Pedal's Up!

[an excerpt from my paper blog in Guatemala 02Nov08]

Man, this morning I was thirsty. Danielle and I may or may not have a bit more wine than necessary last night, but it sure was worth it. I had breakfast this morning on the rooftop and sat in admiration of the volcano in front of me. Today there really were no clouds to speak of blocking the view, and what a view it was. Pam came up and joined me in listening to some Jason Mraz and chit-chat.

The morning meeting proceeded immediately by a walk over to Old Town Outfitters for the bike fitting. We got rides, helmets, gloved, water bottles, and new members of the team. Wilber, Juan, and Luisa all worked with the Old Town and accompanied us on the journey. Wilbur manned the support vehicle most of the time. I should mention that Anne Marie last night was ill from what we think was the meal we had last night. She ordered something on the menu that no one else did, and since no one else was sick, that was my deduction. Because of this, she had to bow out of the activities today, but I secretly think she wanted to catch up on some Bravo and MTV programming :) . Anyway, we set off on the cobblestone trail out of Antigua.

Earlier, I had bought a watch (blue version of Danielle's) for the ride and in general as I was sick of using my no-servicio cell phone as clock. The bikes we had were unlike the ones I am used to; these suckers had good shocks, 30-ish speeds, and some attitude. Juan was the trailblazer, and for the most part I seemed to be not far behind and close to Abbie for much of the way. Biking out of Antigua and toward the other villages in the vicinity was a very nice change of pace fro how we had seen the countryside thus far (granted this was really our 2nd full day). Chicken buses: not on this tour. The chance to ride by a family with a little girl smiling and saying 'hola' to us was something not soon to forget. I noticed some kids were attempting their English with us...apparently we are pretty obviously Americans :) . There were various plazas or central squares we stopped at with old Roman Catholic churches. They were beautiful, and I liked that we didn't have to tour them.

Valhalla, an organic macadamia orchard was a cool little diversion from the trail. Jodi had not previously planned this one, so it was a new experience for all involved. I had to say it was pretty cool to see how they process the nuts, sample some, and hear the operator compare her orchard in its 'diversity of trees and nuts like like we are all different nuts.' She recounted this theme a little bit more than necessary I thought, but it was comical nonetheless. After getting our complimentary facials with macadamia oil and chocolate w/ nuts samples, pedals again were up on out next destination: the women's co-op.

Here the 10 women involved in their co-operative showed off their techniques, culture, dance, and shared with us the history of the place. To sum it up, the women of the town wanted to gain some independence and show the men they could really be someone. They took their craft of weaving and turned some profit in support of local schools, medical attention, and their own livelihood. It was pretty fascinating to see that these women had enough of sitting in the kitchen and accepting it. Viva la chicas! I bought a table runner from them; Danielle wanted to put wheels on the place and take it with. I loaded up on the H2O and barreled down the road with the group back to Antigua. This time the path was more direct and with less villages to stop at, although it was largely uphill. I realized that although I may not be in the greatest shape, hell I did it!