Army Road Blocks

This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip!

February 3, 2011
Wow our first cloudy day down here.  The storms are hitting all of the Americas it seems. 

Today we packed up and headed back to Aijjic, where we started this trip 8 days ago.  The riding was all about getting back "home" but we still passed spectacular scenery and amazing small Towns.

We passed through a military check point as we did on day one, but today we were asked to pull over, remove our helmets and open our top boxes for a search…..the military is looking for drugs and guns only, which of course we do not have, but it's a bit un-nerving to be standing at the side of the road while they look through your stuff….and of course we don’t speak the language if they have any questions…Oh and did I mention that they are about 18 years old and holding rifles…. 

One guy was interested in me quite a bit.…I guess there are not many women on motorcycles down here....scooters yes but not motorcycles…..this one older army guy was pocking John and saying ooohhh (check her out)…..then he came and stood beside me for a while and kept smiling….oh yeah, he knew my name which freaked me out as well.

With that over with we drove on to Aijjic, but came up to another check point….again we were told to pull over, but our guide Ray told them that we were already searched. 

So this time they decide to use a drug honing rod instead of a physical search on us…..to do this….one guy walked up past the row of bikes with a device in his hands…..it was some sort of plastic handle with a long metal arm on it…..which would point to the guilty party……so what happens...it points at me!! 

Just to prove how guilty I am….they do this 3 times and it points at me 3 times….Holy crap there are no women army guys around for the strip search either!! 

Ok so I open my top box and they start going through my stuff again while the other 15 army guys watch…..sure enough they find Aspirin, Pepto Bismol, and my asthma puffer….all of which I’ve been using to help me through this flu. 

So being the great actress that I am… I take off my helmet….I imagine the breeze blowing through my hair as I do this….and proceed to cough up a lung or two….see I am sick… 

Ok no problem with the pills or the search….but a half bottle of mango juice spill all over everything in the box….what a mess…The army guy was great and offered me his toilet paper and helped clean up…..did I say earlier that most of the washrooms you need to pay a few cents to use and get toilet paper….?

It was an uneventful ride back (after that it’s all uneventful), sad to think we have to leave soon.