Leon

 From Chinandega to Leon it was a windy, dirty 40km ride. What should have been a two hour ride due to the topology took over four hours due to the wind. In a similar conflict to one at a bank in Chinandega where we couldn't lean our bikes without being yelled at, we got to a gas station for a cold drink but had to go across the street to the other one because the security guard wouldn't let us park our bikes on the side of the building. Ass. And the dust wreaked its obvious wrath as we went to the bathroom and found our faces completely black from the dust; it was like we rode through a dust storm the whole way! Rode the rest of the way into Leon, ate at a comedor. I tipped the lady 50 cents because she reopened for us. She was soo happy. Gave us direction to a cheap hotel... Was the first we visited and very nearly the cheapest we saw. But no wifi at Vieja so we kept looking!

Metal sheeting fencing on the roadside

Ceramics street market. The pieces were very light!

Started looking for a hotel, went to a dozen or more but all super expensive. Started getting dark found hostel colibri and it was 23 a night including breakfast. Settled for the night because they had tons of info on tours and such and it was late. We thought they compromised on the price to 20 dollars as theysaid that it was 21 without the breakfast and then offered it to us for 20.  The next morning we ate breakfast and tried to check out but got in a big argument with them about the price and 3 dollars. We paid no more and and began looking for a cheaper hotel. Also went back to the ones that were full the night before. After lots of searching we settled on Sonati, a NGO that offers tours for decent prices. We paid 15 a night for 4 nights. There was a place around the corner for half that! Dam!
We planned a hike, but Erin got sick and vomited so we stayed close to the hotel room, planning instead for a hike hopefully to Laguna Apoyeque, a crater lake right next to Laguna Xiloa. We walked around town,  and through a large art gallery.

Inside the largest cathedral in Central America

Outside the same very large cathedral. Hundreds of years old!

Chinandega

From Potosi to Chinandega we had first 20km of dirt road, which in the heat was a dust bath. After that we hit pavement and sat down to eat some El Salvadorian mangoes. We were low on water and Erin feeling the  pressure so she left and Rigel,  riding on his own to catch up saw a spider monkey roadside chained up and shared a few of his mangoes with the poor squeaking fellow.

A spider monkey enjoying some mangoes Rigel shared with her

The ride was a lot easier once on the pavement, but still very warm. Erin's rear tire was low, and we quickly discovered it would need a repair and only held air for about 40 minutes on pumping. We stopped at an eco lodge to inquire aboutpricing, but didn't prefer the 40 dollar charge so we took 10 liters of water they offered us from their filters, when back to the highway and crossed the road staying with a family on their rural estate. It was very modest with a dirt porch, out house, well, and cooking fire. Still, we needed a place nearby as the light was fading and Erin's bike still needed a repair. A bucket shower directly out of a well is a new one!

Rigel working on Erin's bike before sunset at a rural Nicaragua home with a child perched in a tree above him

Our tent set up in an orchard of apple type things. When parakeets came to eat the fruit, the woman living there were take a slingshot to them to protect the fruit.

The ride was a bit windy into Chinandega but was mostly pleasant; fairly flat too. Stayed in a nice hotel that was having some repairs done to the bathroom showers sliding door so it was only 10 dollars instead of 20 or 30, but no air con. We contemplated hiking volcano san cristobal, but instead pushed on to leon in hopes of finding better accomadations. One strange thing about the town was that all the directions people gave us were accurate! Didn't leave til mid morning so it was a very hot ride.  Got a little lost finding our way out of town as there was a parade/rally on the main street and we wanted to avoid it. The parade was about Nicaragua wanting consulates around the world. The wind was completely against us the whole day.

La Union to Potosi

At La Union, in the past, there was a ferry that would transport cars and people to Nicaragua and people there spoke of it from their childhood. Since then, the ferry was closed and has been replaced by launchas run by ex fishermen running people across for the local tourism agencies. A large dock was built by the El Salvadorian government but sits idle, while similarly the vehicle ferry the area deserves has yet to materialize. Given all this, we went to the docks not knowing if the the vehicle ferry existed again yet or if we would be crossing for five dollars each or 65 dollars each as per their website stated fee. We met a couple coming off the docks that had just arrived on a launcha alone and they had it arranged by a tour office in Nicaragua for 65 dollars each. Ouch. We met with the captain and negotiated 65 for both of us with our bikes, but we would have to wait until Wednesday, the next scheduled crossing, for the price break. We figured there must be better deals than that, so accepted that deal as a poace holder and proceeded to a hostal for the night as the sun was shortly going down.

Our hotel in La Union. The trees are almost all mango, and the fruit rype.

We had two days to enjoy in La Union, and besides catching up on blogs, we mostly wandered the markets and cycled to other docks in search of alternate ferry crossings. We did make time for one adventure, and between a beach day, volcano hike, and water park we had seen near San Miguel, we decided on the water park. We took a chicken bus over the ridge crossing to the water park and were both disappointed, and impressed, but mostky surprised. There were multiple very large outdoor pools, perhaps 8, including a simulated river and several chldren's play structures. There were also 4 slides, though unfortunately for use 3 out of 4 were under construction. Fortunately it was the biggest that ran and it certainly had its excitement. At 4 bucks, not a bad way to while the afternoon away.

The small pool that the slides dumped into, San Miguel. There were 8 LARGE outdoor pools minimum.

We met the ferry operator at the customs office. Disappointingly, we were getting an exit stamp from El Salvador before the crossing, which meant likely trouble with our central America - four visa in Nicaragua. Nevertheless, the process was simple and cost free and before long we were waiting at what we thought was only a break but apparently was sheer enough to act as a dock as well. Tucking a tarp around the front of the load covering my bike and eventually a rain cover over Erin's we were under way on the smooth seas. The wind, unusually, was blowing that morning which would prove to make the crossing quite choppy and we were completely soaked during our ride on the short 20 launcha we were on. Before the end though, we had amazing views of island volcanos and were even visited by dolphins. When we checked where they had been swimming, there was a dead fish without any marks on it. Apparently they can kill with blunt force trauma underwater? We arrived at the shore of Nicaragua but there was no dock so the other people on our ferry including the pilot, two Australians, and the deckhand all took turns helping to unload the boat by carrying items overhead from the boat through the surf to the sandy, forested shore. Not how we expected to arrive, but there's something cleansing about arriving in a counry by walking onto its shore through the water. What an adventure!

The shorter, younger volcanoes of El Salvador and Nicaragua stand above the sea equal parts conical or blast cratered.

Dolphins hunting in a pod of 5 at least

La Union

In the morning we cleared out of our hotel room and started cycling the downtown San Miguel area. It looked like a warzone, with huge chunks of concrete blocking sections of road and the buildings ugly with rust and decay. We tried to go to a bank, but they were all closed either because of the early time or because it was Sunday. So we used a cash machine, which never told us what the service charge would be on our withdrawal but maybe charged 40 bucks based on the receipt? Will have to check bank statements. If they did, that's outrageous. Maybe continued exploitation of the poor in one of the most corrupt towns we've been in. While using the cash machine, four soldiers did a spot check for weapons in the vehicle of a loitering taxi. We ate breakfast at a comidor, soaking our clothes with water before we left. Went to ride out of town after failing to find open tourist info for the ferry in La Union, but had to stop for a quick repair on Rigel's riding shoe cleat. Good thing we brought an extra set of cleat replacements for the parts!

We rode mostly on the flat but in the low lands and it was really starting to get hot. We stopped at a gas station for gatorades and to soak our clothes with water. Had a water fight. Rode on. Started going up the hill of the day, not to a high altitude since we started pretty low. Now it was definitely getting really really hot. It was a bit of a dry heat though; still, over 38 on my little thermometer. Soaked ourselves with water again and had a water fight. Spilled water dries on the ground within 2-3 minutes. Got to the top of the crazy hot hill, Soaked ourselves with wash water we put into an empty gatorade bottle earlier before starting to ride down.  Still crazy hot. At the bottom, soaked our clothes again at another gas station, had another water fight.

Made it to La Union, and first ate at another comidor before heading to the docks to find out about a ferry. Very lucky! A ferry had just made the crossing the was pulling away from the dock and we met a couple coming off the ferry. They paid 130 for the two of them to go immediately on a little ferry with no one else on board - 1.5 hour journey. We spoke with the captain, and an immigration official and got pricing of 65 for both of us if we wait until wednesday morning at 730am, the next scheduled ferry crossing. Given that we have 3 nights in town, we found a hotel and found it to befilled with mangos! And rype this time. The mangos bang down every 5 or 20 minutes from two trees. We could have all we want and they were crazy sweet and delicious. Mango heaven!

The view of the valley from the previous day's ride

San Miguel

Stopped for papusas for breakfast while leaving our hotel. How could we resist, they were already made and ready to go! We had to climb back up the steep descent we dropped down when we came into San Vicente to the higher mountain ridge to continue east. The riding in the morning wasn't bad, at altitude a little cooler and with little uphill. We stopped for more papusas for lunch.  Had a descent from over 600 meters altitude down below 100 m. The valley was very beautiful, however, and filled with bananas, mangos, and a little fruit like an apple but with single large seed, bit pulpier, and crab apple sized. The low altitude was very hot, so we had to soak ourselves multiple times. In one area, several people on the side of the road were trying to sell iguanas - live and hog tied. It is illegal so they hid them when cops went by. We tried again to buy 4 bananas, but were given them instead. The bananas were not typical, being a little starchy.

Just a couple ox pulling a wooden cart stacked super high...

We were supposed to meet a couch surfing host in San Miguel at 8:30. Waited at a tim hortons style place with a huge menu and super busy, but free internet. Their menu included wonderful things like fine cheesecakes, cakes, pies, frappes, coffees, and ice cream. They also had less dessert like options which are not as exciting. We had pizzas and a fantastic oreo frappe. The drink was more expensive than the price of the pizza!
 Did not hear from the host and were unable to access a phone to call, so instead we had to find a hotel.  The hotel we found wanted 15 bucks, we offered him all the american cash we had left, 11 and change. He refused, we tried to leave. He stopped us, asked for thirteen. We tried to leave. He asked us to wait while he called his boss and then accepted. The hotel room had no internet, but was the cleanest room we've had since Mexico - or maybe since the states.

San Vicente

Biking out of the capital was hell on wheels. The traffic was crazy dense, and people are crazy drivers in big cities. It doesn't help that the lanes were off and on divided by meridians and the sewers were missing their grates. We really got the feeling on our way out of town that there's nothing worth going to San Salvador for.
On our way out of town, while feeling pessimistic about the whole place, Erin popped 4 spokes spontaneously. Against all expectations, an El Salvadorian man stopped, gave us a ride in the back of his truck to a bicycle shop where we were charged 2 dollars for replacing four spokes and balancing the tires, which the El Salvadorian whom gave us the ride promptly paid for! He would not accept money, and drove us back to where we met him so we could continue our journey, wishing us well.

 The ride east continued to get better and was capped with an extremely scenic descent into San Vicente, though very steep. San vicente is a nice town that seems to be centered on a big clock tower in the middle of town instead of a church. Stayed on the second floor of a big hotel while the town partied. We went to sleep early after a lonG day's ride.

The perfect fairy tale view at sunset

Clock tower seen from our hotel's balcony

San Salvador

We rode thru Quezaltepeque and almost immediately began a climb. San Salvador was founded on the side of the volcano that share's its name, and passing into the city from the north means climbing either one set of rising hills or another. The climb was very hot into the capital without any services on the climb to help keep cool and with few roadside trees for shade. As seems to often be the case when we have a short day ahead of us, we didn't leave early enough to make it in good time so we got there around 2.  Tried to find one of the art galleries mentioned in our book that seemed to double as an upscale cafe only to be told by a local man that it had closed a while ago. The same man helped us find a hostal, however, so we were ready to start exploring the city!  We stayed in the Boulevard de los Heros area, and made all our explorations on foot, including 2 galleries, a few food places, a grocery store, and a mall laid out like terrace gardening with each floor only spanning about 30 percent of the overally building's length. Similar to many other Central American cities, the city sucks for street signs and is NOT built on a grid so Erin was completely lost whenever we went walking. The capital could really be mistaken for any american city minus the nasty open sewers masquerading as streams, the lack of sewer grates, and the lack of signage. The city itself is built right on the side of a volcano, so going anywhere is a workout and we got plenty of exercise in our wanders.

The sign before San Salvador....disheartening.. 

Open sewer/stream..

Tiny people!

Of the two galleries we went to, one was the Museo de Arte Popular which had exhibitions about miniature sculptures depicting scenes from a more traditional way of living set in an air-earth-fire-water theme. Ironic since we saw many of those activities and they are still very common in the countryside. The other museum was dedicated to imagery and was mostly a photo gallery about the civil war. We stayed two nights at the little hostal with access to the kitchen.
The mall had big open doors but most of the stores inside were air conditioned so it was hot except for a few rooms that had a cool breeze. The use of energy though really doesn't make sense.  Cars are valued higher than pedestrians, even on crosswalks, almost got run over walking out of the mall as it seems pedestrians never have the right of way or drivers just don't care. El Salvadorians lose their courteous generosity when they get behind the wheel regularly honking aggressively and weaving into the shoulder to pass.

Quezaltepeque

Riding back out of the lake was super difficult. There were two roads out and apparently the other was also gravel so we took the same steep road out as we did in. And I guess it was too early because there were no trucks to pick us up and carry us up the horrible road. So we rode it...and it took forever. A good 2km it was, and almost an hour. Finally at the top we got back on the paved road and it was a lovely downhill for pretty much the rest of the day. Yay!!

We thought it was time we saw some ruins on our trip so we made time for two. The first was San Andreas and the second Joyas de Ceren. San Andreas was a hub for administration and was believed to be inhabited multiple times despite numerous eruptions. First by an agrarian group, possibly the Mayans, then a volcanic eruption buried it and it went through a period of abandonment until Mayans from the west settled there and it was an administrative hub connected to Tikal and Palenque. It was then abandoned until the Spaniards came and built an indigo factory beside the Sucio River and abandoned pyramids. Then in 1658 the volcano erupted and buried the factory and pyramids again until their discovery in the late 19th century. Much of it has been excavated but there is still plenty more to go.

Pyramid at San Andreas, El Salvador. Covered by ash multiple times and recolonized.

Joyas de Ceren was a little more exciting and a little more complete than San Andres. It was a Mayan village that was buried by volcanic ash about 1300 years ago. The town was buried so quickly that many of the townsfolk left their household items behind and the layout of the town is clear to see, including the 3-room homes and the presence of a temezcal like the one we enjoyed in Oaxaca. A 1300 year old practice at least! All the sites are very well groomed and have large roofs over head. Many of the items found were well preserved but unfortunately we forgot to walk through the museum so we didn't seem them.

Excavated village at Joyas de Ceren

Since it was getting close to sunset we started back on the rode hoping to make it to Quezaltepec. Arriving just around dark, and after getting answers like 'I don't know where (or what) a hotel is' from locals we went back to the auto hotel we saw on the way in..The rubber sheets covering the matress under the normal sheets and complimentary condom told the tale of the usual clientelle of those establishments. But the room was spacious, had an air conditioner and a fan! It was a nice change to the sweat boxes we have been staying in.

Imitating the enjoyment of heat in the imitation Temezcal at Joyas de Ceren ruins

Lago de Coatepeque

On the morning we left Juayua, Rigel ran over to change some travellers cheques at the Scotia Bank. The building was extemely secure, as if those entering or leaving the building were going out into the vacuum of outer space and the inner building had to be protected from air loss. First you punch a button to be allowed to enter the outer chanber, then wait for the door to shut behind you and press a button for the inner door. At that point, an armed guard in a bullet proof glass room approves your entry and the door unlocks. From the inside of the bank, you can see that the little guard room door doesn't even have a handle facing into the building. How do they get in there? At every bank we've visited in Eo Salvador, we've had trouble changing our remaining quetzals, I guess we should have used the money changers at the border...

View from the northern side of vulcan Santa Ana during our descent

Before starting on the big hill out of Juayua, we bought some papusas and water. On our elevation mapper it said that the grades of the hill were sometimes around 20%, so many snacks were required. Erin thought of the hill as being a good challenge so she didn't even complain very much. We rode the hills in a zigzag pattern so we were able to keep up our energy as well as eating those delicious papusas. The humidity was very high making it hard to keep cool but at least the temperature wasn't too high and it was cloudy. I am not too sure if the elevation mapper is correct with the 20% grades because I would think they would be fairly unridable and we rode them...hmm. Finally making it to the top we found ourselves in a very cute mountain town, Los Naranjos. It is nestled between two very picturesque volcanoes and alive with their traditional culture.

One of the many fruit stands on the side of the Pan-Am highway - where we bought bananas

From there it was a super long gorgeous downhill, but we didn't do much stopping in the towns. The heat started to rise as we descended and once we turned onto the major highway we were greeted by a hill. Luckily the grades on major highways are low. All along the wide shoulder there were people selling fruit and vegetable, so we stopped for some bananas. We asked for four bananas BUT the lady would only sell them in groups of 15 for $1. So we left there with our bellies super full of banana...
We arrived at Lake Coatepeque in the middle of the afternoon after decending the crater rim (as the lake is in the crater of a volcano!) on a really crappy steep dirt road, found a restaurant, ate some chicken, then went on looking for a place to stay. The lake was filled by rainwater and since there is no river feeding it or draining it, it is salt water.

View over the Lago de Coatepeque at sunset from our hotel

 The first hotel we came to was very beautiful, they had swimming pools nestled between gardens and mango trees. The rooms were probably expensive so we asked to set up our tent. We cleared the tent spot of fallen mangos and set up right underneath one of the trees. The whole night we could hear mangos falling and banging onto tables and roofs and the cement pathways but it the morning it didn't look like any hit our tent, although I did find one in my shoe.

The mango tree we parked our tent under.  Probably about 1,000 mangos on that tree, fallint about one every 10 minutes. Watch your head!

Juayua

Posing at a 'mirador' one of the many lookouts on this extremely scenic section of road

Juayua
We rode to our original destination of Juayua in the morning, just about entirely downhill. We stopped in at the bank but the line was out the door so we didn't bother, rather we turned down the main street only to be met by the weekend market. The streets become filled every weekend with food stalls, trinkets and music. We stopped at the first hotel we saw, Hotel Mirador and since it had wifi, hot water and laundry service we decided to stay two nights. Hotels in El Salvador have not been as cheap as we have seen in Guatemala so we paid $30 for the two nights. Many other hotels we have seen normally charge $25, firm, a night and up. For the rest of the day we handed over our laundry, skyped with family, took a walk through the market and signed up for the town's 7 waterfalls hike to start at 8:30 the next morning.

It was just us and our guide on the hike and it started off normal on a well walked trail. We went to the swimming waterfall first as it would be less crowded than in the afternoon so that meant swimming in cold water bright and early. But it was pretty fantastic! Rigel got to climb up the rock and jump into the big pool, it was so deep. He also found a tunnel that goes 300m into the mountain that the water flows out of. We carried on the hike and turned onto another trail that was near vertical so I had to be helped up. This was the worst climb of the trail but far from the worst section. We went from waterfall to waterfall around the volcanic caldera until finally a stream fed by a series of small waterfalls until it descended off a shear drop. Time for the rope! Our guide pulled a long length of very comfortable to handle rope out of his backpack and down we went. For Erin, rapelling for her first time, though without the technical aspect of a harness and lanyards, was still a daunting challenge. Add into that the water falling over the rock we were descended making everything damp and splashy and you have the recipe for a real adventure!  At the bottom, all pumped up with adrenaline we hiked a short distance further past two stupendous waterfalls until our guide indicated our lunch spot. It was definitely a challenging hike, but also very rewarding.

Rigel posing at the entrance to a tunnel that runs into the mountain under the waterfall

Looking out from a tunnel that ran into the mountain 300m. The current was strong in there!

A large pool was formed below the waterfall by a dam. A favourite play spot for the locals

Our guide kindly took our photo as we posed below one of the dozens or hundreds of waterfalls of the day

Erin rappeling down the face of a waterfall with our guide keeping the line taught from below

After Juayua, we leave the ruta de las flores

From Los Chinemas to Apaneca

Started late in the morning after cooking some breakfast. The major town near the border on our route, Ahuachapan, was only 7km from our camp spot. There we found wifi and tried to change some money at the bank but the bank said they only dealt with US dollars. Bastards. We spent the whole day from then on riding uphill. The uphill was not uneventful though. One of the sights along the way was wood collectors, like we've previously seen carrying 50-100 lbs of wood in a huge bundle on their heads, instead loading the bundles onto carts with big draw hand breaks and a lead-style steering system rolling down the hill in the shoulder. Around 3 pm, after 12km or so of uphill, we hit Ataco. Ataco is on the 'ruta de los flores' and is supposed to feature a nice zipline system. However, we had trouble finding any info about it or about a reasonably priced hotel. We climbed a very steep, though short, hill in town to check out one hotel and it turned out to rent rooms for 30 bucks a night.  I tried offering the lady 5 bucks to let us camp in the unfinished restaurant area, but she just kept trying to call her boss and seemed to refuse to or be incapable of making a decision, so we left while she taunted us that other hotels in town charged 50-60 bucks a night. Fine - so we left town but the sun was close to setting.

Between Ataco and Apaneca, checked out the Flor Y Luna which initially offered us a really nice room with a huge bed for 35, quickly dropping to 20 a night when we refused. Still not pursuaded we continued on. Made it uphill to Apaneca just as it was dark. Found another hostal but it was still 25 dollars. When i started complaining about hotel pricing in El Salvador, the owner dropped the price to 20 bucks. And the room had non-functioning hot water, and the owner was up partying until one. I asked him if we could oay less to camp and he said it would cost more because we would be out under the nice weather. What a dick.

Went out for papusas, a common fast food in El Salvador, and enjoyed the cheese stuffed corn tortillas, as well as cheese and bean, and a spinach like vegetable and cheese. There was a lot of noise in town and gunfire, which turned out to be a rally around the recent election which split the vote to less than 1 percent and which the ruling party is refusing to recognize as legitimate. Went to sleep in wool blankets that set off both of our allergies so that we awoke to stuffed noses and congestion. Still, at 1450m and the second highest town in El Salvador, it's chilly and we were glad for the blankets.

Apaneca is known for its art, as shown on the comedor we ate at in thr morning

The comedor was themed on ratatouille

Into El Salvador

Cuilapa to the border:
Cuilapa is on the side of large hill and leaving it means dropping down a long steep descent. That's splendid, but one challenge was that the highway was divided by about half a kilometer so rather than take a long circumnavigating route to the proper lane, we descended but down the lane the truck had taken us up - the wrong way. At the junction of the highways the divided highway met itself and we could get back to having cars sneaking up on us rather than face them head on. At this point a field of homogenous crop with spiky tops, but short faced us - pineapples! We grabbed some sliced pineapple for the road from a roadside stand and continued riding down the incredibly scenic volcanic valley.

We rode down at first until we crossed a river with a view of a gorgeous dam - bridge. Then we began climbing the river valley we would follow most of the morning.  We had a 600m climb before stopping in Oratorio for a late morning snack. The climb continued and eventually we crossed out of the one valley into another that descended to the southeast with us. The views into this new valley were tremendous and actually made us stop our quick descent for a few photos before sinking further towards the border.  Riding thru Japaltagua was a breeze given the hill but we were again driven to stop. The rarest of sights! Two other touring cycists, Nina and Sara, Nina from UK and Sara from US cycling together from Bolivia up to the border of the US. Sara had a truly wretched looking rig, though she admitted there were more quality parts in the bike than it seemed. She also was using buckets for panniers! They were going to take the mountain routes to Antigua and recommended we stay at the bomberos (firefighters) stations along the way as they had to save money through Central America.

We had more climbing to do before dropping into the river valley border with El Salvador.  The views were again fantastic but our mood was soon dashed by the cretins inhabiting the Guatemala side of the border. What a surprise we had, actually two, on the El Salvador side of the border as there were no crazy money changers, and our 90 day Guatemala visa applies to the whole group of Central America - 4, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua without any further visas required. Rad. There was a large, informative map right at the border which someone ran over and gave us a replica of after we were studying it for 15 minutes. There are several routes through El Salvador named for their features: the archaeological route, peace route, sand and sun route, artisans route, and our route by coincidence - the flowers route.  Coming out of the border valley put us in Los Chinemas where we found the cheapest hotel we've found in El Salvador at $10 USD. It even included use of the kitchen and we spent the evening cooking next to the family and eating with them too. Fantastic!

Antigua to Cuilapa

We decided to go downhill towards the humid coast then back up to avoid most of the swamp and into El Salvador. The downhill was fantastic but we did not quite end up where we wanted as we left Antigua a little late and in the late afternoon Rigel got his second flat! I wondered why he was pedalling so slowly... Luckily we had made it to a small hacienda (ranch), we asked to camp in the yard there, the family agreed so we set out making supper and patching the tube before the sun completely set. Rigel had bought a new tire in Antigua while scoping out possible shoes for the volcano hike and while I got my brakes worked on so we changed it out thinking it was time and probably related to the flat. After supper we took a bucket shower and had to dodge the many toads that came out in the evening to eat bugs and such. There were also huge hunter spiders out, one was next to the shower and must've been 3 inches long including the legs. Yuck! It was a long day, and we eagerly went to sleep. The shower only helped momentarily as it was still 28 degrees out and our tent does not have much ventilation.

It rained during the night and luckily we were under a porch roof, but it only dropped the temperature 3 degrees by the time we woke up at 5 am. We packed up and set out with plans to make it past Chiquimulilla and up the moutains to Cuilapa. The ride was hot but without too many hills. We stopped for supplies in Chiquimulilla before setting out on the hills. I used mapmyride.com and profilderuta.es, both road elevation diagram simulators, to show me the grades of the road and it looked awful. Some parts, although short, were over 20% grade. Seemed completely impossible to do and in the heat of the day. The other option we thought about, because we wanted to avoid Guatemala City, was to take secondary roads over to the CA2 but it was a lot of hills... A few kilometers up the hill we stuck out our thumbs as I was exhausted by the heat, and got a truck to stop for us. The people were very nice and even helped us get the bikes into the truck. We shared the bed with a ladder and many random electronics all probably designed to pop our bike tires and put holes in our bags. But we managed to fit just fine, Rigel even fell asleep, and made it to Cuilapa by early afternoon.

We decided to end the day in Cuilapa as we were both so tired from the heat. We rode up the super steep road into town as the whole town is built on the side of a hill and started searching for a hotel, a task that turned out quite difficult. The people seemed not to understand that we were looking for a hotel so everyone was difficult to talk to. In a town 20 minutes across we spent over an hour and a half riding back and forth and up useless hills and around the block more than once searching for a reasonably priced hotel. We found two, one being quite expensive and the other being slightly less expensive. We took the latter but the people working there were not the friendliest, initially offering a price higher even than the price posted on a sign on the door from the Guatemala tourism board. After showrs and a rest, we went out and found the town had mostly shut down at 8pm.  We did find some delicious tacos though, and then found some internet and went to bed.

Antigua 2

After our hike we were pointed in the direction of a chocolate museum. They offered a chocolate making course where they go through how to roast, peel, and grind the cocoa beans. From the ground cocoa you can make hot chcolate or you can process it further to extract the cocoa butter and add it later to make really creamy chocolate. We mostly watched the class as we arrived just after it started and it was open to an audience. There were all sorts of chocolate facts posted on the walls and propoganda about the health benefits to help you feel good about liking it. They also had a cafe where we indulged in their chocolate fondue for $4. Oh so delicious! The family size fondue was actually difficult to finish due to the size and, after we finished the pile of fruit they gave us to go with it, we poured the rest into our peanut butter jar to enjoy later.

After dessert we went for lunch and met Daniella. She is on a world tour with her backpack from Germany. That night we went out for supper together and then onto a couple popular bars, one being a salsa bar. The salsa bar was amazing. Everyone in the place was dancing in pairs, skillfully, and erotically too, as many of the dancers were couples and would kiss between dances.  Naughty!  It was inspiring to see so many skilled dancers enjoying themseves and moving together in rhythm and such fast coordination. We decided to stay one more day as there was a free salsa lesson the next night.  Our last day was spent planning our route towards El Salvador and attending the salsa lesson, it was just for beginners but it was a fast and energetic hour that left us sweaty.  Turns out there are more salsa bars with lessons running even at different times for free, but always on Monday and Tuesday as they still want to get paid for the extra lessons too.