The Posse Rides Out

August 10th and 11th

We finally meet up with the other half of the team in Quiche and ride out in a posse of four. It's amazing how clean Anna and Ali look after a month back in civilization and I just hope all those baths and clean clothes haven't turned them soft. We've got a day to find out and then another ginormous day of climbing.

3 wise monkeys....

For now it's rolling hills and corn fields and it's just great to be back together - perfect riding....

There's a buzz in the air, a steady drone of insects and we are regularly bombarded by winged killers - huge, orange and mean looking. The fields are loaded with wild flowers, coaxed from their slumber by the rainy season, now well into it's stride. I brave a close up of this 2 and a half inch monster hornet, it's bright thorax just screaming warning. He must be carrying a pint of poison, and his stinger looks flick-knife nasty as he says 'this flower is mine, MINE I tell you'.

Wisely I decide to let him have it....

Maybe the bright orange acts as camouflage amongst the vividly coloured blooms....

We stop to buy fresh picked apples from a group of Mayan women at the road side. It's also a good excuse to get some photos of their fabulous traditional dress. The colours of the skirts and the intricacy of the lace blouses is amazing, and all hand made....

It's stark contrast to the modern western dress now adopted by most Mayan men. Only in the smaller, more out of the way villages do you find men in traditional garb....

We overnight in Sacapulas in the deep valley of the 'Chixoy o Negro' river. Here the road joins the main route in between Coban and Huehuetenango which the guide book describes as 'The Most Beautiful Road' in Guatemala, a bold claim given the competition.

It starts with a massive climb, as do so many scenic routes. The view back along the river valley to the now distant town where we slept last night....

The road is steep and unrelenting as it carves a tarmac scar along the hillside, whilst the land under the green vegetation is white and chalky. It is mined for building materials and cement, however, this is not any kind of advanced industrialised operation. Instead the rock is hacked from the mountain side using pick axe and shovel. Men hover on ledges with 100 feet drops below them dangling from ropes tied precariously to trees. It's hard and dangerous work....

But then so is cycle touring and Sue stops for a breather, her face aglow with the effort of the latest mountain to fall beneath her wheels....

After a brief brake test on the drop down to Cunen it's back to the climbing. Cunen is corn country and a processing town for all the corn fields we rode through yesterday. Huge tarpaulins are laid out at the roadside covered with ears drying in the sun....

We time a lunch stop to coincide with lunch at a local school and some of the bolder kids have sneaked out to buy drinks and the occasional cigarette from a local store. A small crowd gathers as word leaks out of gringos on bicis. They gather round to wind us up regarding the lack of a car and they fail to comprehend the concept that anyone could possible cycle out of choice. Confusion reigns....

Woah!!!! What is that??

John Windham was right!

TRIFFIDS.....

Spotted just outside the town of 'Uspantan'.