Day 39 - September 10th

Time to head to the third city in Guatemala! We packed our bags, had some more deep fried banana for breakfast, and hit the road. This highway was one of the least consistent we've seen. Smooth rolling corners often end suddenly with gravel piles, caves, erosion, or cows. Then Dave saw a sign. "Hahaha that sign looks like if says 'bridge destroyed' in Spanish!" he says... Turns out he was right. Today marks our first river crossing. 'Cross' that one off the bucket list! Finally rolled into Antigua Guatemala and found a place to stay. Acting on a tip from Duncan from Horizons Unlimited, we found the municipal police compound, which let us camp in their field for free. The place was a hole... With broken down buildings, potentially corrupt police officials looking for bribes, maybe a family or two live here...? Whatever. We don't have to pay them anything, and it seems pretty well guarded.
The city seems somewhat touristy, but not as cool as some of the other cities we've been to recently. Oh well, lots to see while wandering around. We found a place that changed Dave's rear tube which solves the slow leak problem too! The guy was a beauty and did it for about $5 in only minutes... Well worth the cost!
After that, we went to the bar for supper and met Arne, the German airplane engineer. We traded stories with him and Louise, the New Yorker bartender. After an hour or two, Louise gave us shot vouchers for the bar next door! While over there, we met Joseph, who owns a motorcycle tour business here in Antigua. He's done a similar trip to ours, so we're going to meet up with him tomorrow and get some wisdom! In the meantime, it's back to the police compound before curfew.