We left Guatemala by hoofing it up some serious hills in the rain. Due to weather and elevation gains we were forced to spend the night at the border, but we found a very nice, albeit simple, place to stay at a family inn. The water turned brown around 8 in the evening due to torrential rain, and there was gum stuck to the wall next to my bed, but we were dry and cool. Good enough.

In the morning we crossed into El Salvador - that makes 5! The initial ride was lovely - the weather was beautiful, the road was freshly paved, and it was 10 km of downhill! The first thing we made sure to do was stop at the grocery store. We made an unsuspected discovery of a new pastry - semita. It was just dense, flaky pastry filled with fig jam. Delish! As we continued on we felt very fortunate for our situation. The traffic here has been far more sparse, and the road conditions much better. It's wonderful to actually get to enjoy riding again.

The first city that we cruised into was Santa Ana. Rough around the edges is an understatement. It had a feel similar to Belize City - not the safest place, and not enough money to go around. We hunted for spokes for Eric (yeah, they've been breaking again...sigh...), but without much luck. In our whirlwind tour of the city we saw the huge, gritty market, and took advantage of all the fresh produce and got some for dinner. We also swung by the fancier (relatively) center of town and each had fresh fruit juice. Also delish!

The main reason for stopping in Santa Ana was to avoid San Salvador. The homicide rates are through the roof in the city, violence is often at random, and traffic and pollution are oppressive. We thought it best to avoid the situation. So, finding some spokes that would do in a pinch, we made a run for the coast. How beautiful it is! We happened to be in the right place at the right time and met Carlos. He was staying at a friend of his' summer home, and invited us on in to stay. And we did - for two days. Carlos and his family left, but we were well taken care of by Miguel, the groundskeeper, and his children. We went for early morning swims on the deserted black sand beach, ate local food, laughed with the kids, ate delish banana bread, and relaxed after a week of mentally tough riding. And, I'm happy to report, I have nearly made it to the end of War and Peace. I'm just bummed that it won't make it home to my library - we are ready to ditch the 696 page hardback sucker!

After leaving Playa Mizata we wound up in an equally welcoming but totally different situation. For the first time in my life I attended mass. Back to the beginning...As we go further south 'problems' seem to be getting heavier, so this is a part of the world that we have been looking for more help in. After getting out of a particularly sketchy town that we stopped into for a grocery store and internet cafe run, we needed to find a place to stay. The hotels in the area were through the roof because of the international airport, so we decided to humbly try the church. Without a moment's hesitation we were invited in, offered cold drinks and the TV remote, and that was that. We stayed with three Catholic priests, and one of them was giving mass that evening at the national academy for public security (police academy), so we attended even after professing to adhere to no religion! Afterword we were taken out to dinner for pupusas - delicious discs of corn and rice flour filled with all sorts of delish combinations - and horchata. In the morning we tried to say thanks by cooking oatmeal for everyone, but we were outdone by the heaping bowls of fruit, rolls, yogurt and fresh squeezed orange juice that were subsequently brought out. We tried!

We are currently in Usulutan in a quaint little hotel where a girl "From Jersy" met us at the door. You never know where you will run into English speakers! We spent our afternoon attempting to guzzle 2.5 liters of grapefruit soda between the two of us; cooking beets, rice and a can of pork and beans; heating and pouring olive oil into Eric's ear to relieve the ache he has had; watching the lightning illuminating the volcanoes in the distance; and desperately trying to catch up on internet tasks.

I can't believe that we have come so far and yet so little. We always overestimate how many kilometers we can do in one day even though we have had 5 months of practice, so it always feels like we are behind schedule. And yet, we have no schedule to be behind on. So I try to enjoy all the moments that come to us, enjoy the fact that we have no timekeeping device, enjoy when things get tough, enjoy the obnoxious yells that we get, enjoy making good and bad all relative, and love knowing that the goal is everywhere in between our start and finish points.

Photos: Sugar cane fields, the Pacific!, Miguel and his family, corn fields, two of the priests and their 4 dogs, the watermelon we purchased for 25 cents