The funny thing about today was I had a feeling this morning that it would be a really bad day. I should have stayed put. This will be hard to believe but I didn’t swear or throw anything all day.

The front rack is a major, major problem. The bottom half bent under the weight of the pannier when I slammed down into the pothole. It’s actually a miracle that only one spoke was broken. Glad there are 35 more. I spent the next hour taking off the front fender and trying to straighten the rack back out. Of course bending medal that’s already damaged usually makes it more damaged. Now one of the weight-bearing bars is almost ripped right in half. Getting someone to weld it might work but I’m only going to try that as a last resort. The one bar isn’t the only one that’s damaged. I took almost everything out of the pannier and managed to make it here without it failing completely. There’s no way I can ride off-pavement and that’s another problem because the next part of my route after Coban tomorrow was supposed to be gravel. I’m also down a front fender which makes riding in the rain a mess.

I’m hoping that Coban has some sort of bike shop that could at least order me a new rack and fix the spoke. If it doesn’t I could probably fix the spoke but I’d have to order the rack from the States which would cost a fortune.

The flat tire sucked because now I’m down to 2 spare tubes and it’s harder than I thought to find ones with Presta valves. The one that went bad was the last from a batch of 3 I bought in Mazatlan. All three ended up wearing out at the inner seam.

Camped out last night in the back yard of the people that run the local restaurant. The lady spoke a little English which made things a little easier (even though I could have gotten through it in Spanish). She even offered to let me stay thanks to the weather but I set off to see how bad of a day I could have. It ended up not raining the rest of the day until literally 10 seconds after I got to the motel.

Mega hills today. One of them was the steepest I’ve ridden up on any major road. Traffic was light so I rode up it side-to-side and would have made it all the way except for one truck that messed it up for me.

Rode through some amazing scenery over the last 2 days. There are some beautiful national parks in Guatemala and I was lucky enough to pass through one of them–Ceibal. That place had the biggest trees and ferns I’ve ever seen. The mountain range called Sierra Chinaja was equally impressive. The mountains aren’t extremely high but they are entirely tree-covered and rise up from the jungle like huge pillars.

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Pictures are here. Once again the site breaks when I try to include them in the post. Argh.

I’m running into a few places where the people don’t speak Spanish or English so it takes a little more non-verbal communication to be understood. There are something like 22 spoken languages in Guatemala so it was just a matter of time. Even the word for water (agua) is different. I had to show a lady the little bit left in my bottle so she’d know what I wanted. Food is so cheap here too. Lunch was a big plate of rice, beans and chicken tortillas plus 2 Cokes for US $3.

I forgot to mention the parrots at the hotel in La Reforma. They spoke to everyone sitting near them at the restaurant in Spanish. “Hola! Hola!” over and over again. They also made a barking noise when they got hungry.

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On the road into town I saw a dead Tapir, the largest land mammal of the American tropics, so I can add that as my first exotic road kill. Hopefully I’ll see some live ones. And Toucans…there are a lot of them here. Actually Belize has so many things that can seriously mess you up that I’ll have to be careful. There’s even an ant that’s described as causing “waves of burning, throbbing, all-consuming pain that continues unabated for up to 24 hours”. No more dropping Oreo cookie bits and seeing how many ants I can summon during a rest break.

It’s weird speaking English to everyone again. Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official language. The population of Belize is pretty mixed: Mestizos comprise about 34% of the population, Kriols 25%, Spanish 15%, Maya 11%, and Garinagu 6%. The population is small, only 320,000 so it enjoys the lowest population density in Central America but sadly it has one of the highest population growth rates in the western hemisphere. When will people learn?

Stayed in the lake-side town of Bacalar last night. Didn’t have anything exciting to report so I didn’t write up a blurb about the day.

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Lot’s of people out enjoying the nice weather. The market was crazy. Not a good place for tall people though. Glad I was wearing my bike helmet. Just kidding.

There are a lot of people struggling to survive here which is sobering when you’re strolling around with a nice camera and a full stomach. There was a guy sitting in one of the aisles at the market with his leg extended out. He had a really bad case of elephantiasis on it and I doubt he could even walk. The indigenous people, mostly of Mayan descent, have tonnes of sidewalk booths set up where they sell everything from blankets to jewelry. There are just so many you have to wonder if entire days go by where they don’t sell anything.

The hippy/dreadlocks people here are a bit wacko. I can’t tell where they’re from but I don’t think it’s the States. One pair was playing a set of drums outside a church while a hippy girl spun around some rope or something. Really? It seems a bit tacky to me to travel to a developing country and try to hit people up for loose change so you can keep traveling the world. Maybe its just me though. Besides the hippies the other foreigners here, of which there are quite a few, seem to stay pretty low key.

Tourism has definitely left its mark on the people that live in the main historical area of the city though. For the first time someone made a snide comment when I couldn’t explain in Spanish what I wanted. It was a guy in a bike shop and after spending all of 15 seconds trying to tell him I wanted a bike tube he walked over to get it and muttered “Spanish” under his breath. Fair enough–not speaking the language very well sucks but give me a break. It’s not like I was being demanding about it and it was kind of obvious I’d traveled a long way so there shouldn’t be an expectation that I know every word in the language. If I encountered a foreigner traveler in the States or Canada and they couldn’t speak English it wouldn’t even cross my mind to be anything but helpful. If I was living here totally different story. Of course you never really know what experiences he’s had with people before me so I’m sure that played into it. Pete had a similar experience with some seemingly anti-gringo sentiment and that guy speaks Spanish better then anyone I know. On a positive note, one good thing about this place is that almost no one stares at me (except the ladies). I kind of miss the small towns now.

I also haven’t seen anyone since I got here. I had to bail on seeing Roland/Belinda and Karin/Marten this morning and Pete left this morning and I didn’t get to see him either. If I got any of them sick I’d feel horrible.

Right outside Oaxaca is a very touristy town that has a nice car-free walkway running through it, all the buildings are well maintained and everything just has a nice, clean look to it. One area was fenced in so I wandered over since a cool looking church was sitting behind it. There was a sign in English by the gate saying donations of $5 pesos would be appreciated so I went in with the intention of checking it out and maybe leaving something on the way out. Well “donation” in this case was probably a translation error because the $5 pesos isn’t optional. I didn’t want to see it up close that bad since I’ve seen a million churches so I left. Later on I found out Marten and Karin ran into the same thing.

Tonight I’m camped on among some cacti on a patch of grass next to a Penmax station. K/M (that’s Karen/Martin–I’m getting lazy) were right behind me on the road and get credit for stopping to ask if camping here is OK. There are showers, beer and water so its home for the night. The gas station is open 24/7 so hopefully its not too loud.

Huge descent after just a short climb to end the day. Traffic was light which made it even better. The view down the canyon was incredible. I’m really surprised how many cacti there are. I thought it would be more humid further south so actual trees would be more plentiful. Then I remembered they probably all got chopped down.

Yesterday was going to be my departure day but K/M wanted to stay and Roland and Belinda were in town so hanging out for an extra day was easy decision. We all met up for lunch and then hung out back at the motel for a while. It was so cool to see R/B again. The last time was all the way back up in Alaska. Roland’s beard has grown to epic proportions.

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The fireplace was nice but I noticed this morning that all my stuff had a thin layer of black soot all over it. Oops. No wonder it looked like I’d been snorting charcoal when I blew my nose.

The morning took a fast turn for the worse when I went to raise my bike seat up to provide some relief for my knees. With the seat raised to the right height, I started to tighten the bolt that crimps the seat clamp tighter. That’s when I hear SNAP. The bolt broke in half and now nothing was keeping my seat from moving side to side. At least it was already as low as it could go. Using my new Spanish skills I asked a guy on the street if there was a bike shop in town. There was and I even understood the directions. Found the place and said a little prayer that they’d have a bolt. They did! Sweet. I was back in business.

The weather finally won and I wore my rain pants for the first time in months. It didn’t actually rain until I was almost in Uruapan but it was still cold. Met a really cool guy just into the city. He’d stopped his car ahead of me and got out to ask all kinds of questions about bicycle touring (in English). Hope he gives it a shot.

Also saw my very first car accident in Mexico (actually on this entire trip). A delivery truck was stopped heading down a hill because the car in front of him had stopped in the road to make a left. A white car behind the delivery truck wasn’t paying attention and slammed into the back of the truck. Fortunately the car wasn’t going more than 10 mph. The driver of the white truck didn’t even get out! He just drove off. The white car was drivable so he took off too. I guess dealing with the police/insurance isn’t worth it.

Staying in a nice hotel (US $23) since it was the only one I could find away from the central area and not on a main road. I need some rest tonight. Not 2 minutes after got here someone started shooting off the same exploding rockets I had to listen to all day yesterday. Love it. They stopped after an hour so I have my fingers crossed.

I found out from some backpackers in Angahuan that the street parties were part of a 3 day wedding celebration. They couldn’t stand the noise either so it’s not just me. Today is also the first Monday of February which is when Mexico celebrates Día de la Constitución (Constitution Day) so there might be some fireworks tonight.

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The weather wasn’t on my side either. The wind was strong and got stronger as I climbed up into the hills. It was also a little cold with the sky being mostly overcast. At the 20 mile mark I was about done. At mile 35 a trail leading up alongside a mountain looked like it could be home for the night but there wasn’t a good place to pitch the tent. Angahuan was only another 10 miles so I just kept going.

Passing through the small towns offered something new for me. Purepecha Indians live in the small, mountainside villages in this area and the differences between their culture and those of the Spanish population I’ve seen so far is striking. Women of all ages wear very colorful dresses and usually have their heads covered with a scarf. I haven’t seen any outright signs of poverty but the houses and condition of the streets makes it pretty clear that money is a lot harder to come by. Other than the main road running through the town most of the streets are either rough cobblestone or dirt.

In Angahuan I stopped at a visitor information center and asked if there was a motel in town. The answer was no but there was a place with cabanas. That worked so I asked for directions which I didn’t understand. The streets are all cobblestone so after a bumpy five minutes I was very surprised to see a hotel. The sign even said English speaking, internet and hot showers included. I pulled up to see how much it was and found out they wanted $31 US. Too rich for my blood. The sign was also misleading. No one spoke English and there was no internet. The English I normally don’t care about but it would have been nice to ask about getting a guide to visit the volcano. I’ll just wing it tomorrow.

Finding the cabanas was just dumb luck. I’d asked a few people where they were and the last guy pointed behind him– he was standing in front of them. There wasn’t a sign so I would have ridden right by considering the place didn’t look any different from any other building (it’s at N19 32.908 W102 13.661). It looks like there are two cabins. They are up on a hill so I have a nice view of the city. The door doesn’t lock but there’s a big stone fence surrounding the property so my stuff should be fine. The cabana is one of the best places I’ve stayed for the price. It was only $18 for 2 nights, there’s hot water, 2 beds, a table and a fireplace! I asked the lady about buying some firewood and when I came back she’d stacked a pile of it outside my door.

The big attraction here is the Paricutin volcano. In 1943 it erupted sending lava pouring down into the village of San Juan Parangaricutiro. Today only the church’s twin towers are visible. The lava completely covered everything else. My guide book says the church is accessible from town via foot or horseback but I’ll try hiking it tomorrow since my butt needs a rest.

Today must be a holiday because in the last town I rode through about ten teenagers were walking up the street in what looked like Halloween costumes. I was too tired to take a picture so I kept going. In Angahuan there’s a lot going on. The streets are filled with roving groups of musicians and street dancers. While eating some tacos at a street stand I asked the guy across from me, an English speaking drug dealer with silver front teeth, what the party was for. He made it sound like this happens here every weekend but I kind of doubt it.

Oh yeah… this morning as I was riding along the highway two guys in a pickup stopped ahead of me and when I got close and asked if they could get a picture. Kind of a funny thing to have happen. Also, when I was climbing up the mountain another pickup stopped and the guy driving asked if I wanted a lift to the top. It was tempting but I passed. Nice of him to stop and ask though.

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The place I was staying didn’t work out so I moved into a school-owned private apartment. The people there were awesome but the room was too loud and I had to sit outside to get internet access. The new place is a 15 minute walk from school but its 100x quieter and it has wireless.

One of the 2 things I ordered from the States via eBay arrived after just a week. It was a GE 26695 VoIP In-Ear Headset/Earphone & Inline Microphone. Got it for when I’m using Skype. It’s crap. The headphone part is fine but the microphone is terrible. Even with the PC mic volume all the way up recorded sounds are barely audible (Skype’s software even warns about it when making a call). The background hissing is also distracting.

The other thing I ordered, the immersion heater, hasn’t arrived but I saw one in a store and bought it since it was only US $2.65. Some of them don’t have a long life expectancy so I’ll hang on to both if the other one gets here before I leave.

Oh, I tried grasshoppers for the first time yesterday. A friend of mine, Beata ordered something off the menu called Delicious Crepe. Well on the English section of the menu it had the real name of the dish: Grasshopper Crepe. She went ahead and ordered it and we all tried some. The little hoppers had been fried up and seasoned with various things. I had 3 and thought they were pretty good. Will I start riding with my mouth open now? No.

After the grasshopper dinner we took a taxi to Guadalajara and watched Sherlock Holmes (in English–good movie too). I’ve had a cold for the last few days so the 40 F rainy weather was kind of brutal but I had a great time. They had a Dairy Queen at the mall too. First one I’ve seen in Mexico.

The pics below are just random ones from different days last week.

The last day of the year started out on a sour note. I lost my camera. I think it bounced out of the bag I keep it in while I was riding down the first hill out of Tepic. I noticed it was gone at mile 9 but there was no way I was going to ride back uphill for 9 miles looking for a probably broken camera. Hopefully I find a place to buy a new one tomorrow because I missed out on some good pictures today. Saw 2 volcano, a huge lava field and lots of incredible views of the valley I rode down into.

Skipped the toll road today and took 15 all the way. I guess it wasn’t that bad but it was very busy. No shoulder for 90% of the way of course. To add to the craziness more than a hundred car/truck loads of New Year’s party goers were driving in huge caravans to some unknown destination. I got plenty of waves from everyone passing by.

Had an amazing BBQ lunch at a place called La Sierra. Met my very first cocaine drug dealer there. His name was Eddie and he lived in California for 25 years so his English was very good. He’s not in the business anymore and unfortunately his time as a millionaire drug dealer cost him 4 years in state prison, his marriage and he can’t visit his kids because they are in the US and he’s not allowed back. He didn’t blame anyone but himself but we both agreed that the “war on drugs” is a joke. I left a good impression when I told him the big news.

The big news is that I’m going to take a Spanish class in Guadalajara for 3 weeks. I spent the day in Tepic yesterday trying to find a good school and get registered (on short notice). Classes start 01/04 and I’ll be in the “intensive” course for four hours a day, five days a week. They had a number of housing options available so I decided to try to get the most out of this so I’m going to be staying with a Mexican family associated with the school the entire time. The cost of staying there also includes 3 meals a day. Hopefully after this I’ll be able to carry on somewhat of a conversation with the people I meet. The class and housing cost a bit of money so I have to skip the side trip to Cuba that I was planning. Maybe some other time.

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