It was not flat.
We woke up at 7am and Gabriel jumped out of bed to assemble the bikes. I on the other hand, pulled the covers over my head and begged for an extra hour. Eventually I got up, feeling guilty about all the packing and tool-wielding to be done. Unfortunately though, there was no breakfast to be found at the hotel. Or anywhere in the village at that hour, which I discovered as I stumbled around from one cerrado cafeteria to another looking for some take out coffee. The minute we got on the road, we found that one of Gabriel’s tires was flat, so we pulled over to change it. Coffee was then obtained, but next was the discovery of a mechanical difficulty on my bike which required a new screw and size of wrench that we didn’t have. As luck would have it, a triad of other bikers appeared, and they did have many-sized wrenches, so now although we still needed a different screw, they hacked together a temporary workable solution. 

 After all that, we finally started pedaling just before 10am. The day was overcast but not cold. The scenery was farmlands and an occasional glimpse of the ocean–gorgeous– but the ride was NOT FLAT. I mean yes, there were patches of flat and even some downhill stretches, but overall–overall being a 6 1/2 hour ride–overall it was uphill. Not crazy Alps mountains necesarily, but definitely uphill by any normal human standards. The scenery was beautiful though. Blue, white and purple hydrangeas burst out everywhere you looked. There were also alot of dogs. Pet dogs, stray dogs (or at least dogs freely roaming the country roads, maybe they weren’t stray). Every farmhouse contained at least 5, of all different shapes and breeds, and as we rode by they’d spill out the front door, barking at us and smiling happily, like some kind of Disney movie. Today’s totem animal(s), though, were 3 sheep who took a great interest in us, and ran up as close as their courage would allow and baahed in our face. The three moved absolutely in tandem like a flock of birds as they alternately ran up to us and then suddenly thought better of it and took off. This happened more than once as we passed them several times looking for their farmer owner so we could ask directions.

A good part of this ride is on the Camino de Santiago, which is a centuries old pilgrimage road to the place where the Apostle James is supposedly buried. Alot of people walk this route every summer for religious reasons, or just cos its cool. We passed many thick-legged walkers stooped under giant backpacks, walking sticks in hand. I like the idea that we’re on a pilgrimage route. We are literally riding a spiritual path. Good. 
Since we didn’t have breakfast, after a couple of hours I stopped to dig around in my bike bag for a Kind bar or something. We had already powered up a couple of hills. I found one thank God. Around 1:30 we stopped for lunch and had fish and salad and potatoes by the ocean. Back on the bikes at 2:30, we pushed on. By 4:00 or so my upper back was throbbing and I was getting loopy. We rode through a dozen villages, and in one Gabriel spotted (randomly) an auto parts store and went in to see if they had that elusive size screw we need. I laid my bike on the sidewalk and sat down in front of the store. It was still overcast but the sidewalk was warm and I thought: this is the perfect place to take a little nap. They did have our screw so one problem solved there. At that point I asked Gabriel: “How many more kilometers?” “I think about…maybe 20?” Gabriel is such a bad liar. I knew it had to be much more. The good thing was that then we started to veer towards the ocean again. The beaches were flat white sand and the water was turquoise and indigo. On one of the beaches I spotted a giant green lizard, but then realized I was hallucinating cos now it was hour five.
That was also the point when I started to hear myself groaning out loud (“Why God, Why?!”) as we climbed another hill. (Spiritual path). “You said it would be FLAAAATT” I groaned to Gabriel as we stopped to pee down a cliff. “YOU SAID IT WOULD BE FLAT.” We saw a sign for Muria then, actually I couldn’t read it at first but I could see that the number was a double digit. Please let that first number be a ONE, I thought. But it wasn’t. It was a two. Muria 28. Twenty eight more kilometers. Actually it wasn’t though, because our hotel was in Cartona which was slightly closer. Ten more kilometers on and Gabriel pulled over to a cafe, ran up to the bar, and slammed an espresso. I followed suit and upon hearing the good news from the bartender that we only had 5 km more to go, I did a one minute plank on the sidewalk outside the cafe because somewhere in that last hour I had (lost my mind) and also decided something: I WILL BE STRONG. THIS RIDE WILL MAKE ME STRONGER. I stood up out of my seat and pumped up the last hill to the hotel like it was the end of the Tour de France, with Gabriel cheering me on. And then I collapsed.
Arrival time in Carona 6:20pm.