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The Border with Haiti continued

Riding the motorcycle up the hotel stairs is fun.

I receive an offer from a shoeshine boy to polish my boots as soon as I get to the top. I tell the boy

“yes, but first I need to do some work” (“sí, pero primero necesito un poco trabajo”)

The street in front of the hotel had exploded into a market. The market stretches for blocks in both directions.

As expected, I have a half a dozen other shoeshine kids offering to shine my boots but I tell each one ‘sorry, but this kid is my #1 friend and he is doing my boots’. The kids have a ball hanging around me while I was preparing to ride. I practice my Spanish by asking questions like, ‘Do you live in this city?’ One kid said, yes he does but them teases his friend and says that he is from Haiti. Everyone laughs.

I ride out of town expecting a military checkpoint before the ‘carretera internacional’. I soon hit the checkpoint. As always, I pull the bike over, kill the engine, take off my helmet and sunglasses and proceed to communicate as professionally as possible. I tell the two military guys whom I am and where I am planning to go. Of course, the first thing they ask me is, am I alone

“?solo?”

That raised eyebrows on both. They inform me that I need written permission to travel this route alone and that I need to go back into town to the police station to get this written permission. Not fazed, I ride back into town to get my permission. Of course I need my original passport to get this written note, my photocopy will not do. Now I’m crushed. There is no other route to continue south along the border except this road. If I want to continue this Haitian border ride, I need to ride back north to the main highway, then east to the autopista, then south along the autopista then west again, back to the Haitian border on the southern end of the island. Suck!

OK, I have to do what I have to do. The new plan is to ride to the southern border with Haiti, then continue this ride traveling north along the border. If I still cannot enter the carretera internacional from the south, I will only be missing 15 miles of border, no big deal.

I have a long ride ahead of me today that is not anticipated. I need to ride through the center of the island and not get lost. Getting lost here is easy to do and it can chew up a half a day without a problem. I blast off and ride hard, I am cutting through the center of the country skirting around the Cordillera Central Mountains toward the main highway running down the center of the country. I exit off the main highway at Piedra Blanca, a small village where a dirt road starts leading up and over the mountains toward the Barahona region, the southwestern corner of the country. From there I plan to ride along the Caribbean cost toward the Haitian border.

Once I exit the autopista at Piedra Blanca the road turns to rough dirt. The scenery on this mountain road is beautiful and I love photographing the primitive homes.

I am in a hurry but I know the importance in proper nutrition and hydration. I constantly look for road food while in route.

At times, the road turned to nice pavement, but that never lasted long.

I pass many mountain streams

People fishing

I am surprised to see a logging truck.

The vegetation continued to thicken

It is starting to get late

I am pushing hard. At the very least, this detour is going to add a whole day to the ride and probably more. I pass through a village that has a hotel. I keep riding. I want to make more progress. It soon became apparent I am not going to make it to the next village with daylight to spare. If I continue riding and the next village has no hotels, I could find myself sleeping on a park bench or behind a gas station, not a good idea.

I pass over a high bridge that spans a river gorge.

After the bridge, I spy a trail leading out onto the flood plane of the river. I immediately ride down the trail. The trail is very rugged and twisty. Close to the river, I think I find a camping spot.

I ride the bike straight into some weeds. I take survey. I determine that I will not be discovered here, a perfect primitive camping spot. I have food. I have water. I am good for the night…

Cavebiker camp…