15396 km Guatemala City

After a couple of nice and relaxing days on Ometepe island I headed out again to further explore Nicaragua. This sounds a little easier then it actually was, because somewhere in the first days of cycling in Nicaragua an insect bit be on my calf muscle. Whatever bit me, penetrated into the muscle and started an infection. Cycling was painfull and this did not seem to go away. I made it to Granada where I decided I needed to have this looked at. I went to a clinic in town where a doctor had a look. I was lucky that Chris, an american that speaks Spanish very well, was so friendly to accompany me and function as a translater. I am fine handling smalltalk, talking about hotels, food, cycling etc in Spanish, but a conversation with a doctor is another matter. A nurse cleaned the wound by pressing hard on the affected muscle so all the pus and crap could come out. I thought I’d die on that table, this was truelly painfull.

They then informed me I needed to take antibiotics and return to have the wound cleaned for another 7 days. I did not feel like being stranded that long, so I asked if I could not do the cleaning and patching up myself. The doctor was luckily fine with this. I stayed a few more days in Granada to let the leg heal a bit. No punishment because Granada is a very beautifull town.

I made a daytrip to Laguna de Apoyo for some beach and sun and another trip to the beautifull active Masaya vulcano. I was truelly impressed by the forces of nature at display. Sulfer and smoke coming out of the vulcano and a view of the lava at night, quite an impressive sight. Unfortunatly you can’t stay up more then 15 minutes, due to the fumes erupting from the volcano. A shame because it’s amazing to look at.

After Granada I headed to Leon. A nice ride via Managua and Lago Xolotlan. After Leon I headed for Honduras and El Salvador. Many travellers skip this section of Middle America for safety reasons. I figured it was managable, but I have to admit I was a little anxious going there. I went through pretty fast. Just a day through Honduras, not enough to say anything meaningfull about the country, but the people seemed friendly enough and I did not encounter any problems. Same for El Salvador which took me 3-4 days. I did notice insane levels of security in El Salvador. Every restaurant or store has a guard with a shotgun in front of it. Banks are usually guarded by 5-6 people armed to the teeth. 

After clearing customs in El Salvador I headed into Guatemala. I made my way to Antigua, a beautifull colonial town, with lots of pretty churces, monasteries etc... It’s situated between two volcanos which make it even prettier. One of these volcanos is still active and you can hike up the other one for some spectacular views. This hike is no joke and about 6 hours of very heavy climbing. Making it to the top is totally worth it though. Every 45-60 minutes the volcano erupts, which makes for a beautifull show. You can actually feel the earth trembling under you just before the volcano erupts.  

This morning I headed to Guatemala city. Not a long ride so it gave me half a day in the city here, which I feel is just enough. Apart from a nice cathedral, there really is not that much to see. 

I’m heading of further north tomorrow, first to Coban and eventually into Mayacountry. The first of many ruins I will visit is Tikal. I’m really looking forward to that. But before that, there are some mountains that need to be shown who’s boss!

Take care all and until the next update.