64,2km – 1020m up – 1154m down – 2881 kcal – ~5h

The atmosphere at breakfast was brilliant this morning. No hectic, no pressure,  no run for coffee and food. Obviously nobody wanted to be first to leave the hotel, compared to the past 4 riding days, when everyone wanted to have an early start. It was just 11km to the border and we would re-assemble there anyhow, to do a short convoy into Guatemala, as we expect big truck traffic. We even pushed our bikes down the cobblestone slope from the hotel as it was so steep and slippery.

We had a final scenic climb in Honduras into the deep hanging clouds before we ‘dived’ towards the border into sunny Guatemala. All of a sudden the temperature gained momentum and ended in a very hot day. Border crossing was easy – stamp out in Honduras, pay 2 bugs in Guatemala, done! The waiting for the last to get his visa took the most time and the little ‘buggers’ liked us hanging around in ‘no mans land’. As usual I was amongst those who got the most mosquito bites.

How easy this day was considered to be, could be seen at the first coke stop, or better say ‘beer stop’ I never saw one of us drinking beer at a so-called coke stop at around 9am, except this morning. Lunch at around 58km was just to give us final directions to the hotel in town. Nevertheless food and beverages were served and more time than ever was spent, which was wise, because it turned out that my room was not ready for another hour when I arrived. The usual ‘killing time’ situation to wait for a change.

After I had my cold shower I went to town to explore the local market. In the first side road I run into 5 to 6 scary looking guys, hiding behind vehicles, hands at their guns chasing a ‘suspect’. I better dared not to take a photo and turned around into another direction. The market was very busy, but great fun to walk through the narrow isles of the densely arranged market stands. I was joint by David and we were obviously the only foreigners seen here for quite a while giving us lots of smiles and friendly ‘holas’ or a rare ‘gringo’.  It looks as if Guatemala is going to be as hospital as the previous countries. We later found out, that most of us went to the nearby ‘mall’ or even watched a movie in the cinema. The market was a mix of everything. Cloth, next to fruits and veggies, Chinese plastic toys and tools, car parts, toilet articles, etc. It was nice to watch how young and old, men and women tried to sell there goods or simply having there ‘siesta’.

Tomorrow is going to be another tough day with climbs and off-road. So I better stop here and get my siesta, too.

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117,0km – 2628m up – 2748 down – 5947 kcal – 9h

4 days into this section, the wind stopper looks already kind of stained from the battles of the past stages. However the mood is still ok and I leave Gracias with a smile in our faces, indicating, that Cristiano cannot scare us with his route changes.

Today we received riding instruction that only lead us to lunch. Thereafter was the ‘unknown’, as a new track needed to be found.

One of the earliest starts into the day: 6:20h left camp with a quick and easy rolling downhill for the first 30km. Thereafter the climbs started and continued for the next 50km – 35km thereof on dirt and gravel. The 15km on tar were easier as expected and at 9:30, after a first coke and cookie stop at a gas station we turned into the torture section. The scenery was stunning and the weather fairly hot on the first part into the climb. But this changed after every corner.

We had already climbed 1500m until lunch at km 69. However to get there was a pain on never ending short climbs. A group with David, Jos, David, Michiel and I – Jessica ignored us at the gas station, thinking ‘local’ guys are shouting after her – made it there by noon.

The continuation directions read like this: ‘brutal ups & downs – push bike’ from km 75 to 80. Fortunately the total distance was corrected to only 117km as opposed to the predicted 130km. Pavement to be hit at km 87. The 18km to get there were the described brutal. After every corner and short downhill you expected another punishment, which did not wait for long. You could always see what is next and others, who were a bit ahead waking their bikes uphill. With grades of 18% – 21% the climbs were breath taking and some too steep to stay on the bike, without fear to fall of the bike with exhaustion.

The final 37km to town were a gift with a 1000m elevation drop and lots of stops to finally take some photos.

Unfortunately, the day ended with 2 accidents at a speed bump in a village, just 24km prior to camp. 1 involved Astrid, our tour communicator and writer. She fell badly over the speed bump, just 200m ahead of me. I only recognized it was her, after I came closer to help with first aid. Luckily she regained conscience after a while and did not have major injuries.

This python was on a branch just outside of Copan Ruinas …

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114,5km – 2173m up – 2596m down – 4942kcal – 9:20h

Another early start into the day to make sure there is sufficient time to make it to camp.

The stage started with a hard but scenic climb on rough gravel in the morning, with rolling downhill in the second part of the day. I felt like being back home into Black Forest – the water was running down the rivers, birds were singing in the pine woods. Nice  farms and plantations were found all along.                                              

Some riders enjoyed the rough terrain more than the others. But it was a sheer pleasure to ride through this fantastic part of the country.

I was going a controlled pace to save energy for the afternoon, which was supposed to be not that easy. After lunch at 67km there was another climb into head wind, which made the situation not even better. Until camp the hills were rolling up and down making progress slow, but steady.

The hotel is a very nice hotel, run by a Dutch lady, with beautiful garden arrangements. Food was excellent and plenty. Too bad, that this is only for a short stop-over.

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113,5km – 2072m up – 2179m down – 4440 kcal – 8:11h

The day started well with a nice downhill on the Pan Americana giving our tired legs more time to recover. The view into the valley was stunning, but also gave a glance of the mountain range, that we have to master in the afternoon. No wonder, our next hotel is named ‘Hotel de Montana’

Not everyone stated the day with pleasure. Michiel had his first flat 2km from hotel. After the long downhill on tarmac we turned into a gravel road through a wide valley with a refreshing river crossing. The ride to lunch was ‘slow’. At 50% of the distance we had only 30%  of the daily climbs mastered. The sun was burning hot during the climb to lunch, but dropped from 30°C to 12°C in the afternoon. The weather conditions are ever changing. Hot in the sun, chilling, when behind clouds. Our sweaty and wet cloths add a lot to the temperature recognition.
Apropos wet cloths: With only 2 sets of cycling outfits, always late camp arrivals, often rain or drizzle it is hard to get a dry set of 4 to 5 cycling days. This is when you start taking the semi-wet two day old set into bed, to dry it further with your body heat during the night …

The hotel was nice, with half a dozen pools in the garden area. The rooms spacious with queen sized beds. The shower was fantastic. It had hot water and 2 showerheads. A seat at one end allowed for simultaneous back massage, with the wall mounted shower, while using the 2nd showerhead on a hose. Unfortunately the supposed to be ‘in-room internet’ did not work in our room, because the power supply for router missing.

The restaurant service was slow   I had to wait for 50mins to get my sandwich and fries. Time that I had wanted to use to prepare my bike for the next hard day. The dinner rich, but almost cold

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