Sunday - Finally, we got rain!!!
The forecast keeps saying a high chance of rain but we've had none the first eight days. When we reached our lodge this afternoon, a drizzle started and we enjoyed watching it from our covered patio.
We've stayed at some great places on this 'trek' and tonight's lodging is the newest with very nice rooms with hot showers. Every rest stop has had wonderful, friendly, gracious staff or hosts making us feel welcome. Last night, we just asked 'do you have ice?' for our soda we had with us. The hostess said 'yes'. 15 minutes later, a car pulled up and a guy ran up with a bag of ice. I have no idea how far he came or what it cost. So, we are now careful what we ask about!
Anyway, we had breakfast at 6 to get in a shuttle van at 6:30 and start hiking at 7:15. We have 10 people plus the driver in our van rides from the trailhead to our lodging. Some of the drivers are like bats out of hell and some of the vans are held together with piano wire and prayers. But, it all adds to the adventure.

Today's hike was somewhere over 20km but estimates range from 24 to 26 kilometers. We finished in under 8 hours including a short lunch break right on the trail rather than a restaurant. It was a serious long uphill over a mountain range followed by a long downhill into the next valley. The beginning and end of our day was on paved road with the rest degrading to a rocky path in the middle section.

Being a Sunday, there were many people frolicking in the rivers we crossed. We also encountered a lot of bike riders, motorcyclists, cars, and even a pair of horse riders.
I found a big chunk of sugar cane along the trail so it was hacked up and shared at a break.

We passed the half way point today which makes it hard to figure out how we reach the Pacific in fewer days, but we'll see how it goes. We still have not reached the highest point of the trail so there is more elevation to gain.

We have been pleasantly surprised to find that many of the places we stay will have our clothes washed for a small fee. It's quite a luxury to have clean clothes nearly every day!

The food today was finally a reasonable amount instead of way too much. An egg and fruit breakfast, sandwich lunch on the trail, and chicken vegetable soup for dinner were all tasty and plenty of calories, especially with a couple snack breaks thrown in. I might have actually burned it all off today.

We crossed a bridge with a sign bolted to it stating it was by the U.S. Steel Export Company and built in 1941 (WW2 era). Another traffic warning sign said it was in a poor state and only 1 vehicle should cross at a time.

No injuries, no drama, everyone seems to be doing well so hopefully the rain stops overnight and we continue on tomorrow.