to Ipala: volcanoes in the clouds

June 20, 2017

"Where are you headed?" the runner going downhill shouts as Rachel passes by going uphill. "Home to Boise Idaho!" She shouts over her shoulder. "Hey, I'm from Boise!" He shouts back. Small world, we turn around and have a chat with him for awhile.

A later start today, no worries about the heat and a shorter distance. The road deteriorates as we leave town and no shoulder. The first 18 km are undulating with a few short steeper inclines, we had a break at a gas station for hot coffee and muffins. Then we have an awesome 10 km downhill, and even better, the road surface improved greatly so we sailed down!

Just before leaving CA1 onto 3, we stop at a gas station and eat our ham and cheese sandwich. It's good that we had this as today there were no roadside stalls fixing food. The 15 km climb also had a few steep sections and views of hillsides covered with corn. People are friendly shouting "amigos" instead of gringo.

The two hotels listed on Ioverlander are on the outskirts of town, both look nice but isolated. We continue on in to town and find Hotel Pena almost across from the Centro Mercado. The street is busy! We carry gear up to the room and bikes on the balcony. There's a clothesline under the roof of the balcony, we hang our wet clothes from yesterday's laundry, wash a few more things and hope for the best that things will dry. Or at least dry enough not to be too uncomfortable put on tomorrow, after all, this is rainy season and chances are we'll get wet.

The internet is surprisingly very fast and consistent. It's lunchtime so we head out to find the Chinese restaurant, do some shopping for snacks and water, then relax the afternoon until it's time to venture out again for dinner. That, we find in front of the church and plaza...food stalls selling tacos 3 for 10 (about $1.50).

Three days to Rio Dulce and our paths will cross with Jenny and Curtis Shaw, http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/CJBikeTours2017

We've been following each others blogs, they are heading South as we go North, and finally we will meet.