January 30 :: Managua, Nicaragua :: Final post and summary

January 30 :: Managua, Nicaragua :: 94km / 2108km total

An early ride, tough winds, blah blah. Today I relished each kilometre, even though they were really not much different than the previous ones, for they would be my last for this trip. The road deteriorated and got hectic as I neared Managua, predictably. I avoided cities like the plague on this trip, and Managua was a good testament as to why... urgently honking and weaving traffic, dangerous drivers, and few fellow cyclists to help offset the madness. There have been local cyclists all over Central America, but here in Managua they know better and leave the bikes at home. Many cars in Managua have dents, I noticed, and its not hard to see why.

I threaded my way carefully into the tourist district and grabbed a hotel - but after the 94km ride, my day was just beginning. At least for the first time this trip I did not need to wash and hang my cycling shorts and shirt, yes, they´re coming home nice and stinky!! A quick shower, and off to the TACA Airlines office... partial success as I bumped my one-way flight back to Cancun up a day, no fee, but a longer routing through Mexico City means I can´t possibly catch the afternoon Air Canada flight back to Toronto (that I have booked for Saturday). As a very longshot, an Air Canada flight leaves for Toronto from Mexico City during my 5 hour layover there... I will try to fandangle my way onto that flight with my Cancun - Toronto Air Canada ticket... I will shock myself if I pull that one off. Otherwise its onto Cancun for a night or two. There are worse places to have to hang around to wait for a flight home!

After TACA it was to the bike stores, and several hours of taxis, waiting, but I ended up with 2 sort-of bike boxes that now are one complete, heavily taped up monstrosity containing my bike. I´m repacked and ready to come home.

Well, its been a great trip. Central America, at least the 5 of 7 Central American countries that I saw, was a fantastic place to travel and I highly recommend it. I was very surprised at how similar the countries were to each other, in most respects, and to Mexico for that matter. The differences were much more urban vs. rural, or coastal vs. mountain, than country vs. country. And in those respects, Central America is INCREDIBLY diverse, packing huge variety into such a small space. Quite literally in the space of a day you can travel from a small poor Mayan hilltown to Pacific beaches to a shopping mall to coniferous alpine forest scenery to hot flat sugarcane plantations to a solitary, sombre, ominous volcano. And you can do that in any of the countries I was in (except Belize - no volcanoes). On my bike I traversed these kinds of landscapes, and it was quite the experience to do so. In other parts of the world that I´ve ridden change is much more gradual, but in Central America its a day´s bike ride away.

From a tourist perspective, prices were quite reasonable - I averaged $40 to $50 per day, half of that on accomodation. Were I travelling in a group and not downing such a high volume of liquids, those costs would decrease... altough transportation costs would go up (from almost $0!). These are definitely active tourism countries, compared to Europe or Asia... to get the most out of them you have to hike, bike, or paddle... even Tikal, the most touristy site that I visited, was a solid tiring 3 hours of walking and climbing for me. Central America would not be good for the armchair/bus window tourist (like you can do in Europe), but holds much for the active/eco-tourist. Its safe, and the people are friendly. I pulled through without knowing much Spanish.

For those cyclists that come across this blog, I highly recommend Central America for a bike trip, from the perspective of having ridden in North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. A solid highpoint is that the roads are generally well-paved and very often have wide, inviting paved shoulders. It seems as if most of the roads I rode were repaved (or firstly paved) in the past 5-10 years. I did not stick to the "main routes" all the time, yet only cycled about 60km of gravel road (out of 2100km). I found the drivers to be quite excellent compared to Asian countries that I´ve ridden (Thailand, Syria, India, etc), but the local cyclists were quite dangerous and easily were the biggest road hazards (the main problem is that they often ride the paved shoulder on the wrong side - directly AT you). Cold drinks were readily available just about everywhere, and frequent. Accomodation was well-spaced and the longest gap I saw between hotels, I think, was around 70-80km on easy, flat roads, something most touring cyclists should be able to comfortably cover with adequate foreknowledge. Temperatures in the lowlands are hot and made it difficult for me to ride past noon, but up in the mountains you can ride all day. The wind is consistently from the East/Northeast at this time of year, and this is THE time of year to ride here... slightly cooler temperature and a dry season.

Thats it... until Italy in 3 weeks!

January 29 :: Leon, Nicaragua

January 29 :: Leon, Nicaragua :: 107km / 2014km total

The road started off terribly this morning... it was so bad that I was faster than the transport trucks, and I passed and left a group of them well behind. I only have to seek out 1 inch wide of ridable surface which does come in handy sometimes. After about 20km the true pavement began, and it wasn´t too long until the trucks caught and passed me, waves all around.

The bulk of today´s ride was circling around 3 sides of a massive, steaming volcano (San Cristobal). The plume coming off the volcano, plus one or two of it´s neighbours, provided shade at times and helped to keep me out of the Sun for a few hours. Other than that a fairly straightforward ride into Leon. At this phase of the trip (tired, getting ready to come home), uneventful rides are exactly what I need.

Leon is completely overhyped in the guidebook and tourist literature and is quite a letdown... only being a letdown because of the hype. Sure, its marginally nicer than some of the places I´ve seen, but it sort of looks like a very poor, rundown European town that hasn´t seen a speck of fresh paint in 20 years. If you were in Europe and came across Leon you´d be mightily unimpressed... to say the least. Even the churches - the highlights of the town - are beaten up and haggard on the outside, simple and uninteresting on the inside. Still, it was a bit of a shock to come in out of the ¨backcountry¨ to this tourist town and see guided tour groups being led around the place. Its wierd being the only gringo in town for days or weeks, then coming back into this.

Tomorrow´s ride is 93km to Managua, where I will seek out a box for my bike, and a TACA airlines office to see if I can bump my flight back to Cancun up a day, without penalty. If there´s an empty seat, I don´t see why it should be a problem... but that´s me.

January 28 :: Somotillo, Nicaragua

January 28 :: Somotillo, Nicaragua :: 100km / 1907km total

Another quiet day in the saddle, putting in the early requisite miles to beat the heat. With occasional tailwinds today's ride was much faster and easier, but still as I approached the border with Nicaragua (at the 95km mark) the heat was rising and my stomach was unsettled. I crossed into my 30th country, pedalled for another 5km, and called it a nice early day (11am). The last 2 days line up nicely, distance-wise, being about 100km from here to Leon - a big touristy town with lots to eat and see and do - and a further 100km to Managua, the end of my trip.

Nicaragua is the 2nd-poorest country in the Western Hemisphere (next to Haiti), and it does show a bit, compared to the countries I've come through. Immediately on crossing the border the road deteriorated into a badly-patched potholed paved road - I´ll have to start tomorrow's ride about 30 minutes later than usual, since I'll have to really be able to SEE the road surface. The stores are much more sparsely stocked, and the roadside houses and huts are noticably shabbier. The people are the same friendly as always... the wars are definitely over down here in Central America. Tonight I have one of the best deals of the entire trip for accomodation - A/C, tv, bathroom, nice room with wooden (almost Victorian) furniture... $17.

January 27 :: Nacaome, Honduras

January 27 :: Nacaome, Honduras :: 105km / 1807km total

Today, to round the Golfa de Fonseca, the PanAmerican Highway swung North, into the seasonal Northeast wind that has been helping me for much of this trip. There was nothing zippy about the 104km... just a slow, steady, low gear plodding into the blustery wind. Combined with a rear wheel flat, a border crossing, midday heat and rolling hills, it was a well earned 104km in the saddle.

Honduras continues to be like....the rest of Latin America. I look for differences, but cannot really find any, other than a currency change and a bit more curiosity among the people about my presence here. I now seek out the big multinational gas stations for drink stops (Esso, Texaco) not for political reasons, just for the airconditioned respite they offer, and a huge reliable assortment and selection of cold drinks. All things being equal I try to spend locally, but when its 35C and you have a mild heat headache all things are NOT equal.

300km to Managua...I may be in Nicaragua tomorrow... depends on the wind.

January 26 :: San Miguel, El Salvador

January 26 :: San Miguel, El Salvador :: 100km / 1702km total

Very little sleep due to the heat, but still I was on the road very pre-sunrise, pressing hard towards San Miguel to avoid the worst heat of the day. Again the road stayed mostly flat, and the ride was uneventfully easy. I´m feeling healthier every day in all respects, I guess my second wind is coming on.

Rolling into San Miguel was quite the culture shock. My Lonely Planet guidebook had mentioned that, due to the hard work ethic of El Salvadorans, this country is poised to be the richest of Central American countries. I hadn´t noticed much of a difference so far... until I rolled into San Miguel, the country´s 3rd largest city (Hamilton-sized). The first thing that hit me was a traffic light. I hadn´t seen a traffic light since leaving Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Then, a megamall with all the Western trappings... Cineplex, endless food joints, and shopping galore. And a Comfort Inn across the road! I grabbed a nearby cheaper hotel, with A/C, and checked out the mall. I couldn´t believe how busy it was, at least the big food chains (Wendy´s, Pizza Hut, etc), with prices about equal to that in Canada. There were lineups to get into some of the restaurants, with wait staff serving drinks to those standing in line outside, 35 degrees C. It was pretty surreal, having come from the small, poor villages along my route, to this. Walking around the mall, though, I realized that not many people were carrying bags of items purchased... it seemed that many were there just for the experience (and definitely the food). The music in the mall was all Western (Alanis Morrisette, Dire Straits, etc), and half the stores had signs and paraphenalia in English! The wierd thing about this was that no one SPOKE English... the few transactions I made at the mall were as laboured as everywhere else in Central America (not including English Belize), with my English/French/Spanish hodgepodge tumbling out of my mouth, complete with sign language, to get the message across. A very odd experience, but not too unlike that what I´ve seen elsewhere in very different parts of the world. Like it or not, English and Westernism is often perceived as representing quality, money, and status, so its no surprise that stores use English as a marketing tool, even if both customers and staff have little idea what´s written on the sign they´re standing beside.

From here its only about 3 or 4 days of cycling to the end of my trip, Managua, the capital of Nicaragua. Sigh. I guess I can´t complain... this time next month I´ll be on a very different cycling trip in Tuscany, Italy!

Pics from El Salvador

One of 5 tunnels along the coastal road








Where I recuperated from food poisoning. Could´ve been worse!









Volcano San Miguel








Highway 2 across El Salvador has been mostly like this. Nice paved shoulder.








Behind the mall in San Miguel








Mall front in San Miguel

Remaining maps (El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua)

Western El Salvador









Central El Salvador








Central El Salvador









Eastern El Salvador










Honduras








Nicaragua; flight out of Managua

January 25 :: Zacatecoluca, El Salvador

January 25 :: Zacatecoluca, El Salvador :: 76km / 1602km total

I was onto the road before 6am and could not believe how warm it was. It was going to be a short-ish day anyways, as I was still not 100% from yesterday´s sickness, as well as being troubled by a small saddlesore/infection which made pedalling all the less fun and more difficult. Its hard to stay healthy in tropical countries, particularly when you are exposed as much as I am, cycling along.

Mercifully the road was very flat, wide, and safe all the way to Zacatecoluca, and I never had to push very hard to make the miles fly by. Still, I felt quite weak and was tempted to veer off the 4km to El Salvador International Airport, at which I hold a ticket back to Cancun, and back home (the milkrun flight is Managua to El Salvador to Guatemala City to Cancun). But I pushed past, in the growing heat of the day, and it was still a bit of a struggle to make the miles, all things considered. With the heat and health concerns this last 500km or so is not going to be easy, but I´m still about a day ahead of schedule, and can eat into that if I need to.

January 24 :: El Zonte, El Salvador

January 24 :: El Zonte, El Salvador :: 0km / 1526km total

I suppose it can´t be an "authentic" trip outside of the Western world without this happening, and around 2am it started, the desparate dashes to the bathroom to sit on, or kneel in front of, or both in succession, the toilet. Thank God I had upscaled $10 and taken a cabin with it´s own toilet. It definitely did not shape up to be a good day, but having been through this before I sort of knew what to expect. Eight to ten hours of Hell, followed by most of a day of weakness and slow recovery. Midday I was able to get out of my little beach resort cabin and make it to the restaurant, order a watermelon and Gatorade, and limp back to the safety of my room. A major accomplishment around dinnertime as I left the resort and successfully found toothpaste. A late half-meal, and I thought that maybe I could ride a bit tomorrow.

January 23 :: El Zonte, El Salvador

January 23 :: El Zonte, El Salvador :: 152km / 1526km total

An early-ish start, but as the day would prove, not early enough. I pushed off towards the border, less than 50km away, well fed from last night. The road was hillier than the map suggested, and mixed winds made me truly earn the distance. But the border came, and went, too easy when you flash your beloved, world-respected Canadian passport. Where´s the border guards trying to fleece me for $$? Where´s the on-the-spot made-up rules to confound and confuse the gringo traveller? Travelling through Central America has been, from a logistical standpoint, a piece of cake.

El Salvador! Not so long ago I wouldn´t have dared ride here, but now its a safe, friendly, peaceful place. And hot. I clung to the edge of the road´s right shoulder, picking up as much shade as possible from the roadside trees. The currency here is American dollars, even further simplifying travelling here. The drinks are still cold, and the road is still wide and good. The only thing that changed in crossing the border is that local bike riders ride down whatever side of the road they feel like (i.e. against traffic, the WRONG side), quite unnerving for me to be riding head-on towards another cyclist. In my experience cyclists are the most dangerous aspects of road traffic - having crashed several times with them abroad, and it was with great attention (and annoyance) that I crossed with them.

Eventually the road truly became coastal and I could look out at the Pacific as I rode. It also became brutally hilly, as the mountains extended into the Ocean, turning a hard-ish 150km day into a real epic battle - one that I wasn´t really in the mood for. For 40km the road twisted, rose, fell, usually climbing for about 2km then dropping for about 2km. No hotels, mostly just the road, hills, Sun, and me. The coastal landscape was so rugged that I went through a total of 5 tunnels cut through the mountains. They were a little unnerving as well, being unlit and narrow, the longest one being 570 metres. But at the 135km mark, as I was really suffering from the heat and hills and wondering what the Hell I´d gotten myself into, I came across a little roadside restaurant/Godsend. A calamari meal, 2 Cokes, and an orange juice set me straight and I pressed on reinvigorated for the final mileage. Exhausted and saddlesore I rolled into El Zonte, the first area with hotels on this stretch of the coast. The waves and beach are beautiful but I´m too messed up to even think about swimming. I´ve promised myself an easy 60km-ish day to Zacatecoluca tomorrow.

January 22 :: Chiquimulilla, Guatemala

January 22 :: Chiquimulilla, Guatemala :: 177km / 1374km total

From Panajachel it was an 8km climb back up to the top of the volcanic rim... quite the way to start the day! Then, a spectacular traverse along the Eastern side of the rim with many views of the lake below, and the volcanoes across. After a quick breakfast I began a 35km descent, down the backside of the massive caldera towards the Pacific. What a joyride! I raced along, playing cat-and-mouse with a truck and a bus, sometimes passing them, sometimes being passed by them. In the end I beat the truck, but was beaten by the bus. Considering I´d pedalled for less than 5 minutes over the previous 40 minutes, not bad!

Now I was in a very different part of Guatemala, the Pacific slope... on the left (North), the mountains and volcanoes rise... to the right, a gradual slope down towards the Pacific Ocean. As I turned East towards El Salvador, 3 local racing cyclists went by. Sigh. Can´t let them get away with that! It took a couple of kilometres but I chased them down... and it was ON! The four of us raced along towards Santa Lucia over tremedous rolling hills. Eventually 2 of them pulled away from me on the big climbs, sacrificing the 3rd one... too bad for him. At the Santa Lucia turnoff I waved to him, and off I continued towards Escuintla.

The heat and humidity are back, now that I was at sea level (more or less). The pace slowed as I stopped every 10-15km to knock back yet another Gatorade. I must be keeping Gatorade in business down here, solo. Eventually I cruised into Taxisco... but the hotel was just not up to par (you can imagine the details for yourself). Very tired I rolled slowly along, eventually stopping at a roadside hotel on the main highway just past the Chiquimulilla turnoff. After 2 double-decker hamburgers I rolled myself off to bed.

Pics from the Guatemalan mountains

Typical breakfast: eggs, refried beans, and tortilla







hills leading into Chisec









Misty morning ride out of Chisec








A typical roadside food/drinks vendor... early morning, just out of Chisec








Start of the gravel road mountain ride








Sunrise view of the mountains; gravel road out of San Cristobal Verapaz










As above









Construction and rubble-dodging










A look ahead, out of Chixoy... the road is carved into the mountains on the left

Taken looking back towards Cunen from the col between Cunen and Sacapulas

Lago de Atitlan

Lago de Atitlan with Panajachel below; photo taken during descent into Panajachel

Another view

downtown Panajachel

Maps of Guatemala

January 21 :: Panajachel, Lago de Atitlan, Guatemala

January 21 :: Panajachel, Lago de Atitlan, Guatemala :: 37km / 1197km total

A short but tough ride over the Continental Divide (at around 7000 feet), then dropping about a vertical kilometre to Lago de Atitlan, still 4500 feet above sea level. On the way down I rode about 1km of the PanAmerican Highway, a loosely connected group of roads that runs theoretically from Alaska to Chile. Dropping down towards Panajachel the views were tremendous, and Lago de Atitlan truly is spectacular... a volcanic crater lake surrounded by multiple volcanic peaks. One peak in the distance was steaming a bit.

Panajachel is the first tourist town I have been to since... Flores (at Tikal) and its a bit of a culture shock coming out of the little Mayan mountain villages to Gringo city. The Guatemalans are different here, too... not as universally friendly as in the backcountry, and certainly more pushy regarding stuff to buy, etc. However, the food options are unlimited and thats a big part of why I am taking a half day off here. My body definitely needs a bit of a break after the hardest 250km that I{ve ever ridden.

From here its a few days more of riding, near the Pacific, and then into El Salvador! I haven{t picked my route yet... there are a number of things to consider, but I will be crossing at the Southernmost border, Ciudad Pedro de Alvarado.

January 20 :: Chichicastenango, Guatemala

January 20 :: Chichicastenango, Guatemala :: 80km / 1160km total

I´m utterly exhausted as I write this, had a hard time going up the stairs to this 2nd floor internet cafe. All I want to do is lie down and sleep... which I´ll be doing in about 15 minutes. No pics today, again internet slow, and besides I´m too tired... anyways...

The alarm went off as usual at 5:15am, but this time a second pitter patter sound accompanied it... rain! I reset for 9am, glad for the extra sleep. Ultimately I was on the road around 10am, having eaten breakfast... quite late, but I wasn´t going down any mountains on rain-slicked road.

Immediately the road turned upwards for the first of two brutal climbs today. After an hour of walking/pushing I crested the col, took some pics, and shot down 11km to Sacapulas below. Time to climb again. 20km of rolling climbs (some pedalling, some pushing) again took me to a high plateau, and from there it was rolling all the way to Chichicastenango. I arrived in town as the Sun was setting, pretty beaten up after 3 long hard days in the thick of Guatemala´s mountains.

January 19 :: Cunen, Guatemala

January 19 :: Cunen, Guatemala :: 78km / 1080km total

Another long hard brutal day in the mountains, but I was amply rewarded with beautiful mountain scenery. The route started with a 25km gravel stretch that was about 1.5 lanes wide, on average, with plenty of trucks and road construction going on. Backhoes perched precariously above the road, knocking down rocks and dirt directly onto the road, blocking it; there were no safeguards (other than common sense), and I waited until the backhoe driver saw me and waved before dashing across the piles of rock and dirt beneath it. It would have been a bad day to drive the road, and there were lineups of vehicles waiting to get through (a bulldozer would have to clear a path under each backhoe before that could happen). The drivers were a little agitated when I came zooming through... but then, they can´t lift their vehicle onto their shoulder and run over rubble!

I rode plenty of switchbacking road today, both up and down. The road in the Guatemalan mountains continues to be very steep, forcing me to walk in many places, so much so, that one foot is close to blistering from the sandals. One particular descent near the end of the day had me quite scared... steep, long, multipitch switchbacks with strong gusting winds blowing up the mountainside, threatening to knock me over. At the bottom I was treated to a 3km walk up the opposite, mirror switchbacking pitch. Overall I think I´ve gained another several thousand feet overall, but again there were tremendous climbs and descents in-between, making the net gain insignificant, effortwise... except that its chilly up here! brrrrr.

I was surprised to find internet in this little town, but again will have to wait to upload pictures from the last several days. I´m heading into Tourist Guatemala tomorrow, so should have plenty of fast computers and net connections.

January 18 :: Santa Cruz Verapaz, Guatemala

January 18 :: Santa Cruz Verapaz, Guatemala :: 91km / 1002km total

The funny thing about today was that, just after I started, in the fog and darkness, I said to myself ¨Wow I feel great! And strong!¨. Sure, the first 10km was easy. But then I came around a corner and saw, emerging from the fog, what looked like a wall in front of me. ¨What the hell is that, blocking the road?¨. After I realized it WAS the road, going what seemed like straight up, I laughed and knew that today was going to be a different kind of day. Approaching the bottom of the hill I knew there was no way I was riding up anything that was a 13% grade or higher, so I slid off the bike, put my sandals on (can´t walk in cleated bike shoes), and started to walk, pushing the bike along. At the top of the hill, it turned abruptly downwards, so I exchanged shoes again and zoomed down. Then another brutal hill. Another 2-brakes-at-the-same-time descent. And again. And again. Eventually I just left the sandals on, since there were few flats, or ridable moderate grades (10% or less).

The difference with the mountains in Guatemala as opposed to others I´ve ridden (Rockies, Himalaya, Ghats) is both a) the grade of the road and b) the road "design" that takes you incessantly up down up down up down. Overall I gained 3000 feet in elevation today, but I climbed (and descended) way, way, way more than that. And it punished me. It took me 7.5 pushing, straining, dripping hours to cover the 73km from Chisec to Coban, and I was a very beaten man when I finally rolled into town. I must´ve walked more than 10 steep kilometres, aside from the other climbing I was able to manage to do on the bike.

The people here in Guatemala are unsurprisingly friendly, curious, and helpful, just like most peoples I´ve met in various parts of the world. I´ve felt completely safe throughout the trip, apart from an odd feeling in gringo-heavy San Ignatio, Belize. In this mountainous section have been the poorest people that I´ve seen all trip... partly evidenced by the absence of refridgeration at the little roadside vendor huts. I almost always overpay for drinks, on purpose, sort of my way of giving that little bit extra to those that are helping me. Besides, they have to put up with a stinky, sweaty gringo for about 5 minutes!

After a meal in Coban and a bit of time to collect myself I figured I could push the extra 15km to Santa Cruz Verapaz. Surprisingly the road South of Coban was better graded (10% or less) and although it was still mountainously hilly I was able to ride it all in the saddle, without breaks. This last bit of tough but managable riding restored some shaken confidence, for sure. I don´t know if I´ll recover fully for tomorrow, but I´ll get myself as least as far as Uspantan... a high mountain ride that includes about 25 unpaved kilometres.

I treated myself to a nicer stay tonight... http://parkhillresort.com ... on the wall at reception it said $45US... but as I was about to leave they offered me a room for $20! Hee hee.

yesterday´s ride

today and tomorrow´s ride

January 17 :: Chisec, Guatemala

January 17 :: Chisec, Guatemala :: 117km / 911km total

Very slow internet here, no chance of uploading today´s pics, or route maps.

I didn´t really know what to expect of the route ahead, other than Heinz´s dire warnings, and was off as early as possible from Sayaxche. The road rolled constantly, up, down, up, down... pretty much all the way to Chisec, in the mountainous foothills. By noon it was sweltering hot, with high humidity, and I was quite literally dripping as I rolled into town. A nice hotel, some barbequed beef and tortilla, and I´m happy!

Please note: I´m heading into some tough terrain, and some small towns that may not have internet. Don´t worry if you don´t hear from me every day from here on in!

January 16 :: Sayaxche and meeting Heinz Stucke, Guatemala

January 16 :: Sayaxche, Guatemala :: 69km / 794km total

Well what a day today was. It didn´t start off auspiciously, with my first wrongturn of the trip that cost me an early 5km. Most intersections are unsigned here,and I often have to ask for directions. Even then, directions are often wrong.Either way, I had a relatively short day planned to Sayaxche (64km), being a hotelless 100km void past Sayaxche. Hills being what they are here, I had nointention of a 170km day.

Over halfway to Sayaxche I came across my first touring cyclist of the trip. Thereare many local people on bikes down here, but you can always tell a touring cyclist from a distance, compared to locals... a steady, even cadence... well positioned and balanced panniers... riding in a straight line. As we approached and mutuallyslowed for a chat, I scanned the other´s bike and what I saw shocked me.

Painted on the bike, among countless world cities and locations, was the rider´s name, Heinz Stucke. Now, mostpeople would not know who Heinz is, but to those of the bike touring world, Heinzis a legend. He started touring in the 1960´s and essentially hasn´t stopped, usually being mentioned in the Guinness Book of World Records (depending on their mood per year of publishing). Thereis no other touring cyclist that even comes close to the miles he´s logged (over half a millionkilometres) or the number of countries he´s ridden in (ALL of them, quite literally). Coming across this legendary rider in the backcountry of Guatemala, while on a bicycle tour myself,was an unbelievable occurence. On top of that, on this current cycling leg of his thatstarted in DENVER, I was the first touring cyclist that he´d come across! We chattedfor at least an hour, swapping stories of all kinds, able to appreciate the other´sexperiences in ways few others can. Not that my travelling pedigree was anywhere near his(27 countries, about 20,000km), but it was enough, and here we were, two serious touring cyclistscycling along a backdoor route through Guatemala. He gave me some of the items that he sells to support his travels (a booklet of his travels, a few of his postcards), and eventually off we set, in opposite directions.

It was only 25km to Sayaxche from where I met Heinz, and it continued to be hilly. The mileage waslow, so no worries, and my knee was feeling fine. A short ferry crossing brought me into town anda great, cheap hotel ($11). Tomorrow brings me into the foothills of Guatemala´s mountains.

Heinz Stucke, his bike (left), mine (right)

Heinz´s bike

ferry crossing at Sayaxche

coming into Sayaxche on the ferry

my nice, cheap room

Heinz´s map of his cycling rides around the world

Jan. 15 pics

Celebrations in Flores. Religious, obviously, and my interest waned there.









A view of Flores from the causeway linking it to the mainland.

Flores near my hotel.

January 15 :: Flores, Guatemala

January 15 :: Flores, Guatemala :: 36km / 725km total

I felt quite defeated and empty pedalling out of the hotel this morning, the hectic pace of the trip starting to catch up to me. Even the shallow climbs had me in my lowest of gears - yuck! I figured I'd regroup myself at breakfast in Flores, 35km away, but on the way there my left knee started creaking a bit. It was enough to call it an early day and rest up for tomorrow and the following day's mountains.

Flores is a cute little tourist town built on an island, and there seems to be some sort of festival going on here. That, eating, and two big doses of stretching and icing will keep me busy enough for the day.

January 14 :: El Remate and Tikal, Guatemala

January 14 :: El Remate, Guatemala :: 82km / 689km total

As usual now, the alarm went off at 5:15am, on the road by 5:30. Today would be a shorter cycling day, but still a very busy day planned. Immediately the hills hit, and I was sweating and struggling before the Sun came up. This whole stretch of the Western Highway in Belize is packed with eco-tourism resorts and programs: horseback riding tours, rafting, river cave tubing, and such. I thought of a bunch of you, how much certain individuals among you would love to do this or that... yes, I´m open to coming back without the bike for a totally different Belize experience! But for now I was more than happy with my own ultimate of eco-tours, and I sped through the morning mist towards Guatemala.

Again an easy border crossing... into Guatemala! Hee hee hee. I changed some of the American doneros that I´ve been carrying hidden away (shhhh!) and set out Westwards. The road continued weaving, climbing, and descending, and would have been fun had it been paved. I bumped and jostled along for 25km before the road went straight up a brutally steep, leg-crushing climb... and was rewarded with pavement at the top. Much to my happiness the little roadside drink vendors continue to have refridgeration, and drinks are that much more refreshing. The road kept rolling all the way to El Remate, a small tourist town situated at one end of the access road to Tikal. I grabbed a room at a beautiful place that was a steal at $27 (see pic). A quick shower and I flagged down a passing bus for a $2.50 ride to Tikal.

Tikal has a reputation of being the most awe-inspiring of the ancient Central American-Mayan ruins, and after having spent 3 hours walking and climbing there, I could see why. While Tulum was yawnable, Tikal blew me away. It is a huge site that is still mostly buried in the jungle... it would take massive amounts of manpower simply to uncover it, notwithstanding what it must have taken to BUILD it. The largest of the pyramids have been uncovered, but as you walk around you pass huge towering mounds that quite obviously are yet another pyramid, hidden away. The aggressive steepness of the pyramids adds to their presence, and they are not easy to climb (particularly after riding 82 hilly km´s!). It sort of compares to Angkor Wat in Cambodia in terms of scale... its smaller than Angkor but unlike Angkor, or the huge Egyptian Pyramids, etc., its all built to a master plan. Thats probably the most impressive element of all... hundreds of buildings, some massive and impressive sites unto themselves, all conspiring to add to the sum total effect. A city of pyramids and related structures. Incredible. I sat at the top of the highest, looking out over the jungle canopy at other pyramid peaks, trying to imagine what it would have been like in its heyday.

Back on the local bus, heading back to El Remate, it started to rain... the first rain I´ve seen this trip! Its dry season down here, and as I´m typing this the rain has stopped and I´m not too worried for tomorrow´s 90ish kilometre ride to Sayache.






A final look back at Belize

My hotel. The room was great as well.

Food at Tikal. My first cerveza of the trip.

Walking into Tikal

A pyramid-top view of other pyramids poking through the jungle canopy

You come through the forest... yet another pyramid

Steep and impressive

From the top of a facing pyramid

Looking down the steep steps.

One of many