Trans Americas 2009 - The Blog

I woke surprisingly early, mainly because Jim was up and about, and despite his best efforts, his gentle murmurings woke me from my slumber. I was grateful, though, as I wanted to see the sunrise, what with being on the East coast and all... only when I got to the beach, resuming my sitting position from just a few hours earlier, I discovered a large amount of clouds obscuring the horizon, making sunrise something of a non-event. Still, I was up early enough to attend to some other chores, and so before breakfast (which wasn't available until 8.30am), I went to change the plugs on my bike in an attempt to help alleviate the starting problem. When I got the old plugs out they were in a poor state, the gap much bigger than the recommended 0.8mm, and looked for all the world like they'd been in the bike for a long time... much longer than the 8,000 miles since the last big service before I set off, and which I recall included a change of all 4 plugs... But with them changed, the bike started first time and purred like a kitten (ok, perhaps that's an exaggeration, it being a boxer engine after all). Happy as Larry I went to breakfast...

Despite a return of Montezuma's finest revenge (I put it down to too much beer, red wine and tequila, but it's a lesson I doubt I've learnt yet...), breakfast was good, a plate of scrambled eggs and toast and jam. Full, Nick and I headed off, glad to be riding together again, and with Nick very happy to be leading one more. The early morning ride down the coast was much cooler and less humid than the ride in yesterday afternoon, but soon the day warmed up and the humidity levels increased. Interesting fact time, as I feel I've been neglecting the educational element of the blog recently... humidity is often expressed as a percentage (called the relative humidity), and this is in relation to absolute humidity which is the point at which the air is completely saturated with water vapour, unable to absorb any more, which in turn varies according to the temperature (as the hotter the air, the more water vapour it can absorb). So, 100% humidity means the air cannot absorb any more moisture, and thus if you sweat (because it's also highly likely to be hot) then the sweat can't evaporate and you can't cool down, so it feels even hotter than it is... Which is a roundabout way of trying to describe what it's like here, riding in around 80-85% humidity meaning that even with the wind-blast flowing through the few vents, we're riding along like a boil-in-the-bag meal...

The route was pretty straightforward, an ideal way for Nick to get back into the swing of things, with straight roads and very little navigation required... or so we thought, until we caught up with Ed & Lorraine at some roadworks and a deviation, that took us off the road we were on and onto another one. Ed turned left into the petrol station, Nick went straight on, and I also turned into the petrol station, working on the premise that the road we'd been on had been heading one way, and now Nick was heading another... a quick chat with Ed whilst watching the other traffic and we realised the deviation actually went through the petrol station and out the other side, rejoining the road just past the intersection where the diversion started... as we'd realised this, Nick re-appeared wondering where I'd gone, so we put him straight and off we went again...

We stopped only once, briefly, when we spied Chris and Danielle having lunch in a roadside cafe, but with me still feeling the after effects of this morning, I opted just for a bottle of Fresca (lemon pop) and so did Nick, before we set off again, with Chris & Danielle tagging along as well. About 20 miles from our destination we saw some interesting looking stalls by the roadside and so stopped... can you guess what they're selling?





Perhaps a closer look...





No, it's not tequila... it's honey. And very fresh too, although I'm not a fan... Nick bought some for his toast in the morning, a sure sign his stomach has recovered completely... Whilst we were preparing to leave, a large queue of traffic appeared behind a smog-producing truck, and Chris & Danielle managed to get off before they reached us, but Nick and I were too slow, so joined the queue near the end, and sat breathing in diesel fumes for a short while, before I'd had enough and overtook Nick, and then worked my way past the queue, knowing Nick would follow in his own time. Before long I was free, and once again able to breathe the humid but fresh air. On arriving at the outskirts of town, I pulled over to wait for Nick, and when he arrived we set off again, only to stop immediately at a set of traffic lights, where an enterprising young chap on a scooter asked if we were heading to the Hotel Los Arcos (we were) and volunteered to show us the way. I politely declined, but off he set anyway, pointing for us to follow. Which we did, bit only because he also seemed to be following our route notes, and soon we were pulling into the hotel car park... seemed he was a tout for the monkey island trip and assigned to the hotel. Monkey Island? Let me explain... here in Catemaco there are 2 islands in a lake where monkeys that used to be used for research were released around 20 years ago, and now the islands are a tourist attraction, with lots of boats running tourists out the island to see the monkeys... bet you'd like t see some pictures of them, eh?

Well, tough, because like all Globebusters trips that have come to Catemaco before us, no-one, not even me, could be bothered to go to see the monkeys... how sad... but we did check into the hotel, get showered and changed and go for a wander round town, which proved interesting enough... First, a view of the lake and monkey island(s)...





Perhaps now you can see why we didn't bother going...

The square was much more interesting, with a strange church that looked almost Moor-ish, resplendent in blue and white with a big domed roof, with 2 main turrets at the front the only real sign it was a church not a mosque (well, that and the beautiful stained glass windows...).





Outside the church the topiatrist (assuming that's the name given to someone who practices topiary) had created a beautiful tree-house...





Another interesting fact about the church, is that my Internet research shows it used to be brown, not the blue and white it now is! After a good wander we grabbed a fresh doughnut from the bakery (the smell was irresistible and I figured it might help with my problems...) and then went and put shoes and socks on, heeding the warning about the night-time insects that love to bite your feet if you're wearing sandals, before heading out for a beer in a nice bar on a jetty out into the lake...





I only had the one, in deference to my condition, and then having read the menu headed to another restaurant to eat, which was a good choice as the food was very good (spicy shrimps cooked in their shells). Whilst finishing our meal we watched a lightning storm covering the entire horizon, bringing the hope of another wet day tomorrow (!) but at least lowering the temperature and therefore the humidity a little...