The rolling Gringo

5am - wake up call by hundreds of birds in the trees next to our hotel. But as we had a long day ahead of us, this was a good reason to get up early. We left Sayaxche, passed some rainforest where we could hear monkeys again and had a first stop in Las Pozas, a busy little market town, to have some bread. The route had been VERY hilly, right from the beginning, so we had burned our breakfast calories already. Afterwards, there was a long straight stretch of 30km with no curve - still rolling up and down though.
When passing the villages, the kids all called us "gringo". It was funny at the beginning but kind of annoying after the 100th times. It must also be the first words kids learn as even 2-year-olds screamed "gringo" as soon as they saw us. We felt a little bit like in a zoo, because once one kid saw us, they called everyone else in the house and neighborhood to come out and see us. I fear it will be like this for another 11 months or so...
Once the straight part ended, the scenery was stunning, turning mountainous again. The road was still rolling: 50m climb, then down, then up again. At some stage, we needed a break and were happy to find a guy who sold melons. Even though we paid a tourist price, we still very much enjoyed the fresh fruit!
We arrived early in Chisec where we wanted to stay for the night. Hotel options weren't too good. In the end, we decided to stay in a run-down, but very cheap one. Thus, we could better spent the money on food. I think we also looked quite hungry: at the bakery, the guy put more bread in our bag as we ordered (no extra charge) and in the restaurant they gave us bananas for breakfast on the way. The people here somehow know what we need 😉Read more