This evening I climbed a ton of elevation and took some nice long rests. The days are so hot I thought it might be a good idea to do more riding in the early morning and late evening. After a great meal at a scenic overlook I did some descending in the cool evening air. I passed by some potentially decent camp spots but I was feeling like continuing. After the descent the road immediately went to shit. Major construction work was being done, and that also meant all the areas on either side of the road were inassessable. Eventually as it was about to be dark enough to warrant getting lights out, I pulled over to look at a potential spot along the river. There was another guy chilling there on a bicycle and he told me I should go back to the last town I passed and sleep there because the river is dangerous and the road is bad ahead. I really should have just kept going... I told him I preferred to sleep here and then he pointed out another spot, behind a giant rock that was not so bad. He said he worked security for the town/construction and he would prefer I went back to the town but this would be ok too. I thanked him and started setting up my tent. He left. 45 minutes or so later two other guys came, they wouldn't have seen me from the road so they must have been tipped off by bike guy. They also were security officials (actually just one was, the other came along to help translate). They also said it wasn't safe here. Thieves, murderers etc etc. Apparently a couple years ago two Norwegian tourists were killed in a town called Imlil, which is like 40 miles away, also in the mountains.... Bitch I'm from the 9th ward, fuck off and let me sleep. I told him I feel safe here and I would prefer to stay. After some back and fourth he called his boss and after taking pictures of my passport they said I could stay here, and apologized for bothering me and for scaring me (they didn't). "Good night, thanks!" Then, about another 45 minutes later, after I'm nearly asleep, three actual police came. I heard them pull over and it took them another 10 minutes or so until they actually found me. God damnit, y'all are starting to piss me off. Everyone was very friendly, but still, come on! They told me it was very dangerous because of the river (no mention of thievery etc) Apparently there was a land slide earlier today, they showed me pictures, which didn't really look like anything other then construction work. my guess is it was equally due to the construction and the river. He said the weather can change at any minute here in the mountains... It was perfectly clear, and there was no rain in the forecast at all... Plus the river was bending such that if any eroding riverbanks were to be avoided it would have been the opposite side of the river. This was absolutely not a dangerous spot for anything river related. I tried reasoning with them for a while but they were firm and eventually I just gave in. They assured me I wouldn't have to pay for a place to stay. At this point I just want to go to sleep, and I'm thinking they're going to take me to a room at the police office or something like that. I packed all my shit up, which isn't that fun when you just finished setting everything up like 15 minutes ago, and rode the mile or so back downhill to the tiny Town, surprised to see it was still bustling, at 11:30pm. When we got into the town I pulled over and asked the cops, who were following me, where I should go. They had no fucking idea... Fuck. Security guy number two was waiting there, and they asked him and he just walked across the road to a little ditch and the pointed to a little area walled in on three sides, full of trash, smelled like piss, completely visible from the very loud road, and clearly a spot where people come to collect water. You gotta be shitting me. They said " you can sleep anywhere, is this okay? it's totally safe here!" I said this sucks, but I don't know where else I can go in this town, so if this is what you're going to offer me then I'll take it and leave me alone already. They had nothing. I told them to just leave me alone and let me sleep, I was pissed. Once they walked away I looked around the area for a better spot and there really wasn't anything at all. I went in to one of the abandoned cement dirt floor rooms which was providing one of the three walls for the original spot. There was even more trash in there as well as a few puppies. At least it had four walls and was quieter, and well hidden. I started moving my stuff there and security guy #2 and a new English speaking guy started telling me that it was bad there because the dogs were dangerous. Puppies. Fucking puppies. Granted, the language barrier was pretty huge, and I don't think they actually meant to say dangerous. They also said it smelled, but I was so sick of these guys "looking after me" so I said it was fine, but actually it smelled really fucking bad... So then I jumped up on the roof, where the young English speaking guy was, and it looked like the best option, so I said I would just sleep up on the roof, and that seemed to satisfy everyone. So now it's 12:30, and this town is just as busy and noisy, if not buissier then it was when I originally passed through it at like 8pm. I'm just sitting up on this roof, not going to be able to to sleep... English speaking bro is still up on the same roof, now with 3 buddies smoking hash. So yeah ... It's an experience, not fun, but it's an experience. In all my years of stealth camping I've never ever had any people give me shit... There goes my perfect record....
1am update... There's still mother fuckers selling cactus fruit.... I guess this is a spot where busses stop to let people out to pee and get tea etc, so everyone here is just waiting around trying to sell shit. Apparently the busses Keep coming all night until 4am... Yay. And the honking... every bus wakes up the entire town when it rolls in by honking like a pisssed off soccer mom. Oh, and I've seen like a dozen people come take a piss where the cops told me to sleep since I've been sitting up here.
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