Woke up to sunny skies so I jumped on the bike and went off in search of some monkeys. I struck out there but I did have a nice time riding around Volcan Concepcion. The volcano has been pretty quiet since late 2005 but it’s still classified as active so I was alert for any signs of life.

The northern loop road was pretty rough but easily passable on any kind of bike and certainly in a 2WD car. This rough section lasted about 10 miles until the village of Altagracia. Next to the church are some ancient statues tucked away under some grass shelters. Some rtard decided to park his motorcycle right in front of the biggest ones so any chance for a good pic was shot. Some of the petroglyphs are thought to have been carved between 800 and1200 years ago and there are over 1700 on the island.

After Altagracia the road was paved all the way back so I cruised along passing by a couple small villages. A guy selling ice cream from a cart at the side of the road provided a welcome treat because it is really hot here. The other volcano, Volcan Maderas, wasn’t visible except for the cloudless base just before Altagracia and again a few miles after it. Monkey-less trees blocked out the lake from the road so there wasn’t much of a view of that either. The whole trip was 26 miles and took just under 3 hours.

The hotel I’m at is the Hotelito Aly. It’s not too bad but I had to string up my mosquito net over the bed because they are brutal here. The cold shower is just a PVC pipe so it’s kind of like standing under a waterfall. Felt great.

No rain for 3 days now. I think that’s some kind of record.

Tomorrow Costa Rica.

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06/11 Long day but got some easy miles in. The only bad thing was a flat tire followed 2 minutes later by another one. The hole from the first incident was on the inside of the tube which is a strange place to get a puncture. The inside of the rim was perfect so I have no idea how that could have happened. The second flat was also on the rear tire. This one had me dropping a couple expletives. Of course it had to happen far from any trees so the sun had me nice and toasty. Looks like a nice hunk of glass caused this one.

Nothing in the way of scenery other than rain forest. For wildlife I saw the wickedest-looking grasshoppers. They were jet black with red markings around their eyes. They were funny because they walked in perfect synchronization with each other.

When I arrived in town the first stop was an ice cream place. Yum. Nothing like a triple scoop on a hot day. I thought the “grungyness” of the town would improve as I got in the central area but it didn’t. It seems perfectly safe; it’s just that everything looks beat up. The motels are also horribly over-priced. I managed to track down a place with AC and internet for $400 pesos. It’s only a $250 peso room though.

Belize is only 2 days away and I’m really looking forward to it.

GPX Track