4 days, 2 bikes, 1 lake - Bike trip around Lake Atitlan
Every year my brother and I make plans for Christmas together that normally involve a trip to somewhere in South or Central America. With our family living overseas, it’s often just us drinking beers on a beach or hiking volcanos. The only semblance of tradition is our yearly viewing of “Elf.” This year, we decided on Guatemala, and to mix it up a bit, we decided we’d do a bike trip. We settled on a route around Lake Atitlán that fit our tight schedules. Quinn had tracked down a local bike shop with some bikes before we arrived, but we weren’t 100% sure if the owner had two bikes available. I joked I could just ride on the handlebars like we used to when we rode our bikes to the mailbox growing up. At the shop, we met the owner Edston and looked at the first bike. It was probably 30 years old, about my size, with shifters on the down tube, and a nice soft saddle. Edston, pulled out the second bike and explained that it was his personal bike. We hesitated a bit, surprised at how willing he was to lend it to us. Slightly bigger and just as old, Quinn stepped over it and it seemed to be a decent fit. After we road them around the cobbled streets in front of the shop testing out the brakes and shifting through a few of the gears we shrugged and smiled at each other, having already made a bond with our bikes. We negotiated with Edston a bit and landed on a deposit amount and a deal to return the bikes, unharmed, in five days. After picking up some tools, spare tubes, and thanking Edston, we took off back to our apartment to pack. We had a friend coming with a truck the next day to pick us up and drive us out of the city to Godinez where we’d start our trip.
Click below to see the full write up at The Radavist.
