Marching About

  Crossing Into to Honduras I got off to a fairly early start - 9AM. So far my border crossings had been easy but I had read in some other bike blogs about sketchy border crossings so I figured I needed some time. The way out of San Miguel was pretty calm, rolling hills and nice views of the mountains and some volcanoes. There were some extended stoppage periods due to construction - even for short lengths of roads, they seem to allow the other side of traffic through for maybe 10 minutes at a time before letting the traffic through in the opposite direction. These stoppages allow for a fair amount of commerce - somehow on these dusty rural roads, dozens of vendors will wander through the cars with coolers selling cold water in plastic bags, mangoes and other fruits or peanuts and cashews. As I got close to the border, there was a huge line of semis, about 3 miles long sitting and waiting to cross. Long line of trucks leading up to the border   Once I got to the border, it was...

 I figured this merited its own post, since it was an all day affair. I took a bus from the hotel to Semuc Champey, which is Mayan for “where the river hides.” It was a winding and hilly 6-mile trip deep into the mountains - surprisingly, there were still houses along the way and even a couple of hotels at the park itself. I had booked a tour along with two others from the hotel, including my co-couchsurfer from Flores, Valeria. We were placed with another group of Danish people who were all traveling with the same travel agency, the group ended up being a little bigger than I’m used to, which means we were sometimes held up or rushed in certain places. The steep, windy road into Semuc Champey Signs along the way, there were some houses way out here, but only one road. The tour started with a steep ascent up the side of a cliff on wet and slippery rocks, about 1500ft straight up. There we got our first view of the “hidden river.” The river, which was roaring due to the previous day...

Riding in El Salvador   I did another century today! My route today did not take me on the highway, instead I was treated to a “Ruta Panoramica” for the first 30 miles or so, which wended its way through several towns with houses featuring well-treated lawns and floral arrangements. This was also mostly downhill, which I also enjoyed. The latter 70 miles were also fairly pleasant. There was a large shoulder and not a lot of traffic. I arrived with some daylight to spare, but as I go further south I can feel the heat rising. Although I’m in shape enough for the distance, the exposure to the heat is having a noticeable effect. I had planned a rest day in San Miguel, as well. On the road to San Miguel At the pupuseria with Lissette and Cesar   My hosts are Cesar and Lissette. They live in a small compound with several rooms. They described the location as being ideal for the space and privacy, even though it was located in a poor part of the city. I asked if that also meant t...

It seems that the typical day in San Salvadorn is to spend it out of the city. Laura suggested two day trips for me. One was the climb the volcano in Santa Ana and spend the night in the city. This did seem very appealing and she showed me pictures of when she had done it, however it would not be a very good rest day for my legs and would take longer than I had planned to stay in the city. So I did her second proposed option which was to go to the beach at El Tunco.  The boardwalk at El Tunco The “Silver Hour” over the beach   El Tunco is a beautiful beach on the pacific coast. There were a lot of tourists there and it seems to be a popular spot for surfing. So I rented a board and went out to the water. It was a bit difficult for me to get out past the break - the waves were quite large and I kept getting knocked over. Well, I haven’t been surfing since I lived in Fort Dauphin, Madagascar and I may have just forgotten how to maneuver past the waves. As the wind picked up thro...

The Nightmare Road to San Salvador I made it out at a good time today. But without a doubt, this was the worst and most dangerous ride I have done to date. I only had about 40 miles or so to San Salvador, And it was mostly uphill. However, there was an incredible amount of truck traffic, probably both from the port and from Guatemala. The shoulder was narrow to non-existent most of the way and the trucks drove recklessly, at times coming within inches of my handlebars. I had to focus as much as possible to keep myself on the line between the road and the ditch on the roadside while not getting blown off course by these trucks traveling at high speeds. At one point up the hill I passed a terrible accident - a truck had careened off the road and was partially suspended over the hillside, causing a massive traffic jam for miles that extended into the city. With the kind of driving I saw today, I imagine this kind of thing happens pretty much daily. I had two stop a couple of times going u...

Crossing the Border to El Salvador As I predicted, I got to sleep very easily. I wasn’t sure about where I would end up today. I had a tentative plan for a couchsurfer, but I had hesitated to confirm with them, because I wasn’t sure if I would survive the century ride or feel up to leaving the next day. Well, I did both. I woke up, went to the immigration window outside the hotel, exited Guatemala and entered El Salvador. At the border after crossing over from Guatemala. The border crossing was easy, some people showed me where to go and I got my exit stamp from Guatemala. All I received in El Salvador was a ticket, they did not stamp my passport, apparently that’s only if you fly in through the airport. I did not have to present anything except my covid vaccination card and there was no entry fee. I was a bit surprised with the relative ease with which I passed into El Salvador - only two administrative windows and I entered in 5 minutes. I didn’t have a long ride today, it was only 3...

Today was my first century ride of my trip. I had wanted to do at least one, just as a challenge to my fitness at this point in the tour. A century is a bike ride of 100 miles or more. Well, I made it to 104 miles in total. It was a full day of riding, I left Guate at around 10:30 and didn’t arrive in Pedro de Alvarado (Alvarado) until after 6pm. I didn’t have a host or anything here. View of a volcano from the road outside Escuintla A bike path out of the city. It only lasted about 1000ft, but I appreciated the sign raising the awareness The ride itself was one of the most enjoyable of the trip so far. It started with a nice long downhill section once I got out of the city. I definitely deserved this after all those hills I climbed! After about 30 miles, it leveled off and I rode through many small towns wooded areas. There were some small hills but nothing as significant as the previous days. I felt pretty strong the whole way, until the last few miles, when I knew I was close and my...