It was a day of sweeping descents followed by some climbs to reclaim the altitude. But if you worked the downhill correctly you could eat up most of the coming hill. It was as much fun as a roller coaster ride at an amusement park. Many people were taking advantage and flying down the hills. There in lies the cloud darkening the day. Several of the ladies from Canada were having a blast taking the downhills at good speeds. But on one curve the smooth pavement turned into rough patches of tarmac. One of the ladies didn't negotiate the curve and flew off the road. She literally flew off the road into the jungle. I came upon them and saw one calling down into the jungle. When I heard the other answer I was shocked. I looked into the jungle, it was very dense. I saw her bike stuck up in a tree four feet in the air. I then saw her laying all crumpled up about 50 feet down the ravine. We both rushed down. The rider was laying there in a good deal of pain. She had difficulty breathing and had pain in her lower back. Her friend was a nurse so she triaged. It was not a good scenario. Some locals had come up through the jungle and we tried to get across that we needed a board. Finally one of them a woman got it and shouted at the others. They came back with what looked like a piece of siding from one of their houses. We managed to get her onto the board and we carried her up out of the ravine and to the road. After a good bit of time the tour vehicle came with the medic. They loaded her on board and rushed her to the hospital. She was diagnosed with a couple of cracked vertebrae in her lower back. She was transferred via ambulance to another hospital in Guatemala City for further evaluation.
It put a somber mood over the group and the day. We are still waiting for further news.
On another note, one of the other riders got a message from his bank that his card had been compromised. Someone had cloned his bank card and was draining his account. Since many of us have used the same ATMs, I decided to check my account. And yes, in Antigua my ATM card had been cloned and they had already taken almost $2,000 out of my account. They were making charges in the Dominican Republic and taking money out of ATMs in Quito, Ecuador. They even did a balance inquiry to see how much they could take! It was a delight (sarcasm!) calling back to the states and talking to my bank to shut down my accounts. Twenty five minutes on the phone, transferred to four different departments and spoke to six different people.
I had only used ATM machines at bonafide banks. Which would lead you to conclude either the banks were in on it or key employees were.
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