Two big hills today.

Warm overnight in Zacapa and was happy to have air conditioning. I was on the road before seven AM. A slight hiccup finding my way out of town, but soon I was on the major road heading south. Relatively flat for 10km and then a 300m (1000ft) climb over the hill to Chiquimula. Reasonable amount of traffic, but most of the climb had an extra climbing lane.

Sign above is in focus. However, seems like when a client is done using a billboard, they sort of paint over the message. We’ve seen that more often here.

Chiquimula was a somewhat larger town and even had a McDonalds. I had left before David and this was our agreed upon rendezvous point so stopped in. Prices seem very similar to US prices.

After Chiquimula there was 10km of mostly level riding before we came to the road junction. The main road went straight to the Honduras border. We went left headed towards a smaller crossing. Almost immediately a lot less traffic and a lot more climbing. It was a hot climb so put in a low gear and slowly ride uphill.

Here was another photo of the junction.

I had to look this one up later…best I can tell “hundimientos” is sinking – so this is cautioning this is an area with landslides.

Close to the top it became very steep, I’m estimating 12%+ grade. I walked the last little bit. Photo above is David tacking back and forth the last bit of the hill.

After this a nice descent for a few hundred meters. We found a nice comedor to eat and as we passed the Jocotan turnoff asked about hotels. We were directed to a nice one that even has air conditioning.

Despensa Familiar is our neighborhood grocery store. Nice part of being in small town like this is having a grocery to get some breakfast items for the morning.

Otherwise we’re not far from the Honduras border now.

Today we experienced kindness of strangers on our ride.

Had a nice rest and restful day in Guatemala City. Walked a lot, but didn’t ride my bike anywhere.

This morning we were on the road early. Partially to get out of the city before it became busy and partially since we expected a warm afternoon at lower elevations. Leaving Guatemala City was easier than entering. There was ~2km of city street riding that was slow because the lights weren’t timed for our speeds. After that ~2km of complete chaos with busy road sometimes narrowing to one lane, sometimes with buses stopped and a lot to watch. After that it gradually became easier and by the 10km mark, we even started to get a shoulder as part of 4 lane highway.

We started the day at ~1500m and descended steadily through the day, ending at ~550m with a little over a mile of total descent (~1637m). After the first 10km, we had another 20km of mostly descent before the road started having more mix of both climbs and descents. It also became steadily warmer with maximum of 36C (96.8F) recorded by my odometer. We stopped at 45km at a small comedor for lunch.

After lunch we crossed a river. People were down washing clothes and hanging them up.

After the river we started a slow steady climb. It was hot. A small breeze helped cool some of the sweat but we knew we were in for a hot afternoon. Coming the other way, a car stopped. A guy came out carrying two small bottles of cold bottled water. Wow!, just what we needed. We thanked him. He went back to his car and brought over two more bottles. Not sure how he knew, but this act of kindness certainly came at just the right time.

We got to top of the hill and just before the El Paso Texas hotel, our road angel came once more, this time with two cold cokes. Felt like almost too much and we thanked him again, though a cold coke also went down well. Overall, very appreciative of this hospitality and it came at exactly the right time.

We cycled past several small auto hotels, including this sign that advertised hotel prices by the hour.

At 60km, our smooth road and wide shoulder was done. The flags of Taiwan and Guatemala flew together marking the fact that together the two countries had done the previous ~30km of road improvements. After this point, the road became much narrower and often fairly bumpy. Traffic was still moderately heavy and we had several long convoys of truck pass us. We stopped a few times to let these pass, particularly later when we had some steeper descents.

At 75km we came to town of Guastatoya, also known as on some maps as El Progreso. It was largest town around and gave us a good choice of hotels, so natural place to stop. After a nice cool shower, we walked around town to get some breakfast foods.

We see the sign above in Guatemala about tortillas “los 3 tiempos” or tortillas three times. As I understand it is tortillas fresh enough to eat three times a day – though not sure if the emphasis is on the freshness or on eating them for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

There was a display about bible reading.

Downtown had some busy streets as well as a bakery, grocery store and convenience store we needed to buy food.

On the way back we happened past the local bike shop.

Overall, not too tough riding today with only ~750m of climbing and ~1600m+ of descent. It became hot in the afternoon, but our kind stranger also came at just the right time to help us climb a hot hill. We expect to remain at lower elevations next few days, so try to get out early as well.

All day today we rode the Pan-American highway headed towards Guatemala City. It was busier today than yesterday and seemed to get more crowded as we neared the city. Not the most pleasant riding, though it gets us where we are trying to go.

After going over some low hills from Tecpan, we came into more of an agricultural area near Patzicia with workers in the fields.

Photo above gives a good inventory of common crops as well as a Spanish lesson to translate. (Hint: Chile Pimiento = chili pepper, repollo morado = purple cabbage, lechuga = lettuce, cebolla = onion, sukini = zuchini, apio = celery, abono = fertilizer, semilla de papa = potato seeds).

After Patzicia we had more ups and downs on the road. Except for a stretch through Chimaltenago, it was two lanes with a shoulder. Sometimes the shoulder was down a little ridge and sometimes cars would block it, but we could usually ride on it.

A small store that we passed.

Some Korean cyclists came by – as part of their Alaska to Argentina ride.

A row of chicken buses in Chimaltenago. The road narrowed to one lane and it was somewhat congested as we rode through town. Once we passed the midpoint, we found a small comedor and had lunch.

A view of the road from lunch, it typically looked this crowded.

Horses crossing the road, loaded with wood.

At one point it looked like we might even get a bike lane.

However within 200 meters, it ended. Apparently only being placed here as part of an intersection.

After this some more hills to climb as we made our way to San Bartoleme. We found a relatively expensive hotel and were able to negotiate the price slightly lower. Next hotels are likely already down the hill from here into Guatemala City. Decided to leave that excitement for tomorrow.

Last night we weren’t quite sure where we might end up tonight – or even if there was a place indoors.

We’ve been following some common routes as described in bicycling journals. However, the most common patterns are to descend to Lake Atitlan some ~1000m below surrounding roads and then climb back out the following days. The lake is beautiful and there are a number of tourist resorts to relax. However, I wasn’t too keen on either the steep descents or steep ascents nor did we have a lot of time to chill at the lake for a few days. Hence, we stayed up high and bypassed the lake – though then also didn’t have advantage of other journals describing our route.

The first 500m of our route today were chaotic, but after that smooth roads and reasonable traffic. As shown in the photo, the hotel was right next to a narrow pot holed road where traffic all backed up. Smoke from burning brush added to the ambiance. However, we mostly walked our bikes through this first bit and were rewarded by a nice smooth wide road – and most traffic going the other way.

The road did start out with some good climbing, nearly 700m (2300ft) in the first 18km – some of it 8-9% grades. Nothing we couldn’t handle by switching to lower gear and slowly going up the hill. In return, the views were beautiful.

Here was a picture of one of the villages we passed through.

A road cut showed there were still layers of sedimentary rock in these hills.

We topped out a little over 3000m (9900ft) near this small store. It was cold here in the wind but we could see down into several valleys.

A obligatory self shot near the top. I’ve got two layers of shirts and my wool hat on. I was sweating on the way up, but anticipating cold on the descent.

Near the top was small village of Alaska. Here as in other places, we continue to see “car wash” signs.

From Alaska, we descended nearly 500m in the next 8km. We could tell it was getting warmer as we descended. We found a small comedor and had lunch inside. We’ll often end up with a plate with entree (e.g. some chicken or hamburger), server together with rice and beans and a small basket of corn tortillas.

These guys were up across the way watching traffic.

From here we we went over a number of smaller hills. Our net elevation didn’t change much, but we would climb out of one drainage and then ride over and down the next. The road also wound its way across multiple bends. It was fairly populated region. Sign above listed “China town” as well as Chinese restaurant here and across the street.

At 45km, we stopped in at our first potential hotel. It was a bit upscale and didn’t have internet but they told us the a town 16km away would have several hotels. So we set off over and around a few more hills.

We passed a turnoff to Panajachel, one of the primary tourist sites along the lake and instead went left on the main road to Los Encuentros and on our way to Guatemala City.

Overall a good ride today with 1285m of climb split between a long somewhat steep climb to over 3000m and an afternoon with a lot more shorter but sometimes also steep climbs. We were on a major road, but the road was wide and well surfaced and traffic generally well-behaved.