Thunderstorms my last night in Mexico turned off my fan, and thunderstorms now my first night in Guatemala.  I did not feel the 7.1 earthquake in neighboring Honduras which occurred on the Caribbean coast.  I’m near the Pacific coast.  Entering Guatemala was easier than entering Mexico.   (The next day I found out I did not misunderstand when I thought they said the charge was treinta, but took my hundred quetzel bill when I hesitated and gave me no change).  I did not have to pay an extra fee for my bike.   My dogbite is healing fine.  I’m keeping it clean, changing the bandage every day, and keeping a close watch for infection.  I felt a tingle in my leg while riding today; but it was the other leg.  I did have a tetanus shot last February.  I’m now further east than St Paul, MN, and have been since Pijijiapan.  Through Central America I’ll be heading east more than south.  Though this is still the Central Time Zone, Central America is not on Daylight Savings Time, so it’s an hour earlier here.  Panama is in the Eastern Time Zone, also not on DST, so it’ll be the same as CST through Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru until the DST change in the fall. Trucks and buses here are older than those in Mexico and belch much blacker exhaust that chokes me. Many are from the US and still have US towns on their doors.  I found new inner tubes my size in Tapachula and bought a new chain when I arrived here in Mazatenango.  On my 1975 trip, I was the one taking photos of the locals; now the locals are taking photos of me.  Cell phones are common and many have cameras.  Some folks burst into laughter or applause at the sight of me cycling by.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 29th, 2009 at 19:57 and is filed under David's Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.