Cycling for a Cause – Alaska to Panama

[Muttsta]

Day 60 – Delayed in Ensenada – 55.54 km
Although the campground I was staying at had a shower and bathrooms, I unfortunately did not use them. Neither of the toilets worked, and the shower, although functional, did not look fit for use. The door was detached, and to cover the shower you had to pick it up and place it over the opening. I decided it was better to stay dirty for another day. I did manage to get some clean water here. Although it tasted funny, it was supposedly purified.

The road to Ensenada did not prove to be easy. The toll road runs along the flat terrain of the coast, where as the free highway heads slightly inland through hills. Today’s climbs proved to be much worse than any I had encountered in the United States, similar to Canada. It seems that we in the United States prefer to go straight through hills by blasting them whereas over here they go right above them. This, combined with the fact that I was riding through a scorching hot desert, made my ride quite challenging.

I made it to Ensenada, which is one of the larger cities in the Baja, at about 1 PM. Here I knew that I had to visit the tourist office in order to obtain a tourist card. It is only necessary to obtain a tourist card if you are staying in Mexico for longer than three days or if your are going below Ensenada. I managed to find the office with relative ease, however here I ran into some trouble.

It turns out that if you do not obtain your tourist card in one of the border cities you must pay a fine of 50 pesos, which is about 5 USD, at the bank before being able to obtain a tourist card. No problem, I’ll gladly pay that. But there is a problem, since today is Sunday all the banks are closed! This pretty much forced me to spend the rest of the day here in Ensenada, since there was no way I was going back to Tijuana. I couldn’t even find the “Welcome to Mexico” sign, let alone the tourist office! You have to love it how guidebooks don’t mention these things.

Ensenada is a very tourist oriented city with a very busy main road. I managed to find a nice motel roughly a two minute walk from this road for $19. This is quite the bargain considering camping yesterday cost me $15! It turns out that camping really isn’t worth it since these campground are RV oriented and charge almost the same rates for an RV as for a tent. My room is surprisingly very good. Sure, it may not be anything luxurious, but at least I have a warm shower with included soap and shampoo and a working toilet. As an added bonus I also have a color TV and a kitchen, which I really have no use for.

I walked around the main roads of Ensenada for awhile and then visited the port. Ensenada is supposedly famous for its huge Mexican flag, which really was as big as they made it out to be. Walking around the shops and being harassed to buy things was actually quite relaxing. Should you like, you can buy anything from prescription drugs without a prescription to the goofiest souvenirs. There is just something about the atmosphere of these countries that I love. I did not however manage to find the only thing that I was looking for today, hex keys. I unfortunately left my hex keys and screwdrivers at Merle’s house in San Diego, so I will have to pick up some of those. I just hope that nothing breaks down on me before I am able to find some, otherwise I will have to improvise for tools somehow!

To make matters even worse my phone does not work down here. I called my cell phone company a week ago and told them to enable international roaming on my phone, which they said they did. Telus really isn’t the greatest company in the world, in fact they are far from it. My phone did not work in Alaska and even in Seattle! Frankly, their roaming is quite terrible.

I guess I must really look I am from here as on the street and in restaurants people always start talking to me in Spanish as opposed to English. Additionally, I guess the little Spanish I know, I know well, since when I say something I get crazy complicated responses. When I told a guy on the street in broken Spanish that I did not speak it well he look quite surprised. I guess it’s better to fit in that stick out like a sore thumb! Overall I don’t think it should be too bad, as of right now I know more than enough to survive on.

Day 61 – Life in a Convection Oven - 148.70 km
I went to the tourist card office right when it opened today at eight in the morning. It turns out that obtaining this tourist card isn’t such a piece of cake. First I had to go next door to pick up the form for my fine, just printing the form cost me $5. Next I had to get the form for the tourist card itself and fill it out. Then I had to take these two forms to the bank and pay for the fine and the tourist card, which cost me $28. Finally with all this done I could go back to the tourist card office and they would give me all the right stamps, yikes!

Finally ready to head out of Ensenada I set off, but not before stopping at a gas station to fill up on water. The water in my hotel was non-potable, it actually tasted like sulfur. It seems that I don’t have to worry much about finding anything in these large cities. I managed to find the hex keys I lost with ease, and not too much communication headaches. On the way out of the city I saw a Home Depot, Costco, Wal-Mart, McDonalds, several very large grocery stores which are popular in Europe and even an Applebees.

The road past Ensenada was not easy. The highway cuts inland through very hilly and hellishly hot territory. The Pacific coast of the United States was a piece of cake in comparison with this. It gets terribly hot here around midday. Usually on down hills you get a nice breeze from the speed you are getting, today it was not so. The breeze that I was getting today felt like it was coming out of a furnace. I felt as if I were cycling in a convection oven. My eyes were dry from the heat and I was literally melting. Not myself fortunately, but the sunscreen was melting off of me.

For a portion of the road today I actually had a two foot or so shoulder that I could ride on. Sure, there were holes in it I had to swerve around at times, but it was still a great relief. I didn’t have to look in my rear view mirror every fifteen seconds to make sure there wasn’t a car that was going to run me off the road. Fortunately the drivers here are fairly nice and give me a fair bit of room, however when there’s a car on the other side, it’s not like they plan on slowing down, so you better move over! My only explanation for the shoulder is that somebody made a calculation error when building the road, for this is truly an anomaly!

In the town of Camalu I decided to stop for a quick meal. I decided that today I would have tacos, and thus went to a neighborhood taco place. In my broken Spanish I managed to successfully order four tacos for a mere 32 pesos, which is roughly three dollars. When I asked if they had any ‘cervesa’ to drink, they directed me to the store next door. Unfortunately, the store was closed, so I told the people in the restaurant that I would settle for Coca-Cola. But they would have none of that! One guy quickly ran to his car and grabbed a beer, when I asked him how much I owed him, he told me not to worry about it. From what I have seen so far the people down here are both very friendly and very helpful. In fact, while I was looking at my map in another city a man walked up to me and asked me if I needed any directions.

I am currently staying at a place in Camalu called the “Hotel California”. This should ring a bell for anyone who knows anything about good music. Unfortunately lodging today cost me 220 pesos, or roughly $21, but there was nothing cheaper around. Campgrounds are few and far in between, usually off the road, and generally not a good bargain when traveling alone. Although my room isn’t the most elegant thing in the world, the shower is however big enough to fit four people comfortably. As a side note, for those of you who have never heard the song “Hotel California” by the “Eagles”, go do it now. Seriously, it’s a classic.

[Muttsta]

Day 62 – Rolling Plains and Desert Climbs - 98.64 km
The day started out nice and easy today out of Camalu. There were rolling hills through fields and even somewhat of a shoulder for part of the road. On the way to San Quintin I passed by many fields as well as a large number of greenhouses. It reminded me of being back home, as we have a town nearby called Leamington in which there are also numerous greenhouses which grow a variety of vegetables.

I made it to the town of San Quintin, where I decided to take an internet and lunch break. I try to take a break between the hours of 11 AM and 1 PM as it is scorching hot outside, and basically not the most pleasant weather to bike in. Although San Quintin isn’t exactly a large town, I still managed to count six internet cafes. I shouldn’t have a problem finding internet here, it’s just that it’s going to cost me. If anyone does have wireless internet around here they have a password on it, it seems they are much more sensitive about people using their wireless internet connections around here.

One thing that surprised and scared me today was when I saw, and I kid you not, an eight year old child jump into a van and drive away. I guess that if your feet can reach the pedals your old enough to drive over here. Its times like these that make me think twice about riding a bicycle on the roads around here!

Satisfied both technologically and gastronomically I moved on. The road from here to El Rosario was rough. I passed through miles upon miles of desert and sharp hills with nowhere to re-supply on water. Whoever designed this road must have hated bicyclists as it basically went straight to the top of the largest hill in the area. Dehydrated and tired I passed by a military checkpoint with relative ease and then finally made it to the town of El Rosario.

I decided it would be wise to stop here for the night since for the next 400 kilometers I will cut inland and experience the worst deserts thus far on my trip. The first motel I stopped at wanted a crazy 350 pesos from me, which is about $33. I didn’t even both haggling and moved on. The second motel supposedly had a campground, which I enquired about. Unfortunately the ‘camping’ is only for RVs, but I did manage to haggle a price of 180 pesos for a room, which is about $17. Not too bad if I must say so myself!

Day 63 – Desert Oasis – 120.48 km
I’m not going to lie, today was a really rough day. In the morning I went to the restaurant near my motel in order to grab some breakfast so that I would have plenty of energy for the day. I have found that it is useless to start biking before 8:30 AM or so as it is simply too cold outside. At 9 AM I headed out, and for the next 40 kilometers I wouldn’t see anything.

These 40 kilometers consists of climbs and drops, over and over again. When I would get to the top of a hill and look around, all I would see as far as the eye could see is desert and road. And they say that Mexico is overpopulated? Hardly!

Deciding to bicycle through a desert in the middle of the summer definatley wasn’t one of the greatest ideas I’ve had in my life. I wish I had a thermometer to be able to tell you exactly how hot it was, but alas I don’t. Take my word for it though, being outside all day in the blazing desert sun while riding a bike isn’t exactly enjoyable. I don’t think that I’ve ever felt as hot as I did today.

Relief came when I stumbled upon a restaurant which was literally in the middle of nowhere. I initially thought it was a mirage, but luckily it was real. Exhausted and heat stricken I stumbled into that restaurant and ordered myself a refreshing Coca-Cola. Costing me a mere 10 pesos, or 1 dollar, it was probably the best tasting Coca-Cola I have ever had the pleasure of consuming. Fortunately these oasis’s in the middle of the desert could be found every 15 kilometers or so for the remainder of the road.

I had to take stops often and my speed wasn’t exactly stellar today. I passed through miles upon miles of sands, cacti, and rocks. The views were beautiful, but it was terribly hot. I actually counted up how much liquids I drank today. My total: 4.5 liters of water, 1.3 liters of Coca-Cola, 1 liter of Fanta. That’s almost 7 liters of liquids in a day, yikes!

I eventually made it to the town of Catavina at around 5:30 PM. I first headed to a restaurant in order to grab something to eat. There was a soccer game on at the time, Mexico versus Chile, which of course everyone was watching. I must say it was quite strange to see two police officers and seven soldiers in this restaurant watching a soccer game, especially since they were armed to the teeth with guns. Nether the less, I enjoyed my quesadilla and of course watched the soccer game.

Since I made it here early I decided to find an internet café so that I could update you all back home. Small problem, there isn’t one. In fact, no one here has internet. Actually, your quite lucky to even get electricity at all, since all that’s available here is solar generated! With that idea gone I headed to a campground in town and set up camp for the night.

Since I had so much time before it was going to get dark I decided it would be best to do some bicycle maintenance. I adjusted my rear brake as it was brushing against my brake pad and also cleaned up anything I could around my chain. These two things happened with no problems. While adjusting my brakes I noticed that my rear wheel was slightly out of true, and decided to try my hand at truing a wheel. For those of you not familiar with bicycles, this is basically tightening the spokes to make sure the wheel turns without wobbling. This is where things got real ugly.

It turns out that while truing my wheel I was turning my spoke wrench the wrong way and thus loosing spokes as opposed to tightening them. I ended up with a rim which was totally wobbling from side to side. I thought for sure that I would need a new rim and be stranded here in this town in the middle of nowhere. Much pain, suffering, stress, prayer, and one and a half hour later I managed to get my rim back in fairly good condition. It was quite possibly one of the most stressful experiences of my life, thus I don’t plan on trying to true one of my wheels again any time soon.

I am actually the only person staying at this campground tonight, which is quite strange since it has room for about 60 RVs. I tried to pay the $6 that they are asking to stay here, but unfortunately could not find anyone here. In the four hours I was outside I didn’t see anyone who is in charge of this place. I hope to find them tomorrow so I can pay them, the last thing I want is trouble with the Mexican police force!

Day 64 – The Day of Unquenchable Thirst - 147.65 km
Today in the morning I once again attempted to pay my camping fees, but alas there was no one around. The office was empty, and I wasn’t just going to leave money lying around, because the next person walking by would take it. In order not to feel guilty I went across the street and spent the same amount of money to buy supplies.

I hit the road once more. Today’s road was also terribly hot just as it was yesterday, but it was not as bad. I knew what to expect in terms of heat, and the road was not as hilly. It was by no means flat, but it wasn’t as bad as yesterday. Additionally since I fixed my brake yesterday I didn’t hear a screeching sound every three seconds. There were once again desert oasis’s all along the road, which I visited quite frequently.

Although I didn’t eat breakfast today, I wasn’t hungry even after many hours and riding over 95 kilometers. However, I was thirsty as a fish. I just kept drinking and drinking water as if I were a sewer drain. No matter how cold water is when you buy it, it will reach near supernova temperatures out in the desert. I have found that placing bottles in my bag helps to slow this effect down slightly. Even so, hot water is quite refreshing when you’re dying of thirst.

Today I once again witnessed first hand the kindness of the Mexican people. As I was painfully making my way up a steep hill someone pulled up beside me and asked if I wanted some cold water to drink. I of course replied yes, and while on the go I was passed some water from the car window. I wish I had more time to properly thank these people and give them my card with my website. I tell you, I never knew that water could taste so good.

It turns out that between the towns of Catavina and Guerro Negro, a distance of 230 kilometers, there is not a single motel or campground. There actually isn’t a gas station here for a stretch of 340 kilometers! In order to solve this problem there are people selling gas out of the back of their pick up truck, although I’m not sure I’d want to trust that. Since there was no way I would ride 230 kilometers, I decided to simply ask to camp somewhere. I stopped at a restaurant and asked if it would be possible to camp here. One very confusing conversation and $5 later I was led out past a gate and into a field.

I currently have horses running circles around my tent, cows mooing in the distance, and donkeys doing whatever it is donkeys do. It should make for quite an interesting night! Tomorrow in the morning I plan on eating breakfast at the restaurant here and plan to make it only to Guerro Negro tomorrow, a distance of 80 kilometers or so. Afterwards I have planned stops such that it will take six days time to make it to La Paz.

[The Smokester]

Muttsa,
Glad to see you are surviving...Figured it would be pretty hot. You picked the hottest time of the year.

Look forward to seeing your posts.

Be safe.

[mntbikedude]

An amazing story. I wish you had someone with you video taping this. Seems like it woulda made a good documentary.

One thing I would like to know is do you feel scared riding alone thru the Mexican desert. I was always told that they had these bands of hoodlums that would hold up foreigners that were driving thru Mexico. I felt uneasy just biking into Tijuana. I can't even imagine what it is like where you are.

Just wondering where you got the guts to do this.

[eliktronik]

Might be a good idea to keep the following in mind when you're approach the Nicaraguan border:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=318263

Good luck with your adventure!

[Muttsta]

Day 65 – Time Travel - 82.67 km
In the morning I quickly packed up my tent and headed over to the restaurant that I was camped near. The reason I don’t just camp out in the middle of nowhere is that should anyone find me there, well, I might never be found again. I’m not sure about you guys, but I sure don’t want that!

For a mere $4 I received an impressive breakfast of eggs with ham, beans, macaroni salad and of course tortillas. No matter the meal here in Mexico, it will always include either tortillas or tortilla chips, with salsa of course. One must be really careful with the salsa around here however, since it is quite potent.

Since I eat at the same restaurants the locals would eat at I always end up engaging in a conversation with someone. Since my Spanish is less than stellar, this is not easy, but always fun. Today a man traveling with his family from Mexicali, which is another border town with the United States, happened to talk with me. He gave me some tips for the road ahead and I told him all about what I was doing, all in Spanish of course! We then proceeded outside where I posed for photos and was forever archived on a Mexican home video explaining in my broken Spanish who I was, what I was doing, and some other interesting facts. I guess my Spanish isn’t so bad if I can do an interview!

The road to Guerro Negro itself was fairly easy. A flat road with little traffic, my only obstacles were terrible road conditions, winds, and a military checkpoint. At these military checkpoints they are generally looking for people who are smuggling narcotics. They don’t really give me trouble since I guess they don’t think I could carry that much anyway!

Right before Guerro Negro I passed the 28th parallel, which signified two things. The first being that I was going from the province of Baja California to Baja California Sur, and the second being that I was now changing time zones to Mountain Standard Time. I found it quite strange that there was no sign or anything you to change your clock. In the United States and Canada there would be bold ten foot high poster boards everywhere just to make sure you didn’t miss it. The concept of time here in Central America is an interesting thing in itself. When making an appointment with someone it is understood that it is perfectly acceptable to be even half an hour late. If you want someone to be on time you have to explicitly state that you want to meet at a certain hour of “English Time”.

Guerro Negro is a town of approximately 11,000 people in which the two main attractions are a very large salt time and whale watching. Seeing as I have seen both of these types of things in the past, they didn’t really interest me. I am staying at the “Motel Las Ballenas”, which literally translates to “The Whales Motel”. Although it wasn’t the cheapest place in town (they wanted $24 but I talked them down to $17), the other places for $12 in town discouraged even me. I would stay in them if there were no other option, but I determined that the extra $5 was a very worthwhile price to pay for at least some comfort.

I should find it worthwhile to mention that in all my worldly travels the worst motel I have stayed in was not in Europe, Peru, China, Central America, or even Cuba, but rather in the country of the United States. It was a motel run by an Indian man near Death Valley, and the only reason we stayed there was because everything else for 150 miles around was full due to the flowers in Death Valley blooming and a inconveniently scheduled dog show. Let’s just say it was quite scary and leave it at that.

Day 66 – Drenched In The Desert – 144.76 km
Today’s road was absolutely mind numbingly boring. For nearly the whole distance I covered a flat, straight road which was absolutely scorching hot. There were not even any interesting things to take photos of! Once I reached the town of Viscaino I decided to take a lunch break in order to avoid the hottest hours of the day. I decided to try quesitacos tacos, which are basically tacos with cheese inside them. The food here I must say is very good, I just hope it doesn’t turn out to be not so good for me!

It was here that I noticed that one of the water bottles that I had put in my bag had sprung a leak. More specifically, the cap had somehow come off. Needless to say this means that half the stuff in my bag got drenched. This means that I have to dry all this out today, otherwise it will start to smell funny, or worse!

From Viscaino to San Ignacio the road looked exactly the same as it did for the 70 kilometers to Viscaino. Unfortunately, little did I know there would be absolutely nothing for 50 kilometers from Viscaino. Eventually I stumbled upon a small restaurant, in which I pounced upon their supply of semi-cold beverages.

The change in environment when I reached San Ignacio was truly surprising. The landscape went suddenly from dry desert and cactuses to green palm trees. It turns out that San Ignacio is a true desert oasis due to a spring of water nearby. The town of San Ignacio itself is also quite beautiful. It is a small, older town with a very welcoming atmosphere. Towering over the town is the Mision San Ignacio de Kadakaaman. Missions were constructed all throughout Mexico and California during the colonization years by the Spanish in order to help bring religion to the indigenous people as well as help them with growing food. The missions turned out to be chaotic as they brought European diseases which killed off vast numbers of indigenous people. Thus, most missions have been destroyed, however a select few such as the one here remain intact.

In the town of San Ignacio was a cybercafé where I intended to update you all from, however they would simply not let me connect my laptop. I tried to explain that all I need is a cable to plug in, but they would not permit it. Alas, the update must wait!

I am currently camped amongst palm trees and beside a lagoon about one kilometer from the town. Today’s price for camping was a mere 30 pesos, which is roughly $2.85 USD. At this campground I met several Mexican men fishing. They started talking with me and of course offered me ice cold beer, how could I refuse? We ended up talking for about two hours in a mix of Spanish and English, depending on who knew which words. We talked about everything ranging from how cold it is in Alaska and how big the fish are there to how many kids they have. I found out that they work at a large ranch around here which grows various fruits and vegetables and that they are currently catching fish for dinner. It’s always great to talk with the local people, not only do you find out about the lifestyle here, but I always brush up on my Spanish a little!

[Muttsta]

Day 67 – Closed, Closed – 136.07 km
In the morning I headed out onto a long and treacherous road which included strenuous climbs and scary descents. I began by passing by a volcano called “Las Tres Virgenes”. Had I the time I would of course love to climb it, but that would unfortunately take me three days. The road up to the area near this volcano was hot and steep. The way down was simply scary at times it was so steep. I was not surprised to see many crosses beside the road.

In this area there are many vultures. They sit on cactuses and fly overhead looking for any carrion they can find. When there is something lying dead near the road there may be even thirty or more of them around. Luckily they weren’t circling over my head, that would be a bad instance of foreshadowing!

Finally out of the mountains I arrived at the shore of the Golf of California, also known as the Sea of Cortes. One very strange thing about this area is that they have black sand beaches, definitely not something I’d want to walk on! Here I nearly immediately arrived in the town of Santa Rosalia, a town of about 11,000 people. Santa Rosalia is by no means a pretty town. It is an old mining town in which most of the buildings have been prefabricated and simply assembled there. It contains a church designed by Gustave Eifel (designer of the Eifel tower in Paris), which is likewise not very impressive looking, but famous for the way in which it was constructed.

Before leaving Santa Rosalia I once again re-supplied on water and grabbed some lunch. I decided to go to a nicer restaurant today where lunch cost me $7, this included an ice cold Coca-Cola. This restaurant was the first air conditioned building I had been in since California. Going through those doors felt as if I were walking through the pearly gates of heaven itself. Going back out into the blistering heat is another story.

Although the next 60 kilometers or so were not excruciatingly hilly, it still wasn’t enjoyable. This stretch was likewise desert, but what made it bad was the humidity. The road is located right next to the Gulf of California, and this it makes the area very, very humid. Apart from much suffering and one large climb before Mulege, the rest of the road was uneventful.

The town of Mulege, home to 3100 people, is nestled between mountains not from the coast. It is considered by many to be one of the prettiest cities in the Baja, and I must agree with them. It has a very pleasant feel to it with its narrow roads and its old buildings. I visited the mission here, which was unfortunately closed. However, from the outside I can say that the mission in San Ignacio was more impressive. I walked up and down the streets of the town to make sure I didn’t miss anything, but there really wasn’t much else to see.

My next order of business was to find an internet café in order to update all my loyal readers back home. This proved to be a problem. Since today was a Sunday, practically everything in town was closed. Here in Mexico and Central America, if it doesn’t have to do with food or drink, you can pretty much bet it will be closed on a Sunday. Both of the internet cafes in town were closed. There was a hotel which had internet access in it’s lobby, however they would not let me connect my laptop. I pleaded and even offered to pay extra, but they would not let me. It seems that people who don’t know much about computers are afraid to touch any cable connected to them for fear of them blowing up. I searched up my down the streets with my wireless hotspot finder in order to try to connect to someone’s wireless network, but there was no hope. It looks like I’ll simply have to wait until tomorrow.

I am currently staying at a small yet pleasant motel in the heart of Mulege. I managed to negotiate a price of $14 for a room. For $23 I could have a room with air conditioning, which I passed on. I’ve survived this long without it, so it is by no means essential. Tomorrow I plan on visiting an internet café in the morning and then heading off to the town of Loreto, a distance of 134 kilometers. It should be a fairly rough road once again due to the strenuous heat and the high humidity.

Day 68 – White Sand Beaches to White Sand Deserts - 135.48 km
In the morning I headed to the internet café across the street in order to try to update you all. Despite both mine and the owners efforts we simply couldn’t get my laptop to work no matter what we tried, and we both weren’t sure why. I took it as a sign that internet must wait and I should move on. Due to this I got a fairly late start, but nothing too terrible.

The road to Loretto was quite simply rough. I wasn’t expecting it to be too bad since it runs fairly close to the sea, but oh was I wrong! The area here is truly beautiful as it contains mountains which simply plummet into the sea. The beaches are sandy white and the water is crystal clear with an enchanting color; beautiful to look at, but not so pleasant to ride on. Due to the nature of the area, the road is winding and constantly weaving up and down. This, along with the fact that it is dreadfully hot and humid, made my day quite painful.

Later on in the day the road cut away from the coast slightly inland where the situation was just as bad. I had one short stretch of relatively flat riding, but apart from that it was all hills. I was exhausted and dehydrated, but intent on making it to Loretto early in order to be able to visit a cybercafé as well as see the city a bit.

When in the town of Loretto I finally managed to find an internet café after a half hour of asking around town. Once inside and setup I powered on my laptop, and then practically went pale as a ghost. My computer went into Windows and then gave me the infamous blue screen of death. When I powered on my computer afterwards I got a nice error message in white letters on a black background. Great, just great. I didn’t think to bring any of my diagnostics disks or even a Windows disk with me. I downloaded and burned a repair utilities CD using a computer at the café.

Unfortunately without my laptop I am grounded. Due to this unforeseen even I will be taking a day off tomorrow in order to sort out this mess. My first impressions of the town are very positive, it seems to be the nicest town I have seen in Mexico. Hopefully tomorrow I can resolve my problem quickly so that I have more time to see the town, however the prognosis does not look good.

I am staying at a nice little motel here in Loretto which cost me $18 for a night. At least the room is clean, but there is no air-conditioning, my bathroom door doesn’t close, and the TV only have one working channel. I guess you can’t have everything!

[Muttsta]

Might be a good idea to keep the following in mind when you're approach the Nicaraguan border:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=318263

Good luck with your adventure!

Yikes, will have to definatley watch out for that part

An amazing story. I wish you had someone with you video taping this. Seems like it woulda made a good documentary.

One thing I would like to know is do you feel scared riding alone thru the Mexican desert. I was always told that they had these bands of hoodlums that would hold up foreigners that were driving thru Mexico. I felt uneasy just biking into Tijuana. I can't even imagine what it is like where you are.

Just wondering where you got the guts to do this.

I'll admit that it's scary at times especially since sometimes people are walking near the road or just sitting off the road somewhere
At times like these I kick it into high gear, jam on the pedals, and no matter what anyone says I don't stop
Let's just say that this hasn't been one of the best ideas I've had in my life, lol

You picked the hottest time of the year.

Otherwise it would have been too easy

[DerekWP]

Congratulations on your journey so far. Keep it up! Awesome journal and photos. God bless.
Derek

[Muttsta]

Day 69 – Much Deserved Break – 0.00 km
Luckily late last night I managed to fix my computer problem. I won’t bore you with the technical details, but luckily it was not a major problem that I could not fix without my repair utilities CD. This means that I could have technically pushed onwards today, however I had already paid for an extra night as this place seems to be busy and I didn’t want to not have a room if anything.

This means that I had all of today to see the city of Loreto and simply relax. I must say that today was my first true relaxing day of the whole trip in which I didn’t have to walk all over a city in order to see attractions or do anything physically demanding. It was a much needed and much deserved rest.

After getting a refreshing nights rest I set out to leisurely visit the town of Loreto. It is a very beautiful town, probably one of the nicest I have been in thus far. It has many old and beautiful buildings as well as a boulevard for pedestrians decorated with shaped shrubs and trees. The boulevard is lined with countless shops, cafes, and restaurants. I decided to buy a few select souvenirs which caught my eye. The highlight of the city is the 297 year old mission which towers over all the other buildings in town. This mission is of particular importance as it is the oldest mission in the Baja and quite possibly the most beautiful.

My next order of business was to send these souvenirs as well as several other unnecessary things home. I decided to visit the bank in order to withdraw some money just to make sure I had enough, however my card would unfortunately not work. I called my bank and they say that everything with my card looks to be in order, and that I should simply try at a different ATM. Since there is only one bank containing two ATMs in town, it looks like I will have to try in the next city. Fortunately I have enough money to get me there!

I was warned ahead of time not to tape up my package before getting to the post office because they check what is inside. This proved to be quite correct. I had to display the contents of my package in order to prove that there was nothing hazardous inside. You know how at post offices there are always signs which tell you what you are not allowed to send? At this post office there was a sign just like that, listing all the hazardous products as well as one other non-hazardous material; in Mexico you are not allowed to ship products which are degrading to the country’s image! Shipping a box slightly larger than a shoe box and weighing a little over two pounds to the United States cost me $16 USD by air mail. Not a bad price at all, I was expecting much worse. I just hope it gets there!

On the way back from the post office to my motel I broke two cardinal rules of travel in these areas. Thou shall not drink milk and thou shall not consume ice. The prospect of an ice cold frappuchino was just too much for me to bear and I could not resist. I ordered an Oreo frappuchino, which was surprisingly good! Luckily there were no major health side effects, and I consumed that beverage over nine hours ago. I figure if I expose myself to the water, milk, and ice here little by little I should be able to get away without being sick. As I like to say, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. After all, I will be in these areas for another month and a half!

The rest of my day was spent lounging around town, my motel, or in an internet café. I even had time to do laundry in my sink and tune up my bike. I have recently discovered a revolutionary computer program called ‘Skype’. This is a program which allows you to call people from your computer provided that you have an internet connection. Although I had heard much about this program in the past I had never used it. When I tried it once, I fell in love. For a mere 2 cents a minute and a 6 cent connection fee I can call anyone at any landline in the world. That’s an amazing deal! I wish I had thought of using this program earlier as I have spent a fortune on phone cards. Phone cards typically charge a $1 fee for calling from a payphone and around 10 cents or so a minute. Phone cards here typically charge 50 cents a minute to the United States and Canada with who knows what connection fee. This alone makes carrying a laptop around in these areas very worthwhile!

Day 70 – The Miles Just Fly By – 234.33 km
Last night while reading my guidebook I noticed that the ferry to Mazatlan from La Paz leaves on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. This means that I need to make it to La Paz as soon as possible to buy a ticket for Saturday so they don’t sell out. That would mean that I would be stuck in La Paz for three days. Supposedly there are two other ferry companies which go to Mazatlan but I don’t have information on those.

The first portion of my day was fairly challenging. For the first forty kilometers the road stayed close to the coast, which as you may recall is very mountainous and thus not that easy to ride. Afterwards the road cut inland, straight into the mountains. Let’s just say that the climb over those mountains was exhausting. I’m not sure if it’s simply not as hot down here or if I’m not feeling the heat as much any more, because that didn’t seem to be as much of a problem as it was previously.

Along the way I met a construction crew doing road work. The guy who waves the flag to stop cars started to chat with me. Fortunatley my Spanish isn’t terrible and I can actually hold some conversation. I was able to tell him where I was from, where I’m biking from and where to, how much water I drink during the day, and even how many flat tires I have had along the way. I must say that although slowly, my Spanish learning is going quite well! Twenty kilometers of beautiful vistas and rough road later I stopped into a roadside café for a well deserved lunch.

The rest of today’s road was as flat as it get’s by Mexican standards. If I had to compare the road to something I would say that it was flat as a pancake and straight as an arrow. For part of the road I had a head wind, but once the road reached a town called ‘Cuidad Insurgents’ it bent slightly, giving me a nice tail wind all the way to where I am today. I was able to make phenomenal time with fairly little effort. This along with the fact that it wasn’t very hot today made for a great day of cycling. In fact, I’m not even tired!

Along the way I passed through a town called ‘Cuidad Constituation’. Just like Guerroro Negro, the only thing to do in this town is go whale watching. At other times of the year there really isn’t anything to do. Fortunately this town has several banks. The ATM I tried here worked flawlessly, leading me to believe that the ATM in the last town simply didn’t like me. With no more fears of being stranded in the desert without money I moved on in a great mood.

I could have cycled perhaps another 20 kilometers today were it not for a flat tire that slowed me down. It seems that the roads here in Mexico have taken their toll on my rear tire. Although I replaced this tire in Southern California, it already looks like it’s ready for another change! I will have to bust open my super glue and patch up as many of these larger holes that I can. It is worthwhile to mention that before I left for this trip I hadn’t the slightest idea of anything to do with bicycle repair. In fact, I had trouble changing flat tires when I left! Now I can easily fix flats, patch tubes, adjust disk brakes, change cables, oil up all the right spots on my bike, and even true wheels somewhat!

With the sun beginning to set I decided it would be wise to find a place to stay. I decided to try what I had tried in the past, that is to stop at one of these small restaurants/shops near the road in the middle of nowhere and ask if I can camp on their property. Since my Spanish really isn’t all that bad, I was able to convey my request with ease. The owners told me that because they like me, I could of course camp here and at no cost! Extremely grateful I ordered dinner, Coca-Cola, and re-supplied on water.

I have 124 kilometers to go until I reach La Paz. I intend to wake up early tomorrow so that I can do this distance in as fast a time as possible. I would really like to be able to get things sorted out with my ferry ticket tomorrow, which would leave me a day off in La Paz.

Day 71 – Desert Rain - 127.99 km
Last night’s sleep was anything but relaxing for several reasons. The place where I was camped was fairly close to the road, thus when those trucks rolled by my tent was practically shaking. Additionally, my trusty Thermarest air mattress has seemed to develop a leak, and when I woke up it was pretty much flat. This is not a problem I wanted to have on this trip as it is very difficult to find a small hole in one of these things and I don’t have a patch kit. It seems I’ll simply have to live with sleeping on an un-inflated mattress.

I tried to make it to La Paz as soon as possible today in order to work things out with my ferry ticket, however this proved not to be so easy. The entire day right from the beginning was filled with hills. It was a constant cycle of up and down, up and down. Those down hills do not seem to make up for the time lost on up hills. For the first time in as long as I can remember I got rained on today, in the middle of the desert. This was quite a relief as it provided me a break from the brutal temperatures. I didn’t even bother to put on any rain gear as it was so enjoyable!

After eighty kilometers I decided I would stop in one of those road side restaurants for lunch. Eating in these places is always an adventure as they rarely ever have menus, so you have to ask them what they have, and you better understand what they’re saying! With a menu I can take my time and decipher it using my phrasebook, using this method I usually just pick something at random. Today I ordered something ‘ranchero’, which was basically a spicy soup with meat and of course tortillas. It wasn’t bad by any means, but it simply didn’t suit my taste.

When I made it to La Paz I headed directly to the ferry office. I had some real trouble finding it, which proved to make perfect sense since it turns out that the office is in fact closed. Luckily since I know some Spanish I asked around and found out that this particular company is closed and has now opened under a new name. They pointed me in the direction of their new office, which I managed to find with relative easy. I am very fortunate to have made it here today, otherwise I would be stranded in La Paz for awhile. The ferry has changed its schedule and no longer leaves on Saturdays, but on Fridays. Should I have missed the Friday ferry I would have to wait all the way until Monday! I bought a ticket for tomorrow’s ferry, which cost me an arm and a leg, $90 to be precise, which includes the fee for my bicycle. I was really expecting this to cost much less, but it’s not like I have much of an option.

I actually feel quite fortunate that I won’t have to take a day off here in La Paz, because the city is actually quite dull. The walkway near the coast is very nice, but other than that, there really isn’t much here except a cathedral and many shops. There are supposedly some very nice beaches around here, but the last thing I want to do after being outside on a bicycle all day is be outside on a beach all day. I have heard that Mazatlan is much more interesting, so I will most likely spend some more time there.

I should also mention that Doritos here in Mexico are actually very good. They taste quite different from American Doritos and are much spicier. They also have different flavors of them here that we do not. There is a flavor called “Diablo”, which I of course had to try. Let’s just say that it’s as bad as it sounds. The chip is practically red due to the amount of spice and seems as if it were about to spontaneously burst into flames. The reason we don’t have these is they are most likely outlawed due to being a safety hazard.

Today I am staying at the “Pension California” here in La Paz. It is the absolute cheapest place in town, costing $16. The rooms are not air conditioned, but luckily have a very powerful fan. There is of course no television and my door is closed using a padlock. The bathroom is the size of two telephone booths and somehow miraculously fits a shower, sink, and toilet. My only complaint is that they didn’t give me a towel! Looks like I’ll just have to use their bed sheets. Tomorrow I will have the morning off, and then have to bicycle 20 kilometers to the ferry terminal north of town.

[Muttsta]

Day 72 – In Transit – 20.19 km
I was told at the ferry office yesterday that I had to arrive at the terminal two hours prior to departure. Since the ferry left at 3 PM, that meant I had to be there by 1 PM. Just to be safe I decided to give myself two hours to get there, so that meant I had to leave La Paz at 11 AM. Before leaving the city I stopped by the post office to send off a few post cards and was then on my way.

The ferry to Mazatlan doesn’t actually leave from La Paz, but from Pichilingue, which is about twenty kilometers away. The road leading here is fortunately good, although it passes through several hilly areas. I passed by several expensive looking resorts and many beautiful beaches where the water was crystal clear. It almost made me want to go swimming, but alas I was on a schedule.

I had made it to the ferry terminal earlier, but no worries. After asking around I was told that I had to wait with the cars to get onto the ferry. There was a taco stand conveniently located near the waiting area, so I of course decided to have lunch. Two tacos, two burritos, and two glass bottles of Coca-Cola cost me $4.50. The food at these places is always very good! I ended up chatting with the man who ran the stand for quite a while. I also love talking with people since it really helps my Spanish.

I could have gotten here half an hour before the ferry left and still been well ahead of schedule. I was the very last person on the ferry, after all the cars. No matter, I had made it and that’s all I cared about. Goodbye Baja! In seventeen hours I will be in the city of Mazatlan.

Since I had bought the most economical ticket possible I was put in ‘salon’ seating, which is very similar to coach class in an airplane. There were also cabins available for about $20 to $30 more, but you needed to have a party of at least two people. The ferry was quite large, if my memory serves me correct it had seven levels. The first three levels were inaccessible, the next was the coach level, then the cafeteria level, cabin level, and another inaccessible level.

Included in the price of my ticket were two meals, dinner and breakfast, from the cafeteria. Dinner proved to be anything but exemplary. Beans, rice, tortillas, and fried chicken. A beverage was not included and you had to pay for one, but no matter. Fortunately the bar sold chips which I was able to fill myself up with.

I already know that today’s nights sleep will not be relaxing. I am currently sitting in a fairly uncomfortable chair. I would lean across several chairs to make a makeshift bed, but there are very inconvenient metal bars which prevent me from doing so. It is already late, but the TV is still playing some movie loudly, the lights are still on, the boat is rocking from left to right, and there are kids running around in circles screaming. It’s going to be a long night…

[Muttsta]

Day 73 – Bienvenidos a Mazatlan! - 0.00 km
Today in the morning after what turned out to be a really, really rough night’s sleep I was awakened by an announcement at 6:30 AM. Breakfast would be served until 7:30 AM. Since it was included in the price of my ticket I decided it would be a shame in order to miss out on it. For breakfast I was served what I would consider to typically be a lunch meal; beans, tortillas, and soft tortilla chips soaked in some sauce with cheese. It wasn’t terrible by any means, but with the boat rocking back and forth it wasn’t exactly great either.

I made my way downstairs to the waiting area with the others who had cars. I ended up chatting with the security guard and managed to explain in Spanish what I was doing. Someone else overheard our conversation and joined in, and before I knew it the security guard was telling everyone about my trip. Needless to say I was exposed to a barrage of questions in Spanish. We finally reached Mazatlan a little after eight in the morning, a very painful seventeen hours and 550 kilometers at sea later. I was fatigued, exhausted, and generally not in a good mood. I was so glad to get off that accursed boat.

Since I had not had a day off in La Paz as I had anticipated I decided I would take a day off in Mazatlan, as I had heard that it was a beautiful city. I mean, it must be good with the amount of pages my guidebook dedicates to it! Needless to say I am very glad that I had done so. I headed from the ferry terminal into the heart of the old city, where I found a small hotel that was not mentioned in my guidebook. I managed to negotiate a price of $9 for a room, a great deal! There is only one bathroom for the whole floor, but what does it matter when there is no one else here!

I was absolutely enchanted by the city of Mazatlan, specifically the old town. The city streets are narrow but beautifully decorated with shrubs and trees. The rustic buildings are decorated with a myriad of colors, making the town seem pleasant. There are plazas located every once in awhile with water fountains, benches, vegetation, and people walking about. There is also an absolutely beautiful cathedral in town, it is by far the nicest church I have come across on this trip. Along the coast is a walkway which stretches for miles upon miles alongside sandy beaches and rocky cliffs. I have simply fallen in love with this city, it is definitely one of the favorite places I have visited thus far on my trip.

From the old city I decided to take what proved to be a not so short six kilometer stroll to the ‘Zona Dorada’, which is the new section of town with towering hotels and American franchises. In order to stay cool along the way I decided to get a cold coconut. Let me tell you that there are not many things better than strolling along the coast of the Pacific with an ice cold coconut in hand. Although this new area was also nice, it simply did not have the enchanting feel of old Mazatlan. I stopped into a McDonalds here in order to make use of their bathroom. I was quite surprised to find that the prices here were quite similar to those back home; a Big Mac meal cost 55 pesos or $5.25 USD.

Walking around here I passed by countless restaurants, souvenir shops, and of course bars. I stopped at a nice restaurant where I tried shrimp fajitas. While sitting down I glanced across the street and noticed a movie theatre. In the movie listings it showed that they were playing the new Harry Potter movie in English with Spanish subtitles. Being a huge Harry Potter geek I could not resist the temptation and of course went to go see the movie. The movie itself was brilliant, by far the best of the five. However, the way in which it was presented was also equally interesting. I paid a mere $3 USD for a movie ticket, which is a very reasonable price. If I were to pay this much at home I might actually go watch movies in theatres more often. Before the movie started, on time may I add, there were no previews like we have back home, which was a very nice relief. I was quite surprised when in the middle of the movie the film was abruptly shut off, the lights turned on, and people began to walk out. It turns out that here in movie theatres they have intermissions, which I found to be the strangest thing ever.

After the movie I decided it would be wise to take a bus back, since I really did not feel like walking another six kilometers of the same stretch of road. Not only would this bore me, but it would take me two hours which could be better spent doing something else. I found it quite strange that there were no designated bus stops along the road. It turns out that you had to wave the bus down to get it to stop! Getting off was equally interesting since there were no bus stops, you just told the driver you want to get off here and he would pull off to the side of the road for you. It was a 75 cents well spent!

Overall I have enjoyed the city of Mazatlan immensely and am very glad that I decided to take a day off here. Tomorrow I head southwards along the Pacific coast to Panama. By my calculations I have roughly 3,600 km left to go!

[Muttsta]

Day 74 – The Flat Tire From Hell - 158.82 km
Getting out of Mazatlan proved to be more difficult than I had assumed it would be. My city map is less than ideal and thus I had one heck of a time finding the freeway. It turned out not to be a surprise that the freeway was hard to find, since it was not a freeway as we would think. Occasionally this road goes through towns where it twists and turns through local streets.

Although the old city and waterfront of Mazatlan is very nice, the outskirts leave much to be desired. The outskirts of the city reminded me of some really bad places I had seen in Peru last year. Doors to houses face railroad tracks not more than five feet away and sewage flows through canals next to the road. I would have stopped to take pictures, but I feared that I might get mugged should I pull out my expensive looking camera.

Finally out of Mazatlan I was surprised as to how green everything around here was. There are plenty of trees and even grass, all of which I was deprived off the last long while in the Baja. Fortunately the deserts are behind me. This area of Mexico receives rain during this time of year, so I was not surprised to see the sky littered with clouds. It was a welcome change not to have the sun beaming directly on me, but this is not to say it wasn’t hot. The temperatures were likewise high, and what made it much worse was the humidity. Fruit stands along the road provided me with some relief. As a price comparison they were selling fairly large bags of mangoes for a mere $1.40 USD.

When the road passed through a certain small town as it does every once in awhile, I ran into a little problem. To be more precise, I ran over what turned over to be a little problem. There happened to inconvenient be located a large nail on the road which happened to find its way straight into my tire. Since I have quite a bit of experience in the art of flat fixing I did not panic, I simply pulled my bicycle up onto the side walk and laid it on its side in preparation.

Not a minute passed by after I had put down my bicycle did there assemble a crowd of about six kids. They watched me intently as I changed my flat, and of course asked me a bunch of questions. No pressure, I’ve done this tons of times! Before putting in a new tube I of course checked to make sure there was nothing else which would cause a flat and even patched the hole caused by the nail with superglue. I put in a new tube, reset the tire, and pumped it up. I set it off to the side as I put away all my repair tools.

Finally ready to put my wheel back onto my bike I noticed that it was once again flat! A flurry of emotions overcame me all at once ranging from confusion and perplexion to embarrassment and anger. I had done everything right, why wasn’t this working? I had even used a brand new tube and not one that I had patched. I once again removed all my tools, once again took off the tire, once again checked to make sure everything was OK, and once again pumped up my tire. But alas, still a flat!

All this time there are six kids watching me, and I felt really dumb not being able to fix a mere flat tire. I once again removed the tire and this time used one of my old tubes which I had patched, fortunately everything worked. I carry four spare tubes down here in Mexico, slight overkill perhaps, but better safe than sorry! Later on in my hotel it turned out that I had done everything right and that these mystery flats were of no fault of my own. The ‘new’ tube I had used proved to be defective. It had a very small leak right near the stem where the stem was glued to the tube. So much for quality control!

Later on in the day I also got the first decent rain I have had in over a month. Since it was so refreshing I decided to not even put on my rain gear. I figured that I most likely won’t be tenting so I can dry my stuff off.

I am currently in a fairly sizable town roughly two kilometers off of the main highway called Acaponata, which is of course not in my guidebook. Over these last three weeks I have concluded that the Lonely Planet book for Mexico absolutely sucks; the only thing for which it is somewhat useful is larger cities, and even in that case only for finding out what is interesting in them and their included city maps. Here I am staying in an absolutely awesome little hotel called the Hotel Juarez, where I have managed to acquire a room complete with bathroom for a mere $8.50. This is definitely the coolest hotel I have stayed in on my trip. The doors are made of heavy wood and are eight feet tall. The ceiling in my room is the roof itself and lies roughly twenty feet above. I have been provided a towel, toilet paper, and even soap. Unfortunately there is no warm water in the shower, but no matter. The last thing I want to do after a hot day is take a hot shower.

Tomorrow the plan is to make it to Tepic as early as possible so that I can see the city a bit. The day afterwards will be a long one to Puerto Vallarta where I will be taking a day off to see the city. I figure I can take a day off every three or four days provided I do enough mileage during these days to compensate for it. I might as well see something while I’m here!

Day 75 – The Great Flood - 149.76 km
I knew from the get go that today would be a more difficult day than usual. Not only did I have to bicycle a decent amount of miles, but I also had to gain around 900 meters in altitude, or roughly 2700 feet for you Americans out there. Not only so, but I also wanted to make it to the town of Tepic (pronounced teh-peak) early so that I could actually see something interesting.

I made my way through countless small towns and villages. The villages were truly primitive. Straw roofs are the standard around here. The fruit stands they have are absolutely great though. Mangos seem to be very popular around here; you can purchase a whole case of them for only $4.50. They also sell bags full of what I believe are dried figs. I’ve bought these things three times but I’m still not sure if that’s exactly what they are. Either way they are good and make an excellent snack! Another delicious offering at these stands are cold coconuts, sinfully refreshing I tell you!

I think that I might as well expect rain every single day for the next month. In the morning the sky was clear with not a cloud in the sky, whereas by the afternoon dark clouds loomed overhead. Although it does not rain here for long, when it does rain, it pours. When it did start raining I was on the open road, thus not having anywhere to hide. Needless to say I got drenched. I stopped at the first restaurant I saw. Let you tell you that I got some funny looks when I walked in there soaking wet.

I always stop at these restaurants in the middle of nowhere by the side of the road. Not only is the food inexpensive, but it is also mouthwateringly delicious. The only downside is that they never have menus, so knowing some Spanish is essential. At this particular restaurant I ordered two quesadillas, one with beef and one with spicy pork. I was warned that they were big, but I decided to get two anyway. They weren’t kidding, these were monster quesadillas! Not only were they huge, but they were also mouthwateringly delicious. Fortunately in the forty of minutes or so that I was here the rain had totally died town.

The next twenty kilometers to Tepic were pretty bad. I prefer to call the city “The Peak” as opposed to Tepic, and not without reason. The city sits at an elevation of 900 meters, and today I started off roughly around sea level. Sure, the views were absolutely breathtaking, but not without cost. Struggling up these hills was only one-third of my struggle. The second third deal with trying not to die of thirst in these very humid and very hot conditions. The last third of my struggle was not trying to get killed by traffic in the process. Never in the United States or Canada did I have to ‘bail’ off the road, whereas here in Mexico I have to do it a minimum of three times a day.

After I finally struggled into Tepic I made my way to the center of town, which turned out to be very pleasant. A huge cathedral towers over the town square, which is full of fountains, benches, and shrubs. Around the main square are plenty of cafes, restaurants, and shops. There are also whole streets dedicated solely for pedestrian traffic. Overall it proved to be a very nice place. Since I did not have much time I only visited this general area and moved on.

South of Tepic things got quite ugly. Since it had rained earlier in the day, the streets had flooded. Water management here isn’t exactly the greatest thing in the world, and thus water was coming out of drains as opposed to going into them. Bicycling through several inches of water isn’t the easiest thing in the world to accomplish. What makes it even worse is that there are cars passing you and thereby splashing you in the process. Needless to say, although I had washed my clothes yesterday, I had to do so again today.

I am currently staying at a small motel south of Tepic in the town of Xalisco. The anything but luxurious ‘Motel Las Vegas’ cost me a staggering $8.50. I must say that this is the first motel I have ever been in where there are no keys to the rooms, you simply lock them from the inside. Tomorrow I will make it to Puerto Vallarta where I will be taking a day off.

[Muttsta]

Day 76 – Up In The Clouds to Down By The Sea - 154.90 km
Although today it was technically a downhill day in which I was losing 900 meters of elevation, it was truly anything but. I still experienced a rollercoaster ride of constant ups and downs. To make my life even more challenging, I got rained on from the very start. I left my hotel at around eight, and no more than three minutes later did I have to suit up in my rain gear. Quite an inconvenience considering I still hadn’t dried off from yesterday!

Undeterred I pushed on. It ended up raining for over two hours, and I mean some serious rain. This was the strongest rain that I had encountered on my whole trip. It’s the kind of rain where you pull off the road when driving a car, not that anyone here would consider doing such a fallacy! Seeing as my rain jacket has lost its waterproofability, I ended up being totally drenched. This is not to say my rain jacket is useless, since it still does keep me warm. I stumbled into a small restaurant near the road and ordered a much deserved breakfast!

I must admit that today’s views were absolutely spectacular. I was not able to stop in many places since there simply is no shoulder and I really don’t want to get hit by a car. In the morning I was still at high elevations and thus was treated to views of peaks in the clouds and lush valleys below. As I made my way lower and lower, things began to get not only hotter, but terribly humid. It was so bad that just standing in place I would be dripping with sweat, yet alone when I was biking!

When I finally made it to the coast I was terribly relieved. There is always a cool breeze near the ocean which provides some comfort. A word of warning out there to anyone who likes to book vacations at resorts in large tourist cities like this; make sure your hotel isn’t in the middle of nowhere! The sprawl of hotels here started exactly 21 kilometers from downtown Puerto Vallarta. You will pay hundreds for a posh hotel whereas I will pay a mere fraction of that price and be found in the heart of downtown. Sure, my hotel may not be luxurious, but I have all the luxuries I want at home!

While bicycling into Puerto Vallarta a ray of light temporarily blinded me; when I looked up I saw the ever welcoming green letters which read ‘Starbucks’. I could not believe it, this was one thing I was not expecting to see here. Not being able to resist the urge I rushed inside and immediately ordered a mouthwateringly delicious strawberry frappuchino. The prices here are unfortunately the same as in the United States, but it was so worth it anyway!

Today I just made it into Puerto Vallarta and found myself a nice little hotel in the center of town. This is a very touristy town which in many places does not feel like Mexico at all but rather like a very commercialized area of California. The hotel I am staying at is not the cheapest place in town at $18, but I really couldn’t manage to find anything less expensive. I must say that this place is very nice though. There are four floors of rooms overlooking a courtyard in the center where there is even a small pool. The only downside is that my room is on the third floor and I had to drag all my stuff up there! Tomorrow I will be taking a day off to see the famous city of Puerto Vallarta.

[Muttsta]

Day 77 – Lounging Lazily - 0.00 km
Today was simply a relaxing today. I awoke at the same time as always and headed out to see the city of Puerto Vallarta. Dark clouds were billowing overhead and I knew that rain was not far off. I would not be deterred by a little hydrogen combined with oxygen and continued to explore, only I had to be careful where I pulled out my camera.

The city of Puerto Vallarta stretches for more than twenty kilometers, however the main area of interest and not coincidently the area were I was staying is the historic center. The streets here are narrow, laid out in cobblestones, and nearly always one-ways. On foot this is not a problem but on a bicycle it tends to make things a little more confusing. The city itself is also very tourist oriented with many American franchises. At times I felt as if I were back in California. Some of the American franchises I saw today include but are not limited to: McDonalds, Burger King, Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, and the Hard Rock Café. The interesting thing is that here they charge the same prices as in the United States!

I spent hours upon hours wandering through the streets, along the waterfront, into churches, and of course amongst shops. I made sure to buy plenty of souveneirs for myself, all of which I haggled viciously for! When traveling by car or plane you can pretty much buy anything you want without worries, but on a bicycle you have to think twice. I went to a store to package my box up and send it off. They only offered UPS and said it would cost me around $70 USD, so I kindly declined. I made my way to the Mexican Postal Office and decided to send my package off there. I was of course asked to open my package and show the contents before being able to ship it. Shipping this box home by air mail cost me $28, I just hope it makes it! I must say I found it quite amusing when the woman at the post office put 25 stamps on that box.

After a day full of laziness I made my way back to my hotel. Along the way I passed a church in which a mass was just starting. Seeing as I haven’t been to mass in a Roman Catholic church in over two and a half months I felt obliged to attend. Sure, I didn’t understand too much of what they were saying, but it was a very pleasant experience either way. My mom would be proud!

Day 78 – From the Coast to the Jungle and Back Again - 144 km
Fortunately the road out of Puerto Vallarta did not prove to be confusing and I managed to navigate it with relative ease. For fifteen kilometers out of the city the road followed the coast, winding up and down hills next to posh hotels, restaurants, and beaches.

The road soon bent away from the coast into what proved to be fairly challenging and quite painful mountains. For over twenty kilometers I trudged nearly almost always uphill. To make my life even more interesting it rained for the large portion of the day. Without a rain jacket you end up getting wet and quite cold, and thus risk getting sick. However with a rain jacket it is so incredibly hot that it’s crazy. I ended up simply rolling the sleeves of my rain jacket up and opening some air vents which seemed to make wearing it bearable.

After this excruciatingly long uphill I was treated to a much needed and well earned downhill through lush tropical forests. The road then flattened out considerably, which provided fairly easy and relaxing biking. I decided to stop at a nicer restaurant near the side of the road in order to grab lunch. For $5.50 I had a dinner that was truly something to behold. Not only was it delicious, but it was huge! One thing that really amused me today was that in this restaurant a soft drink was more expensive than beer! A soft drink in a bottle cost $1.20 whereas a Corona in a bottle cost only $0.90. That’s Mexico for you!

It is with great regret that I say that my cyclometer has counted its last wheel rotation and thus last kilometer. This thing has been giving me problems from the very beginning, but it seems that now the situation is beyond repair. This is quite inconvenient as now I do not know my speed nor how much I have bicycled, the only thing it is still useful for is it’s clock function. Therefore my mileage readings from henceforth will be based upon the mileposts I pass along the side of the road.

Finding a place to stay today wasn’t as easy as I anticipated. The main road is located a little ways away from the coast and side roads stretch out to the coastal towns, which are a few kilometers away. Today I am staying in the town of Perula which proved to be more expensive than I had anticipated. Perula is a small but touristy town located on the coast roughly three kilometers off the main road. I ended up paying $18 for a hotel room, but I must say that it is a very nice place. They originally wanted over $30, but they overheard me talking with some people about my trip and were very impressed, so they gave me a large discount. I managed to get a very nice place for the same price as the not so nice places.

[Muttsta]

Day 79 - The Day The Rain Slept In - 142 km
Being as I had gotten rained on for the last five days I figured I would be in store for the same today. Hence, in the morning I chose to not put on sunscreen for the first time as long as I could remember. I figured since when it rains I'm wearing a rain jacket and it's cloudy anyway, that I should be safe. Unfortunatley my predictions are not always accurate, and this was one of those times where it failed. In the morning the skies were blue, but I figured that would soon turn around and the dark clouds would roll in. Hour after hour passed by and the weather remained clear. Before I knew it I was red as a raddish! Fortunatley I did not burn, just turned a little red!

The road to Manzanillo proved to be more difficult than anticipated, which seems to be happening quite a lot lately. I never realized that the coast of Mexico was so mountainous; and here I thought it would all be smooth sailing! Although it did not rain today, which was a nice change, it was still terribly humid. At times the humidity and heat here combined make it seem much worse than bicycling through the desert! Fortunatley the road conditions were fairly good. For part of the road I was directed onto a section of the toll highway, which is always nice since they have very broad shoulders.

Just like with Puerto Vallarta and the other touristy beach cities, the large luxury resorts started to appear about 20 kilometers before the city of Manzanillo. Sure, these hotels may be nice, but I really wouldn't want to stay in one of them. I prefer my half run down hotel in the heart of the city any day! Tonight I actually managed to find a hostel of sorts. Although rooms are priviate the bathroom facilities are shared; but hey, what do I care? For $8 a night I'm not complaining!

While walking around the town of Manzanillo I stopped into every computer shop I could find. My hard drive in my laptop is on the brink of death, and thus I need to buy a new one. I have to backup my data daily to avoid catastrophe. It's quite an inconvenience when I want to update my website and my computer dies on me. I have actually been looking for a new hard drive for the last few days or so without any luck. This particular shop had a laptop hard drive for sale; and 80 gigabyte hard drive for a mere $110. Although this isn't terribly cheap it's still a great deal for Mexico!

I continued to visit the city and then finally made my way back to my hostel, which according to my guidebook is in a shady part of town. Whoops! When I opened up my laptop in order to change my hard drive I first experienced a sense of shock, and then began to curse out loud. It turns out that since my laptop is an 'ultraportable' model it does not have a regular sized laptop hard drive, but rather a special smaller one. I have had several laptops in the past and none of them had ever had this, so I was totally oblivious to it! This however turns out to be a real problem, since these little guys are next to impossible to find, especially here in Mexico. I had trouble finding a normal laptop hard drive, so something like this would have to be special ordered. Technically I could special order something like this a few cities ahead, but my Spanish isn't that good and it will cost me an arm and a leg.

I have managed to get my laptop back to somewhat working condition, that is to say sometimes it works and sometimes it gives me the dreaded blue screen of death, afterwhich I have to run anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour of diagnostics to get it to work again. I will try to make this drive last somehow to Panama, but if worst comes to worst I will buy an iPod and salvage the drive from it, which is the same kind as in my laptop. iPod's are much easier to find, but this solution would also cost me an arm and a leg.

Day 80 - Toll Roads: Forbidden Yet Not - 106 km
Today in the morning I got a very late start for several reasons. I had not gotten much sleep due to several reasons. Primarily, I had to stay up late while fixing my laptop. In my room there was only one power plug, so it was a choice between the fan and my laptop, I chose the laptop. This unfortunatley increased the temperature of my room to near super-nova. When I finally did finish up and go to bed, I was awoken by a very loud grasshopper who found himself into my room. I warned him to be quiet, but unfortunatley he would not comply and I had to hunt him down. Add this to the fact that my bed was as comfortable as sleeping on a bag on sand and it's a wonder I got any sleep at all! Finally in the morning I had to return this laptop hard drive that I just bought since I have no use for it and also go on the internet to try to solve my computer dilema. Fortunatley the shop accepted it without too much trouble, because they like myself were not aware of these smaller hard drives being used in laptops. The only thing they charged me is $5 as that is the fee they pay for a chargeback when using a credit card.

To make matter worse today is the first day of my trip where I even't felt too well. Although I did not throw up, I had to frequent the bathroom several times a day and rendevous with my dear friend Immodium. Yesterday at a small store I decided to buy myself buns, cold cuts and cheese in order to make sandwiches; I suspect they are the cause of my sickness as I did not really eat anything else that could make me sick. Although I drank plenty of fluids today I ate barely anything because I both did not feel hungry and I really didn't have an appetite for food. Fortunatley it was only a discomfort and not any major pain that would put me out of comission for a day or two.

The road from Manzanillo to where I am today was the absolute most confusing thing ever. There were two roads; a toll road and a free road. I of course opted to take the free road, but the signage was so confusing that I somehow ended up on the toll road. To make matters worse, the signs were all directing to smaller towns which were not on my map, thus I had no idea if I was even going the right way! On a positive note, these toll roads the roads are actually very good. They are much flatter and have a very wide shoulder. There are not many restaurants, stores, or cities along these roads, so they are unfortunatley quite dull. However, I think I'll take boredom any day over fear of death around every corner!

The reason I have never taken these toll roads is that technically bicyclists are not allowed on them. About 10 kilometers onto the highway I saw one of these signs, and literally ten seconds later a police officer drives by in his patrol car. I thought for sure that he was going to pull over and yell at me or worse. To my surprise, he just drove past. Technically bicycles aren't allowed since the signs say so, but the toll operators and police officers are aware that it's much safer to ride on this road with a wide shoulder than the free roads. I met some locals who were riding bicycles and they showed me how it's necessary to sneak past the toll booths. You are not allowed to pass through where the cars pass. Therefore you must get off your bike, carry it up a sidewalk and walk around the toll booth. Once again this is perfectly acceptable; we even walked right by a police officer standing guard and said hello to him!

Unfortunatley today I was not spared of rain. Fortunatley it was not very heavy rain and did not last terribly long, but it's always an inconvenience. Even if your rain jacket is waterproof you still end up dreched on the inside from sweating due to the heat. The problem lies in that you have to keep your rain jacket on even after it stops raining in order to prevent getting sick. Although it is hot, there is usually a cold wind. Wearing a wet shirt in this kind of weather probably isn't the smartest idea in the world.

I am currently staying in a small town on the main road whose name I do not even know. Here I have managed to find a pleasant hotel for a mere $9.50. They were originally asking $16, but since the owner is also an avid cyclist and I am an excellent negociator, the price went down. He was very excited when he found out I was Canadian and showed me his Gary Fischer bicycle, which is of course made in Canada. At least today I have my own bathroom and the beds are comfortable!

Day 81 - The Mexican Rollercoaster - 142 km
Today proved to be one of the toughest cycling days that I have encountered thus far. The road was simply horrendous. The road basically went from a small village located either on the coast or in a valley into a ten kilometer climb up a hill and back down again. Repeat this many times and that my day.

There were not many restaurants or shops along the way; I nearly starved trying to find a place to eat lunch since I had barely eaten anything these last two days. At one point I even ran out of water while climbing a hill. Should it have been cool it would not have been a problem. But seeing as it was boiling hot and humid it did not prove to be a very enjoyable experience. The views were beautiful, but otherwise the road was dull and real struggle.

Not far from the town of Nexpa, where I would be staying tonight, I began to see black clouds overhead. I knew it would rain soon, but I hoped that it would be able to hold out until I made it to Nexpa. I was fifteen kilometers from the town when it started to literally pour instantly. There was no warning sprinkles or anything; one second it was dry and the next it was a heavy downpour. It was the strangest thing ever because this has never happened before on my trip. There were always warning sprinkles, even if not for long.

On a rain scale of 1 to 10 where 1 is light sprinkles and 10 is a monsoon I must say that this rainstorm rated at about an 8 on the scale. The rain came down fast and it came down hard. The roads became flooded and I had to struggle through several inches of water. Things became even more interesting when the strong winds kicked in, making the rain essentially come at me horizontally as opposed to vertically. It was so bad that it was practically blinding me. But did I stop? Nope!

I am currently in the small town of Nexpa, population 55, which is located right on the ocean. I am actually writing this down in pen as my laptop is currently non-functional. There was a one kilometer cobblestone access road that one had to take in order to get here. Let's just say that it was so bad that I had to walk parts of it for fear of either ruining my rims or simply sinking somewhere. I am staying in what is thus far the coolest lodging of my trip. I have a private beach cabana complete with two floors, three beds, bathroom, fridge, kitchen, balcony, and hammock. Sure, I won't use half this stuff, but this place is simply awesome! Not the cheapest thing in the world at $14 but definatley worth it.

Being so close to the ocean I felt it would be a shame in order not to go for a dip. I quickly changed into my speedo swimming attire and headed off. Sure my swimming attire may be shocking revealing, but it's very lightweight and packs down small! Upon closer inspection of the water it occured to me how stupid of an idea it would be to go in there. Dark clouds and strong winds still prevailed, thus the waves ranged in at anywhere between four and ten feet. This could produce a potentially very dangerous undertoe in which I wouldn't stand a chance. I decided to simply lounge on the sand in the shallow water, where I was nearly swept away several times!

Day 82 - Roadside Surgery - 183 km
It rained heavily all night, however fortunatley this subsided in the morning. There were still light sprinkles; nothing to complain about. I did however have to walk part of the way out of Nexpa because the road, if you can even call it that, was terrible. The last thing I wanted to do was bend my rim and be stranded here. Sure, it may be nice, but I'd be in big trouble.

Roughly 15 kilometers from Nexpa I had a fairly scary near death encounter. Often there is mud and rocks which has been washed onto the road after a rainfall. I was following closely behind a slow moving bus within a town and was not able to see far ahead of myself. I unfortunatley hit one of these patches and nearly lost control. I managed to unclip one of my feet and place it down on the road. Herein is where the problem starts. Next to this particular section of shoulderless road there was no fluffy grass or even dirt, but rather a eight foot drop which had been eroded away by water. By placing my foot here I essentially went straight into that hole, with my bicycle right behind me. My instincts kicked in and the next few seconds were a blur. I managed to dislodge my other foot, ditch my bike, and make a leap to the side. Here a thorny bush of some sort broke my fall, and I went sliding down into the hole. The pedal of my bicycle fortunatley became stuck on something and prevent my bicycle from plumetting in after me. It would have made a great picture to see my bicycle hanging by a thread, but I was afraid to try and get my camera in order to do so.

Fortunatley I nor my bicycle did not suffer any major injuries, as this could have turned out to be a really, really ugly accident. I was unfortunatley scratched up pretty bad due to jumping into a thorny bush and had suffered a very painful bruise on the back of my leg. I brushed myself off, was very greatful for my luck, pulled out my bicycle, and pushed on.

For the next while I had a constant pain in my upper leg. I mistook it as simply an aftermath from the fall, but scratches shouldn't hurt this much! Upon closer inspection it seems that something had lodged itself into my leg and was located pretty deep within my skin. I decided to remove this in my hotel room in the evening, but that plan did not go through. The pain became so bad that I simply could not bicycle anymore without pain shotting up from my leg. I had to remove whatever was in there now. I stopped at a gas station in order to puchase the necessary supplies and took a seat on the curb.

Armed with only a safety pin, tweesers, tissue paper, a lighter, and a bottle of tequila I went to work. I disinfected my tweesers and safety pin with both the tequila and lighter for obvious reasons. Fortunatley being a future medical student I have been exposed to blood and gore and was thus am not affected too much by it, but when its yourself your working on it makes it a little more difficult; luckily my dear friend tequila also helped with that! I had to rip apart quite a bit of skin as the impregnated object was not only deep but large. A lot of bleeding and sweating later I managed to finally pull out the foreign object. It turned out to be a large thorn, almost a centimeter in length. No wonder I was in pain!

I think that for the packing list of my next trip I will definatley have to add a plastic flask of hard liquor for practical reasons! In the event of a crash where you injure yourself it can act as a painkiller; and in case you need to perform roadside surgery it can act as a anaestetic of sorts as well as a disinfectant for both your tools and your wound.

A very bumpy but fortunatley not too hilly road later I made it to the city of Zhuatanejo. This should ring a bell for you Shawshank Redemption fans out there; if you haven't seen this movie drop whatever you are doing and proceed to a video rental store immediatley to rent it. I am currently in the most pain that I have been in thus far on my trip. The scratches I can live with, but my leg is very sore and I anticipate I will have a very large bruise tommorow. I intend on taking a day off tommorow not due to my injuries, but rather because I had planned on doing so previously. Fortunatley these two managed to coincide!

[Muttsta]

Day 83 – Kick Back And Relax – 0 km
Today I woke up nice and late as I had stayed up late the night before diligently reading the new Harry Potter book. I actually managed to finish it today. I must say, it was quite addicting! Not only do I have time to bicycle for hours a day but I also have time to squeeze in reading a 700 page book!

I needed a break today and decided to take it easy. I casually walked up and down the streets of Zihuatanejo visiting the interesting places in town. There really aren't that many touristy things to see here in town, however it is still a very nice place. The downtown area is fairly compact and located right near the water. The waterfront is nice, but other cities still surpass it. There are several really beautiful roads here which are closed to cars and open only to pedestrian traffic. It's simply a great place to relax in.

While on my discovery walks I passed by what turned out to be a pretty decent bicycle shop. Seeing as my wheels were totally out of alignment due to the horribly bumpy roads, I decided it would be wise to get a tune up. It cost me $24, but I got a great tune up done on my bicycle. Not only did the mechanic straighten out my wheels and oil up and clean all the right places on my bicycle, but he also managed to fix my cyclometer! I was expecting bicycle shops down here to be very overpriced, but it turns out I was wrong. Not only are they very affordable but they are also very helpful and I would say quite reliable.

My laptop is currently functional, but at the same time it is not. Confusing, I know! My hard drive is toasted, and thus I had to settle for a less convenient setup. I am currently running a portable version of Windows off a CD and running portable versions of all my programs off of USB thumb drives. It is surprisingly a pretty good setup. I can run a word processor, download pictures off my camera, develop my photos from their 'RAW' format, check my e-mail, and much more! My only complaint is that I can't get my microphone and speakers to work and thus can't use Skype on my laptop. So my computer dilemma is fixed temporarily; a permanent fix will occur when I make it back home.

All in all it was a much needed and very relaxing day. My injures from yesterday have somewhat subsided and I don't really feel too sore. I am in quite a good mood as today I managed to fix up my bicycle, laptop, and even get a new filter and lens cap for my camera. I have roughly 240 kilometers to go until I reach the very touristy city of Acapulco where I will be taking another day off.

[Muttsta]

Day 84 – A Corona a Day Keeps the Pain Away - 133.22 km
Today was unfortunately quite a dull day in which nothing really interesting happened. The road today wound through many small towns and through absolutely beautiful scenery. The views here really are incredible. There is just something about bicycling through a humid jungle overlooking towering green mountains that is strangely relaxing.

Barbecued chicken seems to be a very popular thing here, so of course I had to try it! I stopped at a road side eatery where I received three pieces of chicken, rice, potato salad, a bottle of Corona, and as many tortillas as I could stomach for only $3.70. Even if I end up being given not much food, I can always make sure to stuff myself up on tortillas. I tell you, those fresh hand made tortillas are delicious!

I am currently not far from the city of Tecpan and am staying in what is probably the worst hotel room that I have stayed in thus far on this trip. The paint off the walls is peeling, the ceiling is crumbling, and there is no toilet seat. This time my door has a key, but they don't give it to you. When you want to open your door you have to ask someone to come do it for you. I guess I can't complain for $10. Tomorrow, Acapulco!

[Muttsta]

Day 85 – Rude Awakening – 107.29 km
When I went to bed last night my stomach wasn't feeling all that great. In the middle of the night I had an unexpected wakeup call. It was the first time that I have thrown up due to bad food on this trip. The cause? Soup. I had accidentally ordered soup at some restaurant where there was of course no menu. The irony in this all lies in the fact that the thing that made me sick in Peru was also soup!

Although I felt much better in the morning, I still wasn't feeling all that great. The road to Acapulco was fortunately fairly flat, otherwise I would have had a really, really rough day. The road looked exactly the same today as it did the last two days. I likewise passed through many small towns in which there was nothing of interest.

Going into the city of Acapulco itself was an adventure of it's own. The outskirts of the city are simply a dump, and there is no other way to word it. There is so much garbage near the road that it feels like your riding through a landfill. Not only does it not look pleasant, but it smells terrible! People are also burning off garbage in their yards which adds to the unpleasant aromas. To top it all off cars and trucks are blasting by spewing more toxic fumes at me, and keep in mind there is no emissions controls here like we have in Canada and the United States. I have on many an occasion seen nothing but black smoke coming out of someone's tailpipe. All of these factors combined with the fact I still wasn't feeling too well did not make for a good combination.

When finally into the city I'm surprised that I didn't get an anxiety attack. I had to weave in and out between buses and cars, each time fearing they would squish me into a pancake. The city is not laid out in a simple to navigate grid, but is rather arranged more like a web spun by a drunk spider. Although I had a map, it did not unfortunately help me. There are practically no road signs here, so it's impossible to find out where you are.

After asking for directions several times I managed to make it to the section of the city I was after. I managed to find a room here for $10 per night. I will admit that it's not the most luxurious place in the world, in fact it is far from it. My only real complaint of the place is the fact that my room doesn't possess a sink! Needless to say, I have resorted to brushing my teeth in the shower.

I walked around the city a bit and my first impressions are well, bleh. The super luxurious part of the city may be nice, but the rest leaves much to be desired. The city is very polluted, especially the ocean. It's not the kind of thing you would be enthralled to swim in. If your dreaming of white sand beaches and crystal clear water, you do not want to swim in the downtown area. Supposedly there are some nice beaches on the other side of the city. Either way I will be taking a day off here tomorrow in order to see all the city has to offer.

[Muttsta]

Day 86 – Uncovering Acapulco - 0.00 km
After waking up nice and late the first point on my agenda was to see the Fort of San Diego. A short walk later I managed to get to the fort fortunately without getting lost in the maze that is Acapulco. In the fort there is now a very neat museum, which to my great surprise I managed to get into free! Luckily I thought ahead of time to bring my trusty student card with me, which has already gotten me discounts several times. This fort was built by the Spanish in order to protect their galleons arriving from the far east from looting pirates. It proved to be a very interesting and worthwhile attraction.

My next stop was the likewise nationally recognized mask museum, which exhibits masks from all over the world. Fortunately admission was free, as it really wasn't all that interesting. It was contained in a single small building in five medium sized rooms. I admit, there was an impressive collection of various masks, but I guess that masks simply aren't that exciting to me.

The next stop on my agenda was to see the famous cliff divers of Acapulco. If anyone thinks that I'm crazy, they should see these guys. First they free climb up a cliff that is one hundred feet high. Next they wait for a wave so that the water level is slightly higher and then jump off it right into the ocean. I must say that these guys are truly nuts. I may be adventurous, but I don't think I'll be trying that anytime soon!

Being as I had much time to spare I decided to check out the new section of Acapulco. High rise hotels, bars, nightclubs, large shopping malls, and American franchises. It reminded me very much of southern California. However, for some reason I seemed to enjoy this part of Acapulco much more than the old town. The old town here simply isn't as enchanting as it is in other cities such as Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta. Once again I managed to find a Starbucks here, which as hard as I tried to resist I could not. So good was that frappuchino. The beaches in this part of town are also much nicer with clear water and no garbage. I actually wouldn't be afraid to go swimming here and die of poisoning by bacteria.

I have also discovered a local beverage here called a 'razpado'. This is basically shaved iced (they literally shave it off a huge ice block right before you) with a bit of water as well as flavor from natural fruit. I guess that means that it's basically a natural slushie. Either way, these things are deadly refreshing and taste fantastic!

To make it back to the old town I decided to take a local bus as opposed to walking another six kilometers. The bus system here in Acapulco is surprisingly efficient. Buses do not run on a set schedule, but you can spot one roughly once every minute or two. As always there aren't really designated bus stops; you have to simply wave the bus down in order to get it to stop. Getting off works in a similar fashion; you have to yell to the bus driver that you'd like to get off at this particular spot. Almost all the buses are 'tricked out' as I like to call it. They sport various decorations and decals and of course blast some bumping tunes. I even saw one bus today which had spinners on it! It was the best 50 cents I have ever spent on a bus ride.

Day 87 – Where Death Lurks Around Every Corner - 150.47 km
The road out of Acapulco was an adventure of it's own. Navigating the city streets proved to be most difficult as they are terribly disorganized, don't have any signs as to indicate what they are, and are almost all one ways. My guidebook for some reason does not seem to indicate which way these one way roads go, which does not make my life any easier. After finally making it to the main road near the coast I worried less about navigation and more about being plowed down by a bus or taxi. If you think bicycling in a large city in the United States or Canada is bad, it's nothing compared to this. Here death lurks around every corner!

Finally out of Acapulco I proceeded to Acapulco Diamante, which is an area of very upscale resorts located on the other side of Acapulco. Much easier than it sounds. The road up here proved to involve an absolutely terrible, horrific, and potentially deadly uphill. It was bad, very bad. I still find it quite funny that some Californians told me that Mexico isn't very mountainous and I don't have to worry about having lower bicycle gearing. Thankful I didn't take their advise or else I would be dying just like I was in British Columbia.

The downhill led me into another resort town by the name of Pichilinque, and yet more resorts. To my great shock there was actually a bicycle path near the road for roughly five kilometers. Granted that sections of it weren't exactly ridable due to damage it was still a great relief. I thought I would die before seeing one of these in Mexico!

The rest of the road proved to be once again very dull. The road looked absolutely identical to the several days it did before Acapulco. Rolling greens hills running through a jungle with an occasional climb here and there. The road occasionally passes through small towns or villages in which there is nothing of interest. This is unfortunately really beginning to bore me. I am currently staying in a small motel not far from the town of Marquelia where I managed to get a room for a only $10. Although the room isn't the greatest thing in the world, it's about four times as large as the room I had yesterday and offers quite a nice view.

[Muttsta]

Day 88 – Eaten Alive - 119.44 km
Today I simply did not get the best night's sleep that I've ever had. I woke up at 2:30 AM and was unable to sleep. Mosquitoes were literally eating me alive. I had bites all over my arms and my face, and everything was itching. The room I was staying in wasn't the most exclusive thing in the world, and thus ventilation was achieved by big gaps between the walls and the roof. This allowed a wide variety of bugs to come right in and feast on me.

I had finally had enough. I pulled my tent out of my bag and assembled it in no time. I have done it so many times that I could literally do it with my eyes closed. I threw my tent right on top of the bed, where it fit nicely may I add, grabbed the covers and pillow and jumped in. From the inside I was able to point and laugh at all the mosquitoes. Victory!

I had originally intended on waking up a little earlier today, but since I had to endure so much during the night I decided to pass on that idea. The road today was exactly the same as previously. It wound through rolling green hills and jungles with the occasional hill climb or two every here and there. Every so often I would pass through a small village or town.

I have finally crossed over into the next Mexican state, Oaxaca. Only one more state after this and I'll be in Guatemala! Panama is so close I can almost taste it! Today I am staying in the city of Santiago Pinotepa National. It is a medium sized city although not very touristy. I managed to find a decent hotel on a side street for $11. Unfortunately there are no power outlets in my room, my toilet has no seat, and the shower is cold water only. On the upside I don't have to worry about bugs eating me alive in my sleep.

Being as I am located right downtown I decided to walk around the city a bit. Apart from the main square, the city is really quite miserable. Around the main square are located a variety of shops, restaurant, a supermarket, and of course a church. I decided to visit the supermarket as I was in need of additional sunscreen. Unfortunately, I got a little carried away with my shopping here and walked away with not only sunscreen, but also a baguette, cheesecake, Oreos and granola bars. Everything here is just so tempting after shopping at those understocked one room shops near the road!

[Muttsta]

Day 89 – The Day The Road Signs Lied – 140.84 km
In the morning I unfortunately backtracked a little and ended up doing an additionally seven kilometers that I did not need to to. These have of course been removed from the total. I thought that I had to back out of the city onto the main road to get back on the highway, but it turns out there were two ways through the city. There was a road which went around the city and one which went right through it. I ended up backing up from the downtown area to the road around the city. I sure felt dumb afterwards, but what can you do?

On this road I saw a sign that informed that that Puerto Escondido was roughly 143 kilometers away. Approximately ten kilometers after this first sign I saw another sign which told me the city I was headed to was 160 kilometers away! No, I wasn't headed in the wrong direction or along the wrong road. I asked some locals how far it was between the two cities and they told me 175 kilometers! I nearly had a heart attack. This wouldn't be good as I would get to the city late and thus not be able to see anything.

No matter, I rode on. The miles just seemed to melt away today. The first two hours of the day were fairly rough with some steep hills, but other than that I was spoiled with rolling green hills and meadows. This allowed me to make great mileage without having to kill myself in the process.

I made it to Puerto Escondido, which literally means hidden port, at around 4:30 PM. Fortunately it was not 175 kilometers away but rather 140. This town is famous for it's great surfing. In fact, the owner of one of the restaurants here told me it is the #3 surfing spot in the world after Hawaii and Australia. In fact, the X-Games were hosted here last week! Waves of seven meters can be found here at times, and in really rough weather fifteen to sixteen meter waves are not unheard of. Today I saw waves which were three meters, and these are considered small for them!

I managed to find a cabana for rent for a mere $5. It may not be on the beach, but it's perfect for my needs. The bathrooms are shared, but at least I was given a towel, soap, and toilet paper! This time my cabana even has electricity, but since there is only one outlet I have to choose between my laptop and the fan. Since this cabana isn't exact airtight my bed has a huge mosquito net over it. It looks really girly and makes me feel like I'm sleeping beauty, but it really does work wonders!

Still having time to spare I set off to see the city. The beaches here really are quite something and the waves are simply unreal. There are many pleasant restaurants and bars in straw buildings along the coast. Away from the coast are the usual hotels and countless stalls filled with souvenirs. Overall it's a very pleasant town, one of those types of places in which you can simply kick back and relax.

I decided to eat in luxury today at a beach side restaurant. Dinner cost me $7, more than it cost for my room! The waiter here took my order in Spanish, then afterwards in perfectly English told me that my Spanish isn't too bad. He also got me to try some local chili peppers. At first it thought it was some type of candy. They were roughly the size of a green pea, but they were potentially lethal. It seems that spiciness is inversely proportional to size! I first ate half t to be same, and it didn't seem too bad. Being courageous I decided to try the other half, which turned out to be much spicier as it contained the seeds. It felt as if there were an inferno raging within my mouth. Let's just say that I won't be trying any more local chilies.

Day 90 – Three Quarters! - 131.76 km
Today marks the three quarters point of my trip, seventy-five percent! It's quite amazing that I've made it this far, I must say that I am quite proud of myself. In order to congratulate myself I have patted myself on the back. Before I know it I'll be in Panama!

On the topic of today's road, quite simply rough. No longer was I spoiled by rolling green hills, but rather I was thrown into strenuous mountain climbs. I had never imagined that Mexico would be so mountainous. Fortunately since I am in excellent shape I am managing, otherwise I would probably die somewhere on the road side. The fact that it is terribly hot down here always makes life a little more challenging. Apart from being simply brutal the road was otherwise uneventful. I passed through several small villages where I was able to resupply on much needed cold beverages, but otherwise I was dying of boredom.

Salvation today came in the form of solidified water. While climbing and struggling up a hill in the middle of nowhere, I saw an older man pushing a cart full of 'palletas' down the hill. These are basically homemade Popsicles. I don't know what he was doing out here, but I tell you that a lemon flavored Popsicle has never tasted so good!

The original plan today was to make it to a small beach town a little ahead of where I am now. The downside of this was that it was four kilometers each way to get there! I instead opted to stay at a restaurant a little earlier along the road where they had several small rooms for rent. It turned out not to be such a bad idea! The restaurant is on a cliff side and provides an excellent view of the river, to which leads a private path. Unable to turn down such an opportunity I decided to go swimming in the river. Although not very deep and the color of mud, it was still quite a relaxing swim!

Day 91 – Into Five Figures - 158.29 km
For the first half of today the road proved to be anything but easy. It wound up and down, left and right throughout countless hills. After I passed the point where I had bicycled 10,000 kilometers on my trip, I decided it was time to stop and celebrate, or at least relax! I stopped into a 'comedor', which is simply a cheap eatery. When I asked what they had to eat the answer was quite simple: chicken. When I asked if there was anything else, nope! Just chicken. So chicken it was. I guess from a positive point of view it makes ordering your food quite a simple matter.

Along the way I met the first traveling cyclists that I have met down here in Mexico. It was a couple from Brazil who was bicycling for Sao Paolo, to who knows where! Since they do not speak English, I was forced to fall back on my Spanish. I must say that I actually managed to carry out a decent conversation. I found out that they have been on the road for a year and a half now, as they take many stops along the way. They have bicycled 7,000 km from Sao Paolo to here in a year and a half, in contrast I have done 10,000 km in three months! It makes me look a little crazy I guess. They even gave me a few tips for my travels in Central America, namely that in Costa Rica and Panama it is possible to rent a room in a fire station for a very decent price. They claim these things are as nice as hotels and come equipped with television and even air conditioning!

The road fortunately flatted out significantly afterwards, however the strong winds proved to still provide a challenge. Although I had my wheel trued a little over a week and a half again, it was once again necessary. I noticed this about half way throughout the day, but decided I didn't want to spend a long time near the road fixing it myself. I instead opted to ride it out and fix it in the evening. Unfortunately the situation got worse and my tire was very lightly rubbing against my frame. Against all odds I made it to the city of Juchitan.

I decided to find a bicycle shop so they could fix this and thus make my life a little easier. While asking around on the street where I could find a bicycle shop a guy around my age pulled up beside me on a motor scooter. He introduced himself as 'Wilbur' and told me that he was a cyclist himself and thus offered to show me to the bicycle shop. When we got there he asked me if I had a hotel in town. When I told him I did not he told me that I could stay over at his place, and that of course he would get his mother to make me food. This was an offer simply too good to turn down!

While waiting for my bicycle to get fixed I got caught up in quite a bit of commotion. This Sunday elections are being held, and before I knew it I was in the middle of a political rally. Hundreds of people were walking down the street with flags and posters in hand waving frantically and chanting. At the head of the crowd was a line of cars proudly displaying posters as well as a mariachi band! It was quite crazy I must say, I can only imagine what happens here during a fiesta!

Finally with my wheel fixed and the rally over we headed over to Wilbur's house. Immediately his mom set out to make sure I was not hungry. She gave me a plate stacked full of enchiladas. I must say they were very good, but there was just so much of them! She then insisted that I clean up and told me that she would clean any clothes that I needed. The bathroom I must say was an attraction in itself. The shower was basically a pipe which came out of the wall several feet overhead. A toilet was present, but was not connected to a water pipe. Therefore flushing occurred manually using a bucket full of water. No matter, I managed to clean up just fine.

For the next while we simply sat around and lounged lazily. I was of course subject to plenty of questions. Definitely not the easiest thing in the world since my Spanish isn't exactly stellar. I also showed them some of the pictures from my trip. I found it quite interesting that the places they were interested in seeing where the places very close to them such as Acapulco and Puerto Escondido. As close as they may be to them, it seems they have never visited them. In return they showed me pictures of their wild fiestas, traditional dances, as well as their regional costumes. I was even presented with a gift of a typically clay figurine from this area. Before I knew it there was over fifteen people around! Somehow the whole family had showed up as well as the next door neighbors.

They became very excited when they found out that I went to school in Michigan. It turns out they have a brother who lives there but who has unfortunately not contacted them in over four years. I was asked to get in touch with him if possible and convey a message, which I will of course attempt to do. They showed me an old Michigan license plate they had, photos, as well as post cards. I must say that it was nice to see a little of back home. I became really surprised when I stopped a post card of the Ambassador Bridge and on it written both Windsor and Detroit. I never thought I would see a postcard from my city here in Mexico. I must say that seeing that post card had a strange effect on me which is truly hard to convey.

Not ready to call it a night yet Wilbur and his cousin volunteered to show me around the town a little bit. Even though it was already dark, I of course agreed. We hopped onto our bikes and set of to the center. The town square is very lively and contains a market nearby. Here we tried a local drink which was some warm beverage based on corn and milk with a sugary foam on top, at least I hope that's what it was! After a little more riding around we headed back to the house. Today as opposed to 'couch surfing' I will be 'yard surfing'. Unfortunately space is limited here and there are thus no extra beds or hammocks. I thus opted to setup my tent in the yard and sleep there. Until tomorrow!

Day 92 – Jungle Sand Storm - 149.77 km
Since Wilbur and his cousin are both avid cyclists they offered to go riding with me for awhile. I of course accepted their offer since a little companionship is always pleasant. Wilbur's mom however ensured that we were properly delayed. She could not imagine us setting out on an empty stomach! Thus breakfast was served; beans, fresh cheese, baked fish, tortillas, lime, and some type of warm corn drink. Unfortunately this drink did not taste very good, in fact, it didn't really taste like much of anything; fortunately some sugar remedied the situation. A breakfast here is more of what I would consider a lunch, however I must sat it was very tasty. I was so full that it was almost hard to bicycle!

For the next forty kilometers I was accompanied by my two new friends, after which they unfortunately had to head back. It is always very pleasant to ride with someone else as the time seems to go by so much faster. It kind of makes me wish I had found someone crazy enough to accompany me on my trip, but alas there was no one to be found. The road to where I am today in Arriaga was fortunately fairly flat, but also very windy. In fact, at one point there was a bunch of wind turbines to the left of the road. Supposedly these are the only ones in all of Mexico!

One thing which made my life very challenging today was road construction. The paved roads here in Mexico are in bad enough condition, yet alone an unpaved gravel road! I was forced to weave left and right to avoid huge holes which would undoubtedly destroy my feeble bicycle as easily as I can crush a twig. This would have been bad enough, but no. Trucks were blasting by me at high speeds sending clouds of dust my way. Being temporarily blinded and unable to breathe I felt just as if I had stepped into a sand storm.

Quite a bit of pain and suffering later I made it to the medium sized town of Arriaga. I have managed to find a room here for a mere $8. However, I must say that I believe that I overpaid. Although my bathroom, if you can call it that, contains a toilet, it is unfortunately nonoperational. There remains some liquid residue at the bottom of it, however I prefer not to find out what it is. A shower is present and does contain water, cold only of course. It seems however that this room has not been cleaned since before the dawn of man. The shower was so dirty that I was afraid to step into it with my bare feet for fear of bacterial infection, and thus used my trusty Crocs. My room is so filthy that I am really afraid to touch anything yet alone step on the floor with my bare feet. I have opted to once again setup my tent over my bed not only to protect myself from bugs but because I know that it's clean, I wish I could say the same about this bed.

I must say that what this place lacks in amenities, and it lacks much, it does make up for at least partially in terms of service. When I told them that I was going to visit the town and asked if I could have a key to lock my door, they unfortunately told me that there are no locks here. Since I would be away for two hours or more I wanted to make sure my things would be safe, and thus someone ran over to the local hardware store to buy screws and a lock which was immediately installed on my door. Now that's service for you!

[Muttsta]

Day 93 – Mechanical Difficulties - 141.70 km
I very happily left my room this morning, which as you may recall from yesterday was overridden with dirt and grime. I left the bottle of expensive tequila I have been carrying around figuring they would appreciate it. I'm not going to drink the stuff and it weighs quite a bit considering the bottle is glass. Since the city was not very large I managed to find my way out with ease.

From this city up until the larger city of Tapachula there is only a toll road and no free road option. I would have taken the toll road either way considering my previous experiences with them. The road was fortunately in very good condition for the most part and also relatively flat. I was making such good time that I even stopped for a while in a city I passed through to update my website at an internet cafe.

Over the past several days I have been hearing a creaking sound coming from my bottom bracket. I figured this was simply an annoyance and not a problem as when I added lubricant to it the creaking went away. However, after about 20 kilometers it would always come back. When the creaking stopped today I became very relieved, however when I looked down after several minutes I nearly had a heart attack. It seems the reason the creaking stopped was because my crank became loose!

I immediately pulled over and pulled out my arsenal of tools. Fortunately my multi-tool had the right size hex key to tighten the bolt, otherwise I would be stranded. With my multi-tool I tightened as hard as I could, but it seems it was not enough. For the next sixty kilometers I had to keep re-tightening the bolt, which just kept coming loose. As if things weren't already bad enough it began to rain. Let me rephrase that, it began to pour. I felt as if somewhere were simply emptying buckets full of water on me from overhead. Regardless, I pedaled on.

I have made it to the city of Mapastepec, which is a larger sized city. I managed to find a bicycle shop which wasn't exactly the best place in the world. They reconfirmed my diagnosis and said the reason for this was simply a loose bolt, which I really hope is the case. I managed to find a hardware store where I purchased a proper, full sized hex key and tightened the bolt. I attempted to contact my emergency bicycle mechanic Kevin in the United States just to ensure that everything would be alright, but I was unable to get in touch with him.

I managed to find a decent hotel in town for $11. The room is actually fairly clean and I'm not afraid of getting eaten by rampant bacteria. The shower contains cold water only of course. I really can't remember the last time I had a warm shower. I whipped out my laptop and opened up my seven hundred page bicycle repair manual e-book where I read up on my problem. They say to tighten the bolt with a torque wrench, which I obviously don't have. I will try again to contact Kevin tomorow morning as the last thing I want is to ruin my crank, which I doubt I could find a replacement of easily down here.

[Muttsta]

Day 94 -Mexican Finale - 102.08 km
Today in the morning I once again wasn't feeling too hot. I suspect the culprit to be a Popsicle I consumed in the late hours of yesterday. This was one of those homemade Popsicles, but the thing that made it deadly was that it contained milk and not just water. I admit that it was absolutely delicious, but lurking under all that flavor was death. I eat ice cream made from milk here often, but always brand name stuff. Learn from your mistakes as I like to say. Even though my stomach was in pain and I had to visit the bathroom several times throughout the day, I pedaled onward. I don't have time for delays such as sickness!

As the day progressed I fortunately began to feel better and better. After passing through many small towns I finally made it to the larger sized city of Tapachula. Mexico's southernmost city is home to roughly 150,000 people. For this city my untrusty Lonely Planet guidebook listed the cheapest place to stay as costing $18 per night. For this part of Mexico, that's fairly steep. I decided to try my luck and try to find something else. I must be very lucky, because I managed to find a decent hotel a mere half block from the main square for only $5! My room is even fairly clean and contains a working bathroom complete with sink and shower. To sweeten the deal I have an outdoor balcony and a view onto the city's main road. I would have been happy to have paid at least twice as much!

As I made it into town fairly early I had ample time to explore the city. My first stop was the main town square, which proved to be very interesting. Trees and benches lined the entire square while vendors were located on the very outside perimeter. On the inside was a concert area of some sort as well as a water fountain. Facing the main square was a cathedral and a very beautiful museum of some sort. From the main square I dared to venture to the local market. The market at first seemed small, but it turned out to be huge. It's size is misleading as it is built atop a downhill. Thus what looked like it only had one floor turned out to have four! Every section of the market was dedicated to something different from fruits to shoes to meats. To get a sense of what this felt like, imagine a market back home; move the shelves to within a few feet of each other, age it fifty years, and throw in a bunch of people until you feel claustrophobic. Absolutely brilliant is what it is!

For the past thirty five days I have eaten tortillas with every since meal; breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I have gotten so sick of them that the mere sight of one makes me, well, sick. I opted today to try something different and went to a Chinese restaurant. I must say that the food was fairly good and for $5 was a very good deal. My only complaint is that they didn't have chopsticks. No matter where your travels may take you in this world rest assured that there will be a Chinese restaurant near by!

Today I also experienced my first dental issue of the trip. As I had braces in the past I now have a metal wire glued under my teeth to keep them from shifting. This wire unfortunately came loose on my today. Normally this would involve a visit to my dentist to get it re-glued. Since that isn't a possibility, and I'm not brave or stupid enough to visit a dentist down here, I decided to be my own dentist. With surgical precision I maneuvered nail clippers inside my mouth in order to cut this wire shorter. Fortunately I succeeded with no casualties; a permanent fix will follow back home. On this trip I have been both a surgeon and a dentist so far!

I am currently looking down at the busy city of Tapachula which is still abuzz at this late hour. Tomorrow I venture into unknown territory, namely Guatemala. Thirty five days later I will finally leave the beautiful country that is Mexico. And so the plot thickens!

Day 95 – Guatemala! - 131.56 km
The road from Tapachula to Guatemala proved to be quite confusing. There weren't many road signs to indicate where exactly to go, and the road signs which were present weren't very helpful. Although the road was in good condition it was a huge pain as I have never ridden over so many speed bumps on such a short stretch of road. It was quite ridiculous, I must have ridden over at least a hundred of them.

Finally in the border city of Hidalgo even more confusion prevailed. For some reason I had to take about six or seven turns on city streets before I finally made it to the border crossing. Upon leaving Mexico I had to turn in my tourist card and get my passport stamped. I then headed off into a new frontier, Guatemala! I had to cross a river across which led a bridge, costing me a toll of a whole 10 cents.

I thought Mexico was crazy, well, Guatemala is even crazier! The traffic here is even worse than in Mexico and things simply look much more hectic. The people however are much more laid back and also very friendly. To my great surprise, the roads here are actually quite good. The road consists of only two lanes, but the lanes are wide enough for two cars. The road is also in good condition with much less potholes than in Mexico. The free road here is comparable to a toll road in Mexico.

While riding along the road a man on a motor bike pulled up next to me and started a conversation with me. Fortunately with the wide shoulders we were able to ride side by side. He ended up talking with me for over ten minutes, all while I was pedaling away feverishly trying to keep up. Luckily for me I have picked up quite a bit of Spanish in this last month, as people keep asking e question after question!

I decided to try something different today and for lunch went to a McDonald's. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. Someone greeted me at the entrance and opened the door for me. After my order was taken, they told me I could go and sit down as it would take a minute or two for my burger to be ready, after which they would bring it to me. When I went to fill up my little ketchup cup, another worker offered to fill it up for me! Granted that the prices were the same as in the United States, but this place was spotlessly clean and literally shone. I was really surprised as my burger actually looked like it did on the photo. Back home I would receive a miserable looking object slapped together carelessly. I tell you, our McDonald's employees in the United States should be sent to Guatemala for training!

I have made it today to the city of Mazatenango, which although is a large city is not in my Lonely Planet guidebooks. These things are really pieces of junk. If a city does not have tourist attractions it is usually not included at all. For a bicycle traveler, absolutely useless. If I were doing something like this again I would simply read these books at a library and photocopy what I need. The only good thing these are for are the very large cities as they also include maps. The city has a large outdoor market which is quite simply crazy as well as a very busy main street. Traffic is absolutely hectic.

I sat down at a local eatery today and told them to give me a local dish, I didn't care what. I ended up getting something called 'pallara'. I'm still to this point not sure what it was. I
initially thought it was a breaded fillet of some type of white fish, but that proved not to be the case. When I cut it open it was white, but the meat resembled I would say tentacles of some sort. Regardless I ate it, initially it wasn't bad, but it had a terrible aftertaste as if it were charred. I managed to stomach one third of it and could do no more.

I have managed to find a very nice hotel here near the center for only $7. My room is very clean, contains comfortable beds, a tidy bathroom equipped with sink, shower, and a toilet with a seat for once! They even have cable TV with HBO! Another nice thing here is that on the doors it lists the maximum rate they can charge for a room, which in my case today is $10. This is very good as even these rates are fair and they ensure you won't get ripped off. Although Guatemala is absolutely crazy, I love it! There really is a noticeable difference from Mexico.

[Muttsta]

Day 96 – Slightly Sidetracked – 95.60 km
I woke up bright and early in the morning, full of energy ready to catch up on some lost mileage. At first things were going great. I was making fairly good time and the terrain was not excruciatingly painful. After some time mt rear wheel felt a little strange, as if it were low on air. I knew this was not the case as I had pumped it up that morning. Upon closer inspection it turned to be out of alignment and needed some adjusting. Knowing that the longer I postponed this inevitable act the worse the problem would get, I found a patch of shade and pulled over.

Not dismayed by a slight misalignment I took all my bags off my bicycle and flipped it upside down; a makeshift repair shop of sorts. Upon even closer inspection, it turned out that I was screwed. I guess the last time I had my wheel worked on the guy must have overtightened the spokes, as my rim had cracked pretty bad. It was obvious that I would need a new one and that this one's life was limited to mere kilometers. I straightened out what I could by loosening the other side of the rim to compensate for the damage. Fortunately I had fixed the problem enough to get me to the next major city. While loading pictures onto my laptop I later noticed that the picture of my broken rim is numbered IMG_6666. Pure coincidence? I think not. There are some dark forces at work here...

My original plan was to head East from the city of Esquintla following the Pacific Highway. However, this setback complicated the situation. I had difficulty getting a rim like this back in the United States, here in Guatemala the problem would be even worse. Some local cyclists in Tapachula, Mexico had told me that the closest good bicycle shop was in Guatemala City. Being as this is the largest city in Central America, I knew it would be my only hope. Thus in Esquintla I set off to find a bus to Guatemala City, or simply 'Guate' as the locals here call it. This proved to be easier than expected as buses run every twenty minutes or so. The bus pulled up, the guy asked me “Guate?”. When I replied yes they quickly loaded up my bicycle and all my stuff on the roof and told me to quickly make it inside. Four dollars for a two hour bus ride isn't so bad! For those of you who aren't aware, getting onto and off of buses here usually occurs while they're still moving.

This bus ride was an experience in itself. Never in my life had I seen a bus so overloaded with people. This was a converted school bus with ten rows of seats on each side. Although each seat is designed to hold two, in Guatemala they hold three. To maximize space there are also people standing of course. At one point I had counted over seventy people on that bus. To make the ride even more interesting our driver was an absolute maniac. I swear that not much more was required to get that bus onto two wheels. Sitting on this bus was more stressful than trying not to get killed bicycling!

Two long hours full of breathtaking views and bumping tunes later I finally arrived in 'Guate'. If you think that traffic is crazy in a larger North American city, you haven't seen anything. Needless to say I am not looking forward to bicycling out of this place. Getting off the bus of course occurred in a rushed fashion. My bicycle as well as one of my bags was passed down to me. Then the bus took off! I had to yell and run after the bus for about half a block that I still needed my other bag. Fortunately they heard my frantic cries and stopped to hand me my other bag, which was somewhere in the front. Being as I had no city map and no idea where on earth to go, I decided to take a taxi to the nearest good bicycle shop.

My taxi ride proved to be yet another adventure! Two minutes into the ride, while climbing up an entrance ramp to a freeway, the car ran out of gas! The driver tried to make it up to the top in order to roll down to some gas station, but it was to no avail. So he simply threw the car in reverse and started backing down the side of a busy on ramp! When he got stuck on a curb, he decided there was nothing more he could do. He grabbed a plastic container, told me to wait here a few minutes, and started running to the nearest gas station. After he left I nearly died laughing in that car. Sure enough he was back within a few minutes and we were good to go. He stopped at the next gas station in order to make sure that wouldn't happen again!

The first bicycle shop we stopped at proved not to be that great, but they directed us to a better one. At the second bicycle shop, which was a good one, they told me that they unfortunately did not have my rim. However, I did convince them to call around to other bicycle shops so I wouldn't have to drive to and from each one. Although none of the bicycle shops had a rim in stock, one of them said they would be able to build one for me using the parts from my old one and some new components. As luck would have it this place was right across the street and I would be needing no more taxi services. To my surprise this was actually a really, really good bicycle shop. They had many expensive bicycles as well as any components or accessories you could want. Since building a rim is quite a bit of work they wouldn't be able to do it for me the same day, but told they could have it done for me by tomorrow at 2 o'clock. It should cost me only $35, a bargain considering I paid $110 back in the United States for one!

All in all the whole taxi ride cost me $7, to get back to the center I took a city bus, which proved to be exactly 50 times cheaper, costing only 15 cents. No matter, it's not like I could have taken a bus here. Back in the historical center I stopped into a Shell gas station where I bought a city map and made for a quick lunch. Since my Lonely Planet book for Central America is on my laptop I setup a mobile office at one of the tables in this Shell and started reading up on 'Guate'. I had to find a place to stay after all! As luck would have it there was an unsecured wireless internet connection nearby so I was able to check my e-mail and update everyone back home.

I managed to find a hotel constructed in a historical style with a pleasant atmosphere called the 'Hotel Fenix'. A room cost me only $7 which is a bargain for 'Guate'. Granted I don't have as many luxuries as yesterday, but it will do. My room contains only a bed and a mirror and the bathrooms are shared, but I will live. Being as I had time to spare I set out to explore this crazy city which I had not intended to visit. I was pleasantly surprised by the city and ended up enjoying it quite a lot. The city, although hectic, is very beautiful architecturally. There are many interesting town squares, palaces, and churches. I won't bore you with all the details, but it is definitely worth spending a day here if your in Guatemala.

My original plan was to bus it back to Esquintla and continue along my original route, however taking a bus back will be a waste of time and a hassle. I can continue East from here and make it to the same point in a few days when these two roads meet. I don't consider my bus ride 'cheating' per se, since it's actually twenty kilometers further from 'Guate' to the point the road meet than from Esquintla; that and the fact that this road is much hillier. Tomorrow morning I will have some more time to explore the city and then hopefully be able to keep moving along the road!