Hey to all my friends in the world.

Long time no hear ha?

I am sitting in the house of Isaac the Israeli ambassador that welcomes me in Guatemala City.

Since the last time that I wrote you all I finished my trip in Mexico and I entered Guatemala. Mexico was great but I was very happy to enter Guatemala.

The Mexican reactions when the saw me on the road were always a surprise for me - again and again, I felt that they have to say something when they saw me, and they can say anything from only "you" to "what's up nigger…"

One time a guy that worked on the road looked at me and said: "I love you" but I don’t think that he meant it because he didn’t knew me….

Any way, the last 2 weeks in Mexico were nice and I had many nice conversations about life with a local farmer that asked me about my journey.

It was in really nowhere and I needed to camp somewhere because it started to be late.

He was very surprised to see me but he was OK and very friendly.

"Why you don’t do it (going around the world) on a plan?  Why on a bike?  Why alone?

With my poor Spanish I told him that this is my dream ("sueno") and that this best way to see the world and on a plan you don’t see any thing.

"Haaaaaaaa" he said "but why don’t you go with a car? Cycling is hard and long"

"Car is also too fast and I like cycling"

"Haaaaaaaa, but why not on a motorcycle? Cycling is very dangerous you know…"

I know.

I have also been in the nice beach town of Porto Escondido, a place with nice girls and big waves and amazing sunset. and in the last night in Mexico I asked to wash my hands in a restaurant on the way and I saw a dead iguana on the dishes and I don’t know why I didn’t think that this is a clean place… and it was after I ate!

When I crossed the border to Guatemala I was happy. A new country means a new dream. Like most of my dreams that started hard I needed to climb from 200 m to 2800 m in one day. In one day in Guatemala I learned a word that I didn’t learn all my 2 months in Mexico and its "suvida" (climbing).

 I like to climb but even for me a 50 km climb is a little complicated but after that I finished climbing I felt like I am the king of the world, my world. From the first day in Guatemala I felt that I'm in love. Love at first sight. When you see the people walking with their normal clothing I feel like you are back on time.

Guatemalan people and places are so amazing that you don’t need to be a photographer to get the most beautiful photos, you just need to know how and when to click on the button.

When you get to the most beautiful places in the world you just have to click.

In the middle of a long day on the highest point that I cycled (yet) in my journey (3200m) one child hypnotized me. I don’t know how to explain it but I could look at his eyes for hours.

Because of the great hospitality of Isaac and his wife Osnat I feel like home in Guatemala City. Isaac Bachman is the ambassador of Israel in Guatemala and together we did really nice things. With his help I gave 2 lectures in schools here in Guatemala and also have been on TV and radio news.

 I really like to talk with children about my journey, children are the future and if I can give something from me that will influent their development, I did my job and it doesn’t matter if it's in Canada or Guatemala or Africa.

About the media, it's nice to walk in a village and the locals recognize you and even buy you a beer just because you are going around the world.

I think that every traveler is an ambassador when he is out of is country. I present my country in a new way, not the way that they see on CNN but a way of a dream and hard work.

After the nice itinerary that I had in Guatemala City I wanted to take a rest from the journey after 14000 km in less then 8 months I felt that I am in the middle of the beginning of my journey. I wanted to be a normal tourist and went to see amazing places in this small and beautiful country but now without my cycling costume. Guatemala have a lot to offer from the ancient ruins of the Tikal, a place that you can see how big and amazing was the Maya culture, to the amazing Atitlan lake.

Because of the media in Israel, some Israeli travelers recognize me in the streets and it's nice to hear what they are thinking about me.

"Are you the one the cycling around the world?"

"Yes"

"Wow, on TV you look much bigger"…

2 days ago I hiked to the Pacaya volcano. It's an active one and to see this amazing river of lavas was something to tell to my children. There I was and 5 meters from me the lavas is going fast and it was so hot that I felt that my hairs of my beard started to burn… (And also the 2 hairs on my head…)

After taking some amazing photos, I took my time and burnt some marshmallows on the lavas. I don’t really like marshmallows and I think that it’s a children's snack but when it comes from volcano lavas I felt like the strongest man on earth.

I meet many interesting and happy people here in Guatemala and I learn a lot from them. I get along with anyone and I can learn from anyone, from the ambassador that has a lot of responsibility to the simple farmer that has nothing but cows.

The last week was the first time that I took my time and wandered around in a country and it was great but I have to go. I miss the life on the road.

If you think of that in the ancient times most of the people live in the village near the river and now I can say the road is the new river because when there is a road there is life. The road is life and my life is the road.

In my journey I can't collect souvenirs or buy gifts because I will not carry that so I am collecting friends and memories and those memories will be with me forever until I will die and will be on the way to another heaven.

 I feel that I didn’t write for long time and I  don’t have the time to tell you everything that I saw and all the people that I met on the way…but I am saving something for my book that I will write after my journey .

Love you all and be good.

Roei "jinji" Sadan

bike.icq.com

Hi to all my friends and family in the world.

Right now I am seating in a small internet cafe in the town of Puerto Marcez, a small town just near the city of Acapulco in the south of Mexico.

In the last month or so I started to understand the way of life in Mexico. The Mexicans are very funny and easy going people. I have so many funny stories to tell you all and I am happy to have photos to help you understand what�s going on.

Since I took a ferry from Baja California to the mainland of Mexico I have been cycling along the pacific coast.

Some times the view from the road reminds me of the coast in California but unlike California here I need to work hard to cycle along the coast�see, the road is very stiff and climbing to the top of the hill and then descending to a river and again climbing� I know that the climb is a good one when I see trucks on the side of the road stuck with a broken engine...  

But there were also flat days on a nice coast with many palm trees by the way.

 Mexico is a developing land. I can be one day in a small village where no one knows English with chickens and wild pigs around in the dirty streets and another day in a tourist town (Puerto Vallarta, Acapulco) where you can see a Starbucks cafe and Wal-Mart around and don�t worry about the language, because the taxi drivers also know French sometimes�

Back to the past or back to the future?

To Camp in a small village at someone's garden is a great way to know how simple the life of the local people are. They invite you to their small house and share with you dinner.

With my poor Spanish (still learning) I can understand some of the questions that they ask and we enjoy a good time together.

 I had the longest day in my trip (yet), I cycled 168 km in one day.  For those of you that think its too much I need to say that for me it was just like another long day in the office. The days are starting to be long, and I have many hours of strong sun to cycle.

I put tons of sunscreen every day ,sometimes I forgot to wash my hands and by the taste of my food I know if I put today the 45 s.p sunscreen or the 50 one�

 Anyway, in the small towns every restaurant is a family restaurant.  Most of them are inside the family house and I find myself mostly in the middle of the room with one child crying, one doing homework , the dad not doing anything and the mom washing cloth while making my breakfast.

One day I stopped in a small restaurant and I asked the father:

-"What do you have to eat here?"

-"We got everything! What do you want?" he asked.

-"ok, I want eggs with tomatoes and onions" I said.

Now he starts to shout at the children.

"Huavos (eggs), tomtas (tomato), savoya (onion), tortias (kind of a bread)!"

Immediately I saw all the children helping out.  One went to buy the tomatoes and the onions, one went to bring eggs and the third somehow got the tortillas�

I find myself thinking a lot about my past, as a small child (As a child I was never actually small in size�). When I see a child I see the past, but for many of my friends in may age when they see a child they see a future, their future but I am not in that stage yet...

Think for a moment: What runs through your head when you see children playing?

Back to the past or back to the future?

On the way someone asks me where I am going, I told him the name of the next town and he said:� Its only 1 hour by car so its 2 hours on a bicycle��

I saw in my map (which isn�t so accurate) that it�s like 80 km with some climbs, so I asked him if he ever cycled that road before:� No, but my friend did� he said.

After more than 3 hours I reached the town and I thought to myself that the friend of the Mexican must be Lance Armstrong�

In one rest stop I saw a spider walking near me, I am sorry but the right word is tarantula and not a spider. A spider is an animal that you can squeeze with your hand and a tarantula is bigger than your hand! He was so big and I was so excited to see him that I took photos of him and in the evening I showed the photos to one kid and he looked at me like he was an Israeli kid looking at a photo of a dog�It's only a tarantula he said to his mom and I felt like an idiot.

In the nights I am trying to sleep by the beach with amazing sunsets and a hummock, good life. Like the US navy sign says: no beach out of reach for me. 

Acapulco the city was the most complicated city that I crossed in my trip (yet...).  The city is located between 2 Mountains and is a very busy town but also very beautiful. On my way up the first climb after 10 minutes I started to �bless� all the drivers that almost hit me in all the blessings that I know:  English, Spanish, Hindi and Nepali (I know to curs in many languages�)

But only when I curs in Hebrew I really meant it.

In the center of the town I saw a tiger! Yes, yes, a real one. Just in front of me was a big car with two tigers inside� I asked the people what's going on and they told me that there is a circus in town so it's ok�it�s a very normal thing to see I thought�

And if you ask why I am not staying in the big town I will tell you that it�s not for me, I need to rest and it�s hard to do it in a big town that you don�t know anyone.

But there is another problem with the big and nice cities on the coast, actually it�s my problem.

They are too romantic for me, and as an adventurer that is cycling around the world, alone, it�s very hard for me.  I feel lonelier in those nice places, especially, when I see couples walking hand in hand with the sunset behind them, it reminded me of the past when I had a girl with me in this kind of places and how amazing those times were�

Now in days I can say that I feel lonelier in those romantic places with many people around me then out in the Himalayas alone in a snow storm.

Many of you would like to hear about the night I had company in my tent�.It was by a small village on the coast, I camped on the sand and went to sleep.  In 3am I felt something touching my shoulder and when I opened my eyes I saw a very special thing. Believe me that I saw special things during my journey: Bears, whales, and sharks in the water, crabs, tarantulas, tigers and when I opened my passport I saw my photo from 8 years ago.

But to open my eyes in the middle of the night and to see a big crab (Sartan in Hebrew) waving with his claw 5cm from my eye was a very special moment in my life...

I jumped from my sleeping bag and started to think what to do with him. (After I opened the camera�)I just brushed my teeth but I wasn�t hungry to kill him so I picked him up with my bike tools and lifted him away from my tent. Every time that I want to laugh, I just watch that film in my camera.  Fighting with a crab in the middle of the night �

 For the future:

In the next 2 weeks I will be on my way to Guatemala City.  I will go to see the ruins of the tikal and will take a bus to Costa Rica to meet my good friend Jeff that I stayed at his place in san Diego after all my stuff got stolen.

If you think that I am doing shortcut in my journey you don�t know me�I will take a bus back to Guatemala and will start to cycle again from the same bus stop south to panama and then to South America.The beaches are nice but I really miss the mountains

Back to the past or back to the future?

I hope that I made you smile with this mail and don�t forget to know where you going �

It is better to live one year as a tiger than one hundred years as a sheep.

Love you all and be good

Roei "Jinji" Sadan

BIKE.ICQ.COM

Hi to all my friends and family in the world.

Before I will start to tell you what I have been up to in the last 2 weeks I would like to ask you all a simple question: What is the biggest ship in the world?

If you know the answer, beer is on me next time we will see each other. If you are wrong you will have to put my website in your favorites�The answer is in the end of this mail.

Anyway, the last 2 weeks were great. I started off from the place all my stuff was stolen, took a deep breath and started my life again.

Baja is a great place to cycle with many beautiful and different things to see.

First, the desert is amazing with really giant cactuses, so big that I didn�t see something like that in my entire life, sometimes you see some wild horses and the animals that you see the most are dead cows, eagles and crows that are eating them.

The bad eagles are standing on the big cactus and waiting for someone to die and it will be on their menu for the day.

I really like to be alone in the desert, it is only me and mama nature.

Couple of days in the desert and then it was time for the ocean and the amazing sunsets there and then again to the desert to see a mirage amazing oasis and to reach the sea of cortez with dolphins and with the sun rising from the sea.

You have to be very cautious and confident in your riding when you are in Baja, the road is very narrow, 7 meters (more or less, mas o menos) with no shoulders, try to put 2 big trucks and a bicycle and its going to be a tight one, trust me I tried it�

But I think that the truck drivers in Mexico are very good because they always pass in exactly 15 cm from my shoulder� but after some days on the road I am beginning to understand how to deal with them: When I hear that they are close to see me I turn my face around and wave to them like they are my best friends in the world and while they pass me I am doing signs to honk and they really like it. Like me, they also get bored sometimes and to see a crazy guy on a bicycle waving to them can be very exciting. There is a good chance to meet again with the same truckers and after a week everyone knew me.

About a week ago I looked at my bicycle computer and saw that I reached 10.000 km in my journey so far!!!!!!! That was a nice moment and I celebrated it with a glass of water (the Champagne of nature�) and danced a really nice dance with Amuna (my bike).

10.000 km is a nice number but I want more and more.

I don�t know why but after a week in the desert I started to see very strange things, one time I saw a face on the rock that reminded me of the rock man from the movie "The Never Ending Story". Let me know if you also see him and if not I can tell you it might be because of the long days in the sun�.

The Mexicans are great people, very nice and friendly (when they don't rob me�) and

It is very funny to hear the Mexicans say my name: sometimes I am goei or oei but never Roei!

The California gray whales migrate south every year from the arctic waters to give birth and mate in the baja California warm waters.

One day I accomplished one of my little dreams: to see big whales really close that you can almost touch them!

There, I was on a small boat ("panga") in a big lagoon ("oche de libre") and these giant mammals are swimming next to me and then "I thought" (sometimes I do that) "why am I here on the boat?" It took me 5 seconds to jump. I've never been a good swimmer and the whales were too fast for me but I think that if you put a whale on a bicycle he won't be as fast as I am!!! It is all about the right perspective in life�

When I was swimming in the water, in front of me I saw the splash of the blowhole of the whale and it�s one of the most amazing scenery�s in life.

After I jumped again to the boat, the other tourists (2 Germans) looked at me in a weird way and asked me a simple question: "How did you Jump? It is so cold!"" I thought" (yes ,yes ,again in the same day!) of giving them a simple answer." It was a good way to get a free shower�"

Now I am in La Paz (Mexico) and tomorrow I am taking a ferry to Mazatlan in the mainland.

I needed to push myself in the last 3 days to get here on time to the ferry and I'm a little tired but I will rest on the boat (I have 18 hours to do that).

The last section of the Baja route was the most boring road I cycled, for 300 km (2 really long days (I was cycling in an endless flat road with nothing to see, no mountains in the horizon, no ocean in the area) I felt like I am cycling on a machine in the gym because I didn�t feel like I'm going somewhere, always the same cactus and same straight road.

In these boring days I started to understand how many things I can do while I am cycling:

I can talk to myself, I can argue with myself, I can sing, dance, read the map, think about all my friends and family, take photos, and more.

Be sure that I prefer cycling on a big mountain with snow storms than to cycle in this kind of road.

Just for killing time I started playing with myself games (I know it doesn't sound good�) I am looking on the road, picking a far tree (or cactus) and gambling how much distance will it take me to pass the cactus�

Today I met a friend for a day, Yoske, a Japanese cyclist with a Hebrew name. We cycled together for a day.

Baja is big (3 times the size of Israel...) and I have at least another 2 months in Mexico.

I am writing this mail and it's the 25th of January.

Half a year ago I said goodbye to the people that I really love and care in Israel, kissed my mom and took a flight to Alaska. I will remember that moment all my life, I was in shock, I was very sad and even cried.

I thought to myself: "Are you are really going to do that? Do you know how big the world is and what can happen to you in these places?"

But after 1 minute on the gate of the airport a young women looked at me and said:

"Hi, I saw you on the TV news yesterday! Good luck - you are an inspiration to me."

I put a smile on my face and thanked her for saying that.

6 months in my journey.

Many things I saw and many people I have met.

I am strong mentally and have confidence in my way, but I don�t think that I could sit here and write to you about my journey if it wasn�t for my friends back home.

You all gave me the back wind when I really needed it.

This journey is mine as is yours.

Thank you for that.

Before I will forget:

The biggest ship in the world is friendship. And now, to cycling who do I owe a beer?

See you in your favorites.

As some of you requested I am sending more photos feel free to put some on your desktop photo�

"But we never gonna survive unless we get a little crazy" (seal)

Love you all and be good.

Roei "jinji" sadan.

http://bike.icq.com

Hi to everyone.

I know that I told you that my next mail will be from Mexico, but a lot of things can happen in one month and only 1000 km.

On the first day of the New Year I was so frustrated in a way that I haven't been all my life.  In the middle of the desert all my stuff was stolen. I went to the toilet in the valley under the road for 3 minuets and some Mexican took my entire house, 3 minutes I didn't watch my bags and it's gone.

Do you know someone that his house was stolen?

I felt stupid, angry and miserable and I almost cried.

I screamed like I never screamed in my life:

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

I had luck that they didn't take "Amuna" (my bicycle), my camera bag and the small handlebar bag that was with me.

I was in the middle of nowhere (the closest village was 50 km away) and the sun was strong. I sat down on the road for 10 minuets trying to think what to do next; I knew that I needed to go back to the states to organize new equipment in order to continue as fast as possible.

I decided to stop some police cars. When I saw "policia, policia" I told them my story and they looked at me and starred: "Who is this crazy guy that looks like hell and has only a bicycle with him in the middle of the Baja desert?"

I was really down mentally and then I saw this smiling cactus that was next to the road (photo #1), and started to think in a more perspective way.  I got all the really important stuff on me: my bike, passport, money, camera and my diary. Sometimes the dream becomes a nightmare but it is still a dream and a big one-I was only 800 km from San Diego so it could have been much worst.

From the sky came two angels (Jeff and lefty), Two American surfers that stopped to see what's going on.

"Hey dude, we are going to our house in san Diego. Do you want a ride?"

We drove to the police in the next town, they told me that it is not the first time that something like this had happened in this area and that their are some bad people on the way "at least you didn't see them because they could have hurt you "

San Diego- Here I come!

"We know some people that know some people in the TV news channel, maybe they will be interested in your story" Jeff told me. The day after I was in the news channel smiling and telling my story.

http://www.fox6.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoId=401286@video.fox6.com&navCatId=5

One day I'm in the desert in Mexico and in the next day I'm seating in a nice house watching myself on the HD TV.

In my birthday I was without my house, but with good friends making lemonade out of fresh lemons.

My first birthday in the big trip out of at least 2 more to go.

I'm almost done organizing all the equipment that I need.  Some people that saw me in the news called and told me that they will drop me on their way south on the same place that I stopped.  On Saturday I will continue my journey from the same place.

I want to tell you a secret:  It can happen again and it is part of the adventure, it wouldn't have been an adventure if it was 100% safe on the road.

On the week that I was in Mexico I had a really great time: nice people, great food and simple life like my life-What can be simpler then taking a bike and cycling around the world?

I love the Mexicans but if I will see a Mexican guy walking with a "north face" jacket in the middle of the desert I don't know what I will do to him.

I'm learning Spanish but meanwhile I am talking with the Mexicans my "jinji" language: a language with some little Spanish, little English mixed with a big smile. 

Also in Israel, people knew what happened to me very fast (on TV) and if you didn't see it, here is the link:

http://news.nana10.co.il/Article/?ArticleID=530760&TypeID=1&sid=126

Thank you for your supporting mails, you are my fuel.

Please don't worry I'm ok.

In life like in the mountains:  The only way to know what is the feeling to be on the top of the mountain is to start from the lowest place in the valley.

"I just want to live while I am alive" (Bon Jovi).

Love you all and keep on smiling.

Jinji