Some final reflections
Over the last three months I toured through Central America on a bicycle by myself. I started my journey in Cancun (México) and cycled all the way down south to Panama City. On my way, I passed through Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Initially, I still thought of making it all the way to Lima on this trip, because I wanted to go back to my first entry point to Latin America (I spent 6 months studying in Lima in 2010). Yet, I quickly changed my mind, as I realized that this is not realistic at all. Further, I wanted to explore the countries beyond what is on the right and left of the Panamericana. Travelling through all of Central America in three months was already pretty tight. Moreover, I had planned to do this trip with a friend (Manni, da haste echt was verpasst), who opted out the day before we were supposed to board the airplane in Frankfurt. At first I was scared to be alone on the road, but in the aftermath I am happy that I did this alone. I vividly remember the moment when I started cycling from Cancun airport - I seldomly felt that free and alive. In total, I cycled more than 5.100 kilometers and climbed more than 60.000 meters of elevation. The largest share of the elevation gain can probably be attributed to the Guatemalan mountains. Of the 93 days I spent in Central America, I cycled roughly 2/3 of the time (62 days), which gave me just enough time to recover from time to time, both from cycling and from reoccuring diarrhea. Sometimes I had the urge to visit more places and spent more time there, but one cannot do everything in a single trip, especially if you have to move all your stuff and yourself by pedaling. Next time info such a trip, I will try to bring down this ratio a little bit. I met multiple other cyclists on my way, and it seemed that cycling with your girlfriend is the best way to slow down and take more time to discover the places you visit. This was definitely the most intense and most enriching travel I have done in my life so far, both mentally and physically. I discovered and pushed many boundaries further than I deemed possible. On average, I cycled 80 km (max distance was 130 km and the max elevation gain was 2.500 meters) on my 17 kg steel-frame bicycle (VSF TX-800) per day. The bike was usually loaded with roughly 15-25 kg of luggage. The variation mainly comes from the amount of water I was carrying. I often asked people I met on the way to try to lift up the bike and nobody managed to do so on the first try, because they didn't expect the bike to be so heavy. Over time, moving this iron horse forward turned into an almost pleasant routine. Distances that seemed increadibly long in the beginning turned into something normal and doable. However, steep mountains stayed a tough challenge until the end, despite of many weeks of almost daily training. I had to push the bike up several times, because it was simply impossible to cycle up steep dirt roads with such a load. Sometimes, I thought of selling or throwing away some of my belongings to loose weight. Already after two weeks I sent back my SLR camera and some clothes. In the subsequent weeks I lost (e.g. flip flops, towel, boardshorts), gave away (e.g. my second pot, spare tire), and used up (e.g. tubes) some of my cargo, helping me to reach an acceptable weight. It is interesting to realize that one doesn't need a lot of things to survive. After all, I managed to climb all those bloody hills, except one time. After my chain already broke 3 times when cycling up the dirt road of Playa Santa Teresa (Costa Rica), I found a friendly Swiss guy with a big truck who brought me up that vicious mountain. But against all rationality, one developes this pride of not using any motorized vehicles on such a tour. I was definitely not ready for this challenge, but my body transformed accordingly over the course of the weeks. I first lost quite some weight, which I subsequently regained as I started eating for two persons. My legs turned into well oiled mashines, which surprisingly didn't have any issues except for being constantly sour. I got the typical cycling tan, being exposed to the intensive Central American heat for many hours every day. I also had to get used to sleep under tough conditions, as I slept in many different places, which were mostly not very quiet nor very comfortable. Nonetheless, I managed to rest, no matter if it was a parking lot filled with aggressive dogs or an old freight container parked next to the Civil Protection station in David. The mental challenge on the other hand, was not as easy to adjust to. I was alone on the road for long periods of time, with few options for distraction. Sporadic encounters with foreigners on the road turned into exciting little events. Inbetween, I had a lot of time to think. I was exposed to my inner self, to my fears and my dreams. In the beginning I still tried to "use" that time by listening to podcasts, but at some point I simply enjoyed being mindful and absorbing what I saw in my surrounding, which was more than enough to deal with. I never thought through things as exhaustively than during this trip. In the past, I would rather numb myself with all the possibilities society offers to not think about your feelings. The challenge of having so much time to think is obviously to not go crazy, especially when you go through relationship troubles or don't know what to do next in life. Yet I think, I maintained my mental sanity. I learned a lot about myself and had many development opportunities. I think dealing with different types of fears were the dominant force behind this. Being a rather introvert person, it was quite difficult for me to approach unknown people and ask them for help, especially when being tired after a whole day of biking. But out of pure necessity I quickly overcame that hurdle. Moreover, I learned how to accept help and gifts from foreigners. The first time some grim looking guys on a motorcycle wanted to help me fix my chain, I was still reluctant and only a bit later realized how subconscious prejudices influenced my emotional state. These guys of course didn't want to rob me, but only wanted to help. Equally challenging for me were situations, where I realized that somebody with very scarce resources is giving me food and shelter with no expectation to receive something in return. Another fear I obviously had to deal with, is the fear of being robbed by somebody. When you are constantly told by people on your way, how dangerous the next town would be, those thoughts obviously start to creep into your thinking. During my time in El Salvador and Honduras, I was definitely afraid of being robbed by the gangs (also called maras) that still keep those country in chaos. Especially, after one experience where I was being watched closely by a group of tattooed badass gangsters, who later turned out to be members of the notorious MS18. In that occasion, I was lucky and a friendly man helped me to escape that town quickly. After all, I didn't spent that much time in these two countries, because I definitely had to grabble with that fear. Another big fear that accompanied me along the way, was finding a safe place to sleep almost every day. But after a while I was able to gain confidence and trust in always finding something. Once I found out that all fire stations and many churches always provide a roof and a shower, I got much more relaxed. I also did a lot of wild camping, but it is always nicer to have some basic accommodations like water. I started the journey with few concrete expectations in order to be able to really live in the moment. Nonetheless, there were a couple of things that were different than I expected. I started with a lot of ideas for what to do, like visiting sustainable farms and interviewing chefs to find interesting recipes. But, cycling sucked so much energy out of me that I could barely do anything else. Further, it is not that all those interesting things are right next to the Panamericana. I tried to get off the main road as much as possible (e.g. visiting Sartaneja in Belize or surrounding peninsulas), but road conditions in more remote places were usually very demanding. Further, I only red a small fraction of the books I had loaded on my kindle and after a while I stopped writing lengthy blogposts, because I simply did not have the energy. On the other hand, I definitely underestimated the hopistality of the Central American people and their curiosity for this guy looking like an alien with his helmet and fully loaded bicycle. So, I guess overall my expectations with regard to what I wanted to do on this trip were not met, but more than offset by the amazing experiences I had interacting the people I met on the way. Releasing my agenda and letting things happen really made the difference! On my way, I was often asked, "why are you doing this?", or better "why do you have to do this?". Many couldn't imagine why somebody would do such a trip voluntarily and asked me if the German government or military had sent me. Well, I know why I did this trip (see my earlier blog posts) and did not regret it for a second. In contrary, I am already dreaming about crossing Africa or Russia on my bicycle :)
