Читать книгу From the city of angels to the land of fire. Danny Beer, gringo on tour - Danny Beer - Страница 39

You set the alarm for a quarter to seven and although it does wake you you decide to remain semi conscious in the nice warm bed. Tortas make a nice breakfast. You enjoy some very nice local coffee too.

It is 19 km to the next town, Santa Rosa. There’s not much there but you could probably pitch a tent there or at the restaurants a few km before and after town. The road keeps heading up until you reach the summit 37 km later. It rains hard and there is nowhere to hide. You continue on until a few km after the summit you come to El Vidrio. There’s not much there but you find a restaurant to shelter out some of this rain. Apparently there is a hotel in town but you’ll be damned if you saw it.

The views up would be nice if they weren’t clouded by, um, clouds. The rain doesn’t seem to ease up at all here so you press on. Not far down the mountain the rain stops and you cruise in luxury. You hit a stone and your front tire immediately goes flat. The tube is fucked. The tire is fucked. The rim is fucked. Luckily you picked up a spare tire yesterday and of course you now have a few spare tubes. The rim is fine as long as you don’t mind a clunk, clunk, clunk, every time you use the front brake. Looks like you have a few things to replace in Oaxaca.

Thirty km down in the valley is San Pedro. It is a descent enough sized town with a hotel. But it’s not on your map. From there it is a grueling 34 km up hill to almost the summit. It gets dark. It gets very dark. Energy levels drop and you start walking. Well you still are going two thirds of your pedaling speed. Besides, after riding in wet cycling shorts all day your inner thighs are red raw.

You find a restaurant. It is open but no one’s about. Barking dogs soon wake the owners though and dinner is served. They even let you sleep inside for the night. Dinner costs thirty pesos with a free hammock. They don’t have any change and you only just have enough so give the rest over anyway. It’s not much of a tip but they are grateful and it makes you feel like less of a sponge.