Hard “Work” on our day off

By Sam Bondurant and Lucas Smith

Brrrrring. That was the sound of alarms around the hotel Meson de Valle before we embarked on our epic mountain bike journey. A breakfast of French toast and eggs got us going as we headed out for our first non-work day. The Guatemala trip involves 6 days of work on the homes and two days (the weekend) of activities. Even though we weren’t working, strenuous physical exercise was in store for the “estudiantes” of this Guatemala trip. As we lined up on a white wall in preparation for our bike ride through the villages surrounding Antigua, the Guatemaltecos who walked by began to reciprocate our foreign behavioral patterns as they took pictures of us, as if they were the tourists.

Westminster bikers lined up against the white wall, a site to see for the locals

The bike ride started innocently enough, as we made our way through San Pedro de las Huertas and Ciudad Vieja to the macadamia nut farm, where we learned the art of sustainable nut farming. Surprisingly enough, the machines used at this farm were not reliant on electricity and were instead self-sufficient. We got to observe the epitome of what we at Westminster are striving to achieve with the Green Initiative.

Carter beating the motorbike down the streets of Ciudad Vieja

Up to this point, the road had been flat, albeit full of potholes. However, Guatemala is essentially a series of hills and, the down-hills and flats stopped soon after our stop at the macadamia nut farm. In a convergence of unfortunate events, the guides informed us, “You need to be at the Coffee Plantation in 15 minutes, before it closes. It’s only like 5K’s away.” So, we split into two groups, the “wanna go fast but safe” group and the “let’s enjoy the ride in stride” group. According to Sarah and Danielle, “By the time we got around the corner, y’all weren’t there anymore.”

Traveling in the peloton with Bill "The Situation" McGahan in thelead

The lead group maintained essentially the same pace in spite of the insidious hills and cobblestone streets and made it to the coffee plantation in time for a tasty cup of Americano, medium roast.

The guys at the coffee plantation with Pancho, our guide who heads to Puerto Rico next week to compete in the Central American mountain biking championships

Our group heading through Ciudad Vieja, a town hit hard by the mudslides in March

Andrew, Jose, John, Lucas and Sam. Any bananas on the tree?

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