PowerCycle

07/08 Took the day off yesterday to relax and try to get some energy back. I’ve been really dragging for the last couple days. I did just get over a cold that fortunately didn’t migrate to my stomach but maybe that wore me out a little more than I thought. The altitude might be the other thing. I jumped up to over 7000 feet kind of fast. Knocked out a whopping 25 miles today (with 3000 feet of climbing) and I didn’t feel nearly as worn out so the altitude is probably all it is.

My rear tire is giving me some grief. I think a little piece of wire has worn through the bead and has been causing a flat every few days. I wedged a dollar bill where it presses against the tube–maybe that’ll buy me a couple days until I get into a place where I can look closer. The flat today was on the last huge descent and it took me so long to fix it that I ended up getting caught in the 3pm rain.

While I was Uspantan I stopped over at the post office to send back my small backpack and a few other things I haven’t been using. Well the guy there was very reluctant to take anything with even a little metal on it which was kind of a problem because almost everything had a little metal on it. Luck was on my side and in walked Marty. He’s a missionary who lives in town (and speaks Spanish/English). After finding out how much it would cost to ship everything to Atlanta ($30 for ~4 lbs) Marty offered to send it back with someone he knew and they would ship it from the States for me. We headed over to his place to se how much shipping would be. It ended up being $15. Thanks Marty. I also met his wife Diane and got some good info on the roads and places to eat in Panajachel, my next big stop.

A new rack is also on the way. Karin and Marten told me about a Spanish school in Panajachel that they had something delivered to so I followed their lead. It was shipped today and should take 6-14 days. Not sure when I’ll be there because my timing is way off with these mountains. Maybe 5 more days.

Ordered a hamburger and fries for dinner like I have a million other times (from a teenager who spoke a little English). Ended up with 6 hotdog buns, thinly sliced steak, rice and beans. No fries. I ate it anyway but boy was something lost in translation.

GPX Track