Here we are! Pablo and myself (Holger) welcoming Dan from Canada, Thies, Michael, Martin, Natali and Marc from Germany!

Welcome to the Central America leg of our Edelweiss World Tour!

The next 40 days we will complete a loop in the Californian outback and cross the border to Mexico. We will tackle another 6 border crossings and discover 7 countries reaching Panama by February!

Before we went for dinner together, the group joined us for the first route briefing. Everybody was paying attention.

The special Porterhouse steak at our...

... Edelweiss dinner. Everybody in a good spirit!

Our first group pic. Here we go.

Natali brings some color into our group!

Dan arriving...

...and enjoying the views

Thies and Pablo! Super!

Our strong Natali, weightlifting on the pass

We were lucky with the weather, and the first ride was great, just a bit cold towards the arrival.

A cool place this national parc... bizarre these trees which look like cacti but belonging to the agave family and the rock formations which attract climbers, fotographers and all kind of outdoor & wildlife enthusiasts.

Dan...

..with Natali, Marc and Thies

Sooo cute, but better you don't touch these monsters

In the Box Canyon ...

And at Salton Sea, again another world ...

Natali dancing ...

... in the dunes

Thies and Marc

And our lovely couple!

Just South of El Centro we hit the border to Mexico...a 12 m high fence. Here we are just about a 100m away from the super protected border. Every kilometer a border patrol car.

Our nice Edelweiss dinner in Ensenada. That means we crossed the border today! Viva Mexico!

On our first stretch on the Baja (Californa). Nice weather, nice people, nice riders

In San Quintin at our lunch stop..

These dogs out here...

Preparation for the next day, briefing as well the very few gas stations

Just amazing these Kandelaber Cacti (Cardones)!! They can get several hundred years old and can reach a height of 20 meters!

Before breakfast Martin made a loop in the desert and took some fotos...(for us

Thank you Martin!

And after breakfast a love seeking dog found Dan...

These Cirios (boojum tree) are also strange desert characters..

Even though we are riding the whole day thru THE desert the landscape always changes

Here we went right "into" the sea, across a lagune... so nice and peaceful

...some of us at dinner in San Ignacio tonite

The last 75 km, passing el volcano tres virgines...

...we hit the coastline again..

The crew and..

Thies

..and amazing views on the Bahia Concepcion for the next 40 kilometers.

Lunch on the beach, very simple pero muy bueno!

Hey Pablo!

What a nice day!

...briefing the options for the next day

In the evening enjoying good pizza (viva Mecico

In the morning we left the coastal line again, climbing a smaller though impressive mountain pass and then.... straights up to the horizon had to be covered

A nice local lunch stop, quesadillas o burritos con calabaza o con carne...simple and yummy!

Meeting Canadians (actually one is a migrant from Munich) at our lunch and other motorcyclists outside

Martin and Michael on the alternative Route

After a nice night and relaxed morning in our Marina Hotel we had a target today: Our 13 hours ferry trip from La Paz to Mazatlan. And here we are, leaving the harbor with the sundown at the horizon

Arrival in Mazatlan in the morning, beautiful weather welcomes us!

Now we gonna hit the road again towards Puerto Vallarta 460km south of us

Close by the sea we found this hut...and this family which offered (and opened) some coconuts for us. The Mexicans are such nice, happy and welcoming people!

In the morning a nice and curvy mountain road which we are longing for after the Baja (okay, okay, they have also some curves over there...and amazingly beautiful nature and landscape!)

The locals are so friendly and welcoming!

From sea level up on ~1.800 meters again, Agave plantations around us but no Tequila tasting for us-)

And then we arrived at our Palacio , what a beautiful hotel!

...in the evening we went for a Edelweiss dinner. A very good location in this cute Ajijic village at the Laguna de Chapala.

Marc testing the suspension of our van

last views of the Laguna de Chapala, the biggest lake in Mexico...

and here the most beautiful lake (locals say) of Mexico, Lake Patzcuaro

and arrival in our super beautiful Hotel in Morelia. What a place and just 100m walking distance from historical center of Morelia, UNESCO world heritage since 1991.

A fantastic ride in the morning..

...a pink church in the middle of nowhere but in the mountains

...and a try of myself to get closer to the Volcano Nevado de Toluca, here on the way back already, all on a sand piste...challenging

After a great ride thru pine and oak tree forests we stopped here for a coffee...

A first glimpse of the most famous volcano in Mexico, the Popocatepetl. 5.460m high.

Our target to ride up the 3.600m high Paso de Cortes and ride down the hardpac/sand road to Puebla

The group gathered again on the pass and we engaged a policeman to take a picture of us

The last meters of the sand road coming down from the historical pass... Cortes crossed over in 1529 on his march on Tenochtitlan, today's Mexico City, and the tragedy unfolded...But today no tragedy Marc and Natali coming down the mountain and having fun!

Dust in the wind, they say. Natali and Marc decided to join us on the gravel road going down the hill from Popocatepelt on our way to Puebla

The bikes also need a rest. Beautiful Hotel Reyna in Puebla

What a day!

While riding, we found a very local lunch stop with friendly people and very tasty quesadillas. Homemade food is always a good choice! Yummy

Dan was happy but tired after hundreds of curves on the road, even without knowing what was ahead of us before the hotel. Another intense session. 

Coffee is always a good option to stay awake. Cheers!

Night live at main Zocalo (Plaza) from Oaxaca seems to be the correct place to be. People dancing everywhere. What a great mood.

The pescatarians on tour also got the chance to have nice food at Oaxaca's main square.

Monte Alban, built a 1.200 years ago by the Zapotheks, blew our mind!

...and pretty steep

..and in the evening once more downtown, Dan finding a new girl friend

An early start in the morning brought us almost immediatley into the surrounding mountains...

Amazing twisty roads catapulted us on 3.000m a.s.l. and amazing never ending roads led us down through a bosque de niebla still on high altitude into the jungle on the other side...I thought I arrived in the North of Thailand...and actually we are now on the same latitude

With Thies and some local riders

When we stopped in their village we were the talk of the day...

...so cute, these parrots!

Yiehaaa! We made it to the world city of Catemaco! You never heard of it before?!

We thought this would an easy peasy day and we went for the longer route, about 370km to Villahermosa. On this stretch a detour to the coastal line, a big laguna inbound and the open carribean sea on our left...some bridges connecting the small sand islands overgrown with palm trees...

Not many tourists coming here, children and grown ups fascinated by our motorcycles and ourselves...

We even found a small restaurant - the one and only - serving us tasty empanadas con camarones..

...lonely beaches

...and then the thing got wild...here the team getting the bikes out of the sand

The road was destroyed by the sea and the sand was pretty deep...we took a decision and turned around

meanwhile Michael and Martin arrived and they continued

on the way back we had to tackle again this nice bridge...great stuff for a big motorcycle

And some teamwork at night, fixing Dans panniers on his bike again. Thank you all!!

And welcome to the world tour!