Tire tubes and friends-

When the times are rough, friends come out from nowhere to make the road easier.
I had a tire tube blow and it threw me down in the middle of the road.
I quickly picked myself up and was stuck. I was left a little bloody and scratched up as was my bike and saddle bags. It was the second tire tube that I blew; actually the sidewall of the tire had split. I went through two tubes before I realized the problem with the tire.

There I was stuck 20 miles in the middle of nowhere in southern Guatemala. I put out my thumb and in the matter of minutes I had a ride. I ended up in some small town, and the only problem is that I did not have any money in the local currency. I was hoping to make it through to El Salvador where I would withdraw some money. I had Mexican pesos and could not change them anywhere and this little town had no place where I could get money and so there I was stuck, and it seems like whenever I get really stuck there is always a blessing in disguise. The lady of the bike shop gave me some lunch and told me in the next town over there was an ATM. I was able to get a new tire even though it was twice the size of my back tire and I had to then bike to another town to get money so I could pay for the tire and tube. I did not even have money for a bus ride, so they trusted me to put on the new tire and tube without payment. And in the end they only charged my $5 for the tire and three tubes, which was less than a third of what they cost.

Such kindness made all the pain of my scrapes and the cut on my hand seem to go away, like the waves on the ocean shore difficulties seem to diminish with the action of love and kindness.