La Ruta Maya – Costa Rica to Belize – Nov.17, 20112 to Dec. 21, 2012 Cycling along old, remote Maya trails until the World comes to her End on December 21, 2012
Use the following rider approved recipe if you ever happen to run out of sleeping pills and you can’t find sleep: Estie’s ‘triple 3’ rule
Take 3 pairs of used cycling socks, from 3 different riders, that have been used for 3 days and hang them over your bed. Instant sleep (coma) is being guaranteed.
Doctor’s note:
Do not apply an overdose! 3 pairs a night is enough, if from 3 different sources and not used longer than 3 days. You may fall into a too deep coma if one of the 3 limits is exceeded, thus failing to hear the wakeup call at 5:00am and missing to load your bags into the van at 5:40am the next day!
What a ride, today! 53% unpaved, 100% head wind, 3 river crossings and a climb at the end of the day. It just gives us a taste what is awaiting us the following days.
The day started good. I did the dog-style of cycling: Running to the head of the bunch, taking photos, letting everyone pass and start over again to pass everyone again for more rider photos. I somehow exceeded the limit of my tires running too fast on the sharp gravel, thus ended up with a flat when everyone was gone. It was in the middle of a little village and I had many spectators to see me quickly changing the tube. However I run out of luck with my pump and couldn’t get a single molecule of air into the tire. Luckily Nicaragua is a cycling country and a young girl (Johanna) went away to return with an old but working floor pump (pump up service included) …
Later on the day I passed into a small settlement and saw something long dangling from a tree, with a boy working on it. Coming closer I identified it as a 2m python that was being skinned. So I stopped to take a photo. The skin was taken for a belt, the body however was dumped in the field – poor snake, killed just for the skin and not to feed the family.
The 3 river crossings were fun and refreshing.
At one point you had to decide whether to stay dry but risk your neck going over an old suspension bridge or get a bit wet. I opted for the wet part, as the bridge looked a bit too fragile and I would have ended in the water anyhow, in a less controlled manner than riding my bike. At another place we could take an old ferry, which broke down trying to carry the final bunch of riders over.
Ruut is riding strong and constant and always with a smile on his face. A real inspiration for us younger riders.
Because he is always faster than his son Michiel, I don’t have a photo of both together. I’ll talk to him tomorrow, to slow down a bit and wait for Michiel at one time for a family photo
At another place we could take an old ferry, which broke down trying to carry the final bunch of riders over.
