Distance: 95.3 km
Ride time: 4:56:23
Average: 19.3 km/h
Max speed: 49.7 km/h
Total: 37074 km
The hotel I found last night had seemed like a good choice when I arrived. Later in the night not so much; the neighbor was a disco and they fired up a very impressive sound system at 9 pm and continued nonstop until 2 in the morning. Then just as I thought I was going to sleep, the power went out. Not so bad you might think, but without a fan pointed right at your bed, my room soon felt like a sauna. Oh well, you can’t win every time.
In the morning I rode down to the river and took the free ferry across. The locals were looking at me, and I was looking at them.
On the other side of the river, the world turned nice and flat. As I’m now back at almost sea level, the heat starts to be a factor again. Luckily there are plenty of kiosks along the way for an ice cream or a cold drink.
At a pollo restaurant for lunch, this friendly waitress was very interested in coming with me back to Denmark. I told her she would have to cycle all the way 🙂 I love these little moments out there by the road side…
My friends Juan Carlos and Rafa had done so much for me in Guatemala City, but the hospitality of this amazing country was not over yet. Rafa turned out to have a cousin in Santa Elena with whom I was invited to stay. I gave Willy a call and said I would be arriving within an hour. That would have been true if I hadn’t taken a wrong turn and cycled 10 km before I noticed (they don’t have many street signs here).
When I finally cycled into the suburbs, Willy was there to guide me to his house on his scooter. What a nice evening talking about life en general and traveling in particular with yet another new friend in Guatemala. I love this place.
Tomorrow I will be visiting the maya ruins of Tikal!
A late night disco. Oh, fun. Not!