Stage 9: Guatemala City to Ciudad Pedro de Alvarado
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.
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 legs were ready to take a break.
At the top of the last hill before descending into Alvarado. This was mile 99.
As I rode into the outskirts of town, a guy on a motorcycle ride up to my side, welcomed me to the city, and told me he would escort me to wherever I needed to go. I just said any hotel would do.
My nighttime arrival
Rolling into the town, it was clear this this was just a transit area, a truck stop for commercial goods going into and coming from El Salvador. We passed several hotels which looked like typical truck stop hotels - dusty and run down. But he insisted those were too expensive and took me to one that was literally outside the Guatemalan migration office. This was certainly the most dusty and run down hotel of them all. It cost 50 Quetzales for the night (~$6.50). It was simple enough, no hot water, but the shower flowed into the rest of the bathroom, flooding the floor, although this seemed to be by design. The floor had a lot of ants and I’m sure other critters crawling around on it. There was a ceiling fan as well, which was certainly better than the stale, dry air outside. I decided I would just sleep on top of the bed without getting under the covers, I didn’t really want to find out what would happen if I pulled down the bed sheets. Also being directly at the border, there was a lot of truck traffic coming and going and the lights from the border were on all night. I assure you, however, that after riding 100 miles through the Guatemalan heat to get here, I was unphased by any of this. I would certainly pass out later with no issues
But first, I needed to eat and drink. I’m having a hard time eating food consistently during my ride. The only meals they have are hot, grilled or fried items. The snacks are like Doritos, although I can find some Nature’s Valley granola bars in some places. But really I’m just having difficulty keeping up on my hydration. Today, I drank close to 3 gallons of fluid - 6 bottles of water, two gatorades, a coke, a watermelon juice and an orange juice.
I really identified with this cat’s desire to cool off
I went to a restaurant near the hotel and ordered two dinners. The woman asked if I was sure and said I couldn’t eat all of what I ordered. I just told her that I came a long way. Unfortunately, I couldn’t actually finish both dinners because the soup that I was served was too salty for me - so maybe I proved her right. On the other hand, I went to bed hungry.
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