PowerCycle

08/05 It is so nice to be back on the road. What an ordeal that turned out to be. In the back of my head I kind of wonder if my stay there was longer than it needed to be. The rack was in bad shape but there’s a chance that a decent welder could have repaired the 2 places that had damage. What kept me from doing that was the unknown factor. If the weld would have failed and I was in a remote area (with no welders) I’d be pretty screwed.

Matthew and Nancy were out of town when I left but they were around for Karin’s big 50th birthday bash a couple days ago. I think it’s amazing that she’s on this trip–she rode with her husband Marten from Alaska all the way down here taking some of the hardest routes along the way. Not only did they ride the mountainous routes, they also rode on dirt/gravel roads for thousands of miles. The party was fun. Lot’s of cake, ice cream and at the end we all got to take part in smashing a piñata.

I did have to contend with some road issues that were exciting. Leaving Pana there’s a huge washout about 1/2 way up the mountain. It wasn’t quite as bad as it was the week before but I still had to unpack all my bags and make two trips. Wooden planks formed a crude bridge over the muddy/wet spots but there’s no way I was crossing it with a load touring bike.

The second issue was much, much worse. An entire section of road had been washed away by a river. The only way to cross was to walk through the river and hope for the best. A truck happened to be there and I watched him plow through the river to the other side without getting washed downstream so I felt a little better about giving it a shot. Some memories of my Dad trying to drown me in Colorado during another river crossing came rushing back which didn’t help. I did a test walk across without the bike or gear and it wasn’t too bad. The water was very fast but it was a little less than a foot deep. My gear was next followed by one last crossing with my bike.

Patzan was my home for the night yesterday. Not too many Gringos visit that town which is always nice (easy to tell by how much you get stared at). A lady in a bakery even saved me from getting my head chopped by a ceiling fan that I didn’t see.

Today was a fast, easy day. Rode on the Pan American highway for a while. Having a shoulder was nice but there’s too much traffic for my taste. Actually had some gently rolling hills for a while which is extremely rare.

I’ll going to be here in Antigua for 3 nights. Tomorrow is shopping day. I need a few spares that I couldn’t find in Pana. Nothing big–just bolts, batteries, some bike lube and hopefully a small bike pump in case my main ones dies (Karin/Marten have a spare which I thought was a great idea). On Saturday I’m going to take a tour up to the Pacaya Volcano. A guy here said it’s not spewing lava but is well worth seeing anyway.

This city is pretty unique for Guatemala. It’s a huge tourist draw thanks to visual perks like underground power lines, enforcement of building codes, 16th century cathedrals, huge parks and an almost total lack of garbage anywhere. The biggest thing though, no stray dogs. I read that they mysteriously “go away” in the middle of the night. Wherever they go it sure makes a huge (positive) difference.

Stray dogs are a major problem in almost every town/city south of the US border and I’ve seen more than my share of starving, neglected, abused and sickly dogs to last a lifetime. Imagine eating lunch and having half a dozen starving dogs staring at you. Back in the States or Canada I probably would have taken a stray to a shelter but riding around down here numbs you a little. You just get so used to seeing them and knowing there’s nothing you can do to help. There are over 3 million stray dogs in Mexico City (and over 15,000 a month are put down). It’s crazy how big of a problem it is. I’m pretty up on why the problem is as bad as it is but I’m not in the mood for a stray dog rant right now. I’m just going to enjoy the next 3 days of not getting chased, stepping on poop or listening to them fight all right.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 5th, 2010 at 7:19 pm and is filed under Leg 2. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.