Dancing Saddle

While chatting with a good traveling friend of mine, I found out that a mutual friend of ours was also in Gaute and would be staying in Zona 4. I decided to change accommodation as during my explorations I found I really liked Zona 4 a lot. I headed on over and that night I met up with Oskar whom I had first met in La Paz in Baja. He is one of the smartest people I have met and I thoroughly enjoy having in depth conversations with him. And that evening was no different.

Catching up with a travel friend is always special. Great to have long conversations over some delicious wine.

He had to head back to California and I decided to hang around a few more days in Guatemala City. My motivation at that time was very low and the thought of riding anywhere was the last thing I wanted to do. Thankfully Zona 4 provided enough things to do to keep me distracted. It is a beautiful quirky little neighborhood with lots of little cafes and live music.

Zona 4 is a quirky little neighbourhood with lots of hidden gems all around.

The Sunday market was a great little find with lots of quirky stalls selling a variety of stuff. I got myself another lucky charm and found the Guatemalan version of cards against humanity. I also learnt some new slang. I was surprised to find a stall selling sex toys. That is the first time I have seen that at a local market.

Some of the great finds at the local market.

I also checked out the local Olympic sports museum which had the history of Guatemalan sport persons at the Olympics. Another little side quest I had to do was find a bank that would exchange my Mexican pesos for dollars. I had unfortunately forgotten that I had hidden them all over my bike when I got to Mexico. I totally struck out and would have to wait for later.

The Guatemalan Olympic museum was a nice little find.

My favorite spot was this quaint little café that I found. The coffee was delicious and they had these scrumptious caramel chipped cookies. The philosophy of the café was slow coffee and I decided to take it to heart and slow right down and watch the world pass by. I am glad I did as it helped me get my motivation back. I also enjoyed chatting with the barista and by the time I left it felt like my local café as if I lived there.

Atte Cafe was an amazing find. With delicious coffee and snacks and a beautiful philosophy.

Eventually I was on my way. I could have stayed longer but it was definitely time to move on. It rained a lot which meant I had to stop and hide for a few hours. I was going to take a short cut but again the rain stopped me. Thankfully this happened, as a local told me to stick to the main road. When I asked why he just said people. When the rain stopped, I turned around and headed back to the main road. It was already very late so I had to find a nearby hotel.

Another day spent riding in the rain and the view that greeted me when it finally cleared.

I got a huge scare when just after I passed a security gate, there was an open garage with exhaust fumes billowing out. I jumped off my bicycle and called over the security guard. I took a deep breath and ran inside to check the cars and make sure there was no one inside. Thankfully it was all clear and I didn’t see anyone. To this day I have no idea what was going on. I did feel the effects though of just those few seconds as I had a mild headache for the rest of the day.

The garage where the car was running with the fumes bellowing out. The delicious caldo lunch.

The hotel turned out to be a little gem with a stunning view across the valley of Volcan Fuego, Aqua and Acatenango. During the day you could see the smoke coming from Fuego and during the night you could see the lava. At the same time there were huge thunderstorms that would knock out the power and you could sit back and just watch the storm without any distractions. I also felt my first earthquake while in Central America. Nothing big but strong enough to wake you up.

The thunder storms were spectacular and no photo could do it justice. Over breakfast you could watch the eruption from Fuego.

When I left to head for the border, I started to have issues with my Garmin bike computer. I had to have it continuously plugged into the battery bank otherwise it wouldn’t stay on. This meant I had to rotate it 90 degrees to access the battery port which made for some interesting brain gymnastics to work out what direction I was going in.

So which way is actually north. I had no way to figure it out. The next thunder storm that will be pouring on me later.

One very scary part of the ride were the road shoulders. I always appreciate roads with wide shoulders but unfortunately here every time they retarred the road, it was done inconsistently and it wasn’t a flat surface. It actually made the shoulder more dangerous and I kept having to change between the road and shoulder and sometimes way too quickly which meant a few close calls. This became a huge problem when a huge thunder storm blew in which meant I had to seek shelter again.

A very unique road side restuarant. The sports field where I hid from the rain before my very near crash.

Unfortunately, I had to wait so long before I could ride again that it was almost dark. I raced to try and get to the hotel before it was completely dark. I almost made it too but the last 5 mins was in complete darkness. I unintentionally drifted too far to the right of the shoulder and slipped off the tarmac. Only pure luck saved me from crashing. My heart was still pounding ten minutes later once I got to my room.

It was a rough day but I found a way to add some sweetness.

The next day was the last little bit to the border. It was pretty easy leaving Guatemala but a little harder entering El Salvador. I just want to say thank you to everyone that supported me during one of the rougher patches of this journey. I really appreciate it and it gave me the motivation to keep going. Thank you.