It is Sunday night and Dane, Scott, Levi, and I made it into Guatemala. We crossed at the town of Talisman. The ride to the border was easy. Maybe 15 miles. We planned an easy ride after everybody got cleaned up, cut their hair, did laundry, went shopping, and went online. The border crossing was a hoot.
At the Bodega(Walmart in Latin America) a guy rode up next to us and said hi. This guy was right out of a Saturday Night Live skit. Super old white reeboks. Docker pants rolled up to his shins with white socks. An old Nike hat with the front folded like a taco. His bike was an old 1980 something. He has an accent and looked stoked to be talking to us. We all chatted and he said he was going to Guatemala on his bicicleta so our wolf pack has again increased by 1. Making our wolf pack run 5 deep. His name is Alex and we immediately hit it off because he is from Romania and I have been to Romania 3x. I have done construction projects and served in orphanages there. I have a place in mi corazon for those Romanians even if they look like a Chevy Chase National Lampoon character on a bicycle.
So we get to the Guatemala border and Chevy Chase decides to just ride on through without paying. I was like sweet- we have a fugitive in our wolfpack.
The rest of us did it the legit way. We stopped. Got everything stamped. These things usually take about an hour and there usually is a little bit of a run around but you get it done rather quickly in my opinion. So i figured we lost Chevy Chase but we began to ride up a big hill and there he was. He immediately said "what's a matter did they want some if your money back there." HILARIOUS. The guy just barrel asses through an international border crossing on his bike. Doesn't get his passport stamped and makes jokes about it. It did t surprise me later on when he started talking about authority issues etc. Don't get me wrong I'm definitely not a fan of governments, but when I travel internationally I DO get my passport stamped , obey traffic laws, and be polite. One-I think it's applying the golden rule pragmatically and two-I think it's bad karma to travel and spread bad vibes around.
So Chevy Chase it definitely a wild card, but he's rad, and his accent is great.
Oh yeah my helmet got stolen today. Oh darn. I rode across all of Canada in 2009 and didnt wear one. I ONLY wore one this time because my room mate and bro Davin decided to wear one when we left Ohio. Man I hate those things! They just make you sweat and they make you look like an alien from a Star Trek movie. So no i won't be missing it.
So in a showing of solidarity Scott threw away his helmet when he found out mine got stolen . See the wolf pack is bonding and remains strong.
Tonights meal was again just delicious. Scott and Levi cooked up pasta, chorizo, beans, onions, and salsa with tortillas around a nice fire from wood they collected. We camped in a field and Dane met some local kids and invited them to dinner. Man Dane meets new people everyday, befriends them, and just speeds the love man. He's a good dude. So we ended up with 7 people around a campfire. Myself, Levi, Scott, Dane, Chevy Chase, and these two local kids. GOOD TIMES. I'm gonna watch The Endless Summer now on my IPhone.
Hope you all had a great day
Ride4water via Iphone4
