Last day in Guatemala...

The town of Sayaxche

After getting out of Chisec, I tried to make one more stop in the town of Sayaxche, from where I could hopefully visit the ruins of Ceibal.  I arrived in town around noon, and wandered the streets for 3 hours looking for a hotel.  I finally found a little concrete block cell that I could have for $13 a night.  Way overpriced considering that this wasn't a high demand area, and all I got was rickety old fan, uncomfortable bed, and the sweatiest bathroom imaginable.  When I started to take things out of my bag, I found that my camera had been stolen.  Pretty sure it was the ayudante (the luggage guy on buses), as he saw me put it away just before getting on the bus.  Not totally bummed about the camera itself, but it's sad to lose all my pictures...

The next morning I started the search for a ride to Ceibal.  According to my book, I could catch a ride on any southbound vehicle and get off to walk 8km through the jungle to the ruins.  And again, every driver told me that he couldn't drop me off and that there was no way to get there.  Taxis wanted $25 for a one-way trip, and this would still leave me stranded when I finished.  Not gonna happen.  I returned to my hotel, defeated, and tried to ask if there was anywhere in town that I could rent a bike.  Nope, but maybe one of the construction workers renovating the place would rent their bike out to me.  Ah, now this is what I'm all about.  The kid didn't seem thrilled about the idea, and wasn't convinced that his bike would make it on the 30km round trip ride (half of which was down dirt roads), but the girl running the hotel convinced him to let me take it.

The internet tells me this is what I missed.  No big loss...

It was far too small, the brakes didn't work, and I had to stop to re-inflate the tires every 15 minutes, but somehow I made it down the highway and out onto the back roads.  Some of the rocky, downhill descents were a little frightening, as I had no brakes, but after a long hot ride, I made it to a fork in the road with no signage.  Probably due to wishful thinking, I took the downhill branch, which led me to a tiny river community, but no ruins.  I found out there that I should have taken the other fork, and now had to ride 2km back uphill in the heat of the day.  I finished the last of my water, and started the uphill slog.  It was getting pretty hot, and I was beginning to feel the heat.  After taking a few increasingly long rest breaks in the shade, I knew that I wasn't going to make it.  If there was no water at the ruins (and I had no idea), I'd be in trouble for the ride back, and I just couldn't risk it. 

I pedaled back slowly, just dreaming of the tienda that I had passed on the highway on the ride in.  During one rest break, an old cowboy caught up to me and sat down on a log to rest as well.  We had a brief conversation, and it ended when I tried to say that we could really use some horses (caballos) to make the trip easier.  He didn't say anything and gave me a confused look.  I may have said we needed onions (cebollas).  I always get those two confused...

I finally made it back to Sayaxche and the kid wanted $13 for 4 hours of bike rental.  It should have been $4, but I hadn't agreed on a price beforehand, and he wouldn't back down so I had to pay.  I scrapped any plans of continuing on in Guatemala.  Tikal can wait for another trip.  My string of bad luck was just too much, and I figured maybe Mexico would turn things around.