Stage 6: Poptun to ???

La Caoba

I had a bit of time this morning with Saul. We hung out a bit and had breakfast, then he took me to the Machequilla river, a beautiful spot where some guys were swimming and others were hanging out along some of the beaches that came up to the riverside. This seemed like a nice relaxing spot where he said people come in the summer to cool off. We went back to his house after that and I was off. 

With Saul at the Machaquilla River

Some days, the cycling is great, I don’t encounter any major issues and I get to where I was trying to go. Well, today was not one of those days. At many people’s behest, I decided to go to Semuc Champey. I figured it would take me a couple days from Poptun, but it really wasn’t much of a detour aside from the fact that it adds some mountains in the way, but I’m up for some hills. From Poptun, the elevation profile looked acceptable, a couple of steep mountains at the end of the ~200km stage. I figured I could make it to the base of the mountains, around 120-130km and then do the rest the next day. Strava and Google had some issues deciding which route to take, and each had discrepancies regarding how far it was (on the same searches I was seeing between 200-220km). Well, I wasn’t really deterred, they had markings of national routes that I had already been taking - I had previously been on CA-13, I could get to Lanquin via CA-5. We’ll let me tell you, if you are a cyclist and are trying to do this route, do a different one - this way is practically impossible to do by bike. I only say “practically” because, of course, you can do it, but the road conditions are not only atrocious, it barely qualifies as a road.

This picture does not accurately depict the loose rocks as well as how slippery and muddy everything was.

It had been raining in the morning before I left, and it rained off and on as I was riding. The route started out just fine, the typical paved roads and hills, some climbs, but mostly steady descents and flats. I passed by many farms with trees in full bloom, they looked like cherry blossoms, but I do not know what they were. At a certain point, the paved road ended and turned into a mess of jagged rocks. Usually I can just grit my teeth and force myself over such terrain, I figured with the previous condition of the roads which, up until now had been excellent, this would only last for a few miles, or maybe even off and on. Well, after about 8 or 9 miles I was getting worried. I was moving extremely slow. I also was unable to climb any incline. The hills were short, but steep. But the rainfall had caused everything to be coated in mud and the rocks were very slippery. I couldn’t climb because I had no traction and my bike kept slipping off of the edges of the rocks and I kept getting tossed to the edges of the road, unable to keep myself in the middle of the road. Some motorcyclists were somehow managing to maneuver over this terrain, but were clearly having issues. I had to resign myself to walk up every hill, which was very tough with my riding shoes and the uneven rocks, and couldn’t ride faster than about 6 mph on the flats and downhill due to the road being washed out in many different places - I was charting a course which took up the entire road. I stopped in a small village for a quick snack and asked how much longer the road remained unpaved, as I was trying to make it to Fray de Bartolome by the evening. The answers were varied, in the same way that Google maps was - “it’s 20 more km like this”, “it’s the entire way, 70km more like this”, “oh you can do it, you’ll arrive at 8pm, but it’s not safe”, “it’ll take you 3 days to get there”.

Ok, well my options suck, I was already about 10 or 15 miles into this unpaved area and with the rain it would have been very difficult to go back. They told me that there was a hotel in La Caoba about 3 more villages down. I figured I would go there first and sort myself out. So I pressed onwards, the entire time at a snails pace, frustrated by the road, rocks and incline. I kept seeing cars and trucks and motorcycles passing me going the opposite direction, but nobody seemed to be going my way. I had lost the cellphone signal, my GPS had no information for my coordinates, for sure I was lost at this point.

After about 6 more miles of this I had no assurance that I was headed in the right direction, and the road kept getting wetter and wetter. 

Finally, a pickup truck came up behind me, I waved down the driver and asked if he could help me, at least to La Caoba. I was in luck, it was the next village over. The three men in the car helped me put my bike in the tailgate  and I got in. They were all very nice and also very curious about what a gringo was doing way out in their neck of the woods. They were bus drivers returning from their jobs. They asked me plenty of questions about basic English words and life in Colorado. It was only another 2 or 3 miles to La Caoba, but after that road experience, I didn’t care at all. I asked about the hotel, but upon our arrival in the town, I was told not to go to the hotel, instead I would stay at the driver’s house and have dinner with him and his family. With the rest of the guys in the car, we stopped off at a store and had a beer before going our separate ways. Cesar, the driver, has some deep roots in this place. He was born and raised, the store we went to is run by his uncle and his nieces. As we were sitting there, his 15-year old son pulled up in a tuc-tuc. As other people rode by on bikes, they all shouted to him “that’s my cousin” he would say or “that’s my brother”. 

We finished our beer and he took me to his house. He said it would take me a long time to get to Lanquin, as the road is unpaved rocks the entire way (I am hearing more conflicting accounts about whether it is paved or not) and suggested I start by taking the bus at least to my original destination tomorrow morning at 5am. 

Cesar and his family were extremely kind. He told me his wife and one of his sons have been living in the US for the past 8 years. His son received a scholarship to study at a university in the US and now lives in Nashville, Tennessee. His wife lives in Atlanta and works at a Guatemalan restaurant. He hasn’t seen them for 8 years, but they all seem very close. She is the mother of his 3 other children, who all live in his compound in La Cahoba. He said he would also like to move to be with his wife, but the visa application process is very cumbersome and he doesn’t have a sponsor. His daughter is 20 and is studying to be a nurse. She has about 1.5 years left in her 3-year program, and everything is remote until she has her first internship at a hospital.

My dinner with Cesar and his family

We had chicken and tortillas for dinner and everyone went to bed after that.

This was not what I had anticipated at the start of the day, but this is what is happening now, I’m just going with the flow. 

Cesar’s trusty dog, Pepa

Picture of the kitchen and dining area, where I spent the night.