en route.

 The partially restored cathedral in the old town.

Another shot of the square.

 Many of the building in the old city are mere shells as the facade has been preserved but the innards still need to be created to return the building to a functioning part of the old city.

 The clouds had drifted in and it was about to be a torrential tropical downpour in which I would get very wet.

 Some of the old buildings in the centre and decorated for Halloween.

There was a torrential down pour so I settled into a micro brewery pub for an hour and it is the best place to drink in Panama City, El Rana Dorada, or Golden Frog.

On the way back to the hotel to collect my luggage there was an opportunity to take photos of a few chicken buses but none were as colourful as those in countries further north that I had travelled through just weeks before.

And then it was sharing a taxi with Alex and Nollaig for the ride to the airport and I never said a proper goodbye to them as I hoped to see them on the far side of customs but never bemped into them again.

I took off for the nine hour flight to Lisbon which was uneventful except for a brilliant sun rise over the Atlantic.

I had a while in Lisbon but it was cold wet and windy and after the Central American heat and humidity, this felt like winter. Whilst planning my trip I had forgotten one travellers rule. Most museums and galleries around the world seem to choose Monday to close and true enough, some places were shut and some had closed early on Sunday afternoon so I plenty of time to catch up on sleep and not fell guilty about wasting time and FOMO (fear of missing out).

My final flight back to London was delayed by fog and disruption and my flight circled above Brighton for at least four circuits waiting for its landing slot. At last I was back on the ground and I was home within half an hour of touching down.

It is great to be back home and everything that comes with it, ...taps that work, hot water from the hot water tap, throwing toilet paper down the bowl instead of piling it up in a bin next to the toilet, police that don't expect to be bribed, smooth tarmac, traffic that obeys traffic rules, no snakes, no mosquitoes or other biting insects, But I will miss the people and I have a stack of memories.

Road to Panama, Thursday & Friday, 29th - 30th October

A photo of a carriage in the Boquete town square just to keep the train spotters interest going.

The drive from Boquete to Santa Clara on the Pacific coast was just over 370kms and would take about six hours with stops. Panama looks like a small country on maps but that is deceiving. The proposed drive is a similar distance to driving from London to York and is still 140kms short of Panama City being similar in total to driving from London to Edinburgh and that is only half the length of the country.

Much of the highway No 1 which is also the Pan American Highway was under going widening all along the route from David just south of Boquete to Santiago with new cuttings for the wider road.

 With new bridges being built over rivers, and perhaps they will fill in some of the holes in the existing road. When completed the new road will improve travel times so trffic will speed along this section of road but some of the charm of the journey through jungle will be lost so best to experience  it now before it is changed for ever.

 A view from the cab.

 We stopped in Santiago for lunch and for the windscreen to be repaired after a stone from a passing truck had caused a crack. When leaving there was a great photo of a man working on the many overhead wires..some were telephone but since some of them were electricity, rather him than me!

 Our over night stop and our last camp site was on the Pacific coast at Santa Clara on a nearly deserted beach where a stream empties into the sea and there is a basic beach front restaurant and where we camp on the beach.

 Although there are always new developments such as the high rise condo just beyond the palm frond roofs of the palapas.

 An off shore island opposite the beach camp site.

That evening Zoe got out her violin and played fo the group. Having fallen asleep during previous gigs including D&D where I fell off my chair and hit my head, I was taking no changes and lay down on the beach to listen. Sure enough and much to my disgrace I fell asleep again after the second tune. I had lain down with a drink of Cuba Libre but Zoe got her own back by drinking my cocktail as I slept.

Next day was a short drive into Panama City and we were going to visit the Miraflores Locks on the canal but to get there we had to cross the canal and despite the high fence we got a high level view of the canal.

 On the road side was a cemetery to some of the thousands of workers who lost their lives during the construction of the canal, this one dedicated to to French workers from the late 19th century, some from accidents but a huge number from tropical diseases before the canal was finished by the Americans at the start of the 20th century to open in 1914.

 At last the canal and the visitors centre opposite Miraflores Locks where there is a very interesting museum plus video presentation and of course a great view of ships as they pass through the locks. It is an impressive piece of engineering and I could have stayed all day watching the ships and of course I took hundreds of photos but here are just a couple.

 And not to forget the railway that also takes some of the containers from one side to the other. Both ends of the canal are transshipment points where loads are dropped off and picked up. Ships off load some containers to lighten their loads as there are depth restrictions at the locks so large ships can't transverse the canal fully laden.

Then it was on to our hotel in Panama City which was the end of the trip for some of us whilst others were continuing their trips by flying to Columbia so that evening we were going to a farewell dinner at Casa Blanca restaurant in the heart of the old town.

And a time to reflect. On such a long trip and where we live so close together for so long and really get to know each other well, it is inevitable that there are some tearful goodbyes but the memories will live on for ever. And a personal thank you to my tour leader Zoe and co driver Seb who negotiated several tricky border and police road check moments and kept us safe on some roads where normal driving rules don't apply.

Also thanks to my fellow travelling companions for their thoughts, whether you agree with them or not as it is always useful to listen to an alternative opinion to re-calibrate your own position. Many thanks for some very appreciated advice at moments of crisis or indecision, moments sharing food, beer, lending money and all those other minor moments that actually mean so much and create fond memories.