To South America

Day 185-188 I stayed in Leon
Day 189 ta:2386 kt:93 gps: N 12°08.692' W 86°16.914'
Day 190 and 191 I stayed in Managua
Day 192 ta: 2109 kt:48.1 gps:N 11°55.905' W 85°57.414'
Day 193 I took the ferry to Ometepe Island

After travelling through Mexican colonial towns, Central American colonial towns seem pretty unimpressive. These cities have always been poorer and, hence have more interesting colonial architecture. Moreover, it seems like every Central American town has been destroyed, at least once, by an earthquake. Granada, Nicaragua has been destroyed by pirate raids. That being said, I stayed multiple days in Leon because it is very hot and I was comfortable in the place that I was staying. I didn't do anything special; I just lazed around and did mundane things like file my taxes and watch movies. The main highlight of my stay in Leon was meeting yet another cyclist who is on his way to Southern Argentina. His name is Eric. He is from California and he left from Northern Alaska nine months ago.
The other highlight of my stay was the food. Though it is not quite as good as the food from Mexico, it is a significant improvement over the food from Guatemala and Honduras. I enjoyed the manuelitas, which are like pancakes wrapped around cheese, and the tortas de lechuga, which is rice and beef wrapped in lettuce and then pan grilled.
I finally broke free from Leon and headed to Managua. I rode 90 kilometers starting at noon. On the road, I saw a pedestrian who looked like they had been killed by an overly aggressive bus driver. This seemed kind of ironic to me because, if anything, the drivers in Nicaragua seem to be infinitely more polite than other Latin American drivers. I even had taxi drivers yield the right of way to me. I was stunned. I think that this probably has something to do with the fact that the police actually enforce traffic laws here. I actually saw police using radar detectors while going into Managua on the main highway.
It is really hot in Nicaragua. It feels like an eternal Texas summer in the lowlands. I am well accustomed to the heat but it, nevertheless, saps my energy. I find myself staying in cities for extra time just so I can watch T.V. shows about spoiled, selfish Americans spending thousands of dollars so a plastic surgeon can suck miniscule amounts of fat out of them. I can't help but wonder about how the average Nicaraguan who is struggling to survive feels about Americans when they see these shows.
My guidebook says that Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the western hemisphere after Haiti. This isn't immediately apparent until you reach Managua. There are shanty towns constructed in the cities public parks, the roads have no labels, and there are holes that drop all the way into the cities sewer system as if people stole the lids and sold them for scrap metal. The poverty is not concentrated in any part of the city because it is entirely decentralized after having been destroyed more than once by earthquakes. The working poor of America have nothing on the working poor of Nicaragua. I would like to see an American survive by selling bags of water for ten cents each. As long as these conditions exist in Latin America there will always be illegal immigrants coming to the U.S. no matter how high we build a fence nor how many laws we pass against them.
I spent several days in Managua running errands which proved to be quite tedious due to the lack of proper road markings. I purchased a needle and thread so I can sew my tire back together if need be, sent a form to the I.R.S., and extended my visa in the immigration office.
Bureaucracy is the worst form of oppression. I would rather have my eyes gouged out by birds, take a tazer to the balls, or use sand paper as toilet paper. My personal version of Hell would be just like that of Sisyphus but instead of having a rock to roll up a hill only for it to roll down again I would have a form that needed to be notarized an infinite number of times in an infinite number of government agencies. That being said, I thought I would be able to get my visa extension in about an hour or so which was unrealistic because that would be some kind of bureacratic record. Not only did the clerk quit helping me to check her text messages on her cell phone but she actually left one line in a document unsigned so she could go eat lunch. I just said, "Fuck it." and went to go eat lunch myself. If I ever run amok I make sure to do it at some sort of bureacratic office and make sure I only kill bureaucrats. The experience was so aggravating that I decided to stretch my errands out to two days instead of one.
I eventually left Managua for a one-day stop at Granada and the onward to the Island of Ometepe. I have heard good things about this place so I hope that I won't be disappointed.

Day 194-199 I stayed on the Island de Ometepe
Day 200 ta:970 kt:30.8 gps: N 11°26.614' W 85°49.566'

My gear and my body are going through some wear-and-tear. The valve on my camelbak has a hole the size of a bird's eye, rendering it useless and forcing me to divert my trip through San Jose, Costa Rica to find a new valve or, if necessary, a new bladder. I can carry the same amount of water but I have to stop to drink it now.
I had a case of athlete's foot that turned into some painful blisters between my toes and then a bacterial infection. I have finally solved this problem by lazing around my hotel room and only wearing flip-flops so my feet could breathe. Since I am going to go back to exclusively camping in Costa Rica, I figured it would be best to solve this problem now. I don't want to get my feet amputed because I have gangrene( I am far from having gangrene).
While in Ometepe, I hiked to the top of the taller of the two twin volcanos named Concepción. I managed to save $20 by refusing to hire a guide. After the fact, one of the guides practically begged me to tell other travellers that it was possible to hike to the top without a guide. Seeing that it was his bread-and-butter, I acceded to this request. I would not particularly recommend this to the general traveller anyway because the trail is relatively dangerous and if you got hurt you might be stuck there for a couple of days. I, however, am stupid and have a G.P.S. device making it nigh impossible to get lost. The trail was steep and very rocky meaning that it was actually harder to descend than ascend. I conquered the mountain only to see a cloud-obscured sulfurous pit at the top and to be humbled later on. During the descent I had to step very carefully because there was always the danger of losing my footing or getting my feet wedged between rocks and stumbling forward, thereby breaking my ankles. I descended slowly, stoped a lot, and planned almost every step. By the time I got to the bottom, I was stumbling forward and my legs were trembling from having to balance backward on such a steep slope. As an added treat, my quadriceps stiffened up over the next few days to the point that it hurt to walk or get up from a lying or seated position. The spasms were so bad that it hurt when I barely touched them. I looked like an old man inching around with muscle spasms in my legs and blisters between my toes. I am better now and my feelings of youthful immortality have returned.
While recovering from my various ailments, I mostly found myself lying in a hammock and reading or watching movies with the hotel crew. Oh what a thrill it was to see the retrofuturistic dystopian shoot-em-up Robocop dubbed in Spanish. I actually remember going to see that movie in the theaters when I was kid. It actually made me start thinking about the present state of the world. The prices of food and fuel (they are related) have been marching inexorably upward for the past year while we are most likely about to enter into a multiyear recession caused by the bursting of the international housing bubble. There are food riots in Haiti and road blockades in Managua to protest rising fuel prices. The Chinese and the Indians want to drive their cars everywhere and eat meat every meal just like the Americans and in doing so are proving just how unsustainable our lifestyle is with a planet of only six billion people on it. I hate to think about how bad these problems will be in 2050 when the world's population is projected to reach 9 billion people. In a few decades the Detroit City of Robocop will seem quaint compared to the reality. Make and sure to stop and smell the roses now while you can before global warming kills all of the rose bushes.

Day 201 ta:2383 kt: 59.1 gps: N 11°03.142' W 85°37.565'

This morning when I woke up there was a man who had just gotten his passport and $600 stolen from the people he was sharing his room with. I think he was Costa Rican. I felt sorry for him because he was in a bad situation but I also feel like he could have been more careful. If I am in a shared room I sleep holding my wallet and passport and my knife is never farther away than arm's reach. You can never be too careful.
I crossed into Costa Rica today. It was surprisingly more annoying getting out of Nicaragua than getting into Costa Rica. I had to stand in line and wait for the immigration officer to give me my exit stamp whereas when I got to the Costa Rican immigration office I didn't have to wait in line or pay any money for my entrance exam. I have become a veteran border crosser at this point in my journey.
Costa Rica is supposed to be a lot better off than Nicaragua. This is not immediately apparent as you cross the border but becomes more so once you go further inland. The houses are constructed more or less like they are in the U.S. and not made of mud and scrap metal like they often are in Honduras or Nicaragua. There seem to be more trees than are on the isthmus in Nicaragua but it is still hot and dry which should change as I enter more highly elevated land soon.
This morning, the morning before I left Rivas, Nicaragua, I went to the marketplace to eat breakfast. There was a crazy homeless man who seemed to get his kicks by touching people on the back of the neck. When he tried to do it to me earlier, I just turned around and said, "No!," thinking that he was trying to ask me for money. I don't like being touched by strangers at all. It wasn't until later that I realized that this was how he amused himself. I felt bad entertaining myself with his insanity but I couldn't help but laugh while watching the reactions of different people. Some people just ignored him and continued walking while others slapped his hand away. The funniest moment is when a man reared back in a boxer's stance to fight him. When I asked some ladies at the bus station next to the marketplace what was wrong with him they told me he had smoked too much crack. Oh well, I guess he brought this on himself.

Day 202 ta: 1966 kt: 82.8 gps: N 10°31.544' W 85°15.755'

It was surprisingly cold when I woke up this morning. I was, after all, in the lowlands where it is quite hot during the day. The reason for the chilliness was the strong wind that was blowing from the mountains to my east towards the sea to my west. There were times when the wind was so strong that I had to ride diagonally just to ride straight and keep myself from being blown off the road.
My previous two days were meant to be light, therapeutic days to stretch out my still tight quadriceps. This definitely did the trick. I feel as good as new and I think I could have conceivably rode another 60 kilometers today if I hadn't taken my four hour lunch and internet break.
I have seen a lot of people riding nice bikes here. This leads me to think that I should have no problem replacing my camelbak and finding new bike tires. I think that I will save this errand for San Jose as I am getting along fine with these tires right now.

Day 203 ta: 4372 kt: 51.4 gps: N 10°26.272' W 84°56.836'

Though beautiful in many places, the entire country of Costa Rica seems to be one giant tourist trap. The citizens of Costa Rica have devised numerous ways to get gringo money. I even see signs, in English, advertising time shares. Everything here is at least 50% more expensive than the rest of Latin America except, maybe, the internet cafes. For this reason, I have decided to camp the whole way except for when I am in San Jose looking for bike supplies. Fortunately for me, there seem to be laws governing the offset between the highway and fences. I haven't had any problem finding good hiding places.
I spent most of my day charging up a hill and into a headwind. I knew I was in trouble when I saw the windfarm on top of the hill. I have a feeling that I am going to be charging into this headwind for the next couple of days.
The part of Costa Rica that I am travelling through is cowboy country through and through. When I stopped in the town of Tilaran, they even had some kind of horse parade. All the horses were trimmed and made-up while the men and women were wearing their cowboy best.
I decided to call an early day, not because I was tired, but because I liked the spot where I was at. My original plan was to ride to a hotel close to the bioreserve of Monteverde and use it as a base of operations to explore the park. My new plan is to ride to the park and ride back. I don't trust the accuracy of the Lonely Planet anymore and I don't want to be gouged by a local hotel.
When I was riding up a hill today I found a new treasure: it is a motorcycle helmet, not one of those full-face helmets but one that only covers the top of my head and has spikes on it. It has a faded sticker on it that says, "Ride it like you stole it." I usually don't like helmets but this one makes me look lie a post-apocalyptic bandit in a Mad Max movie. Hell yeah!

Day 204 ta:3196 kt:23.3 gps: N 10°21.222' W 84°52.217'

I woke up with a sore throat, afraid that I was coming down with a cold. This is not the greatest way to feel before you enter a dirt road. The useless Lonely Planet, or course, doesn't mention that it is an unpaved road. There are all sorts of trips for gay travellers but none for cyclists. The funny thing is that I haven't met a single openly gay traveller but I have met nine other cyclists. I am happy that there are tips for gay travellers; I just wish that they indicated unpaved roads on their maps.
The feeling crappy and riding on the dirt road were all worth it because I saw one of those gorgeous green-beaked toucans. Parrots are as common as pigeons and monkeys are as common as squirrels, but toucans are relatively rare and elusive. Maybe some time shortly I will get to see a quetzal. That would be something.

Day 205 ta:3252 kt:32.4 gps: N 10°28.177'
Day 206 I stayed in Tilaran
Day 207 ta:1145 kt:12.5 gps: N 10°31.245' W 84°57.724'

I still wasn't feeling super-great on the day that I was supposed to go to Monteverde. Because of this, I ended up stopping and turning around about 8 kilometers before I got to the park. I was just going to turn around anyway and I was getting tired of the crappy dirt road. I had reached a point in the road where I couldn't start back up after I had stopped to take a rest. There are not a lot of things that are as frustrating as losing your traction while going up a 15° dirt road. I had already seen a green-beak toucan, a green toucanette, and some pretty scenery so I was happy.
Going back towards Tilaran was a lot easier due to the fact that the head wind was now a tailwind. The wind was so strong that there was actually one part of the road where I accelerated uphill without pedalling.
I still felt a little funky when I reached Tilaran so I decided to stay at a hotel for a day. I had a slight fever and a runny nose so resting seemed like a good idea. When I took a shower, an entire river of dirt flowed off of my skin into the drain. It was satisfying to be clean again.
When I finally made it out of Tilaran today, another screw in my bike rack jiggled loose and caused me to turn right back around. I found one screw but the other was missing and I thought it would be better to deal with this while I was close to civilization. I think that I had been missing one screw for a while because I noticed a strange feeling whenever I stood up while going uphill a couple of days earlier but I couldn't figure out what was wrong with my bike. Since I often spend entire days on my bike, I am quite attuned to weird sounds and feelings but I can't always figure out what is causing them. I stopped and checked my bike many times but didn't notice the screw was missing until today. This was an easy problem to fix but it delayed my leaving the city even longer.
I am camped right now on top of a hill in someone's ranch. How can I not camp at a place like this when they make it so easy to enter their property by giving me gates. Anyway, I plan to get up early tomorrow and leave before anyone notices anything. If there were no clouds, I would have an unobstructed view of Mount Arenal, the most active volcano in Costa Rica.

Day 208 ta:4038 kt:71.8 gps: N 10°28.731' W 84°36.200'

I rode along the northern edge of Arenal for most of the day today. There was a lot of tree cover so I didn't have to deal with the fierce headwind but the hills did add up. There were many signs, in English, proudly proclaiming the area as Costa Rica's "Lake Tahoe". Yuk!! I saw so many "For Sale" signs that and ads for realtors that I couldn't help but wonder if Costa Rica was going through a housing bust of its own. The lake isn't that great in my opinion. I would much rather live along Lake Atitlan in Guatemala than here. The only active draws here are the jungle wildlife and the very active Arenal which constantly puts on nighttime lava shows.
I saw more toucans today. I was also finally able to take a good picture of a monkey. He was perched on a branch right off of the road, just at eye level. When I got my camera out he just stayed there calmly while I shot my picture. That will not happen again.
When I was riding by the volcano, it started smoking real heavily. This excited me because I thought I was going to witness a major eruption and I have always wanted to see one. I didn't want to see anything of Krakatau magnitude but I did want to hear explosions and feel the earth tremble. Alas, it was not meant to be. By the time I stopped my bike to take a picture, the angry volcano had relaxed a bit and was no longer pumping out large amounts of ash. Maybe, I will get to see something like this in South America.
After I arrived in the town of Fortuna, Costa Rica, I was very surprised to run into Sjaak, the very first cycle tourist whom I met in Zacatecas, Mexico. I thought he would be well into South America by now. I felt bad that I had to cut our conversation short but the sun was about to set and I had to get out of the tourist-trap town. It is always a bad sign if you are in a Spanish speaking country and, yet, all the signs are in English. There are also lots of expensive looking hotels with views of the volcano along the road. I got out of the city with about 30 minutes to spare and am now camped on the edge of some kind of orchard. I can not identify the trees which have all been planted in rows here. Maybe they bear some kind of nut. Anyway, I would have a good view of Arenal if it wasn't shrouded in clouds, again.

Day 209 ta:3615 kt: 69.5 gps: N 10°20.794' W 84°14.678'

I have been slacking off recently but I have a nice punishment planned for tomorrow: I get to start my day off with at least 5,000 of ascent. Woo hoo! The mountains to my south look imposing and intimidating being cloaked in clouds. A number of people tried to give me directions for an easier way to San Jose from Ciudad Quezada but I paid them no heed because I would rather suffer a little and go on the more scenic, mountainous route.
There were a bunch of red-winged blackbirds on the side of the road today. They are supposed to migrate as far north as Texas but I have never seen one there before.
Right now, I am camped above the Rio Toro underneath the bridge that passes over it. The rapids here have the muddy appearance of volcano run-off. The water has stained the rocks on the edge a coffee color. It really makes me want to take up kayaking.

Day 210 ta:7395 kt: 74.2 gps: N 9°56.277' W 84°04.480'
Day 211 I stayed in San Jose
Day 212 ta: kt:14.8 gps: N 9°50.927' W 84°05.976'

Near the beginning of my day riding towards San Jose, I found a hummingbird on the side of the road. It actually willingly perched on my finger when I went to pick it up. If it was sick, I didn't want it to die the undignified death of being splattered by a semi. Eventually, after I tried to get it to perch on a barbed wire fence, it flew off on its own as if nothing were wrong.
I knew that I was going to have to pay for my sin of sloth and, boy, did I suffer. I actually ascended more in one day than I have ever done before. There were several times when I had to stop and ring about a pint of sweat out of my shirt. Despite my suffering, the ride was beautiful. The whole area between the town of San Miguel and San Jose is mostly undeveloped cloudforest. There is some development along the side of the road but it is mostly untouched. I even passed by a couple of pristine waterfalls that are right next to the road.
I didn't get to San Jose until after nightfall because of my all-day-long ascent. Arriving in a large metropolitan area at night is not my favorite thing to do but it is a necessary evil sometimes. I had to come to San Jose because I needed to look for replacement parts for my bike and camelbak. I did manage to find the hostel where I wanted to stay but not without riding through some sketchy areas of town filled with the usual suspects of glue-sniffers and thuggish looking people.
The place where I stayed is called Tranquilo Backpackers. It is in downtown San Jose and was a pretty good value for my $10 a night. They whip up a bunch of pancake batter every morning for all of the guest to make their own pancakes. It is kind of fun to see the disasters that some people cook up. They have free internet and the first steel-stringed guitars that I have seen in all of Latin America. Most importantly, they have a kitten. I could see myself being comfortable at this place for a while but that $10 can add up fast.
As usual, I didn't actually leave the city until real late. I discovered some loose screws with stripped nuts that I felt that I had to replace. This of course, took more time to do than I anticipated because it was hard to remove the old screw. I also promised a guy from Singapore that I would fetch a pair of sunglasses for him because he like the pair that I had just purchased. That being said, I barely made it out of the city. I am now camped in a banana/coffee plantation right now hoping that I don't get discovered. Because I am crazy and a glutton for punishment, I think I am going to ride straight through the highest part of the country over the next couple of days.

Day 213 ta:1744 kt: 16.1 gps: N 9°46.527' W 84°04.247'
Day 214 ta: 2796 kt:18.1 gps: N 9°44.596' W 83°58.337'

I haven't travelled much in the last few days but I did read over 300 pages of a book and finish it. I have become a voracious reader on this trip. Already, I have probably tripled the number of books that I have read since I graduated college four years ago. I have been reading so much that it has slowed me down every time I have a good book.
The mountains where I am at are covered in coffe plantations. If they aren't covered in coffee plantations they are covered in cloudforests. It is mostly cool and misty where I am at right now. I might top out at over 10,000 feet tomorrow so I expect it to be downright cold. I will probably have to dig out my cold weather gear. I am already wearing my full length bicycle tights.
Yesterday, I passed the satellite dish that I believe scientists use to try to communicate with extraterrestrial life forms. It was huge, at least 50 feet across. Shortly afterwards, I saw a turquoise-browed motmot. It has a funny name but it is a beautiful bird. It is the national bird of Nicaragua but they live in Costa Rica, too.
My flashlight has become my latest gear casualty. It barely gives off any light at all and bleeds the battery after I turn it off. I don't think that there is a single piece of gear that I can't destroy on a bicycle tour.

Day 215 ta: 4890 kt: 89.4 gps: N 9°22.461' W 83°42.183'
Day 216 ta: 1075 kt: 32.9 gps: N 9°15.296' W 83°30.427'

Yesterday, I climbed to the top of el Cerro de la Muerte which means the Hill of Death. It seems like a pretty ironic name since the place is overgrown with plant life. I topped out just 8 feet shy of 11,000 feet. Even in the tropics, it is cold above 10,000 feet. The rain didn't make things any better. It was misty all morning but it actually started raining about 4 hours before sunset. I had finally figured out a comfortable clothing arrangement until it started to raining. I kept my torso covered while I allowed my body to cool through my bicycle tights. The rain fucked that arrangement up. I was able to stay warm until I started to descend but, once I started to descend, I got real cold real fast. I had to stop at a restaurant and have some hot soup and hot tea. I didn't want to get hypothermia. I also put on some extra winter gear for the descent.
The 8,500 feet of descent might have been a lot more fun if the roads weren't slick and I wasn't cold and wet. I had to hold onto my brakes the whole time just to prevent myself from sliding out and losing traction. I used my brakes so much that I had to stop just to give my hands a rest every once and a while. If the conditions were dryer, I would have zoomed down the entire mountain at 50+ kilometer per hour and would have had a hell of a time doing it.
The whole area that I rode through has an almost enchanted feel. All of the forests here are as green as can be. Plants grow on plants which grow on other plants. Occasionally a view of the mountainside with clouds rolling up the hills would open up. If I wasn't so cold and wet, I would have been mesmerized by the beauty of this place.
I pretty much decided that I was going to ride all the way to the town of San Isidro, Costa Rica, named for the patron saint of farmers. I wanted to stay in a hotel as soon as it started raining. Unfortunately, the sun set before I got there. All those years of riding my bike at night ninja-style without any lights or reflectors paid off as I was able to successfully navigate the highway and avoid vehicles.
I only got a half-day of riding in today as I got enmeshed in the comforts of the city as I have a tendency to do. With about three hours to go until the sun set, it started raining again. Rather than tough it out, I decided to set up camp early. I really get tired of waking up with wet shoes. Hopefully, I can make it to Panama with minimal rain.

Day 217 ta: 2321 kt: 71.1 gps: N 8°57.815' W 83°08.993'

I rather enjoyed a nice leisurely ride through many miles of virgin rainforests today. My favorite part was when the road followed the clay-red colored Rio General. There was even one spot where two twin 200-foot waterfalls flowed into the river. While I was relaxing by the waterfalls, I saw a coati. I should cross into Panama tomorrow. I am expecting more mountains and more cloudforests. The stretches of road that travel from San Miguel to San Jose and then from San Jose to San Vito on the border have been two of the more scenic routes that I have followed.
I read in the news recently that an Arkansas is supposed to give birth for the eighteenth time. I am disgusted. I don't care if the family is debt free. The average American consumes 32 times more resources than the average person in the developing world. Since the world's farmers sell their crops to the highest bidder, people like here are the reason that Haitian children eat mud.
I have also been thinking about Barack Obama's former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. I think he is taking it a little far to say that there is a conspiracy to kill black people with A.I.D.S. but I think he has a point when he says terrorists attack us because we commit acts of terrorism. When our government assassinates a Somali warlord we say it is a necessary strategic elimination. When Hezbollah assassinates a Lebanese leader, we say it is terrorism. When we secretly fly someone to a country that uses torture and don't allow them to communicate with anyone, we call it extreme rendition. When the F.A.R.C. kidnaps someone and holds them for ransom we call it terrorism. I am not saying that these are not terrorist acts, I am saying that we commit terrorist acts, too. There can be no double standards. All is fair in love and war and war is hell. For every terrorist action there is an equal/greater terrorist reaction.

Day 218 ta: 4355 kt: 51.3 gps: N 8°49.079' W 82°51.783'

I planned to cross the border into Panama today but my plans were thwarted by dirt roads and rain. When I arrived at the border, the immigration offices for both countries were already closed.
Just to prove that things operate differently here in Latin America, I am camped at the police station. I asked permission and they said yes. I could have easily crossed into Panama illegally but I am not anxious to find out what kind of bureaucratic delays this could cause. I plan to get my exit and entry stamps when I wake up tomorrow.
The rear hub on my bicycle is loose and it is making me nervous. If it wasn't a sealed hub, I would swear that I needed to regrease and repack the bearings. My wheel jiggles from side to side. I can feel the play in the wheel whenever I go uphill. Hopefully, I will be able to tighten my hub and solve this problem tomorrow morning. If not, I can add sealed hubs to the growing list of bicyle parts that I have ruined in my eleven years as a bicycle commuter. I should be able to make it to David, Panama soon where I should be able to get a new hub.

Day 219 ta:4564 kt: 54.8 gps: N 8°40.140' W 82°37.916'

When I woke up this morning, I had to wait for the Costa Rican and Panamanian immigration offices to open so I played with my rear wheel. I managed to tighten the two bolts on the outside of the wheel and this solved my jiggly wheel problem but now it doesn't seem to spin as well. I think I am going to have to replace the hub.
I had to wait an extra hour for the Costa Rican immigration office to open. Even though the buildings are no more than 200 feet apart, they operate in different time zones. That was no problem. I just went and ate breakfast while I waited. It cost me $25 to enter Panama, about $20 more than I expected. I might as well throw my fucking useless Lonely Planet away because, although it is the newest addition, it is thouroughly outdated by the time it is published. This, fortunately was no problem because I expected to have to pay the Costa Rican immigration office $26 and didn't have to pay anything. I should have plenty of money to make it to David, Panama.
Speaking of money, although the Panamanian standard of living is high, Panama does not suffer from the scourge of too many tourists like Costa Rica does. I immediately realized that the food was about 33% cheaper than in Costa Rica; it is better, too.
I probably rode through my last Central American rainforest today. It is replete with exotic plants, wildlife, and waterfalls cascading down cliffs on the side of the road. Tomorrow I should enter the Pacific lowlands where I expect to see a bunch of boring farms and ranches. Oh well, I should be in Colombia soon.

Dady 220 ta: 1247 kt:70.2 gps: N 8° 24.038' W 82°12.816'

Rain has been the story of my last week. It has rained 5 out of the last 6 days. It rained real hard today. I think that the rainy season is beginning.
I remember when a friend of mine from high school and I would trade irreverent jokes. I would say, "When it rains, God is pissing on us.", and he would reply, "It only rains when the angels masturbate." Ancient cultures prayed to the rain gods but I wonder if the nomadic tribes were among them. Rain is great when you are inside by the fire and you have crops planted but not so great if you are on the back of a horse or on foot in an open plain with no trees. All the rain does then is makes you cold and wet.
I have been a waterlogged nomad for the last week. At 11,000 feet, I had to take precautions against hypothermia. I had to hold my brakes while riding downhill so my wheels wouldn't lock up and slide out from underneath me. A slide-out at 50 kilometers per hour can be deadly and, at the very least, break my hip. It also only seems to rain when I am climbing mountains and it is uncomfortable to wear my rain gear because of all the sweating I do underneath. From now on, I am going to try to do most of my riding before the afternoon because that is when the rain comes in the tropics. I am camped underneath a bridge right now which means that I won't have to use my rain fly for my tent and I will wake up dry and happy.
I read in the news that the Vatican has given its official approval to the belief in extraterrestrial life forms. If only it could approve of contraception.

Day 221 ta: 4133 kt:96.6 gps: N 8°12.151' W 81°30.575'

It didn't rain today and for that I am grateful but, man, was it humid. The air was so dense with moisture that it actually started drizzling without there being a cloud in the sky. I have actually seen this phenomenon a couple of times in Costa Rica as well. It did not rain but it might as well because my shirt, bike shorts, and socks were completely soaked with sweat. To make matters worse, I have developed one of the rashes caused by the excessive moisture and friction in a sensitive, unmentionable area. All I can do is apply appointment to it.
Aside from the heat and humidity, I actually had a good day. I discovered a distinct form of Panamanian music called cantadera. When I heard the music, I had one of those reactions where I geeked out and starting asking as many questions as possible about it. I plan to do some more investigation and buy some pirated CDs soon.

Day 222 ta:2653 kt: 103 gps: N 8°08.214' W 80°41.078'

I had two wildlife highlights today: I saw a large butterfly with purple wings and a live snake. I have seen plenty of snake roadkill but this is, surprisingly, the first live snake that I have seen in Latin America. I did not see if it was a pit viper nor did I try. I am not particularly afraid of snakes but I am wise enough to let them run since I do not carry antivenom as part of my medical kit. Generally, if you make any noise at all when you walk and watch where you step, you won't have any problem with snakes.
After I passed through Santiago, Panama today, the land flattened out and I had a nice strong tailwind. I was flying. If the land remains flat tomorrow and I have the same tailwind, I might try to ride the entire 215 kilometers to Panama City. That is a big if though. If anything, I would like to ride over a hundred kilometers tomorrow so I can get to Panama city before nightfall the next day.

Day 223 ta:1376 kt:64.9 gps: N 8°30.834' W 80°20.954'
Day 224 I stayed in Penonome
Day 225 ta:1520 kt:60.5 gps: N 8°29.871' W 79°57.482'

Whenever I plan on a long day, something always ruins it. The strong tailwind shifted into a strong headwind, I had several flat tires, and my rash graduated from being merely irritating to being painful.
I had the opportunity to learn how to sew my tires shut when the steel wire that gives my tire form seperated from the rubber in another spot. At first, it was frustrating trying to figure out the proper stitching but I eventually figured it out. My rear tire looks bad. Not only have I worn off the treads but I can actually see the thread mesh poking through the rubber. I absolutely need to replace my rear tire in Panama City. It will not last much longer. I also need to replace my rear cassette, chain, and brake pads. I rode around Penonome for a while looking for replacement tires but to no avail.
My bike is not the reason I stopped in Penonome. My rash in the unmentionable place, let's just call it saddle sore, became so painful that it hurt to ride my bike. There is only one cure for saddle sore: get off the saddle and don't wear tight shorts. I rented a room in the cheapest hotel room that I could find and spent a lot of time watching T.V. in my room naked. The day of rest helped me and I can now ride my bike without grimacing in pain.
Panama actually seems to have a culture distinct from other parts of Central America. Children here play baseball instead of soccer, lots of men wear distinct straw hats that look like cowboy hats curved upward at the front, and there seems to be a lot more racial diversity here. There are blacks on the Caribbean side of all Central American countries and there are Asians in all of the big cities but Panama has sizeable minorities of both in all of the towns on the Panamerican highway. Another thing that I noticed is that most of the general stores and restaurants are owned by Asians. There also seem to be larger numbers of indigenous people in Panama than in the other Central American countries with Guatemala being the obvious exception. The Kuna Indians seem to have the most style out of all the Indians I have seen in Central America. I really appreciate all this racial diversity. It all contributes to a very unique culture.
All say several items in the news that were of interest to me. One is that there is a church of the Jedi in Great Britain. The entire religion is based on the philosophical musings of Yoda and the rest of the Jedi Council from the Star Wars movies. George Lucas should be proud that he unintentionally spawned a new religion.
The other article that I saw was an article that stated that the average American wedding cost over $28,000. I was disgusted. That is so wasteful. To put in context, I would like to show how much money this would be if it were invested over a 50 year period at a 10% rate of return which is doable. I estimated up to $30,000 to simplify matters. When I punched the number into an interest rate calculator, it ended up being over three and a half million dollars. Considering that most marriages in the U.S end up in divorce, I would rather keep the money. I would rather have a pepper spray enema than marry one of these golddiggers.

Day 226 ta: 3025 kt: 89.1 gps: N 8°58.976' W 79° 31.494'
Day 227-231 I stayed in Panama City

I made it into Panama City with a few problems but nothing that I couldn't handle. I had to fix a spoke and my rash came back. When I reached the Bridge of the Americas, a cop made me get off my bike and hitchhike across. I was ready to go across but the cops seem to frown on that. There are some gnarly looking ghettos on the other side of the bridge but I didn't have any problems there.
I haven't done anything special here in Panama City. I have just rested and surfed the internet a lot. One day, I rode down to the ghetto and bought a pirated copy of the new Indiana Jones movie. The quality of the movie is terrible but the credits were in French which makes me think that a person snuck a camera into the Canne's film festival in France and filmed the premier of the movie. Go pirates!
My bike was hurting. I replaced the rear tire, rear cassette, chain, brake pads, and rear hub. I am proud to say that this is the very first time that I have destroyed a hub. I am very proud of that accomplishment.

Hitchhiking and Knife-fighting

Day 175-179 I stayed in Tegucigalpa
Day 180 ta:2009 kt:22.1 gps: N 14 degrees 02.636' W 87 degrees 06.017'

I ended up staying in Tegucigalpa out of laziness rather than because I loved it so much. As much as I love the mountains and the beaches, I am a city boy through and through. I like the hustle and bustle of big cities and their cosmopolitan nature. That said, Tegucigalpa seems to be the sketchiest big city that I have visited in Latin America. There are legions of glue-sniffers and generally thuggish looking people all over the city. The cops seemed corrupt in a particularly aggressive way. This is the only place where cops have ever wanted to search my bags. I gave the cop a dirty look and told him to go for it. He would not have found anything anyway. The cops also wanted to search the other tourists that were staying at the place where I stayed. I mostly avoided walking around at night to avoid the drug addicted and uniformed thugs. Fortunately my hotel had cable so I got to watch a lot of movies.
The shampoo that I got for getting rid of the lice did not work very well so I went with the nuclear option of shaving my head. I have gone from looking like a bum to looking like a satanist since I kept my goatee. I bear a striking resemblance to Anton LaVey, the founder of the American Church of Satan. This probably won't help me with the ladies but it will probably help me stay safe since I look kind of scary. Security is more important to me than getting laid anyway. I haven't taken a vow or anything but I am essentially celibate.
I finally managed to break free from the comforts of the city today. I didn't leave until the early afternoon but I am now officially out of the city. The place where I am camping right now has a lovely view of the pine forest outside of Tegucigalpa.

Day 181 ta: 2995 kt: 63.8 gps: N 14 degrees 01.851' W 86 degrees 34.244'

I committed the ultimate sin today: I excepted a ride from someone. There were extenuating circumstances, though. First of all, I only had another 15 kilometers to go until I reached the city of Danli, Honduras. Second of all, the rear tire that I just recently purchased has a manufacturers defect. The steel wire that gives the tire form separated from the rubber causing the innertube to poke out the side and , hence, explode. I could not continue on like this because that would have destroyed all of my innertubes. The holes that this left were unpatchable. As I was pondering my dilemna, a couple in a truck pulled over and offered me a ride before I even had a chance to flag anyone down. They were going all the way to the border but I just wanted to go to Danli since it was a bigger city and I had a better chance of finding a replacement tire there.
As I secretly suspected, I was not able to replace my tires in Danli but the mechanic had a pretty ingenious solution. He used a needle and thread to sew my tire back together. I was skeptical that it would work but he swore that he has done it before and that it lasted for a long time. If they gave out a Nobel Prize for bike repair, I would nominate this mechanic. When I tried to pay him, he told me that he just wanted a soda. I bought to big sodas for him and all of the onlookers at the shop because I was very grateful. I am going to look for new tires whenever possible but I think that my tires will hold for now.
Since I was having a bad day, I decided to spoil myself by staying at a luxurious hotel for about $12 a night. The place had nice large rooms with private bathrooms and hot water. There was even a large television with cable. I watched Kill Bill in Spanish. My favorite part was when they translated "My name is Buck and I like to fuck." to "My name is Buck and that means fun." I wonder how hard it is to get a job translating Hollywood movies into Spanish because I think I could do a significantly better job.

Day 182 ta: 2620 kt: 57.2 gps: N 13 degrees 37.652' W 86 degrees 28.590'

The highlight of my day, besides crossing the border into Nicauragua, was when two men attempted to assault and rob me. I say that they attempted to do this because they weren't actually successful.
When I was climbing a mountain, about four kilometers from the border in the countryside, the two men stopped me. One of them grabbed me from behind holding my buck knife, which I wear on the right side of my belt, while the other stood in front of me and threatened me with a rock. The man behind me had a knife of his own. I immediately placed my right hand on my knife's sheath and placed my left hand on his arm so he couldn't just stab me at will. I essentially ignored the man with the rock because it wasn't a very large rock. I placed all of my attention on the man with the knife or rather on the knife since this man was potentially more dangerous. We all ended up in what could best be described as a standoff for about a minute or so. We were all kind of waiting for someone to do something to break the stalemate. I lied and told them that I didn't have any money. The man with the rock said that he wanted my bicycle and I told him no. To steal my bike would be to steal my dreams and I would rather die than not be able to complete my dreams of riding to Argentina. The standoff would have lasted longer if a truck didn't drive by. The two would-be thieves ran for cover on the side of the road and I immediately unsheathed my knife so I was better prepared for a knife-fight. The truck kept on going without stopping but I don't think that the two men were ready for a duel to the death. After I brandished my own knife, they kept their distance. After cursing them out, I decided it was best that I didn't stay around and challenge them so I continued up the hill with the knife in my hand, looking back to make sure that they weren't following me.
I think that these men weren't very hardened thieves. They probably expected me to be a cowardly gringo who would beg for my life and give them everything that I had. They were wrong. From now on, I am going to watch my back more carefully when I am ascending hills because these men surprised me. If I were going down a hill, I would have zoomed by so fast that they would not have seen me coming. I things considered, I came out of this situation pretty well. I was unharmed, they didn't take anything, and I didn't have to stab anyone. I still haven't changed my opinion that the drivers here are more dangerous than the criminals.
When I made it to Nicauragua, it started raining but stopped long enough for me to reach the town of Ocotal where I found a room for about $2 a night. It started raining again shortly after I arrived in the city. I saw the sun setting while it was still raining for the first time of my life. It was incredible. The sun was almost a blood red color. I have watched many sun sets before but I have never seen one quite like this one.

Day 183 ta:3670 kt: 78.4 gps: N 13 degrees 05.055' W 86 degrees 21.384'

Today was a delightfully uneventful day. None of my innertubes exploded, I didn't get into any knife-fights, and I wasn't skullfucked by anyone. In fact, a Nicauraguan congressmen pulled over in his S.U.V., handed me his card, and told me to call him if I had any problems. I have friend in high places here in Nicauragua now.
When I reached the city of Estelì, I had drank a lot of water because it was very hot and I ended up hanging out long enough at a restaurant and then an internet cafe that, before I knew it, it was only an hour before sunset. I then went downtown and found a cheap place to stay.
Estelì has some interesting murals and public monuments. There is a statue of a Sandinista holding a machine gun in one hand and a molotov cocktail in the other. There was also a mural that functioned as a public service announcement. It exhorted women to get regular pap smears for early detection of cervical cancer. I will take some pictures tomorrow morning when the light is better.

Day 184 ta: 2658 kt: 142 gps: N 12 degrees 26.206' W 86 degrees 52.535'

I feel like I have been going through my own personal Trials of Hercules recently with the exploding tires and knife-fights and all. Today was no different. Before I left Estelì for Leon, a man told me that there was a more direct route to Leon that was all dirt road. He also told me that the main road to Leon had a lot of pot holes. I told him that I would prefer the road with potholes if there was pavement. I was second guessing my decision after I was actually on this road. It was mostly potholes and not much of a road. Combined with the fact that it was ridiculously hot and I there weren't any places to eat, it was a pretty hard day. I ate mostly cookies and almonds and must have drank about 8 liters of water. I drank another 2 liters of soda on top of that. I used a sugar rush to ride the last 30 kilometers to Leon. I sweated so much that there were salt stains in my T-shirt. On top of the 140+ kilometers in 100 degree heat that I rode, I had to ride about a half kilometer through thick smoke from the fires that farmers set using slash-and-burn agriculture. I am going to enjoy the next few days in Leon.

New Countries, New Hobbies, Mud Roads, and Maintaining Momentum

Day 131 I stayed in Guatemala City
Day 132 ta: 2193 kt:37.7 gps:N 14 degrees 33.533' W 90 degrees 46.448'
Day 133 to 142 I stayed in Antigua
Day 143 ta: 2138 kt: 68.2 gps: N 14 degrees 15.520' W 90 degrees 46.448'

I have spent the last week and a half sitting around and waiting for a new tent part. The vast majority of my time was spent being a lazy little fart. I surfed the internet a lot and watched a lot of movies since the place I was staying at had free internet and free movies.
On my most active day in Antigua, I took the tour to the top of the active volcano named Pacaya. We hiked to the top where there is a large crater of mostly dry lava. Small streams of lava flow out of many cracks at the top. While standing in the crater, it began to rain. Most of the rain vaporized before hitting the hot lava bed. That was pretty cool.
I did a little routine bike maintainance. My rear brake felt like there was no recoil so I replaced the cable housing. This worked like a charm in fixing the problem. The sidewalls of my tires are starting to burst so I taped the insides up with electrical tape hoping to extend their life a little bit. I want to try to sqeeze another 1,000 kilometers into them. I find it unexpected that my brake pads are probably going to outlast my tires.
My ride out of Antigua was quite lovely. First, I had to climb about 2,000 feet over ten kilometers and, then, I rode downhill for the last 58 kilometers. I descended almost 6,000 feet in this long downhill stretch. The temperatures where I am camping are noticably warmer and I am going to have to content with the insects again.
There was another unexpected road hazard today: vomit. While dodging puddles of puke, I saw the source leaning out of a bus and projectile vomiting. I made sure to let her know when I passed. Though not deadly like other road hazards, I did not want to be covered in someone's partially digested lunch.

Day 144 ta: 1546 kt:91.7 gps: N 14 degrees 03.780' W 90 degrees 27.907'

I suffered a mild case of dehydration today. Fortunately, I was only a mile from a town when it happened. Though I have heard many times before that it is bad to drink cold water, 90+ degree water does nothing to quench your thirst on a hot day. I started feeling fatigued at the 85 kilometer mark and was peeing a solid stream of concentrated yellow. I just took extra breaks and tried to satisfy my thirst with the hot water that I had, knowing that the next town was close.
There was a point in the road where there was no bridge and a bunch of boats. The boat operator quoted a price of 50 Quetzals and then doubled it when I was already on the boat. What could I do? I was probably the guy's only fare for the day as the road I was on was infrequently travelled.
Alvaro Colom, the president of Guatemala, has earned my respect by offering to declassify all of the military records from the Guatemalan civil war. This is a step in the right direction for the government to come to terms with the role its military played in the civil war. Of course, the military and right-wing opposition party have condemned this move.
I personally am of the opinion that a democratic government can not have secrets. Usually, they are secrets of an unsavory, antidemocratic nature that would enrage the population. The Freedom of Information Act (F.O.I.A.) of the United States was written with these thoughts in mind but is very limited in its power to shine the light on government activities. The U.S. government can use national security as an excuse to keep documents permanently classified. Unfortunately, the governments darkest and most unsavory secrets are classified thusly. I tried playing devil's advocate to think of a scenario where information should be classified. At first, I thought of keeping the information about invasion forces secret but then I realized that the government has no business invading anyone. Then I thought about keeping the president's security detail secret but I realized that the president shouldn't make anyone so mad that they would go through the trouble of hiring the small army necessary to assassinate him/her.
If I were in power, one of my first moves would be to eliminate the C.I.A. and N.S.C. They are not democratic institutions. A quick look at the history of C.I.A. supported coup d'etats and counterrevolutions should sufficiently prove this. I don't think that C.I.A. agents who die in the line of duty are heroes. They die because they are meddling in affairs that they shouldn't be meddling in.
Since Ralph Nader has entered the election, I might actually vote. He comes the closest to approximating my views. I might end up frustrated with the absentee ballot process, though, and give up. I am, and will always be, unrepentant about voting for Nader in 2000. There was not a large difference between the Bush/Cheney ticket and the Gore " I decry global warming yet live in an opulent mansion that has a larger carbon footprint than a small city/ Lieberman " I'm a war hawk that is endorsing the Republican candidate in 2008" ticket.

Day 145 ta: 2206 kt: 77.1 gps: N 13 degrees 43.651' W 89 degrees 59.014'

It is very hot where I am today and I drank a lot of water because I did not want to repeat yesterday's flirtation with dehydration. I can't wait to climb back into the mountains.
Crossing into El Salvador was, to my pleasant surprise, painless and easy. The money changers didn't try to rip me off and, as it turns out, the stamp in my passport is good for Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicauragua. The downside to this is that I only have a little less than two months to enjoy the rest of Central America as I burned a whole month in Guatemala. I haven't noticed a whole lot of differences here though Chicano chic seems to be in fashion among the youth here.

Day 146 ta: 4175 kt:63.1 gps: N 13 degrees 51.664' W 89 degrees 47.474'

So far, El Salvador is not half bad. The travel guide, which I inherited from an Aussie flying to Canada, makes it sound relatively expensive. Granted, I have only camped but I was able to stuff myself at a pupuseria for $1.15 For those of you who don't know. A pupusa is a gordita by another name. The presentation is slightly different, though. A pupusa is sealed and served with a vinager cole slaw while a gordita is open and served by itself.
I underestimated the amount of time it would take to get to Apaneca, El Salvador today. I am camped pretty close to it in a coffee plantation. My campsite is well elevated so I should be pretty snug and cozy in my sleeping bag tonight. Hopefully, tomorrow I will be able to see la Laguna Verde before I go to el Cerro Verde National Park.
There was an article recently in the New York Times about how the United States imprisons 1 in 99 adults. It imprisons 1 in 35 hispanic men and 1 in 15 African-American men. I just wanted to make a couple of points about these statistics. First of All, our government should not imprison nonviolent offenders. The powers that be can come up with better, more creative solutions for drug offenders , thieves, and the likes. Second of all, I do not believe that blacks and hispanics commit crimes at a higher rate than white people. I believe that their higher rate of imprisonment rather reflects systemic racial profiling by police and their lack of quality legal representation due to their higher rates of poverty. In fact, I am willing to bet that if you did this same study using family income as an indicator, you would probably discover that poor people are imprisoned at a rate similar to blacks and hispanics. Ask any homeless person in the U.S. and I am sure that he will tell you that being poor in the United States is, indeed, a crime. Any why imprison so many people anyway? So we can have higher crime rates than Europe and most of Asia. I am tired of seeing the government resort to the same old, facile, "tough on crime" solutions to the problems associated with crime. Maybe we should attack poverty through expanded educational opportunities instead.

Day 147 ta:2446 kt:48.8 gps: N 13 degrees 42.924' W 89 degrees 43.277'
Day 148 ta: 3242 Kt:68.1 gps: N 13 degrees 42.595' W 89 degrees 12.708'
Day 149 and 150 I stayed in San Salvador
Day 151 ta: 1371 kt: 58.1 gps: N 14 degrees 07.654' W 89 degrees 08.923'

As usual, things don't always go as planned, or rather, plans change. I wanted to go to Cerro Verde National Park but I got sidetracked. I did manage to see la Laguna Verde but I wasn't overly impressed.
On the way to Cerro Verde, I stopped in a town called Juayùa where I found out that there is a weeked gastronomic fair. I, of course, had to stay because I figured that I might discover some new foods. There was one food that was new to me. It was called a rigua and consists of fresh corn pressed of all of its liquids, cooked inside a banana leaf, and then grilled. It was good but didn't change my life.
I didn't make it out of Juayùa until the early afternoon but it was still enough time to make it to the National Park. The only problem was that the entrance was not well marked. I missed it when I was zooming down a long hill.
When I rode into San Salvador, I thought it would be nice to stay for a couple of days. I didn't do too much other than watch T.V., surf the net, and talk with fellow travellers. I figure that I earn the right to some serious downtime since I exert myself so much on the road.
San Salvador didn't seem much worse than any other large city in Latin America. Contrary to its reputation, there are not large groups of Maras lurking around every corner. In fact, the city has many large American-style shopping malls filled with U.S. based chains. San Salvador is more prosperous than one might expect. The area around the central market seemed a little sketchy but I had a good time getting myself lost in the labryntine hallways.
It seems like the relationship between Colombia and Ecuador and Venezuela is deterioration after Colombia crossed into Ecuadoran territory to kill a senior F.A.R.C. commander. Both Ecuador and Colombia have mobilized troops on the border but I don't think that it is any more than chest-beating and posturing. This may not be front page news in the U.S. but it dominates headlines in Latin America. I don't think that this will affect my travel plans but I will, nonetheless, be monitoring the situation closely.

Day 152 ta: 4198 kt: 48.1 gps: N 14 degrees 26.224' W 89 degrees 10.997'
Day 153 ta: 4076 kt: 42.1 gps: N 14 degrees 31.276' W 88 degrees 56.936'

Crossing into Honduras yesterday was quite easy. I have developed a system for dealing with money changers: I make them quote how much money they will give me and I don't show them the money until I agree to their terms. I am always ready to walk away. I think that I will start gathering a group of them and let them compete for money. The only surprise for me was that I had to pay the Honduran entry tax in a Salvadoran government building.
I stayed the night at a hotel since the lodging is cheap. They had a television with cable and the other patrons and I ended up watching a bunch of American movies dubbed in Spanish. Good fun was had by all.
I got a late start because I was working on trying to solve the problem of my rapidly deteriorating tires. My solution has been to contact as many bike shops and hotels as possible that are south of my present location until I can find someone who can receive my tires for me. Hopefully, I will solve this problem by the time I make it to Colombia.
The area I rode through today is a legitimate cloud forest. After ascending to 5,000 feet, I could barely see more than a 100 feet ahead as I was right in the middle of the clouds. Of course, jackass drivers still pass in the opposing lane even though they have no visibility whatsoever. When I finally got to the top of Honduras's highest paved road, I was rewarded with the strongest headwind I have ever experienced. Judging by the movement of the clouds, I was in the midst of a wind that was moving by at least 20 miles per hour. I couldn't rest my bike on its kickstand it was so strong. Fortunately, the wind was only at the very top. I rather enjoyed my descent. I rode past lots of wildflowers. Many villagers had planted extensive orchid gardens as this is the ideal climate for them. They were quite lovely. I am looking forward to going through more cloudforests in Honduras.

Day 154 ta:4138 kt:51.3 gps: N 14° 47.562' W 88° 46.781'

I have been slacking. In all fairness to myself, I have done of 4,000 feet of ascent the last three days in a row. Maybe I subconsciously want to enjoy the mountains for what they are worth. I take frequent breaks just to stare reverently at the stunning scenery.
I should probably make it more of a point to eat prepared meals whenever possible in more rural areas. I ended up ascending a mountain for another 20 kilometers today after I had the opportunity to eat earlier on. By the time I reached the top, I was running on fumes.

Day 155 ta:2812 kt:82 gps: N 15° 17.347' W 88° 29.884'

I had several flats today caused by faulty rim tape. It kept sliding over and exposing the innertube to the spokes. The first time I just replaced a section of the rim tape. This only made the problem worse and caused a second flat. The second time I replaced all of the rim tape with a double layer of electrical tape. It is holding now and, hopefully, I will be able to make it to San Pedro Sula, Honduras by tomorrow. It is a large city so I should be able to remedy the problem there. I also discovered that two of the innertunes that I was carrying were nonfunctional trash. They were labeled "German type" valves and looked like prestivalve tubes from the drawing on the box but I should have examined them further. I should have examined them when I purchased them. Oh well, they were cheap. I am now down to one innertube and a hundred patches.
It seems like the standoff between Colombia and Venezuela and Ecuador has cooled off somewhat. Moreover Colombia killed another senior F.A.R.C. commander or, rather, a defector brought in the severed hand of said leader to prove his death. I am somewhat worried that we might soon see a F.A.R.C. counteroffensive of shelling of major cities or, worse for me, and increase in kidnappings.I continue to monitor the situation. I hope that the Colombian government doesn't think that it can successfully defeat the F.A.R.C. by killing off all of its senior commanders. Instead, this will only accelerate its transition from Marxist insurgency to drug cartel. This transition has already been occuring since before the fall of the Medellin Cartel. The F.A.R.C. would also probably lose its Colombian identity and become a destabilizing force in all of the Andean nations. They will go whereever the enforcement is laxest or most easily bribed. The F.A.R.C. will only disappear when the insatiable demand for cocaine from the United STates decreases. That will never happen because that would require an intelligent drug policy that attacks demand instead of supply. Our current strategy is the complete opposite of that and puts food on the table of many a drug baron.

Day 156 ta:2729 kt:78 gps: N 15° 29.921' W 88° 00.624'
Day 157 ta: 1568 kt: 63.4 gps: N 15° 34.604' W 87° 36.903'

Getting to San Pedro Sula was simple enough. The road to the city was mostly flat and it wasn't ridiculously hot and humid like the guidebook promised. The highlight of my day was when a young boy, who belonged to the owners of a restuarant where I ate, exclaimed, "Hombre feo." or ugly man and hit me in the back of the head. I shot him a very dirty look and he didn't bother me again.
In all fairness to the little boy, I am starting to look a little grungy. My beard now measures over 3 inches and my moustache is sun-bleached. I am starting to enjoy my vagabond experience. It still isn't enough to keep the beggars and conmen away, though. They only see my pale skin. My goal is to be so grungy looking that beggars give me money.
When I arrived in San Pedro Sula, I immediately made some new friends. When I was on the side of the road, looking at a map of the city, I met Nora and Luis Fernando, an elementary school teacher and her grandson respectively. Nora helped me find a bike shop and offered a place to stay for the night. I got lost looking for her place. All of the streets are numbered but it turns out there was more than one intersection of 7th Street and 14 Avenue in the quadrant of the city that I was in. I eventually was able to find her house by asking directions along the way. I almost ended up in one of those tragicomic situations like Clark Griswold in American Vacation where he takes a wrong turn and asks directions in a bad neighborhood only to have all of his hubcaps stolen. To limit the possibility of this happening, I only asked from people who were on the job: a security guard, a taxi driver, and a group of policemen. The latter group bought me some sugar cane juice and told me I was in a dangerous neighborhood which was pretty obvious from all of the thuggish looking kids walking around. I ended up with a machine gun escort to Nora's house so I felt pretty safe.
I found out after the fact that San Pedro Sula is where the most infamous Mara Salvatrucha massacre took place where a group of men machine-gunned 27 bus riders to there death for no apparent reason other than to gain notoriety. What I did not know is that this massacre occured two days before Christmas. Most of the victims were returning from Christmas shopping for their families. That is fucked up. This massacre was recently in the news again because a court just convicted the two men charged with orquestrating the massacre.
I left San Pedro Sula pretty late today after surfing the internet and eating brunch. The scenery was flat and uninteresting until I crossed through a crossroads at the town of El Progreso. Afterwards, the flat terrain was replaced by jungle mountains with crystal clear streams of water flowing down the slopes every kilometer or so. I am camped next to one of these lovely streams right now, staying out of the rain. The rain is not super heavy but it hasn't relented for the last hour or so. Hopefully, it will stop raining by the morning.

Day 158 ta: 2111 kt: 138 gps: N 15° 47.179' W 86° 47.581'
Day 159 ta: 53 kt:6.8 gps: N 16° 05.547' W 86° 53.502'
Day 160-167 I stayed in Utila
Day 168: ta:1243 kt:54 gps: N 15° 41.545' W 86°30.265'
Day 169 ta:1274 kt: 59.2 gps: N 15° 26.668' W 86° 22.571'

I wanted to get to Utila as fast as possible so I could find a dorm before the rush of Semana Santa vacationers arrived. I knew that all of the beach towns were going to fill up and that all of the banks were going to close. Being that this was a potentially disastrous situation, I decided it was better to hunker down in one place for a while.
I was interested in scuba diving but the cheapskate in me was saying that maybe I would just snorkel since it was cheaper. As soon as I put my face in the pristine water though, I knew that I was about to spend a lot of money on my scuba certification. I even took the advanced course so I can dive deeper and at night.
The coral reef here is an extension of the Belizian reef which is the second largest in the world after the Great Barrier Reef of Australia. When you first peer into the clear blue Carribean waters, an explosion of shapes and colors overwhelms the senses. Fishes of every color swim through coral formations of every shape and size. I saw parrot fishes, angel fishes, damsel fishes, stingrays, starfishes, barracudas, sea cucumbers, porcupine fishes, groupers, and many, many more fishes representing the entire spectrum of the rainbow. After spending a lot of time underwater. I am officially hooked. I now want to dive in the Phillipines, Indonesia, and many other places.
Utila is an interesting place that attracts an interesting assortment of people. The islanders mostly speak English with a Carribean accent but many speak Spanish as well. Scuba diving attracts people of all sorts. I roomed with party animals and Mormons. A couple of doors down, there was a small contingent of U.S. Army soldiers who were stationed in Honduras. Throw in a bunch of Europeans, some Canadiens, and Latin Americans and we were all one big happy family. One of the soldiers told me I was the craziest man that he ever met which surprised me because I figured that he would probably know some marine who base jumps into war zones or something like that. He gave me the number for the U.S. Army base in Honduras in case I need to be evacuated in an emergency. Hopefully, that won't be necessary.
I am now back on the road. It seems like the rainy season is fast approaching as it started sprinkling and then pouring in the afternoon. I decided to wait the rain out instead of use my rain gear. If it starts to rain every day, which I think it might, I will probably start carrying my rain gear at the ready and ride in the rain. I am warm and dry right now and grateful for being so.
When I was setting up camp today a woman came and told me I was in a dangerous place to camp. To emphasize her point, she told me that the authorities had found a dead body in the same general area. I wasn't too scared since I figured that the body was dumped there rather than murdered on site. To allay her fears , though, I moved my still empty tent behind some bushes where it was better hidden. She even checked in on me later. I have a guardian angel.

Day 170 ta:2684 kt: 38.6 gps: N 15° 17.357' W 86° 30.320'

Some days are smooth sailing with lots of flat ground and beautiful weather. Today was not one of those days. It rained most of the day and when it wasn't raining it was infernally hot and steamy causing me to peel off all of my raingear. To call the road that I rode on a dirt road would be too generous of a description. It was more of a mud road. When I asked a policeman which road to take to La Union he pointed at this road and my heart just sank. I saw buses riding down it though and I figured I could make it if they could make it. I am sure glad that my new tires were knobbies and not slicks. My traction was pretty good on most of the road but there were parts where I was sloshing around in mud pits. My favorite part of the day was when I came to a fork in the road that had no clearly labeled signs pointing the right direction to La Union. I took a guess, chose one direction, and asked the first people that I saw if I was following the right direction. They told me I was so I didn't have to turn around. I am now sitting in my tent and wearing dry clothes and hoping that it doesn't rain anymore tonight.

Day 171 ta: 2168 kt: 30.3 gps: N 15° 06.263' W 86° 34.087'

I woke up this morning to yet more rain. After several long ascents, I had sweated so much that my rain gear was practically useless. When I finally found a place to eat, I stayed for and extended period of time so I could dry off and ate four portions of food since I had been subsisting off of cookies and almonds since the morning before. After I finally made myself leave, I managed to reach the leeward side of the mountain where it obviously hadn't rained in the last couple of days because the cars still kicked up dust. I am hoping that there is no more rain on the 100 kilometers or so of dirt road that remains. I was pretty miserable when I was cold, wet, and hungry. I am a firm believer that what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger.

Day 172 ta:2441 kt: 48.2 gps: N 14° 52.240' W 86° 39.531'
Day 173 and 174 I stayed in Tegucigalpa
It rained a little bit at night but, other than that, it was dry all day. Thank the lord, Hallelujah. I rejoiced in not having to wear my rain gear. Once you sweat inside your clothes in the cold mountains, your raingear is useless. The towns are getting bigger which means there are more places to eat but there is still no pavement. In most of the villages here they never see white people. When I roll up on my bicycle, it is like I am a rock star and circus all rolled up into one. I am usually swarmed by locals asking about my trip. My belly was happily full or I might have bristled at all of the attention.
I am camped right now on the top of a hill on the side of the road underneath a moss covered pine tree. Tomorrow, I am determined to reach pavement again. I hope to celebrate my birthday in civilization.

Day 173 ta:3404 kt: 69.8 gps: N 14°32.543' W 86° 43.109'

I reached pavement today. Yay!! I think I now know how a sailor who has been lost at sea feels like the first time he sees land. All told, the road was about 143 kilometers of bone-rattling, tick-infested, desolate, and muddy hellishness. If my useless travel guide or GPS had given me better warning, I might have avoided the road altogether but I am stronger for having survived it. I will say, though, that it sure did feel good to go down a hill with no brakes again after I finally left the dirt.
Some of the internet cafes in the countryside might as well be filled with typewriters. They are that useless. It would often take 10 minutes for a page to load if it loaded at all. When I get to Tegucigalpa, I am going to find a true high-speed internet connection so I can watch Youtube videos to my heart's content.
It seems to me that people everywhere are so irrationally afraid. Their eyes bug out in shock when I tell them that I am camping in the countryside. They always tell me that they have found dead bodies in these parts. Usually not even a car passes by in the night. The people who are murdered are usually murdered for a reason. I am just passing through without stepping on anyone's toes. Nevertheless, the locals always seem to believe that the countryside is populated by roving bands of narcosatanists who roam the countryside looking for foreigners to torture, kill, and skullfuck. I haven't been skullfucked yet. Knock on wood. I blame the media for putting the fear in these people's hearts.

Day 174 ta: 5209 kt:111 gps: 14° 06.410' W 87 ° 12.166'

I passed through two different ecosystems today on the way to Tegucigalpa. The first was pine forests and the second, just to the north of the city, looked like it could be somewhere in Texas. It was very much a desert area. I passed through a large shantytown area outside of the city and was eager to get out. I saw what looked like a couple of glue addicts having an argument only for one of them to pick up a huge rock and threaten the other one with it. Fortunately nothing happened. I saw this all from the other side of the street as I had the foresight to cross the road when I saw these two.
When I arrived in the city, the sun was setting and I, of course, arrived in the part of the city that my tourist book referred to as the dangerous part of the city. I soon found out that the whole city is sketchy. This is definitely the sketchiest seeming city in Latin America that I have visited thus far.
I was starving so I stopped at a place that sells baleadas (Honduran bean tacos) and gorged on them. A old homeless man came up to the lady and wanted to buy a baleada but he didn't have the 35 cents necessary to buy one. He was too proud to beg and began to walk away. The lady sold him one for 25 cents instead. I bought him a baleada too as I was feeling kind of guilty after eating 9 and watching him go hungry. The sad thing is that he probably goes hungry every day. I know there is poverty in the United States but we have so much food that we throw away perfectly good food. You have to make an effort to starve in the U.S.
I found out that the itching on my head is indeed lice. I probably picked them up on that dirt road along with a few ticks and dozens of ant and mosquito bites. I bought some shampoo but if I have to, I will go to the nuclear option and shave my head. I will keep the beard and moustache, though, so I can go from a vagabond look to a satanic look. It is nice to stay in a place and not get eaten alive by bugs so I am enjoying a stay of a couple of days here in the capital.

Riding in Circles

Day 112 ta:3381 kt:49.1 gps: N 14 degrees 39.678' W 90 degrees 49.743'

The wind was raging outside of my tent all night long and this morning when I woke up. I have no way of ascertaining this but it seemed like the wind was gusting at about thirty miles per hour. Needless to say, I did not want to leave the warm confines of my sleeping bag this morning. I eventually managed to force myself to get up.
I was fortunately shielded from this wind by the mountains for most of the day. There were moments, however, when fierce headwinds almost redirected me. The first part of my day was filled with challenging ascents and terrifying descents. The roads here are extremely steep and are not in the greatest condition. I was braking for dear life around a lot of the turns as I felt like I was just a little bit more speed away from losing control of my bike which weighs more than half my body weight with gear. This being said, I am glad that I didn't have to challenge the wind as this would have been even more exhausting.
When I arrived in Chimaltenango, there was still plenty of time left in the day and I could have ridden further but I was so close to Guatemala City that I didn't feel like rushing. My friend won't be back in the city until Monday night and we probably won't be able to meet up until Tuesday so there is no reason to rush. I asked some firemen if they knew where Mayapedal was and they said it was probably closed since it was a Sunday. I then asked them if they knew a cheap place where I could stay and they told me that I could stay at the fire station for free. I had my own room with a television and everything. How cool is that!
The television in the fire station only picked up one station: it picks up the Evangelical station broadcast from Guatemala City. I watched a little bit of a cheaply made movie about a teenage girl who gets pregnant when she has sex with her boyfriend. She originally wants to get an abortion but changes her mind when she finds out what it entails. The movie ends with the girl having the baby with support from her middle class parents so she can still attend school and even the university. Her boyfriend starts a personal relationship with Jesus and asks her to marry him at the end of the movie. Bullshit propaganda! I want to make a movie about a Mayan girl when she has sex with her boyfriend only to be dumped when he finds out that she is pregnant. She then ends up begging on the streets with her baby as her Evangelical family shuns her for having the baby out of wedlock. As is usual, her pleas for help will be ignored by the vast majority of those who walk by. The movie will end with her freezing to death while clutching her malnourished baby.
This all makes me want to research the availability of condoms in this country. Mexico is a majority Catholic country but they have television for condoms where the pharmacist always sells a pack of condoms, "Con gusto." I have also seen posters, paid for by the government, advising victims of rape of their right to an abortion. They also sell pornography on street corners in Mexico. I have even seen little girls selling porn. My point is that Catholics seem a lot less hung up about sex than Evangelicals.

Day 113 ta: 3298 kt: 70 gps: N 14 degrees 37.783' W 90 degrees 31.143'
Day 114 and 115 I stayed in Guatemala City.

When I left Chimaltenango, I was kind of in a hurry so I could meet my friend in Guatemala City and go pick up my new wheel. My old rear wheel has definitely seen better days. I took a slight detour through Antigua. I can't say that I was particularly impressed. It seemed like another tourist trap to me. The rocky roads only reminded me of how fucked up my wheel was and the prices seemed high throughout the city. I basically just stayed for lunch and a little internet surfing and then I was on my way to the big city. I had to climb up one side of a little mountain, ride on the top for a while and then zoom down the other side. I didn't realize it at the time but I topped out at 77 kilometers per hour. This was probably when I was passing cars in the left lane of the highway. With a fully loaded bike, that is not just staring-death-in-the-face fast. That is french-kissing-death-while-copping-a-feel fast. I live for that shit.
I spent most of my time in Guatemala City doing a bunch of nothing but I did end up being productive by trying out new things. My bicycle is very happy now that it has a new wheel. I washed my dirty, stinky clothes and managed to find some new flavors to try. I tried atole de platano and atole blanco which is an unsweet atole soup. The Museum of History is not where my map said it was and pretty much seems nonexistent or I would have gone there.
Guatemala City has a reputation as an ugly city. I think that this is an unfair reputation. If you were to hang out in the Central Plaza, you might think that you were in a European city if it wasn't for the man selling fresh goat's milk squeezed from the goat's nipples right in front of you. The city is, however, a dangerous city. I read a news article about how there was an average of thirteen murders a day during the first thirteen days of the presidency here. That is 4,745 murders a year if it continues at that rate. There are reports in the news every day about members of the Mara Salvatrucha killing bus drivers or pregnant ladies. At night, most of the city shuts down. Since I am not much of a drinker, I stayed at the hotel hanging out with the others who were travelling through.
The Mara Salvatrucha is a gang that was originally started in Los Angeles by Salvadoran immigrants. As the gang grew, they eventually started to allow immigrants from other Central American countries to join. They participate in drug dealing, human trafficking, and various other criminal enterprises. During the mid-1990s the U.S. government officials decided to deal with the problem of the Maras by deporting them back to the countries of their origins where they only multiplied since these countries had no law enforcement resources to deal with gangs. El Salvador is still the epicenter of Mara activity but they have become quite prevalent in Guatemala and Honduras, too. They are notoriously violent and I have read that they represent 60% of all Salvadoran prisoners. Their most infamous attack occured when they boarded a bus in Honduras and killed every single person on board with machine guns. They are a problem which I am going to have to look out for.
I am happy to report after a cursory investigation that contraceptives and condoms are indeed available here. The Evangelicals haven't fucked everything up, yet. It doesn't seem to me that many people use them but, at least, they are available.

Day 116 kt:64 ta: 2420 gps: N 14 degrees 49.378' W 90 degrees 08.947'

Today, there was a long descent leaving the city followed by rolling hills. I have descended enough that I don't think that it is going to be quite so cold tonight. Hopefully, I won't have to deal with the mosquitos or gnats just yet. I have already grown used to not dealing with them in the cold mornings. I look forward to riding through a flatter part of Guatemala soon.

Day 117 kt:72.4 ta:5145 gps: N 15 degrees 02.634' W 90 degrees 12.301'

I fooled myself into thinking I was mostly going to travel on flat land today. I could not have been more wrong. The terrain was challenging but the scenery was beautiful as is typical in the mountains. There were less semis and more space. There were less semis and more space and this made me very happy. Hopefully, tomorrow I won't have to do as much climbing.
I saw a weird occurence in nature today. It was a mother hen followed around by a flock of adopted ducklings. I took a picture. It was cute. I am convinced that if a hen will adopt a bunch of ducklings that we can eventually live in a world without borders.

Day 118 kt:80.2 ta: 3510 gps: N 15 degrees 29.054' W 90 degrees 22.846'

The countryside here is beautiful. I feel like I have said that so many times but there are so many beautiful places in the world. It is a transitional ecosystem that has pine trees mixed with jungle plants. The banana trees looked out of place next to the pine trees but there they were. The crisp, cool air made riding my bike to be quite pleasant. There were dozens of varieties of wildflowers and I took many pictures.
I could have ridden much farther than I did but my internet addiction was calling me. I just had to read the news. Hopefully, I will ride through a large stretch of land where there is no internet. Today, I read an article on the ESPN web site about a black man who is doing the same thing as me albeit in a different continent. He claims to be the first African-American to do something like this. He is definitely the first that I know of. When I think about it, I don't know that many black bike commuters. Lifestyle activism still seems like a very white middle-class thing to do.
The campsite where I am at is at the base of a hill covered in sunflowers. Pictures just don't do this place justice. I was discovered by the family that lives at the top of the hill. As most people are naturally curious, they came down to check me out. We talked for a while and they brought me some delicious tamales. They even offered to let me stay at there house but I was already set up so I graciously declined.
I know that I have been talking a lot of shit about Evangelicals here in Guatemala so I figured that I would balance that out with some nice things to say. With the obvious exception of Rios Montt, most Evangelicals live truly Christian lifestyles. They are honest, hardworking, and more than happy to offer hospitality to strangers. These people are not hypocrites. Hypocrisy is probably the one thing that offends me the most about Christins in the United States. They support the death penalty but worship a martyr put to death by the Roman government. They decry homosexuality but have have secret affairs with gay prostitutes. They only seem to remember the teachings of Jesus when it suits their interests. I think that poverty has a way of purifying religious beliefs and practices. In the United States, people really worship the almighty dollar and power, not Jesus.

Day 119 kt:85.8 ta: 5103 gps: N 15 degrees 53.566' W 90 degrees 13.504'

When I woke up this morning, my tent was completely wet with dew. It was cold, too. This problem was solved by descending 3,000 feet into the jungle. The first part of my day consisted of me zooming down mountains. I was just about the fastest thing around. Some of the hills here are so steep and have such sharp turns that I had some very scary moments. There is no room for error when you are rounding a curve at 60+ kilometers per hour with a fully loaded bike.
The second part of my day consisted of me going up and down hills in the heat. The hills gradually got smaller and mostly flattened out near the end of the day. This was exhausting and I worked up quite and appetite. I took and internet/lunch break in the town of Chisec during the hottest part of the day. I didn't get a whole lot more riding in during the rest of the day because I was still hungry and stopped to eat again.
The jungle here is very beautiful. It looks like something that you might see in the movies. All the plants are overgrown and the soil seems very fertile. I look forward to the next week even though it is going to be hot and steamy.

Day 120 kt:104 ta:3395 gps: N 16 degrees 31.902' W 90 degrees 11.431'

There is a crack in my tent poles that is in the very worst possible place. It is in the one place that I can't cover with the repair tube. I have covered it with electrical tape and am hoping that it will hold. I have decided that electrical tape is the second greatest invention of mankind right after the bicycle and ahead of birth control. Electical tape is useful for patching the sidewalls of my tires when they wear out and for lashing my GPS device onto my handlebars now that the mount doesn't function properly. I am sure that I will find other uses for it as well. If I sold a universal fix-it kit, it would have electrical tape, superglue, and epoxy putty.
I made good time today but I would have made even better time if it wasn't for the three flats that I had on the road. The Mexican state of Guerrero is the last place where I had a flat so I had a pretty good run of luck until today. I used patches until the third time when my tire exploded while I was looking for a hole so I could patch it. There was an old man at the store who told me he could use my old innertube. I was happy to be able to recycle it rather than just throw it away. Today was hot and frustrating to the point where I almost shooed away the children who had gathered to watch me fix my flat. I restrained myself because I realized that they were only curious.
I made it to the town of Sayaxche and found a $2.50 hotel room. I left to go find food and water only to discover my fourth flat when I returned. I have checked my tire for stubborn thorns and did everything that someone who is fixing flat should do. Fuck you God!
Someone tried to charge me gringo prices today. He tried to sell me a cold hamburger for 8 Quetzals. I wasn't interested in the hamburger, anyway, but I overheard him selling the same hamburgers to passengers passing by in the buses for 5Quetzals. I may be a dumb gringo but I'm a dumb gringo who speaks Spanish. Moreover, I am willing to bet that at least 95% of those who read my blog can count to ten in Spanish. I was tempted to say something to him but I decided to let sleeping dogs lie.
There are definitely some Mexicans and Guatemalans in the words they use and how they use them. Mexicans use the word tope for speedbump while Guatemalans use the word tumulo. Mexicans use estacionamiento for parking lot while Guatemalans use parqueo. Gringo is used as a derogitory word in Mexico while it is purely descriptive here in Guatemala. In Mexico, they use güero to describe a light-skinned person. I still don't like being called gringo, though. I ignore the dozens of children who cry out, "Gringo." as I ride by. I completely understand how my Korean-American friend feels when people call him chino. The last thing that I have noticed is that Guatemalans always seem to say adios to those who pass by. In Mexico it is always buenos dias, buenos tardes, or buenos noches depending on the time of the day. Sometimes people say goodbye to me instead of adios. That and mister seem to be a few of the English words that everyone learns in school. I almost want to stop and explain that we never say goodbye without first saying hello and that we only say mister followed by a surname.

Day 121 kt: 81.8 ta: 2059 gps: N 16 degrees 53.981' W 89 degrees 48.980'

It still hasn't thawed out in North America, Europe, and Asia but it is hotter and steamier than the devil's scrotum in the northern part of Guatemala calle the Petèn. I got a late start and that was too bad because it was already hot by 9:00 a.m. It was mostly flat today though there was a headwind. I am going to wake up early tomorrow and, hopefully, I will make it to Tikal by midday.
Today is Fat Tuesday or Super Tuesday depending on whether you are religious or political respectively. I don't truse Barack Obama one iota but I would enjoy seeing him best out Hillary Clinton. Even though she is female, she represents just about everything that is wrong with the Democratic party to me. She is the kind of person who wouldn't make a decision without first conducting a poll, running it by focus groups, and discussing it with her campaign donors. We need presidents that would make decisions based on the courage of their convictions without worrying whether it is the popular choice. Hillary's Iraq vote is the perfect example of her cowardice. She is a smart woman and I know she knew better.
I am not a huge fan of football but I follow it enough to know that the New England Patriots were undefeated heading into the Super Bowl. I appreciate the irony that a team called the Giants got to be the giant slayer. Though I am not a fan of either team, I will never root for a team called the Patriots. To me, patriot is just a synonym for retarded, jingoistic frat boy. I like how I didn't know the outcome of the game until two days afterwards. That would be impossible in the U.S.
I read in the New York Times that more people tuned into the game to watch the commercials than the game itself. When did we all become such corporate whores. Commercials are supposed to be annoying. I close all ads on the internet before they even load. Until advertising agencies embark on a quest to improve the world by teaching us how to prevent disease epidemics, fighting global warming, etc... I will always despise advertising. We don't need to buy more disposable shit. I don't care if the entire world economy depends on us consuming more and more. We need to find a better, more sustainable way of living if we don't want to become extinct in a hundred years.

Day 122 kt:55 ta:2065 gps: N 17 degrees 13.486' W 89 degrees 36.625'

I made it to Tikal by midday as I had hoped but by then things had taken a frustrating turn. My tent pole officially broke though I was able to make things function with some electrical tape and a the repair tube. I might try another epoxy solution when I find another ferreterìa. To make things worse, my jungle heat rash has returned. I am sure that this is going to make my bike ride pretty hellish tomorrow. I decided it was best to just leave all of those problems behind and enjoy the jungle trek through the ruins.
I ended up making most of the trek with Vicki and Aleph, a single mother and her son from Great Britain. They are living in Central America and Mexico for a year. I am sure that it is going to be a wonderful educational experience for Aleph and I hope he comes away with an appreciation of the diversity of the earth's cultures from this experience. I enjoyed discussing the trials and tribulations as well as the joys of travelling through Central America with Vicki. She gave me a heads up on places to visit and has me rethinking my decision to bypass El Salvador. She is planning to write a book during her sojourn here and I wish her the greatest of luck.
My feelings about Tikal are ambivalent. On the one hand it is definitely a tourist trap. It cost about $20 just to enter the park if you are a foreigner plus all of the food is expensive. I even ended up paying $5 an hour for a slow internet connection with no headphones so I couldn't rock out to cumbias on youtube. On the other hand there are pretty impressive ruins here and the flora and fauna are spectacular. I saw monkeys, parrots, and various birds which I don't know the name of. There are even some spiders that come out at night that have crazy irridescent eyes that reflected the light of my flashlight.

Day 123 kt:69.2 ta:2033 gps: N 16 degrees 46.711' W 89 degrees 48.519'

The low-pitched, throaty growl of the howler monkeys is what woke me up this morning. I would take that any day over roosters, loud trucks, or copulating horses. I spent some time looking at birds and then I was off. It was time to leave the tourist trap that is Tikal.
It was overcast until the the early afternoon which was totally welcome because it made for the best riding weather. I took off my shirt, hat, and sunglasses and enjoyed it. It even seemed liked the animals stayed out a little bit longer. I even saw a toucan as it was flying away. If it had rained, I would not even have put on my rain gear. I have seen a lot less rain than I prepared for at the beginning of my trip but it is better safe than sorry.
The area that I have been riding through strives to be a jungle but it seems like most of it has been cleared to make way for cattle ranching and monoculture. The jungle is always encroaching. It makes me wonder if humans could ever truly destroy the planet before the planet destroyed them. A hundred thousand years from now, will the planet be a vast, barren wasteland ruled ruled by super-intelligent cockroaches with opposable thumbs who wonder and speculate about humanity the same way we do about the dinosaurs who ruled the planet before us, or will humanity survive albeit in smaller numbers and humbled by the fierce backlash that nature will have against its destructive practices? Time will only tell. It is hard to tell if humanity is struggling against the encroachment of nature or if it's the other way around.
Everyone seems to be carrying a gun in this part of the country. It is legal for Guatemalan citizens without criminal records to own and possess weapons unlike in Mexico. Today, I even saw a man drinking a bottle of rum with his gun tucked into his pants ready to blow his dick off. I restrained myself from commenting to him about this because it is a good rule not to antagonize those who are drinking and packing heat. Maybe this means my life-long dream of owning a one-stop gun and liquor store could be a reality some day.
I spent a larger chunk of my day than I would like trying to use epoxy putty to make a more permanent repair to my tent pole. This was all done in vain and, as nightfell, I had to do the unenviable task of filing off the epoxy putty while being swarmed by insects so I could fit the repair tube over the pole. Tomorrow, I think I might try to use the repair tube and epoxy putty in conjunction for a more permanent solution. The one thing that I learned from this is that if I ever see cracks in my tent pole that I should immediately epoxy the cracks shut before they become a bigger problem. I saw the cracks about three or four days ago and I decided to take the wait-and-see approach. Boy was that a mistake. Anyhow, I managed to construct my tent tonight so things aren't that bad. I am going to check the details of the lifetime warranty for my tent though I have camped more on this trip than many people camp in their whole lifetimes. I seriously doubt they will send me a new pole outside of the U.S.

Day 124 kt:82.6 ta: 2324 gps: N 16 degrees 18.246' W 89 degrees 25.326'
Day 125 kt:103 ta: 3385 gps: N 15 degrees 39.375' W 88 degrees 59.876'
Day 126 I stayed in Rio Dulce
Day 127 kt:56.4 ta:1598 gps: N 15 degrees 23.160' W 89 degrees 01.053'

I am back in the southern part of Guatemala. It is still hot and steamy but it seems to rain a lot more. I stayed in Rio Dulce for an extra day because the rains would not let up. I left the place the place where I was staying because there was a break in the rain. It didn't matter though because I got completly soaked in the afternoon.
On the road, I met yet another bicyclist. He is Christian from Switzerland. He is also going to southern Argentina. When we met it had just finished raining and he told me about a place not to far down the road from where we were called Finca Ixobel. Since I was wet, I rode with him there and stayed the night in a dorm rather than my tent. Finca Ixobel seems to be a tourist destination in itself rather than just a place to stay. You can go on jungle tours and horseback rides all withing the property. There seems to be a fair number of people that stay there for extended periods of time. You can volunteer there for six-week periods of time for free room and board. Since I was in social mood, I hung out at the bar. The next morning, I was on my way south, again. Christian and I parted ways though not before exchanging emails.
When I made it to Rio Dulce, I met a man named George who is kayaking all of Guatemala's river systems. He has made several first descents down some class 5 rapids and says that Guatemala is mostly undiscovered as a kayaking destination. He is making me think that I want to take up kayaking. When he is working, he is a National Park Ranger. As much fun as I am having, I couldn't help but be a little envious of him.
I read in the news that producing ethanol from corn actually releases more carbon dioxide than burning gasoline. This is because the increased corn production displaces other crops to parts of the world where they still use slash-and-burn agriculture which dumps massive amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. Those of us in the developed world have to know that we can't have our cake and eat it, too. Sooner or later, the technoligical solutions to our energy crisis will run out and we will have to use conservation as our primary strategy to combat global warming. Very few people here in Guatemala have air conditioners and they seem to do just fine. They also don't light every single street at night. There are so many small changes we could make in our lifestyle that would have a very real effect on our overall energy consumption.
I am trying to escape from the wet part of the country. Hopefully, I will have done so by tomorrow. I will, however, be in the cold part of the country, again.

Day 128 kt:65.2 ta: 2443 gps: N 15 degrees 05.622' W 89 degrees 26.245'

Having a flat tire and finding an internet cafe pretty much ruined my chances of riding a 100 kilometers today. When I saw a lovely, babbling brook on the side of the road about an hour and a half before sunset, I decided to call it quits for the day since I found such a perfect campsite. I even took a bath meaning that I jumped into the creek naked.
They sure do like their guns in rural Guatemala. I saw man today who was carrying a 9mm with four extra ammunition clips. You would never need this much ammunition unless you got in a shootout with other people. I wondered if the guy thinks he is a badass or if he is that scared of being in a shootout.

Day 129 ta:1930 kt: 57.9 gps: N 14 degrees 55.125' W 89 degrees 54.572'

I have got to break free from my slacker ways. I could travel a lot faster if I wasn't such an internet addict. At least I am well informed. I know, for example, that Barack Obama has recently been sweeping the primaries and caucuses and has been taking in more campaign contributions than Hillary Clinton. As I have said before, I don't particularly like Obama but I strongly dislike Hillary Clinton on account of being a Clinton. Bill Clinton singlehandedly drove me from the Democratic party. I unapolagetically voted for Nader in 2000 and didn't vote for president in 2004. I have lost faith in the American democratic system and now focus my efforts on paying as little taxes as possible. Eventually, I will probably move out of the U.S. altogether so I am not financing the government.
My rear brakes are acting kind of weird. I think that I am going to have to replace the cable housing when I get to Guatemala City. Right now, it is just a minor nuissance.
I am camping right now in what is probably the driest part of Guatemala. A row of cacti separates me from the highway. I was just interrupted from writing my diary by the police who say my headlamp. At first I turned off my headlamp to hide but,when I saw that they had their guns drawn, I decided that it was best to announce my presence. Once they realized that I was just some crazy foreigner they were more at ease and reholstered their guns. They told me it was dangerous where I was and I told them that I felt safe. They, of course, didn't say anything about me camping on public or private land. I am behind a fence but they didn't seem to care. There are too many laws in the United States. I know for a fact that what I am doing right now would be considered illegal for a variety of reasons in the U.S. I probably would be arrested or, at least, ticketed in Texas.

Day 130 kt:100 ta: 6948 gps: N 14 degrees 37.783' W 90 degrees 31.103'

Since I have been slacking off so much, I decided it was time for a punishing day. I had to ascend from a valley to about 5,000 feet to get into Guatemala City. The stretch of highway that I rode on is the worst in Guatemala as far as I know. There are long sections of highway with no shoulder and it is a major east-west trucking corridor. Needless to say, I don't find tightroping the edge of the road and zooming down hills,while being passed by ten semis at a time with inches to spare, to be a whole lot of fun. I am an adrenaline junkie but I still prefer to be in a little bit more control over my life.
Happy corporate-guilt-trip-you-into-buying-something-for-the-one-you-love-or-think-you-love day. I hope yall don't have to declare bankruptcy after today.