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
Antigua sits in a Highland valley at 1500 meters overlooked by the spectacular Agua Volcano (3765 meters). A little further away are two other volcanoes Acatenango and the always smoking, sometimes erupting, Fuego.
Antigua, sited in the Panchoy Valley, was designated ‘La Muy Noble y Muy Leal Ciudad de Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala’ by the conquistadors in 1543 and has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Before I went into town I had to visit the Bavarian restaurant around the corner and have a ‘real’ Radler with Brezel, Rösti and a Ritter Sport chocolate.
Thereafter I spent the time in the historical part of the town until my legs were tired.
We left San Jose Pinula in a convoy for the first kilometers. Fortunately it was a Sunday and the roads were not that busy. Nevertheless, due to road construction works with some lanes closed it was good to have a vehicle in the back to slow down and control the traffic. It must be said, that the drivers in the cities do not have the same respect for cyclist as in the rural areas. We were going slow on the first ascent out of town before we headed into a deep and steep descent, facing a beautiful volcano in the morning light. I stopped the fast descent to take a photo and found Bill, my roommate, standing there with a flat, no chance to stop
any other of the fast passing fellow riders. I fixed his puncture, guarded by the police, as he couldn’t fix it himself. Many riders have lost power in there arms from either falls or from the pondering gravel roads, just not being able to turn screws or lift tires from the rim. Sometimes just must even help to open the cap of a bottle.
The first 30+ kilometers were fast and an easy warm-up session for this day’s climb, with a maximum grade of 23%. Once over the top it was Christmas, birthday and Easter at the same day. The downhill into Antigua was fantastic on a wide highway. At many turns it gave view onto the 2 volcanoes ‘Aqua’ and ‘Fuego’, the latter being the active one that erupted just 2 months ago. We stay in Fernando’s Hotel Los Nazarenos in Antigua Guatemala and have a whole day to spent in the old town, after already arriving at 11 o’clock.
Another long cycling day, for which you have to find the answer to the question ‘how often can I stop to take photos, without risking to ride into darkness?’. Anyhow the DLR is always in the Camelbak, ready to shoot. It was a lot to climb and mainly on gravel. Just the right thing to start into a beautiful cycling morning on the faces of al off-road lovers! For me there was another question: ‘Will my bike survive this day?’ with a worn-out rear suspension joint, wagging with its tail like a happy dog. 72% of the day was be on gravel, a torture for the beaten bike, although not as rough and steep as on previous stages. If it will sustain this without further damage, it will make it until it finally retires on doomsday! With this in mind I gently navigated it over the rough ground. As usual, the constant climbing for hours was awarded with breathtaking panoramas from the summit at almost 2700m above sea level.
Often the view allows to trace back from where we came or give an idea, to where the road will carry you next. It is remarkable how fertile the land is, even in such high altitudes. All around the people were working in the fields and children were playing or carried by their mothers. Everyone is very friendly and almost every Hola or Bueno is returned with an answer and a smile. I took the time to take a few photos that I like to share with you.
The nicely dressed little girl with the gumboots was a bit scared by the ‘strange gringo’, who instantly dropped his bike on a climb to catch a ball that escaped from the playing kids and was rolling fast down the hill and would have been lost, if I hadn’t caught it.
After already more than 5 hours into the day, I reached lunch stop at 44km, with 1400m of climbing done so far. However that also means: ‘1100m more to climb and 47km to go’ –> not much time to spent at lunch. The climbing continued until kilometer 67, when the fun part of the day started: 10km cruising in 2200m with a slightly drop of elevation. The remaining 14km was a huge downhill into the busy town of San Jose Pinula. The hotel is located at the other end of the town. It is a busy hotel, with 6 weddings on this very day. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get anything from the wedding buffet or left over cakes. So we must be satisfied with a 400 kcal dinner. Not much to cover for the 5000 kcal burnt to arrive at this place. At least the bar was fully stocked and I could get another ‘grande cerveza bicicletta’ (grosses Radler). If one though ‘nice hotel, first class rooms’ must be disappointed to find her- or himself accommodated in a bunkhouse, a steep walk away from the main building. Luckily also far away from the party music! However the locals are still burning down fireworks like crazy … seems the ‘burning devil’ is not yet over.
on the faces of al off-road lovers! For me there was another question: ‘Will my bike survive this day?’ with a worn-out rear suspension joint, wagging with its tail like a happy dog. 72% of the day was be on gravel, a torture for the beaten bike, although not as rough and steep as on previous stages. If it will sustain this without further damage, it will make it until it finally retires on doomsday! With this in mind I gently navigated it over the rough ground. As usual, the constant climbing for hours was awarded with breathtaking panoramas from the summit at almost 2700m above sea level.
