Day 18 - Jalopa to San Juan de Pinula

Beautiful rural Guatemala but 95% gravel and so much climbing (7,700 feet over 52 miles) made for a very hard days ride. Initially it was sandy track through little villages with subsistence farming. Several times we were passed by people on horseback plus the local bus was going up and down disturbing sand from the dirt road and picking up people for church. There was lots of music in the hills coming from these various churches - it is noticeable that the poorer the area, the more small churches there are. Lots of people were clearly in their Sunday best going to church, with lots of pretty dresses for the girls.
When we got to the top of the first climb we stopped for a coffee in a local shop - we asked whether she got many tourists - no she said - about 5 in her time there ! We were over 2.500 metres so it was quite chilly and first time putting a warm jacket on for what was an amazing sweeping descent with views at every turn. We were starving by lunch at 1pm - we had been riding since 7am. The afternoon was hard - steep gradients and rocky hard packed dirt. Every bit of our bodies aches from the pummelling descents.
We have a log cabin as our hotel room for the night. There is a log fire that John lights (and a camp fire outside) and our external balcony has a hammock.Read more