06/25 Had a little rain to start the day. Lasted about an hour and then it mostly just drizzled. Luck was on my side because an hour after I arrived in town a nasty thunderstorm rolled through. I was safe and sound in my US $4.99 motel room so it didn’t matter. The place is called the Plaza Hotel. The room isn’t bad–2 beds, cable TV, a fan, space for my bike and it’s pretty clean. The shower/bathroom are shared but I can live with that for five bucks.

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.

GPX Track

06/16 I hate this road oh so very much. Today was a perfect blend of all the things I dislike the most: horrible road surface, steady traffic and a strong cross-wind. I asked my new friend Viven if it’s always this windy here and she confirmed it. She also said it can go from sunny one day to a hurricane the next which makes me wonder what kind of warning system they have in place here. There is a hurricane shelter in town and I think the building was rating to a cat 3 but I wonder how well word gets out if one is coming.

Crooked Tree Village is very sparse in services but the people are incredibly friendly. Viven, who I mentioned above, works here at the motel. I happened to run into her on my afternoon hike and we had a nice chat. She also has a wicked arm. There are fruit trees all over the place and she asked if I wanted a mango. Right above our heads about 15 feet up was a ripe one so she threw a stick up and knocked it down for me. I ate it back at the motel and boy was it good.

Cashews are a big thing here so I bought a bag of fresh ones and chowed down on those. Lunch was at a place called Carrie’s Kitchen which was hard to find because the signs are almost non-existent. I’ve had to ask if I’m going the right way more in the last few days than at any other time on my trip. Ended up having rice and beans with some chicken which seems to be the standard menu item in these parts. Also met the smartest kid while I was walking back here. He couldn’t have been more than 6 but he knew the names of every bird we saw. It’s so nice being able to talk to 90% of the people I meet. Except for one guy who spoke Creole, everyone else has spoken almost perfect English.

GPX Track