Day 96 ? Slightly Sidetracked ? 95.60 km
I woke up bright and early in the morning, full of energy ready to catch up on some lost mileage. At first things were going great. I was making fairly good time and the terrain was not excruciatingly painful. After some time mt rear wheel felt a little strange, as if it were low on air. I knew this was not the case as I had pumped it up that morning. Upon closer inspection it turned to be out of alignment and needed some adjusting. Knowing that the longer I postponed this inevitable act the worse the problem would get, I found a patch of shade and pulled over.
Not dismayed by a slight misalignment I took all my bags off my bicycle and flipped it upside down; a makeshift repair shop of sorts. Upon even closer inspection, it turned out that I was screwed. I guess the last time I had my wheel worked on the guy must have overtightened the spokes, as my rim had cracked pretty bad. It was obvious that I would need a new one and that this one's life was limited to mere kilometers. I straightened out what I could by loosening the other side of the rim to compensate for the damage. Fortunately I had fixed the problem enough to get me to the next major city. While loading pictures onto my laptop I later noticed that the picture of my broken rim is numbered IMG_6666. Pure coincidence? I think not. There are some dark forces at work here...
My original plan was to head East from the city of Esquintla following the Pacific Highway. However, this setback complicated the situation. I had difficulty getting a rim like this back in the United States, here in Guatemala the problem would be even worse. Some local cyclists in Tapachula, Mexico had told me that the closest good bicycle shop was in Guatemala City. Being as this is the largest city in Central America, I knew it would be my only hope. Thus in Esquintla I set off to find a bus to Guatemala City, or simply 'Guate' as the locals here call it. This proved to be easier than expected as buses run every twenty minutes or so. The bus pulled up, the guy asked me ?Guate??. When I replied yes they quickly loaded up my bicycle and all my stuff on the roof and told me to quickly make it inside. Four dollars for a two hour bus ride isn't so bad! For those of you who aren't aware, getting onto and off of buses here usually occurs while they're still moving.
This bus ride was an experience in itself. Never in my life had I seen a bus so overloaded with people. This was a converted school bus with ten rows of seats on each side. Although each seat is designed to hold two, in Guatemala they hold three. To maximize space there are also people standing of course. At one point I had counted over seventy people on that bus. To make the ride even more interesting our driver was an absolute maniac. I swear that not much more was required to get that bus onto two wheels. Sitting on this bus was more stressful than trying not to get killed bicycling!
Two long hours full of breathtaking views and bumping tunes later I finally arrived in 'Guate'. If you think that traffic is crazy in a larger North American city, you haven't seen anything. Needless to say I am not looking forward to bicycling out of this place. Getting off the bus of course occurred in a rushed fashion. My bicycle as well as one of my bags was passed down to me. Then the bus took off! I had to yell and run after the bus for about half a block that I still needed my other bag. Fortunately they heard my frantic cries and stopped to hand me my other bag, which was somewhere in the front. Being as I had no city map and no idea where on earth to go, I decided to take a taxi to the nearest good bicycle shop.
My taxi ride proved to be yet another adventure! Two minutes into the ride, while climbing up an entrance ramp to a freeway, the car ran out of gas! The driver tried to make it up to the top in order to roll down to some gas station, but it was to no avail. So he simply threw the car in reverse and started backing down the side of a busy on ramp! When he got stuck on a curb, he decided there was nothing more he could do. He grabbed a plastic container, told me to wait here a few minutes, and started running to the nearest gas station. After he left I nearly died laughing in that car. Sure enough he was back within a few minutes and we were good to go. He stopped at the next gas station in order to make sure that wouldn't happen again!
The first bicycle shop we stopped at proved not to be that great, but they directed us to a better one. At the second bicycle shop, which was a good one, they told me that they unfortunately did not have my rim. However, I did convince them to call around to other bicycle shops so I wouldn't have to drive to and from each one. Although none of the bicycle shops had a rim in stock, one of them said they would be able to build one for me using the parts from my old one and some new components. As luck would have it this place was right across the street and I would be needing no more taxi services. To my surprise this was actually a really, really good bicycle shop. They had many expensive bicycles as well as any components or accessories you could want. Since building a rim is quite a bit of work they wouldn't be able to do it for me the same day, but told they could have it done for me by tomorrow at 2 o'clock. It should cost me only $35, a bargain considering I paid $110 back in the United States for one!
All in all the whole taxi ride cost me $7, to get back to the center I took a city bus, which proved to be exactly 50 times cheaper, costing only 15 cents. No matter, it's not like I could have taken a bus here. Back in the historical center I stopped into a Shell gas station where I bought a city map and made for a quick lunch. Since my Lonely Planet book for Central America is on my laptop I setup a mobile office at one of the tables in this Shell and started reading up on 'Guate'. I had to find a place to stay after all! As luck would have it there was an unsecured wireless internet connection nearby so I was able to check my e-mail and update everyone back home.
I managed to find a hotel constructed in a historical style with a pleasant atmosphere called the 'Hotel Fenix'. A room cost me only $7 which is a bargain for 'Guate'. Granted I don't have as many luxuries as yesterday, but it will do. My room contains only a bed and a mirror and the bathrooms are shared, but I will live. Being as I had time to spare I set out to explore this crazy city which I had not intended to visit. I was pleasantly surprised by the city and ended up enjoying it quite a lot. The city, although hectic, is very beautiful architecturally. There are many interesting town squares, palaces, and churches. I won't bore you with all the details, but it is definitely worth spending a day here if your in Guatemala.
My original plan was to bus it back to Esquintla and continue along my original route, however taking a bus back will be a waste of time and a hassle. I can continue East from here and make it to the same point in a few days when these two roads meet. I don't consider my bus ride 'cheating' per se, since it's actually twenty kilometers further from 'Guate' to the point the road meet than from Esquintla; that and the fact that this road is much hillier. Tomorrow morning I will have some more time to explore the city and then hopefully be able to keep moving along the road!
Day 97 ? The Guatemalan Milkman ? 97.39 km
Today in the morning I still have some time to visit the city as my bicycle would be ready at 2 PM, which is the fastest I could convince the guys to do it. I decided to visit the National Palace in the main square, which was built at an enormous cost to the country by a dictator some sixty years ago. The palace really is quite impressive architecturally. I found it kind of humorous when our tour guide said that one of the rooms is closed as they are repairing it from damage caused by a car bomb from several years ago.
While leaving the palace I saw a man walking around with several goats. I thought, what the heck is he doing in the center of a city like this? My question was answered no more than a minute later when someone walked up and handed him a coin, he immediately pulled out a cup from out of nowhere, raised the goats leg, and began milking away. I was a little taken aback at first, and then nearly died laughing. It really gives the term fresh milk a new meaning!
Finally on my way back to my hotel to pick up all my stuff so I could go get my bicycle I passed by a movie theater. Of course all the latest American movies were playing, usually dubbed in Spanish. The irony in all of this was that there were street vendors with stalls on the sidewalk directly in front of the theater selling pirated versions of these very same movies. Oh the irony!
Checked out of my hotel I proceeded to once again catch a bus back to the expensive area of Guate. My guidebook warns against using these buses as there have been reports of robberies, rapes, and even murders on them, but I decided to take my chances. This is a city where there are very many poor people, but also quite a few well off people. Thus, there are of course services to cater to their every need. From gourmet European food to English books, specialized bicycle stores, and Mercedes-Benz cars, you can find it here. Fortunately in one such posh book store I was able to locate the guidebook to Central America that I had been looking for feverishly in all of Mexico. Up until this point I had someone scanning me pages from the book and e-mailing them to me!
Sure enough my bicycle was ready at two o'clock as promised. They seem to have done a good job, let's just hope this gets me to Panama! I also had them tighten my crankarm which I was having problems with several days ago. Fortunately the expensive area of Guate is located on the outer area of the city, which made my trip out of this metropolis much easier. Even so, I had to be very careful as I was basically bicycling on a major freeway. The road leading out of Guate proved to be quite rough as it was a solid 12 kilometers of all up hill. All this time the city dragged on, although much less crowded now. I must say it was kind of funny when the boys from the bicycle shopped rolled by in a car and yelled encouragement at me!
After all my suffering up that hill I was greatly rewarded with quite possibly the longest downhill I have ever ridden. The road was great and the hill just seemed to have no end! I counted the downhill as being a solid 24 kilometers with not one climb. However, as I have learned on this trip. Where there is a nice downhill pain and suffering are sure to follow. The road to where I am today was filled with cycles of up and down, and let me tell you that those downs go by much faster than the ups!
One nice thing about Guatemala is that every so often along the road there is a tent setup where there is a person who provides free information for tourists. I stopped at one of these where the guy recommended a better route to San Salvador for me which is supposedly a little flatter. I'm really enjoying Guatemala; the people are always very friendly and helpful, and the roads are surprisingly fairly good!
I am currently staying in a town called Jalpatagua not far from the border of El Salvador. I had intended to make it further today, but since I began bicycling at 2 o'clock it was simply not physically possible. Time, not lack of energy, was my limiting factor today. Tomorrow I will wake up bright and early and try to make it to San Salvador as fast as possible so I still have a few hours to see the city.
Day 98 ? Robbed in Broad Daylight ? 139.31 km
So I wasn't robbed at gun point or anything like that, but I might as well have been. I was staying fairly close to the border and thus made it here within an hour. Unfortunately things here spoiled my mood for the rest of the day. Upon leaving Guatemala I was forced to pay $50 in various fees for visas, departure taxes, as well as something else. This seemed very odd to me, but since I had not properly read up on all these fees I couldn't really argue.
When I made it across the bridge to El Salvador I found out that I had been duped and that I shouldn't have had to pay anything. Bastards! I had become a victim of the ?beloved patriot fee? as I like to call it. At this point I was pretty pissed off. I strongly considered going back just to kick someone's ass. Even if I wouldn't get my money back, breaking someone's nose would make me feel a lot better. Upon careful consideration I decided it would be better to simply learn from my mistakes and not try anything dumb, as they would have probably chopped me to bits using their machetes.
Although fuming mad and ready to give someone a bead down, I reluctantly moved on into El Salvador. One find I find very interesting about this country is that in 2001 they made the US dollar their official currency! It's kind of funny that a country totally adopts the currency of another. Although I must say this is very convenient for me as I don't have to think and recalculate prices for things in my head from one currency to another.
In order to both shorten my route and spare my legs I did not take the main highway but rather the secondary highways. To my great surprise, these were very good with a wide shoulder. Eventually this highway led to the main highway leading to San Salvador very close to a city called Santa Ana, which is the second largest city in El Salvador. As I was only two kilometers off the road I figured it would be a shame to miss seeing it, and thus took a short detour into the city. Being strapped on time I did an express visit, going only to the main square to snap a few pictures and then moving along.
The road to San Salvador was great! The shoulders were fairly wide, the asphalt in excellent condition, and the terrain fairly flat. Unfortunately my luck did not last all the way to the capitol. Roughly twenty kilometers before the city I began to climb, or more precisely crawl, up a simply monstrous hill of some ridiculously steep grade. To make matters worse this was a three lane major highway full of traffic with no shoulders. What this means is that if someone is honking feverishly at you, you better move your butt off the road or your getting run over, because he isn't stopping. As if things weren't bad enough I ran out of water going up the hill and had no place to resupply.
After what seemed like an eternity and many stops I struggled to the top of that hill. I stumbled into a gas station where I drank a liter of refreshing and very unhealthy Pepsi like it was nobody's business. It was about twelve kilometers to the center from this point. Although this was all downhill, it was quite possibly the most stressful and terrifying twelve kilometers I have ever ridden in my life.
The road into the capitol is a major three lane highway with a fairly small shoulder. You are blasting down this road at 40 kilometers per hour. There are very often on and off ramps as well as splitting of the road. Being as cars are traveling more than twice as fast, it is quite a challenge trying not to get run over. Finally off the major highway I made it onto a major road in the city which was also three lanes. Here shoulders are non-existant and thus you are basically stuck taking up a whole lane unless you want to get run off the road by a bus. However, taking up a whole lane is only acceptable if you are able to keep up with traffic. This basically entails pedaling as if your life depended on it as you have to keep up a speed of at least 40 kilometers per hour. This wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the twenty or so stoplights which stopped me along the way. Bicycling in even the largest of cities in the United States is a piece of cake compared with this. It is simply insane and there is no other way to word it.
Since I made it to the city at around 4 o'clock I still had a few hours in order to see some of the sights. I conveniently chose a small hotel in the very center which I was able to secure for $8 including a bathroom. Unfortunately my room is located next to a nightclub, so I can not only hear music blasting loud but I can feel it too. I visited the cathedral, main square, several notable churches, as well as the local market. The local market was equally crazy with cars and swarms of people zigzagging between each other. The traffic in the city is absolutely hectic, it's almost a skill not getting killed down here. Here pedestrians yield to cars, not the other way around as in the United States.
One thing I should mention is that San Salvador is a very, very dangerous city. For a population of 850,000 people there are 18,000 security guards employed here! We're not talking the kind of security guys we have back home who don't carry a gun or handcuffs; we're talking about guys with combat shotguns, M16s, ammunition belts, and bulletproof vests! These guys are found everywhere from parks to pharmacies, hardware stores, and post offices. Coincidently my hotel is conveniently located next to a gun shop for all my shooting needs. So thus another day rolls by. Today I have become a little poorer, but also a little wiser. Either way, I move only forward!
Day 99 ? The Town That Sleeps ? 129.28 km
Before checking out of my hotel this morning I had to make a quick stop to the post office to send a package full of old maps and souvenirs home. I managed to find the post office without problems as I had been there the prior day to buy stamps for some post cards. Sending a package was not cheap, but then again not terribly expensive. A box of dimensions around 3? x 5? x 8? and weighing 1.1 kilograms cost me $18 shipped to Canada. What I find really funny down here is that instead of printing off a sticker with the price or doing something more effective, they simply gave me $18 in stamps. Needless to say one entire side of my box was full of stamps, 17 of them to be precise.
After having that taken care of I once again set off into the mayhem that is San Salvador. Fortunately it wasn't as bad as yesterday since the historical center is more on the outside of town. I had quite a scare today when my camera nearly became a casualty, a soldier wounded in action if you will. While riding on the shoulder of a busy road I hit a very rough stretch of bumps and holes. I was going fast and not able to avoid it as there were buses to my left. Since I do not keep my front bag zipped all the way up my camera jumped up a few times and right out of my bag! It fortunately got caught on my handlebars and did not fall to the ground. As carefully as possible I slowed to a halt and replaced it to it's right spot. Yikes! What a close call!
The highways here are typically only two lanes with very wide shoulders of both sides of the road. Thus a system functions here that is similarly present in Poland where a two lane road is made into a three lane road. The center of the road is used as a passing lane and the other two lanes simply move over onto the shoulder. Things get quite interesting when you throw a bicycle on one side and people walking on the other into the mix. Although the roads here are in fairly good condition, the hills here are simply killer. Especially when the sun and heat hit you near midday, it really is a struggle to make it up these things. I had to stop several times to rest in the shade otherwise I probably would have fallen victim to heat stroke. Two flat tires today did not make my trip any easier. What's really bugging me is that although I was able to find the holes I wasn't able to pinpoint the cause.
While struggling up one such ill there were fruit stands conveniently located on the shoulder. At one of these I tried ?jugo de cana?, which I am fairly certain is juice made from sugar cane, or at least some kind of cane. It was a brown and sweet beverage; definitely not the tastiest in the world but quite consumable. It is kind of funny the way these beverages are severed. All juices at these road side stalls are given simply in a small, clear plastic bag with a straw.
Today I am staying in the third largest town in El Salvador, San Miguel. This place is really quite dull. There is a town square containing a cathedral as well as several other government buildings around it. Near by is a busy market which sells anything from souvenirs to tomatoes and telephones. I tried a typical El Salvadorian food today called ?popusas?, which is basically corn dough stuffed with cheese and as far as I was able to decipher, pork lard. Strange as it may sound, they are fairly good; similar to quesedillas in a way.
I have managed to find a place to stay here for only $4. For $2 more I could have gotten a room with private bathroom, but I simply couldn't justify the cost. My dinner had cost me $2.25! My room is fairly large and very spacious, since there really isn't anything in it; it's furnishings include only a hammock, bed, and small table. During heavy rain the roof drips a little, which is quite inconvenient when using a laptop, thus I am currently hidden under bed covers. The place turned out to be a good choice however as in the evening they played a movie for free in the courtyard on a large projector, bonus! It was some older Hollywood action flick featuring Bruce Willis; luckily it was in English with Spanish subtitles, so I was actually able to understand something!
This town is very odd in that it basically dies at 6 PM. After making a phone call back home I had intended to visit an internet cafe in order to update my website, however it simply wasn't possible! When the clock struck six every single business and establishment locked it's doors and shut down. All the people seemed to disappear and the town seemed nearly vacant! Disappointed I hurriedly scurried back to the safety of my hotel, as the last thing I wanted to do was walk around deserted streets at night. Tomorrow I move in Honduras, where I won't let myself be screwed over at the border again!
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