Getting out of the jungle

The rain in San Miguel Quetzaltepec did stop, just at the point we were about to say "fuck this/hilft ja ned". When I wanted to get some peanuts for the road when leaving, I nearly bought local unroasted coffee beans in a supermarket, which is a pleasant catch in multiple ways; I don't want to chew on coffee beans. (By the way, the coffee that you find in the rainforest, brewed locally, doesn't taste like coffee and is worse than the instant coffee we ourselves are making for breakfast.)

We started cycling /pushing our bike up more than 10% hills again and realized that it actually was a rainforest. We just didn't know how big it was. As Kathi put it on day one: "wow, this is endless 😍". And on day three: "wow, this is endless 😵‍💫😭". The riding was frequently beautiful with amazing vistas, but we really wanted some signs of civilization again: not having to ask around for food, having power, maybe even internet reception. We have already given up on expecting good or decent roads, though.

We camped twice, first by asking a farmer if we could acampar on his land for a night (between the f*cking ants), and the second time by following a river downstream and, again by asking, camping on a beautiful spot next to cocao beans and seeing tucans in the morning. We did have to cross a river by foot for that one, though. And we might have gotten ripped off by a jungle grandma we stopped at for lunch.

The initial road we planned went straight through the country, and we deviated from that to now go through a shorter route, close to the Pacific ocean, to tuxtla. On the way here, ciudad Ixtepec, we found the end of the rainforest and with that again dry and hot lands. We both had no idea however, that the rainforest that we were in, stretches all the way to north of tuxtla, so we will catch up with that again in about 4-5 days.

Today, the rest and restocking day, we had among other things some good tlayudas, huevos, chilaquiles, and horchata. We visited the local market — as I learned an excellent way to see culture and local people — where, as in so many places, the first row of stores were all selling the same stuff, chicken, then all vegies, and then some other stuff. The way of organizing (?) these is just remarkable.Read more