You might have noticed that I have changed the title of this journal.  I did this because the route has changed a few times now and so we are obviously (a) no longer going to Belize and (b) that we may have lost our way.  This isn't the first time this has happened nor is it the first time I have changed a journal's title because plans have changed.

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Much of today's ride was uneventful.  The first twenty one kilometers was the reverse of the road we came on from Flores after which we turned southwards.  The ride was quite easy, climbing slowly upwards in a series of small steps.  It was a bit busy but there was a good shoulder the whole way and we had no problems.

A few kilometers before Santa Ana a cyclist caught up to us and starting chatting.  Annie Weirauch arrived in Gautemala from Germany fifteen years ago and has never left.  She is a WarmShowers host and would have liked for us to stay with her but her home is in Poptún which is where we planned to spend tomorrow night and she will not be back there by then.  The critical bit of information that she passed on to us is that the hotel where we intended to spend tonight is no longer operational.  It turns out it was run by drug dealers and has been confiscated by the state.

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I had intended to draw money from the ATM in El Remate last night but it was out of action due to a power failure.  The shop in which the ATM is located was still closed when we left this morning but I was sure I would find one along the way.  Annie told me where to find one in Santa Ana and we stopped there after she left us so I could draw some cash, being down to my last Q$5 note.  Alas, no luck and I am not sure why.  This meant we were unable to buy a second breakfast along the way and had to make do with some granola biscuits that we carry as emergency snacks.

When we arrived in El Chal we sought out the only ATM in town ... and it was out of order!  So we went off to check out the hotels.  The first one we looked at, the Hotel Discovery located above the Restaurante Buffalo, looked unappealing from the outside so we didn't even bother looking inside.  We backtracked to the Hotelita Bienestar and one look at the room convinced us it would be better looking somewhere else.  However, I did manage to convince the lady at the Bienestar to change a US$20 to Quetzal for me so we were able to go off and buy some lunch.

We picked up some lunch at one of the many fried chicken places - I hate fried chicken but we felt we needed to try one - and for a few illogical minutes thought we might push on to Popun today.  But, with all the to-ing and fro-ing in El Chal (we rode up and down its main street so often everyone in town must have seen us at some point) it was already half past one and it was another sixty kilometers to go so that idea died very quickly.

Then we headed back to the ATM and as we got there the cash handling company was just exiting the ATM cubicle having refilled it.  For some strange reason my credit card wouldn't work but Leigh's did so our cash problems are, for the time, no longer there.

Annie had mentioned a good taco place in El Chal and I asked the fellow there which was the best hotel in town. Yep, it was the one we didn't look at.  The Hotel Discovery turned out to be pretty good if not slightly expensive for what we got.  But it is clean, with a strong polar breeze coming out of the air-con and the WiFi is excellent.