PowerCycle

10/23 A decent in-room internet connection convinced me to stay in Aguachica for an extra day but wow does that place ever grate on your nerves. Hordes of motorcycles roam the streets and honk non-stop looking to attract people for rides. I was wandering around trying to find a stove and finally just gave up from all the noise.

Stayed in a quaint little town last night called San Alberto. A quick loop only revealed one motel and it looked kind of expensive but a couple transit cops guided me over to decent place for 20 mil ($11). It was a busy little place–I counted 5 different bike shops. They even had a store called Miami, which got a chuckle from some bike shop guys when I pointed to it and said that’s where I’m from. I didn’t tell them that’s also what drug dealers refer to me as in Panama.

Today started off slow thanks to some early morning rain. It tapered off by 8am but before I could get going I noticed that the front tire was almost flat. A bit of air got me to the bike shop down the street where I had them stick in a new tube. I also bought a new pump for a spare. The last spare pump broke in half just sitting in the bottom of my trunk bag.

Traffic wasn’t horrible but my ear plugs went in thanks to the incredibly loud truck engines that stayed next to me for the longest time because they weren’t going up hill much faster than I was. The plugs didn’t last long because I hate wearing them and it didn’t help much. No shoulder which I kind of expected, but it was safe enough. People weren’t shy about showing their support when they saw me chugging up the hills. Giving the thumbs up sign is something I’ve only seen Colombians do and I got lots of them. Plenty of supportive honks too.

My spider senses kicked in a little this afternoon while I was on a roadside break. A teenager on a BMX was tearing down the hill when he saw me and came over. He asked where I was heading and then got pretty interested in my GPS. When he motioned that he wanted to hold it a vision of him tearing down the mountain with it flashed before my eyes. When he got the hint that he wasn’t touching it he left.

The three big hills to get up here went OK but my climbing muscles are out of shape. 35 miles with 3300 feet of elevation gain with some hot temperatures did me in and I grabbed an el cheapo motel room for $4.42 (maybe the lowest rate ever). The room only has a bed and a little plastic fan and no cover over the window on the door. My towel went up to keep the mosquitoes out. They were slaughtering a pig out back when I got here. That sucker made a hell of a racket and I had to fight the urge to go save it. Not sure what I’d do with an adopted pig but it would have made a great story. It was kind of interesting how they cleaned it. All they do is pour boiling water over it and scrape off the hair with a brush. That’s as far as I got before hunger kicked in.

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