120km (134km) – 1034m up – 1123m down – 5034 kcal – 7:24h
It was easy rolling today on a beautiful Sunday, with no trucks and busses on the road. 120km planned. However, if you are daydreaming, inhaling the clean air and sounds of the forest and thus miss a mandatory turn, you end up with some extra kilometers. But nothing to worry on such a gorgeous day and environment.
We started in the morning mist into a day 
that turned out very sunny and hot after a while. I was almost the last to leave camp but soon I became ‘the last rider’, as there was a myriad of chances to stop for photos in the morning light. Soon I was waiting for a good shot of the sunrise during the dissolving mist. Even Henry, who was the morning sweep today, passed me. ‘Hakuna Matata – No Worries’, I’ll will catch up again, sooner or later … earliest, after I get my sunrise photos and what is to follow thereafter. Mike, also stayed behind to capture the morning atmosphere on camera.
The sunlight, the mist, the landscape and the sounds and voices of the forest were fantastic
. There were many more 
photo stops this morning and we were trailing Henry for quite a while.
Is my camera battery charged enough and do I have enough memory space to capture all the images? The sunlight was playing with the environment. The lose bark of the tree on the right hand side shined bright red and gave it a mystic touch. Other areas looked spooky and haunted, as if doomsday is near …
Now it was time to gain some distance and catch up with Henry again. Soon I passed Mike and later I met Henry, who was seeking shade at a gas station. We exchanged a friendly welcome and I continued my ride. Neither of us was aware, that this was exactly the spot, where we had our only turn of today. Henry remembered that Cristiano’s instructions were as such: ‘tomorrow’s stage is straight forward’, so he didn’t not bother to write them down or memorize them. However ‘straight forward’ obviously didn’t mean ‘always stay straight’! Other than me, Henry, was luckily enough to be corrected by JoAnne who used the bathroom at the gas station, but only after a longer debate who of the two was right. However, I was heading into the wrong direction. After about 7km, at km 36, I hit a T-junction, but no red-tape-flagging! Both directions didn’t seem very inviting, 
as they continued either on gravel or bad pavement. Neither of it was expected today. Time to check my direction notes! Ouch, what did I read there: ‘L @ gas station’. Again I was ‘L’ost at a ‘L’eft turn … So I U-turned and traced back to where I came, adding another 14km to todays total. At km 40 I closed up with Henry, JoAnne and Mike. They told me that once they recognized 
my mistake, they gave a local driver 10 Quetzals and a paper to inform the ‘cycling Gringo’ to turn around. However this message never arrived. Maybe he already saw me on my way back, or he enjoyed a complementary TdA-Cerveza from the money he received as a messenger. Reunited with the ‘sweep’, I relaxed cycled the remaining 30km to lunch with Henry, exchanging memories of our previous Tour d’Afrique rides and other stories. The final 50km from lunch to camp was easy rolling. I couldn’t believe that at the end of the day all these little ‘rollers’ added up to more than 1000m of climbs. It was shortly after 2pm when I arrived in Sayaxche and plenty of time to chill out and relax at the new location.
Tomorrow is another short riding day – if all turns are taken – to our next rest day location in Flores. From here we will start a trip to Tikal to see the Maya temples.
