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currently writing from a nice hostel in coban. they’re playing elevator music in the background. (POSTNOTE: it turns out the music is coming from the restaurant which shares the same space. the restaurant ‘el bistro’ is by far the best meal i’ve had since i started the trip. the food (european style) is awesome and so is the service. it’s basically a 4-star restaurant, in a casual setting….and where entrees go for $8-15.
so, it turns out that the road north of lanquin turns suddenly from a nice paved road into a shitty dirt/stone road….which is on a hillside and about 50km long. after a couple miles, i came to my senses and decided to head back. looks like i’ll find another way to tikal.
it turns out that my decision to head back was correct. about 30min later, as usual, there was rain. this time it was quite bad. it even hailed stones about 1-2cm in diameter. i’m quite certain the sentra and i would have had to stop. in fact, when in coban, there was one relatively steep cobble street. near the top, the senta’s front tires weren’t gripping (i wasn’t slipping…but wasn’t moving either). i would have been much more nervous doing that on the edge of a cliff.
but two good things came out of this offroad experience. 1) i no longer hate topes (tumulos in guatemala) or cobble stone as much; and 2) i no longer feel the desire to travel on the world’s most dangerous road (in bolivia, google it!…it’s pretty insane).

offroading