07/13 Its been a long time since I’ve ridden in such miserable weather. Cold and rainy almost all day. Woke up to this yesterday and went back to bed. I’m still liking being up here at 8500 feet even with the wicked climbs that got me here. You really feel like you’ve accomplished something when you can look back down at the tiny specks that were buildings you rode by earlier. I’m only about 12 miles from the highest point on the PanAmerican Highway (not going that way though).

It did turn out to be a very unusual day. It started with a power outage that hit just after I’d made my coffee (whew). It was still out when I left. Short power outages are somewhat common, especially when the afternoon storms kick up but this one was weird because it wasn’t even raining.

Then my chain broke climbing a hill 2 miles out of town. I was fully expecting that to be a major ordeal but less than 5 minutes later the broken link was fixed and I was off again. If you’ve ever had to fix a chain you know how it can be almost impossible to get a pin back in if you inadvertently pop it all the way out so you know how happy I was about that bit of luck. I felt the pedaling getting a little weird and I’d stopped before it broke but didn’t bother to check the chain–thought the shifting was just a little off. Lesson learned there.

The most unusual thing was the police escort I had all the way from Quiche to Chichicastenango, a distance of about 9 miles that took me an hour thanks to some serious climbs. They first started tailing behind me when I was heading up a hill. At the top I thought they’d pass me but they just hung back about 30 feet and matched my pace when I was pedaling or they’d pull up beside me and we’d chat while I caught my breath on a break (for an hour!). It was much harder riding with them there but I don’t think I’ve been safer on my whole trip. The hills were the worst– I couldn’t switchback up the steep parts because the noise from their truck meant I couldn’t hear other cars coming. There’s no shoulder in a lot of places so when I stopped at the side to rest the driver would direct traffic that was waiting to pass.

In Chichicastenango they waved goodbye and yelled “Welcome to Chichicastenango!” I did end up seeing them again a couple times further down the road. They stopped in the oncoming lane when I was climbing up one particularly brutal hill and looked at me like I was insane. They were pretty cool and it was an interesting experience.

Glad I found a motel when I did but I could have made it at least to Solola. No point in riding in the cold rain when a perfectly good hot shower is available for only a few dozen quetzals. This town(?) is at the junction of the highway I was on and CA1 (aka the PanAmerican Highway). Traffic is nuts and it’s very loud. Chicken buses (craziest drivers I’ve ever seen) come tearing up to a spot at the junction honking away, long haul trucks come barreling through using their engine to brake and taxis dart in and out of all this honking for any passengers the buses missed. Lot’s of restaurants which is a bonus. I ate lunch at a place across the street and had the most incredible fish platter.

Watched most of the World Cup on Sunday except for a little bit when I fell asleep. I am so not a soccer fan. I was still sorry to see my friends’ team lose.

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07/10 Well the cold(?) did end up migrating to my stomach so I stayed in Sacapulus yesterday. I may have found a wonder drug though. A lady at the pharmacy hooked me up with some pills called Tinidazol. I popped 4 of them over 2 hours and I was back to 100%. The loose bowels (sorry) went away almost immediately. Wish I’d known about it sooner.

I felt so good today I didn’t even realize I’d climbed 4500 feet by the time I got here. Had some steady rain for a couple hours and I actually got a bit cold which was kind of nice for a change. Gave me a chance to wear my rain jacket for the first time in since probably Alaska. Not sure what the temp got down to but I could see my breath for a bit.

My ride a day; rest a day might have to continue one more time. No point in missing the World Cup tomorrow. The rack is several days from getting delivered so it’s either hang out here or hang out in Panajachel. I’m not suffering too much-the posada I’m in is only US $12 and it has a nice bed, hot shower and HBO/Cinemax.

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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.

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07/06 If I remember one thing about Guatemala it’ll be that the roads are crazy but the detours are crazier. I’d planned on getting to Uspantan in one day. That didn’t happen. My legs have never been as sore in the last 2 days as they’ve been on my entire trip. It’s like I have lead weights strapped to them toward the end of the day. Karin and Marten warned me that the average grades were 11%–they weren’t kidding. Here’s a good description of grades: “A 5-8% grade represents your typical hill that is visually obvious as a climb. A 3% grade is your average onramp while 10% and above appears wall-like from a distance.”

Had it not been for a tiny little village that appeared just in time I would have spent the night at the side of the road. Fortunately they had a perfect spot for me to pitch my tent under a nice dry roof outside a boarded up store. I was quite popular too. At one point there were at least 20 people watching me set up my tent. Some of the braver kids came over and asked about my bike/trip but with my lack of Spanish it wasn’t a deep conversation. Lucky for them it got dark when I started washing off the grime.

When I left Coban I thought I’d be riding on dirt the entire way here. 2 different road maps even confirmed this. The first 20 miles ended up being dirt/gravel but, to my surprise, the rest of the way was paved. Normally I love riding on dirt roads–my favorite part of Alaska was a 3 day ride on one however having a gimpy front rack has made riding off-pavement very stressful. I can’t go very fast on downhills either which means constant braking. At this massive landslide where they detour you down this wickedly steep and very rough gravel road my hands were numb from having to clutch the brakes so hard.

Speaking of landslides, there are a lot of them on this highway. I’d say one at least every 1/4 mile. A few of the big ones were cleared enough for traffic to get by but if only one lane is blocked they usually just leave it.

I had a good laugh today but I should mention that my understanding about why this happened wasn’t clear until a couple days later when I had a chance to research why exactly some Mayan women were so distrusting. Young women not talking to men because they’d appear unchaste I knew about but outright fear was new for me. Anyway, these two girls, probably around 10, came bounding down the hill from their house to catch a bus or something. The first girl makes it down to the road, starts to cross and stops dead in her tracks like a deer caught in headlights. She had turned to see if cars were coming and saw my big old gringo self lurching up the hill about 20 feet from her. The look on her face was priceless. And then, faster than I’ve ever seen 2 girls run from me, she and her sister raced back up the hill and hid inside the house.

It’s actually kind of remarkable how similar the indigenous Maya populations are here and in Mexico but I guess that shouldn’t be surprising. No one likes their picture taken (I always ask–unless there’s absolutely no way they can tell and I’m not being disrespectful) and guys will always whistle/yell/give you a thumbs up or, God bless them, honk right next to you as they pass. Girls under 13 will almost always run (giggling) from you and girls over 13 stare straight ahead and rarely look at or talk to you. The indigenous women either just look at you like you’re going to steal their kids or they do the exact opposite and wave and greet you.

True story that happened in one of the remote mountain villages here in Guatemala that was the tragic result of a simple misunderstanding compounded by typically negative religious influences: it was in 2000, this Japanese tourist (male) and his guide (Guatemalan man) were stoned to death by the villagers because he tried to comfort a crying child. His actions (reaching out to touch the child) didn’t go over very well especially with recent rumors that a meeting of demonic, foreign cult members was to take place in the next few days that would include the kidnapping and sacrifice of local children. In a lot of remote Mayan villages rumors still circulate that foreigners (especially women) kidnap children to sell them, or sometimes just their internal organs. Needless to say there’s still some distrust that’s more than a little evident. I found this very detailed article about what happened.

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Haven´t had wifi access for a bit so there are a few updates sitting on my laptop. Maybe in one more day when I get to Panajachel. I did manage to find a place to have a replacement rack shipped to so it should be arriving a few days after I do (in Panajachel). The broken one held up pretty well considering the abuse it was subjected to, expecially on the first day out of Coban. Lot´s of rough roads and landslides to maneuver around.

Staying in town for today so I can watch the World Cup. Go Netherlands!