Rio Dulce to Zacapa

December 23, 2022

Whew! I made it to my destination yesterday. I arrived late, so I making this journal entry the day after, and am taking the day off. 94 miles pulling- 6o pounds up a lot of hills. The road deteriorated for the last -10 miles coming into Zacapa with no shoulder and a lot of traffic, but I did make it. The rest of the day had pretty good roads. Definitely getting into the mountains though now. I have read that the Guatemalan drivers are the worst in all of Central America. If that is the case, then I should be in good shape, as the drivers have been very friendly to me.

There was a huge traffic jam that I'll bet I saved hours as I was able to pass up probably a couple miles of stopped traffic. In one section of this video below with the traffic jam, you'11 see a cattle truck (the most common big truck here) with a ton of people in it. Most of the time, there are more. Just like the pictures you see of the middle east. I also saw today a flatbed with people just sitting around the edge with their legs dangling — over speed bumps, around turns. Also, a lot of the tour vans drive with their slider door open. I'm not sure if this is for air conditioning or what, but it is just crazy to see all the things here we used to be able to do in 8o's!

I was not sure about accommodations when I came into town. The first hotel I had routed to did not look good at all, so I elected to go into town a little further to the highest—rated hotel in the area. Except, they only had a room for that night, and not the following (was planning on taking a day off to catch up on things). It was getting late, so I went ahead and stayed there. Getting there was quite an adventure! I had followed Google map directions right through an outdoor mall — it was super embarrassing.

You'll have to check out the video at the end. A quick shower then off to find food — back through that outdoor mall place. What a sensory overload in there with music, people shouting and selling everything, and just barely even able to walk! It was the equivalent of probably several hundred yards long.

Gorgeous sunrise hearing out of Rio Dulce

Another local biker in front of me (much older than me)

Most of the road was really good - with a shoulder and not so much of a "curb"

This situation is what I have to watch out for the most, especially of there is a semi or other big truck coming up behind me.

I have to go over those mountains to get to El Salvador. Ughhh!

Today's ride: 94 miles (151 km)
Total: 692 miles (1,114 km)

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