Lovely breakfast in our colonial hotel followed by a quick orientation chat from the waitress. Walked around town and visited the open air museum and church next door. We rode out of town and decided to cycle around the smaller volcano first. As soon as we entered the eastern part of the island the road changed into a gravel and rock nightmare. Somewhere close to Merida village a spoke snapped on Teresa’s bike. The not very sophisticated bike repair shop was not able to provide 28 inch spokes! He told us that we should be fine to cycle to the main town like that. We tried to go around the island but the road just got progressively worse . We gave up and got back to lovely “Ojo de Aqua” – a peaceful tree covered lagoon with every variety of birds from the island flying above it. An idyllic spot for sunset retirement after a hard graft on the bicycle. Not having booked a place for the night we had to cycle fast trying to cut towards the beaches on the other side of the island.
It took us much more time than expected and we ended up cycling in the moonlight. Arrived in the port of San Jose del Sur and met a Dutch guy on a BMW motorbike traveling from Alaska to Bolivia in South America. He was setting his GPS and we were desperate to find a place to stay (and find out where we were). In the end we went for the closest beach spot and found an oasis overlooking the lake. The staff was very helpful and the hostel grounds joined a much posher hotel. We stopped, pitched the tent and watched the world go by while tucking in to our packed supper and available Wi-Fi from the hotel next door. Paradise!!!!
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It took us much more time than expected and we ended up cycling in the moonlight. Arrived in the port of San Jose del Sur and met a Dutch guy on a BMW motorbike traveling from Alaska to Bolivia in South America. He was setting his GPS and we were desperate to find a place to stay (and find out where we were). In the end we went for the closest beach spot and found an oasis overlooking the lake. The staff was very helpful and the hostel grounds joined a much posher hotel. We stopped, pitched the tent and watched the world go by while tucking in to our packed supper and available Wi-Fi from the hotel next door. Paradise!!!!
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