Friday, 17.04.09
San Pedro to Tela
98,9km, 5:33h, Ø17,7 km/h, 390hm
Went to bed at 8:45pm last night, but didn‘ t fall asleep till way after midnight. It was so hot in the dorm, the fan didn‘ t really help, was only loud.
So there was no way that I could get up at 5am. I slept more or less till 7:45 am, ate some peanutbutter-jelly-burritos for breakfast and checked my e-mails at the as I see it overpriced internet at the hostal (20L/30min). And by 9am I still didn‘ t know what to do. Go to the Bay Islands and spend some more time at the Carribean Sea, maybe even take a dive-class there, or keep on cycling south towards Nicaragua.
When I was finally ready to leave at 9:30am (!!! pretty stupid idea when the air is already boiling !!!) I decided -for no particular reason – to go to the Bay Islands. That meant that Tela was my destination for today.
The first 30km to El Progreso were pretty easy and I got there by 11am. Time for a BK snack? Why not! Again a gunned security man at BK, so my bike was safe;-). After a small chicken sandwich, small fries and a small sprite (yes, it was all SMALL) I was on my way again. After 15 more km I was ready for a coke. That was no problem at all today because there were pulperias (small stores that sell drinks and snacks) all along the road. Then it became a bit more hilly, even hotter and my stops more frequently.
I was just fighting with the longest climb of the day when a bus passed me and I saw Michael leaning out of the window yelling Aaaaaaaaanjaaaaaaa. So I knew that they were on their way to the Bay Islands, too. But since it‘ s a dead-end-ride to La Ceiba they left their bikes in San Pedro Sula what actually seems to be a smart idea. Most of the day there was no shoulder or a gravel-dirt-shoulder which didn‘ t make cycling too much of a pleasure.
For about 7km I had some company along the way from a honduran guy who lived in California for a while, so we talked a bit in a mix of spanish and english.
Then, at my last coke-stop at a gas-station I ran unfortunately into a bus-load of american tourists. They stared at me and asked my tons of questions what usually doesn‘ t bother me so much, but most of those questions were just too stupid, like So, what do you carry in that bag?. Hellooooouuuu!?! What could a cyclist possible carry? A parachute maybe? Aaaaarghhhh!
More by accident I ended up in front of the hotel I picked out of my guide-book. I asked for a room and decided to spend some more money as usual to get AC and a TV. I really need to get some good sleep, without sweating all night long. The room is ok, but I definitely wouldn‘ t eat of the floor here, what my guide-book said you could do here because it‘ s supposedly so clean (and, yes, the book is the Lonely Planet).
For dinner I had tuna-salsa-burritos, now I‘ m watching some TV and will go to bed soon.
Good night
Anja