This is a detailed account of my trip. Probably more detail than anyone really wants. The summary of the trip can be found in the E-Mails I sent. These can be found in the menu. This is an edited version of my personal trip log. I found that by keeping a log I am more able to recall parts of my trips that I sometimes forget. The only difficulty right now is that I do not have a good travel computer so that I have to copy my handwritten log into the computer when I get home. There is a lot of downtime when traveling in the fall due to the short days. I end up with a lot of notes which takes a long time to transcribe.
One week to go. Still not really packed, the bike is not fully ready, I am not even close to ready.
Did an initial pack last night. At first I thought there was plenty of extra room so that I could put my leathers into one of the bags and lock it if needed. Then I noticed the other box of stuff. This is not going to be as easy as I thought.
-Left Home at 2,090 for work. On the way I thought my gloves were not as warm as they should be so I turned around to get my spare ones for the trip. Between getting gas and all that riding, by the time I got to work my fingers were frozen.
-It was a rainy cold ride down to CT.
-Left at 9am to avoid traffic.
-I rode at 80 MPH indicated most of the day. The weather was great all day.
-I stayed at a hotel called the Family Inns. A real shithole for $36.42. It was tough to sleep with all the noise through the open window, not closable. There was a car doing donuts in the street until it crashed. I saw it in the morning as I was leaving. Smashed it pretty good.
-As I was getting off the bike I dropped it. It is really tippy with all the gear on it. It wants to fall off the sidestand.
-Uneventful day except somewhere in Tennessee some girl in the back seat of a car from Iowa decided to show me her breasts and blow me a kiss. I don't know why. I have said it before, this bike is a chick magnet.
-The bike was acting weird, pinging and losing power. I thought it might be a tank vent problem but when I switched to high test the problem went away. It runs fine on low test until it gets hot.
-Great weather etc. Warm and sunny all day. I realized that I could not make it to the border early enough on Saturday to cross the border. I decided to take it a little easy. I stopped at 10:30 EST in Eastland, TX at a shithole Super 8 for $39.
-I am still not sure where to go. I got up late and did not leave the hotel until 9:15 est. I had a hard time getting going. I am still 500 miles from El Paso.
-The heat shield on the exhaust was almost all the way off. I lost one of the screws. I packed it in the bags. I also noticed cracks forming in the tire at the front of the knobs on the tread.
-I stopped at the Confederate Air Force American Airpower Heritage Museum. www.airpowermuseum.org www.confederateairforce.org in Midland, TX near the Airport. It is west of Abilene. They have an annual Air SHow 1-888-945-3008 supposed to be great www.airsho.org. This is a pretty good museum. They keep their planes flying. When I was there they were working on the engines of Fifi, a B-29 Super Fortress. They also have a great collection of nose art. Some collector had saved the noses of planes that were going to the scrap bin and gave the collection to the museum.
-At one point, I think in New Mexico, I the bike lurched to one side and started to weave all around. I was having trouble keeping it upright. I thought it was a blowout. After I stopped and put my feet down I was having just as much trouble keeping it upright. There was some of the strongest gusts of wind I have ever felt coming from the left side of the road. It lasted for only five miles or so but they were some scary miles. I talked to someone later and they described the spot perfectly. Apparently that area often has sudden gusts. It started suddenly, like turning on a switch and stopped almost as suddenly.
-Stayed at a hotel in Deming, NM, for $29.25. It looked like shit on the outside but inside it was old but fine.
-I went south out of Deming New Mexico. It was actually Douglas Arizona I had wanted last night but Deming appeared at the time and place I was looking for a hotel. I tried the Columbus, NM crossing but there was no Insurance available.
-From there I road back to Deming as there was no Gas in the Columbus area on Sunday. I went over to Bisbee, AZ for lunch. This is a very interesting little mining/artist community. Nice attitude without the overcrowding of tourists that most artsy communities get. There is an operating mine there, iron I think. They give a tour that might be interesting. It's an open pit mine. There are also museums in town and some great coffee shops. Prices are still reasonable there. I talked to a guy that at first I thought belonged to the old BMW I saw but as it turned out he did not own it. He suggested I ride through the Coronado National Park and cross in Nogales, AZ on Monday. I ended up staying there. Some interesting hiking and scenery. The road left much to be desired but it was the kind of road my bike was made for. Tight twisty rough dirt roads. The ranger station had a full set of chain mail I regret not having tried it on and having my picture taken on the bike. Would have made an interesting photo. I took a hike at Montezuma's Pass.
-My campsite area was empty, just one other tent a few campsites away. While walking around the lake I would hear all this buzzing and realize that there were bugs like knats everywhere. But when I stopped they would disperse and not swarm or bug me. At one point there was a cloud of them above me. They would move with me but never come down to my level. Maybe I stunk.
-I did my laundry at the hand pumped faucet and waited for the stars to come out. They were incredible. I could hear noises in the woods. I was warned about the Javelinas (pronounce the J as an H). These are wild pigs. Can make a real mess if you leave food out and can be dangerous if cornered. At one point I walked into the woods just for the hell of it. I walked very quietly and then flashed my light. I caught quick glimpses of a bunch of the Javelinas as they scattered in the woods, but they did not go far. I could get flashes from their eyes in the brush. I guess they are used to campers here. I was up until after midnight watching the stars and shooting stars.
- I got up long before first light. Took down the camp and was on the road at first light. Lots of dirt roads to Nogales. A number of times I was wondering if I had gotten lost. Soft stuff on this bike sucks. I am not sure if this bike is any better on the soft stuff with all the gear. A heavy bike is not a lot of fun on bad roads and a light bike is not fun when loaded with a lot of gear.
-I got the insurance from a company recommended on a book. Sanborn Insurance 210-686-0711. 800-222-0158. I was given the number of the local office. I could get liability only, no one is currently offering theft or collision.
-I got cash at the border while I was at the bank paying for my tourist card. I got to a town called Aconchi It was recommended by a guy in Bisbee that I stay at the campground in Aronchi Mexico on rt 118. There are supposed to be hot springs there. I asked around and got pointed in all kinds of directions. I finally settled on a hotel. I rode down to Baviacora to see an Old Mission but it was getting dark out so I decided to go back to one of the hotels I saw. Neither looked good but I went into one. The rooms were vary nice, restaurant did not look great. It was 250 Peso for the room, about $29 us. No one speaks English but we struggled through. I asked about food and from what I could understand they were not really open, they just closed, but I could get food if I wanted. I hurried to put my stuff away and then went to eat. It turned out they were just opening. The fire was not even started. I was not really sure what I ordered. It appears that there is no way to avoid uncooked foods and water. Tap water is put into sauces and salsas. I watched as some of the salsa was thinned by using water from the tap. Lettuce, tomatoes and all kinds of veggies end up on your food. Well, maybe by just not drinking tap water I will avoid sickness. Maybe my system will get stronger from all the Bugs (microbes).
-There were a number of points where the highway had water crossings. Most were no big deal. There was one point on Rt. 89 in Mexico where the road had washed away and they just bulldozed a path to the right, through a river bed.
-The border crossing was stupid. I had all my paperwork and copies ready. I waited in line for over two hours while a really dumb girl tried to take care of us. There was another line that I should have gotten in, it was a little faster because they added another window. Some people had a rough time, either because they were not ready with proper copies or because they were given wrong or partial info from the girl at the window. They had to keep coming back. All of us in line got to be friends. Next year I was told Mexico is going to require Visas. That should really screw up the border crossings. Because it took so long I am waiting in this little restaurant waiting for food. But sometimes bad things transform into good. This is a local hangout, very Mexican.
- Although I thought I ordered chicken tacos, I got beef Tacos. That is what I really wanted anyway. They were great. Total for 2 tacos, fixings, a quart of beer was 50 pesos, about $5. Not cheap but not bad.
-It did not get light until 6:30 am local. I had to wait until 7am to get my bike out of the locked gates. I was up very early and I walked around town and looked at the old church and the town square.
-Left at 7:10 (5:10 EST) and road down 118/89 to 21 to 15 to Hermosilla. There I wasted a bunch of time finding the center of town then came back out - got cash at a bank and headed east on 16 all the way to Basaseachic near the falls. Getting out of Hermosilla was a trick. There were signs pointing to my route, but not where they could be seen from the road I was on. Not until you took the proper turn were the signs visible. Ask a lot of directions and hope.
-Even though I rode all day without really stopping I still only rode 363 miles. I had to stop at 6:15pm. I also lost an hour due to a time zone change.
-The ride to Hermosilla was nice enough. Route 16 east of there started out flat and boring - desert - then became great. At least 200 miles of nothing but curves, tight twisty roads with good surface and no cars or cops. All you had to do was slow to a crawl at the towns. The scenery was unbelievable, starting out with lots of cactus and butterflies and becoming mountains with grand, magnificent views. I had to keep slowing down to look at the scenery. I stopped in Yecora for gas and ice cream. A 2 liter bottle of water and a Nestles fudge bar cost 18 pesos or around $2. Yecora is a real frontier town, away from everything else.
-On the road I saw two separate accidents with 18 wheelers. Both had run off the road. One was leaning sideways against a slight hill. The cab was taken away already and the back cleaned out. I don't know how the cab kept from rolling down the hill, shear luck I guess. The other had the trailer sitting in brush pointed downhill with the cab still attached, it's front wheels and one pair of it's back wheels hanging over a cliff. The driver was there talking to a cop. My guess would be that this is going to be a Tequila night for him, or church.
-I only saw one deer and lots of cows and burros in the road. You gotta' be careful. The roads are in pretty good shape but there are still some scary surprises. There was one point where there was a 12 inch drop off across the lane with no warning. I saw it in time. If you were coming the other way and did not see it you could kiss your vehicle goodbye.
-I stopped near Bassaseachic Falls at a hotel called the Hotel Alma Rosa. It was 350 pesos ~ $38. Hotels here are not cheap. This one is ancient but clean enough. The heat is by wood in a southwestern style fire place. It warmed up the room nicely This place is definitely not worth the price, but it is all that was here. It turns out there was a campground near here, but there were no signs. There was a restaurant attached to the hotel. I was the only customer. I had a platter of Burritos. It consisted of 4 soft flour tortillas, refried beans and ground beef. That and two cokes cost 50 Pesos (~$5) with tip. Not cheap. There were two young teenagers running it. Probably brother and sister. We had a hell of a time with the Spanish thing. I had a sheet of words but could not find what I wanted when I needed it.
-Coca Cola is especially good here. They make it with cane sugar rather than corn syrup like in the states. That's what they used when I was a kid.
-I took a nice long hot shower last night and again this morning. After the shower I deciphered the sign in the bathroom. It said please conserve water because we have to have it trucked in and it is expensive. Oh well, with the price I paid they should be able to afford more water. Besides, I was the only patron of the place.
-I got up at what I thought was 5:30 am. It turns out this area chooses to be on mountain time so it was actually 4:30am. It did not start getting light until 7:30.
-I went to Basaseachic Falls. It was just getting light when I started the hike. All the towns dogs decided it would be fun to go with me to the bottom. It was over 2 kilometers to the Ventada (window) according to the signs. All of it down hill. A tough walk down but really tough back up. We are at a very high elevation, around 7,700 feet. Basaseachic Falls is the highest falls in Mexico with a 246 meter (810 feet) drop. When I got back up to the top I met a couple from Arizona. We had breakfast at the local shop and drank fresh grapefruit juice with grapefruits that the couple brought with them from AZ. They gave me some great tips on where to go.
-On the way to Creel I found a viewing platform for the falls. It was far away but it was a nice view. I took the dirt road to Creel, Rt. 24. It was not very good. The views were not good and it was dusty and rough. The paved road would have been twisty and beautiful and probably would have taken only a little longer.
-I bought a quart of 15-40 oil for 30 peso (~$3.30). It was all I could find at the time.
-When I got to Creel I found the Hostel I had been told about. Actually it found me. Enrique came to talk to me while I was looking at my books and told me to come on in. The price was 200 pesos but I got him down to 180. About $20. What I did not realize is that it included breakfast and dinner and free Tequila and the beers were cheap. The hostel, called Margarita's, is located at the town square. If you want to stay in the dormitory rooms they are $6 for a bed. Less if you get a mattress on the floor. These are co-ed dorms. I chose a private room since I snore and have a lot of stuff. They would have allowed me to put my bike inside but it would have been a real hassle. I would have had to take the bags off and get quite a bit of help to move it. Besides, the town was plenty safe enough to leave it locked out in front of the hotel.
-I found an internet site for 20P/ half hour. It took me 1 hr. to do very little, just read a bunch of e-mails and send a little info out.
-I checked the valves and reset the balancer. Intake was L=6 R=8 Exhaust L=R=8. Well within specs.
-Laundry cost me 40P, beer was 10P each.
-Dinner was great, meat, lettuce, beans with tortillas, tequila, bread and carrot soup. Good company, even though I could not understand a lot of what was said. There was Spanish, German, French, Austria, Polish, and a host of other languages. And all were trying to speak Spanish at some point. My head hurt by the end of the evening just trying to understand everyone. Many of these travelers are gong around Mexico by public transportation. They take a month or more and try to see as much as they can.
-Breakfast was rice/milk soup, danish, quesadillas, eggs, coffee or hot chocolate. Excellent.
-I got a good map of the area at the mission store and rode out past Divisadora to the Hotel Posada Mirador. A wonderful hotel with rooms overlooking the copper canyon and a balcony as well as a common balcony with a bar. It better be good for $250 US. There was an old crazy woman there on vacation. She insisted on talking to me. It started out fine then she broke into here incessant complaining. Later I was talking to someone in the hostel that had to take the train ride with her. She complained the whole time she was on the train too. She complained that her hotel was 250 and when I said that the Hostel was 180 she was very surprised. I mentioned that it included dinner and breakfast but that did not impress her. Later in the conversation I realized that she meant $250 US and I meant $180 pesos, about $230 US difference. As far as I could tell the place I was in was a lot more fun. The Divisadora area is absolutely beautiful, much like the north rim of the Grand Canyon. The road out there has been recently repaved and is a beautiful, twisty road through some incredible scenery. I met a couple of sport bike riders from Canada there. They were with a tour group.
-I rode out to the Cusarare Falls for photos and to go for a swim. A dirt biker I met had told me you could ride the bikes all the way out there, although he doubted that I could fit with my bags on. He was right. I stopped about two thirds of the way there and walked the rest of the way. There were a ton of people there from the hostel. I ended up going for a swim. VERY cold water. One of those kinds of colds that takes your breath away. I got used to it and it was fairly warm out of the water.
-There are tour busses that go to the bottom of the Copper Canyon that have seats on the roof. A very scary place to sit in my opinion.
-At the end of the day I changed my oil at 5,931 at a local oil/tire change place. I had the oil so there was no charge. I lost the washer that seals the drain plug but I did not realize it until much later.
-I tried to go to Valle de los Monjes - the Tarahumara name is Bisabirchi, which means the valley of the erect penises. There are a number of formations and such that I wanted to see, but I ran out of daylight. I did get to the towns museum, which was pretty good, although small.
-Tonight the local kids were out cruising around the town in cars, mopeds, mini bikes etc. There is only one road of any note and they were cruising back and forth on it. The town was very busy, like small town America.
-I met a guy from Washington State that was bicycling from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to southern Mexico and possibly Panama. That is not something I am interested in doing, too long between stops.
-We went to a local bar and got some great margaritas. There was an amazing mix of cultures there with the people from all the different countries.
-The Indians in this area are very traditional, wearing traditional dress and living in a traditional manner. Their religious rules are tied very much into their government and social order. The more traditional you are the better your status and the better position and girls you get. They really don't like outsiders and deal with them only because they need the money to get some supplies. They looked familiar somehow. I couldn't place it at first. Then I figured it out. Deadheads. They were like Deadheads. They sold the same home made stuff. Dressed in bright colors. The only thing is that the Indians did not dance on the street and they don't smell of patchouli.
-I took the dirt road (only road) down into the Copper Canyon to Botapilas. The Copper Canyon is very much like the Grand Canyon only there is more vegetation here. Lots of trees.
-The bike was hard starting this morning. Also the steering bearing is loose and the rear brake light switch is not working.
-The road down to Botapilas started out paved and good except occasional loose gravel. It turned to dirt at a turn off and was OK, good enough for a street bike, barely, but was only wide enough for a truck. There was one point that there were Indians on the road, just sitting in the shade. Not a safe place to sit. The road got a little worse as time went on. You could drive a street bike down this road, but I would not suggest it. Passing the trucks was a trip. There was not really enough room for the bike and truck on the road so I had to pretty much off road it.
-It was not until late in the day that I realized that I had forgotten to get my $5 key deposit back from the hotel when I left. But I also forgot to leave a tip for the cook staff when I left so I guess I was even.
-The road down to Botapilas starts at 7,671 feet and drops down to 1,624 feet, a 6,047 foot drop.
-In Botapilas I stayed at the Hotel Mary. After checking in I rode out to the Lost Cathedral. Unfortunately none of the three tourist sites in town can be accessed without a guide. I saw the outside of the Cathedral, called lost because no one knows who built it and why. There had never been any inhabitants here. Then I went to the first power plant in Mexico, but needed a guide to see the inside, then went to the ruins of some of the towns first buildings, but could not get in. None of the sites are really anything to see, but it would have been nice. I ran out of daylight before I could find a guide. I parked my bike in the gate out back of the hotel. At the hotel there were three girls from the hostel in Creel. One from Australia and two from Sweden. We ate at some strange little place in town. The first place we went to said they could not serve us, I don't know why. The second place we went to, the girl sat us then went running down the street. She came back with the girl from the other restaurant and they proceeded to cook our food together. The food was pretty good, but we were not sure what we ordered until we got it in front of us. The Hotel was 100P and the Dinner was 40P with tip.
-The weather in the Copper Canyon was hot and dry. Not at all uncomfortable. The weather so far has been great. The daytime temps have been perfect and nights have been cool. I have seen few bugs so far on this trip. There were maybe 3 mosquitoes that I saw in Botapilas at dusk. I did not get bit.
-The people are very friendly, waving at you and all. The children were nice, coming up and asking questions but not being pains. Never asking for money. The smaller ones were in awe of the faceshield on my helmet. Same thing happens in the US.
-I met a guy in the bar next to the Hotel. He was a little drunk and trying to practice his English. He kept saying "my English is very short. I am a mechanic and my English is my Job". Pronounce the CH in mechanic as in Church. He has a son in the University of Arizona in Phoenix. I think I would have had just as much trouble understanding him if he was sober. He also kept saying that "the USA is the Max!" Apparently he likes the US and hates the Taliban. The bar closed at 8pm.
-The area around this town is known as a serious marijuana growing region. The townspeople leave them alone and they leave the towns people alone. It does put some serious money into an otherwise isolated town.
-I got on the road just before dawn, about 6am. The bike has been skipping out of first gear a lot. It makes driving on the dirt roads and the tight twisties more difficult.
-I got to see cows and horses tipping over garbage cans to get the food in them. Makes you wonder what you are eating when you eat beef here.
-At one point there were a bunch of turkeys standing in the road looking confused. One of them was in the road, flopping around. It had been hit by a truck and was not long for this world. The others did not seem upset, just confused. I almost had to kick them out of the way to get through.
-I also had the pleasure of seeing a pack of dogs eating a burro on the side of the road. At another place I saw a bunch of vultures around something big. As I drove near most of them took flight, that is when a dog made his move and ran in to get a big chunk of bone etc. The vultures were not happy with him but he got away.
-In Parral, north of Durango I stopped for gas and to look at my books to decide if I wanted to stay there for the night. A drunk came up and started talking and spitting at me in OK English. I noticed that I was outside a major liquor store. He was no problem, almost amusing, but then a real drunk saw us and came rushing over. He was younger and much more aggressive. I think he was trying to be friendly but I could tell he had danger potential. Definitely time to leave. I almost had to run over him. I decided not to stay in Parral. It was advertised in the Lonely Planet as being "a nice town, if a bit gruff". 'Nough said.
-The ride out of the Copper Canyon was not too bad and I made great time. Most of the ride to Parral was great, twisty with awesome scenery. From Parral to Durango it was more desert like but still beautiful. A great ride.
-I got to Durango about a half hour after dark. It took me another half hour to find the center of the city, where the hotels are. The signage was pretty good but tough to watch while watching traffic. There were also some signs missing at key intersections.
-I found the town center and the Hotel that was recommended in a book. It was $560 pesos (about $60 US). They recommended Hotel Roma for $230P. My book put it as being on the low end of the mid-priced hotels. Parking was at the same place as the other hotel, around the block at a parking garage. There was supposedly a guy there 24 hours but it did not open until 8am. The hotel was fine, although a little old and worn. There was no air-conditioning, so I think this would be tough place to stay at in the summer.
-The town square has basically a street festival every night. Street vendors, food, balloons, souvenirs, etc. I opted for dinner at the hotel restaurant. Steak tips with peppers etc, rice, beans, lettuce, tortillas and 2 beers for $125P with tip. Not cheap but a ton of food. It was tough figuring out the foods because these things are not in the dictionary. Dictionaries are in Spanish, not Mexican. Most dishes are not listed. I got my beer in a frosted mug. It occurred to me that the ice on the glass was probably tap water. Could be buggy. Home Improvement was on the TV in Spanish. That was funny as hell, funnier than in English.
-I was up early and out the door by 6:30 local. The sun was almost up at 7:10 when the church opened. There is an impressive cathedral here that is worth waiting around for. Of course, I can't get my bike until 9am anyway. I walked around and saw the sights. Mostly old buildings. Most were closed but I got into the church and the University. A guard opened the door to the University to let a delivery guy in and I slipped in for a few minutes. The Spanish like their architecture, but what they really concentrate on is making the insides nice. This university was very elaborate inside with huge murals and lots of colors.
-Breakfast at the cafe was fried eggs, Nescafe', beans w/cheese and tortillas. I was the only patron, as I was last night and the night before. I don't know how they exist.
-I did not leave Durango until 10:15 am. Not far out of town I saw some big bikes coming up behind me. A BMW R1150 GS and a big Sportbike. Later I saw them at a diner with a bunch of other big bikes. They spoke no English and were having breakfast with their buddies so we did not talk.
-The road to Mazatlan was spectacular. The first 60 miles were boring but then.... All curves and mountains. Very little traffic. Pine forests, farm land, rain forests, wood industry towns, chair making towns, flowers, mountain scenery. Definite Sensory Overload. This road is called the Devil's Backbone. It runs down the ridge of a mountain range. There are not a lot of guard rails and the sides of the roads were shear cliffs. Add bus and truck traffic and you have one exciting ride. High speeds added to the excitement. Unfortunately this area is being logged pretty heavily. It is beautiful forests now but evidence of severe erosion is everywhere. Still, the scenery was almost overwhelming. On the way I passed the Tropic of Cancer.
-When I got to Mazatlan I planned on staying in Old Mazatlan but changed my mind and stayed in the touristy area. I felt it would be more fun at night. I got a reasonably priced room at the Plaza Gaviotas for 350 pesos, across from the hotel Playa Mazatlan. It was in a great location and was OK but there were loads of tiny ants in the room. They caused no trouble though. I parked my bike outside the room in the courtyard. I had to roll the bike through the lobby to get there. There were a few small bikes parked in the lobby.
-I met Ricardo Salazar at the fishing boats. He said he might have room the next day. He runs the Neptune Fleet. I really wanted to go diving but I could not find a dive shop. When I saw the big Sailfish that were caught I thought that would be fun.
-I planned on having a good drinking night. Unfortunately there was no drinking due to it being election day. The town was pretty dead due to this. I had not brought a bottle with me so I was stuck with nothing to do, no where to go and nothing to drink. I wandered around the area but never made it to the beach. There was no real activity. The lack of people and alcohol really slowed the town down. I was tired from the hard ride and the heat at the end of the ride.
-I got to the boat early. Ricardo was late. We talked and I would go solo rather than with a large group. None of the good, expensive operations had room for me so I decided to go solo since the group could not speak English. The boat was driven by Manuel, with Manual for a mate. No relation. The boat was an old diesel. They had a radio and that was all. Very basic. The lures and bait confused a bird. It was not sure if it wanted to eat our lures or not. I caught a small tuna right away. We never got out of site of land. The boat was really slow. We went out fairly quickly then slowly went back towards shore, occasionally circling in areas that the captain thought he saw fish. We were going for Sailfish. We were out for six hours but I never saw another fish. At the time I thought I was being cheated. I had thought that Sailfish were a deepwater fish and that we should have been farther out to sea. Later I found out that we were fishing the right way for these fish. I may still have made a poor choice selecting this operation, but I was not being cheated. I had forgotten how boring fishing from a boat can be. The best thing about the fishing trip was when we were feeding the Pterodactyls, I mean Pelicans. They are wild birds to watch fly and feed. We fed them the unused bait. These are not animals of this world.
-I've noticed that the closer you get to "civilization" the less civilized things are. These small backwoods towns that have nothing are very nice. The cities are busy and less friendly, but still even these are not bad.
-My bike is now dripping oil everywhere I go. I lost the seal at the oil drain plug the last time I changed my oil and have not gotten around to putting a new one in.
-Mazatlan has some of the best beaches I have ever seen with wonderfully warm water. The unfortunate part is that the tourists are there spoiling it. They sit in loud bars on the beach and forget they are in Paradise. The lights from these bars spoils the view of the stars. The noise drowns out the sounds of the beach. The beach is perfect, then add people, lights, noise and you kill it. We need a global power outage.
-The street vendors and roaming vendors were OK, not aggressive at all. And they offered anything, gold, ganja, girls etc. I did not take them up on the offer, but I did buy a pack of Chiclets from an insistent little girl.
-Before dark I went to a place recommended by the hotel. They called it Goyiesoistebad. When I got there the name was Joey's Oyster Bar. I understand some Spanish but when they try to pronounce English words as if they were Spanish I am lost. I could not get a good Margarita, only a Tourista Margarita. Not too bad, but they were 60 pesos. Lots of alcohol. The place was pretty good though. Great rock music and the setting sun. After the sun went down I wandered around the town and walked on the beach. There were people fishing from shore, some with just a line and string, no pole. There were a few almost empty bars that you could get a beer and sit way away from the light on the beach. The beach was amazing, lots of stars. For a while I sat around a fire with a Spanish family. The live in a tent on the beach. He conducts all kinds of tours, snorkeling and supposedly diving from his catamaran. I could not find out if he also had a power boat.
-There were lots of other bars on the beach. Most were almost empty. I walked into one huge one, mostly outside but with plenty of inside areas too. It turned out to be some kind of disco. It was completely empty. But the lights and the horrible music was still going. I went back to Joey's Oyster Bar. It was now playing crappy dance music very loud. It turned into a meat market. The American men were getting sloppy drunk. The American women were getting horny drunk and the Mexican men were very happy about that. This mating ritual went on for a while until I got sick of it. It's not a pretty sight. There were Mexicans there with horses giving all the women rides. The Mexicans were bumping and grinding with the American women on the dance floor. They were easy pick ups for them. A guy I had met earlier in the day was telling me of all the resort towns and bars to go to if you want to pick up women. He was telling me which ones had the best, easiest women. He was proud of all the different women of all different nationalities he had slept with and ran down a list of countries they were from. I thought he was bullshitting and I wondered why he thought American women were so easy and sleazy. Now I see he may not have been lying and that this is the kind of women he meets. No wonder so many Mexican men I have met have the same view of non Mexican women, these places are the only time they actually meet any.
-I got up and out a little late, about 8am. It was cloudy in the mountains and I got a spot of rain in Durango. The ride back was just as stunning as the ride down, but different because of the clouds.
-I met a guy on a BMW GS1150 from Colorado. He was doing a small loop down Baja and over here. He is an architect and we talked about life and what is important. Apparently it took him many years to realize that work and earning money to support his family was not as important as spending time with his family. He now takes vacations both with his family and alone. Most of his work is contracted out so he works designing a building and then plays in between assignments. In most of the world, people work to live, in much of America, people live to work. We have it backwards.
-I stopped for a Gordito for lunch since the last time I ate was lunch yesterday. There was a truck driver there that spoke a half a dozen words of English. We communicated pretty well. He was there having lunch and three or four beers before getting out on the road with his 18 wheeler. That is a sobering thought, especially considering how tight and twisty the road he just came from was. Maybe the beer is needed to calm him down after the ride.
-I was trying to make it to Zacatecas but I did not make good time and I got a late start. I would have gotten there at least 2 hours after dark, which is not safe. I got to Durango at 4:30 with nothing to do. I went to an internet provider and spent one hour reading e-mail etc. for 12 pesos.
-At dinner a parade went by outside. It is election day here. Lots of pretty girls promoting their favorite candidate.
-All the Mexican TV shows are exact copies of US shows. Game shows, talk shows, animal shows, bloopers and sit-coms. Even the actors look similar.
-The hotel was 226 pesos.
-I stayed at a new Hostel in Zacatecas. There was parking down the street in the entrance to an apartment they were working on. The second night I parked in a parking garage for free, the woman that ran it decided not to charge me. I never found out why. I chose to go for a private room for $180 pesos a night with a shared bath. There were much cheaper bunks downstairs but I wanted some privacy and did not want to keep anyone awake with my snoring. There are supposed to be cheaper places in town but not near parking. The owners brother Willy (Guera?) was running it while the owner was away.
-Zacatecas is a great city. Friendly , lots to see and do. Beautiful buildings, churches, lots of parks. Great places to walk. Good museums, great restaurants, bars, cafe's, cantinas. Everything you could want. Open air markets, malls, plenty of services, machine shops and all. The Hostel is good, with a great view of the city, a cathedral, and the mountain. Great people there. There is a cable car that takes you from La Bufa - the sacred mountain, across - over the town, to the area of the silver mine on the other mountain. The town is set between two mountains. Almost every road in town is on a hill. Most are one way. The town is at 8,022 feet elevation.
-This is an incredibly festive town. I had a beer at the hostel and they made margaritas. This was after a good, inexpensive dinner. I was the only customer, again. The wine here is pretty good. They also make some of the best Tequila here but they can not sell it as Tequila because they are not from the correct region. Kind of like Champagne can be made only in Champagne France. Corona Beer is made here.
-In the markets I saw at least 10 vendors selling parts for blenders. The jugs, gaskets and blades. No other parts. I wondered why this town would need so many blender parts.
-There was a guy working at the Hostel that was living an interesting life. He graduated from college and bought a Yamaha 1100. This was an old four cylinder bike that he bought for $150. This was his first time driving on the street. He was just riding around to wherever he felt like going. He was currently living in a tent on the roof of a building down the street. He was using water from the roof storage tank for baths. He was a forest fire fighter in Montana and for a while he was traveling around with them to fires in Idaho, Florida and California. He was having the time of his life.
-Around 10pm a parade went by. There was a marching band of about 10 players and about 50 people. They had plastic bottles of Mexcal and shot glasses around their necks on strings. They were pouring the Mezcal freely. I was dragged out and we danced through the streets. Mezcal, remember. I was forced to drink many shots of Mezcal. I had to drink it, you see, because I was adopted by an official. A congresswoman from Baja South said I had to drink, so I drank. One other guy from the Hostel was also dragged out. Remember, we were at 8,022 feet elevation. This dancing was not easy. There was a gay American guy who said it was for support of AIDs. The Congressman said that it had something to do with the elections. Other people gave other reasons for it. I think it was just to have fun and for no other reason. So here I was, a drunk, sea level gringo marching and dancing up hills and dancing like an idiot in the town square. Can you say altitude sickness? Eventually the band stopped, the dancing stopped and most importantly the Mezcal stopped. Then everyone left for home or whatever.
-When I got back to the hostel, the guys dragged me out to the local disco. It was your typical college bar. This is a major college town. Here the women were Mexican and the men were Mexican. It was not a meat market like in Mazatlan. One of the guys with us was very rich so he bought all the beers. Many beers. For me, another American, and all his friends. I became the guys best friend. He said the other guys were not his friends. He said the Matador was nothing, he only wanted everyone to cheer him. Others, he said, were moochers, his friends only because he buys the drinks. Eventually we left and got in a car to go to another bar. We were driving around to some strange parts of town. I tried to say that I was tired and needed sleep. Apparently they got the idea that as Americans, me and the other guy wanted Devil's Sugar. That's cocaine. Before we figured out what they were doing, we stopped at a number of very interesting parts of town. Mostly nice residential areas. They were not having much luck. Once we figured out what they were trying to do, we explained that we were not interested. I made it clear that I needed sleep, by this time it was after 2am. The Matador was driving. He was complaining that he was out of tequila. This turned out not to be a problem since we were never driving more than 20 miles per hour. The parts of town we were in were plastered with speed bumps. Even though we drove half the night, I doubt we got more than 5 miles from the start. They were calling me Pancho because my mustache reminded them of some famous Mexican. I thought maybe it was Pancho Villa the revolutionary but it was someone less dramatic. By the time they got me back to the Hostel it was 4am. The hostel was locked up tight. I knocked a bunch but no one answered. I finally remembered that I had a second key on the key ring that I was not supposed to take with me. It turned out to have a key that worked the door with a lot of wiggling. I went in and straight to bed.
-I was up by 8am, feeling OK. Not sure why, probably because the drinks had not yet worn off. I went for coffee and pastries. The breads and pastries in Mexico are fantastic. It's funny, the breads are sweet but the donuts are not.
-The streets here are tiny and mostly one way. Mostly, to get anywhere, you have to travel counter clockwise. It could take you forever to get someplace that you could walk to in no time.
-I walked up the hill to La Bufa, to see the museum and statues. There are statues to heroes of the revolution. A great view of the city. I took the Gondola over the city. It is Swedish Made. It goes from the mountain on one side of the town to the mountain on the other side of town, well over the town. The view was fantastic from the Gondola but that first gust of wind was a little more exciting than I planned.
-Today, after all the alcohol last night, I am really feeling the altitude. The day started out fine, but by the end I was exhausted.
-At the other end of the Gondola there is a Silver Mine that has a tour. It is considered a must see in this town. I could find no museum and the tour was OK but not especially interesting if you had ever been in a mine or cave before. There was no one giving tours that spoke English.
-They put businesses almost anywhere. I saw a machine shop with lots and lots of machines crowded into a stall two thirds the size of a small garage stall. I had the feeling that this guy could make you almost anything out of metal. Next door was a shop that had almost every possible kind of tub or sink drain you could think of. Next to that was a shop of door hinges, door hardware, locks etc.
-I ate in a taco place that had two tacos on the menu and soda. That was all. Easy to order. There was a guy standing next to a counter. He had his hands on a package on the counter. After struggling through the order (he was out of one of the tacos) I sat down. He took the two tacos I ordered out of the package he was holding on to and put them on a plate. I was a little worried that it might have been old. He then proceeded to make two new ones to replace the ones I ate. Each of these tacos was a corn tortilla with cheese and beans and some other stuff folded into them. These are deep fried in what looked like a home made deep fry pan.
-Up a little later than planned. I tried to get coffee but nothing opens until 8am. Well, they are supposed to open at 8. Actually, open at 8 means that the employees show up sometime around 8 am and start preparing for opening. But they did have good cafe Americano.
-On the way out of town I stopped at the La Quameda Ruins. They opened at 10am, hence my leaving late. The ruins were not bad. Lots of climbing at high elevations. Most of the ruins were piled rocks that were at one time covered with thick cement, kind of like stucco.
-I took a zig zag route to Guanajuato. Some of the ride was boring, some was beautiful. On the way into town I got very lost. The first thing I passed was the hotel that was recommended in one of my books. It looked too expensive and was listed as being high priced so I chose not to stay there. Then I got unbelievably lost. There are tons of tunnels under the city. There are off ramps or should I say up ramps from the tunnels to the surface streets. The network of tunnels has very poor signs, as does the rest of the town. It's another one of those things where the signs are designed for people who already know how to get to where they are going. The traffic is horrible and the air in the tunnels is staggering, especially when you are stuck in a traffic jam in the tunnels. I drove around for at least an hour, then I got really lost. Some of the roads were closed or turned into one way streets due to this being Friday, street festival day. There is a perimeter road that I got stuck on due to road closures. I wondered why one taxi went the wrong way down a one-way. Well, it took me over 45 minutes on that perimeter road to get back to the city. There was no other way. I found the same road I came in on and the hotel I first saw as I entered town. It was 480 pesos, about $50. I took it. Anything to get out of the zoo. It was nothing special but it included breakfast and free parking right outside the lobby.
-I went out to the open air market (most of the town is an open air market). There is also a Mercado, a covered market. I had some great pork and a beer for $25P and some weird fruit that looked like a huge Kiwi on the outside and like a cooked sweet potato on the inside. It tasted interesting, kind of like a cross between a melon and a squash.
-I now have a sore throat. I was hoping it was just from the pollution but it is from a cold. There was a Belgium guy at the hostel in Zacatecas that had a cold and a sore throat. I think I caught what he caught. I am cold, have a sore throat and feel feverish. I wore my long johns to bed. I was in bed by 8.
-It rained hard and thundered. The power went out for 1.5 hours. It gave me a good excuse for going to bed super early. I did not sleep well, there is a lot of noise. I put in ear plugs and slept well enough.
-Breakfast was included with the hotel and was good but not until 8am. Nothing moves early here.
-I went to the tourist info place. It was useless except for a good free map.
-I tried the cheap hotels listed in the Lonely Planet. Two appeared to be closed, the third was full except for dormitory beds. I would have to park my bike at a garage far away and with my sickness, I would probably cough or snore all night. There were no other good options available. I stayed at the same place.
-I walked to the mummy museum. This is a museum of mummies from around 100 years ago or so. Some are older, some less old. It is not what you would call normal. They have the bodies laid out on tables, behind glass. Some bodies have cloths on, some do not. The teenagers that were there found this very amusing. I guess some male body parts swell after death then harden as they become mummified. Like I said, the teenagers were amused. Very weird but not as weird as it must have been when they used candles and had to walk amongst the bodies in the dark.
-It was a lot longer walk out to the mummy museum than I expected. I feel crappy with this sore throat. There are two museums there. The smaller one is the weirder one. There were torture devices and other very weird things. The larger one has lots of bodies. These were not ancient Egyptian mummies. Some of these people were dead less than 100 years. Many were naked. The teenage girls were pretty entertained by the dead male bodies. Very strange. Good for nightmares.
-I walked to the Don Qixote museum. A surprisingly good museum.
-I walked all over the town, seeing cathedrals, theatres and universities. When to the Alhondiga de Granditas Museum and a few others. I also took the 8 month old Funicular, a "car" that goes up the side of the mountain to the Papila Monument. Papila was a hero during the revolution that tied a stone slab to his body so he could make it past the bullets to burn down the gate at the fort during the battle of independence. I was glad that at this altitude that I did not have to walk up to the top of the mountain to see the monument. This is a great town to walk around in.
-This town does have lots of beggars. Most of them are Indians, but there are some that are Mexicans. Most are not annoying but there are some sad cases. For example, I saw an Indian woman sitting on the sidewalk fairly relaxed holding her baby, but when I was walking by she suddenly hunched over and looked pathetic while putting her baby to her breast. There were others even more pathetic looking. At one point I was having a beer at an outdoor cafe and a little girl came in asking for pesos. I asked her why I should give her one. She was very insistent without being aggressive. The waiter was going to chase her away but I said that it was OK. She was actually a cute kid and in a strange way, polite. I searched my pockets but found nothing small for her. When I explained it to her, she thanked me, smiled and left.
-For supper I had a bread roll that was fried in oil, cut open and filled with chicken, veggies, lettuce and sauces. Very good. For desert I had Sugar Cane Chunks. The sugar cane was skinned, cut into chunks, put in a plastic bag and sprinkled with something, sugar I think. You chew it, and spit it out when the sweetness is gone. Good but too much of a pain in the ass to eat.
-I wandered around the city. At one point I talked to a student who was studying English. He works for Ferro Mex which is the company that runs the trains. He works for the customer service department for the Copper Canyon Railway. This town is way busier than Zacatecas. I liked Zacatecas better.
-I was back at the hotel by 8pm. There were few museums I wanted to see that were open on the weekend. Had I realized this I would have planned on going to Allane???? another town not too far away, for the night. It would be easier if I had a way to secure my gear so I can stay in the dorm rooms so that I can stay cheap. Being able to call ahead and make reservations would be nice. Spanish would help.
-I got up later than planned. Since I had all day I got some rest then got my free breakfast. I stopped at the Tulo ruins which were pretty good then headed towards Teotihuacan.
-The toll roads were way too expensive. $15 US just for today. They do save a lot of time though.
-I stayed at a hotel in San Juan Teotihuacan for $230P. Better than last nights and cheaper.
-I went to the Teotihuacan Ruins from 7:30 to 10:30. It is a great place, huge. Lots to see. There was lots of climbing and walking. Huge pyramids, much of it is restored. There were info plaques in English, Spanish, and an unknown, probably an Indian language. You could spend all days if you want but I got there early and saw a lot very quickly.
-On the way to Cacaxtla I got to a town and there was a busted concrete telephone pole lying across the road. I went around it on the sidewalk. On the way out of town there was another pole and I could see how traffic was being routed around the poles. The poles were there deliberately to keep traffic out of the center of town. I used the long travel suspension and bash plate to climb over the pole.
-I rode to Cacaxtla Ruins. They were pretty good. I ate outside the gates at a stand. I had some great tacos with a cactus filling. Two for $14P. Then I tried to get to another set of ruins but they were closed. I passed by the gate and parked. I walked toward the ruins and saw an American couple. We talked for a few minutes then the guard came out and told us the place was closed.
-On the way back I got to the town with the telephone poles. I followed the traffic through the detour. It was dusty and a seriously bad road through some fields and back roads. The Road was a soft powdery dust. No signs, no way to know where to go. The center of town was shut down. One area had the road entirely covered with what looked like flowers. The entire center of town was decorated with banners, streamers, flowers and all kinds of things.
-I headed to Puebla. Traffic in and around Puebla sucked. It took me quite a while to find the center and I was not impressed. All these people and traffic made the center look ugly. There was not much I really wanted to see so I said screw it and headed for Chulo to get a cheap hotel and see a mediocre ruin. I had a hell of a time finding the road there with all the traffic and poor signs. Once I found it I wished I hadn't. It was under construction and dirty, bumpy etc. With all the dirt roads I have taken on this trip, I have eaten the most dust today. When I saw signs for the toll road I took it. I decided to head towards the volcanoes. There were some parks and towns on the way that I was sure would have camping or a hotel. No such luck. The tolls cost me $10 US and had bad traffic in spots. There was also a very bad accident. A car looked like a pancake and there was pipe from a truck load all over the place.
-At the toll booth there were hawkers trying to sell you all kinds of crap. It really makes for a dangerous/slow toll. On the toll road there are many places that trucks pull over right on the shoulders with small hawkers shops set up. Very dangerous.
-I found no hotel or camp. I thought I was lost because the road I got off on had no signs. It was now dark. Drivers suck around here. The roads are extra dangerous. I stopped and asked for directions at a gas station. It took me a while but we sorted it out. Then the guy tried to short change me about the same amount that I would have tipped him. I looked at him, smiled to let him know I knew then told him it was fine.
-I had decided to try to make it to Amecameca near the volcanoes. There were supposed to be hotels there. The road there was under construction, it was horrible, dangerous, dusty and crowded with insane drivers. In Amecamec I asked the police where a certain hotel was. He had trouble and had to ask another cop. I was pointed to one someplace across the square. Because of one way roads and traffic it took me 20 minutes to get there, and it looked terrible with no good parking. The whole down town area was extremely busy with lots of noise. I chose to leave. I headed back the way I had come. I looked for a campground, I thought I saw one on the way in but could not find one now. I stopped at what looked like a field with some local road side shops set up. I asked if I could camp there but they did not think the owner would like that. Had I continued past Amecamec I would have found all kinds of camps and some cheap looking motels. There was a small hotel and the guy said he really did not have a place he wanted to let me park it. It looked seriously run down but it was cheap, around $15. He sent me to a Hotel down the street. It was an Auto Hotel. Also called a Love Motel. These sometimes charge by the hour. This one was $18 per night, as long as you want to stay. The sheets were thin as paper and there were no blankets in the room but I was given one. I used my sleeping bag anyway. It was actually quite clean and if I wanted there was a speaker I could turn on with romantic Spanish Music. There is a sort of a garage for your vehicle with a curtain that can be closed so that no one can see your car or your mistress.
-I had a great dinner of quesadillas at a small restaurant outside the motel. If I had walked into a place like this back home I would have immediately turned around and called the health department, but here this was normal. It actually was very clean, just VERY run down. I sat with the owner and his family and had an excellent meal. The Quesadilla looked the same as many tacos I have eaten. What a meal is called seems to change depending on where you are. I watched the cooking and cleanup. They are very careful to keep everything clean and sanitary. The only strange thing was a pile of cooked rabbits on the counter. Two quesadillas and 2 beers $40P (less than $5) with tip. The guy had a cell phone, probably more reliable than regular phones.
-Up too early as usual. There was no one else left at the Love Motel. They must have gone back to their wives and husbands last night.
-The main reason I came this way was to see the volcanoes. Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl. Popocatepetl is active and is probably extinct. I had a hell of a time finding the road to the park. The signs were pathetic. It took me quite a while to find it. I finally decided not to bother. There was a heavy mist of pollution or moisture hiding the volcanoes. I could not see anything anyway.
-I headed for Ixtapa on the west coast. From the map I guessed it to be a little more than 200 miles of mostly back roads. I figured it would take 5 or 6 hours. I left the area at 8:30 expecting to be there in the early afternoon.
-Traffic was stupid and very aggressive. As I got farther away from Mexico City it got much better. The signs suck so I would occasionally miss turns. It is hard sometimes to figure out which roads the arrows on the signs are pointing at and of course none of them say east or west.
-This area can make a person hate Mexico. Too many people, too much eye burning smog, people on the road can be nasty, the roads are bad, the toll roads are expensive. I spent $12US yesterday, $15US the day before and $12US today. And I was only on toll roads for a short time each day. I hate Mexico.
-The toll road started out like a bad highway. It eventually became a two lane road twisting through the mountains. Great scenery and good road conditions. I love Mexico.
-After the toll road the road became a small road through lots of small smelly over crowded towns. I hate Mexico. Eventually the road turned into a twisty road through the mountains much like the road to Mazatlan but not in quite as good of condition. The view is great but not as good as Mazatlan. I love Mexico.
-I stopped in a small overcrowded town to get cash. There was raw sewage 8 inches deep for me to cross on the main street into the city. It looked like they were very nice people, lots of smiles etc. There were tons of cops hanging around with shotguns and automatic weapons. No reason for it that I can tell. Some of the streets were closed and those that were open were jammed. I gave up on reaching the center. On the way out of town I saw a bronze statue welcoming you to the town. It was a VERY well built woman, breasts exposed. I think she was Indian, based on the scanty cloths she had on the rest of her body. I did not get a photo, I was too aggravated by then.
-The road got even twistier and the scenery got even better. The road condition was not great and it often became a bad version of a dirt road. There were huge rocks in the road as well as dogs, goats, donkeys and vultures. At one point there was a whole flock of vultures in the road. A dog was proudly running away with a big bone with raw meat on it. The birds were slow to scatter. One decided to fly down the middle of the road away from me. I road with his tail feathers touching my headlight until he finally decided to turn left. There were also lots of people in the road. There was very little traffic and they were slow to get out of the way. There was one point that in 50 miles I saw one car and one BMW bike riding two up. It was WAY over 200 mile to Ixtapa. Had I read the miles on the map rather than measuring it I would have realized it. The ride took way longer than I expected but it was a great ride. My hands and feet were actually tired and stiff from all the shifting.
-I got to Zihuatanejo about 5:15pm. Way later than planned. The day started out so cold that I had to put on my electric gloves and vest. It ended so hot that I could barely stand it. Zi.... was easy to get into and finding the right street for the SCUBA center was easy. When it was not where the guide said it was things got tougher. No one understood SCUBA. They kept thinking I wanted to go to the center of town. Finally, a business next to the address I was looking for sent me to Playa de Ropa. I went to where the road dead ended and could not find anyone that understood. There was a cop sub-station at an intersection on the way. They understood SCUBA but had no clue where it was. They helped me find the area that had a campground, well OK, they actually just pointed down the road in the only direction I could have gone anyway. I found the campground and the guy told me how to get to the SCUBA center. He said go back the way I came and turn right at the Police Sub-Station then it's a quarter mile down the road. I found it. I told the guy at the place that the cops did not know they were here. The guy said that the cops barely know their own name. Besides a SCUBA center it was also a Dive Resort. They room rates were $105US but I got them down to $80US. Diving was going to cost $80 per day. I decided not to camp since it was very hot where the camp was. I decided to stay here and splurge since it was beautiful, right on the beach. I thought that it would be nice to hang out with other divers.
-That night there were no other divers sitting around the hotel. I had dinner down the beach for $19P but it was very good. The hotel was nice, but it is not the greatest place to hang out alone. There were no other people there. As far as I could tell, only 2 other rooms had people in them. There is very little on this side of town. Ixtapa is where the action is.
-The place was called the Zihuatanejo SCUBA Center, Juan Barnard Avila 017-553-0288 www.divemexico.com The hotel was Hotel Paraiso Real 554-3873.
-I got up early, way before anyone else in the area. I walked the beach and later sat and watched the people run on the beach. Last night my throat gave me trouble for about the first 4 hours then I slept OK. When I woke it was not bad. I started taking my CIPRO to see if that helps. It was supposed to be an antibiotic for if I got severe gastrointestinal problems but I thought it might help my sinuses and throat.
-I got my gear and we swam to the boat. I was the only diver on the boat. There was the captain, the dive master Pepe and me. We got to the dive site in minutes. On the way I saw a flock of Eagle Rays in the water, small ones with lots of markings, and a flying fish.
-The first dive hit a max of 70 feet but was mostly at 60 feet. The rocks looked a lot like Maine but there were lots more fish and the coldest temp the water got to was maybe 80 degrees. At one point the dive master saw a Moray Eel and went through a tunnel in the rock to show it to me. I was reluctant to do this as we were taught not to go under obstructions but I really had no choice. As I went under I banged my tank on the rock and cut my finger on the corral. It looked like black oil was shooting out of my finger. It was not a bad cut at all but the water made it look worse than it was. I did not have my dive watch and relied on his. His English was not too bad but we did not communicate well. We saw lots of fish and stayed down for quite a while. I did not have my chart with me down there and did not expect to go so deep so I was not sure how long I should stay under and had to rely on the dive master.
-The next dive was much shallower. At one point my gauge read 60 feet but most of it was at 30 feet. Going by the book, using the max depths I was 19 minutes over max for this dive. He was using a dive computer as well as a watch and that said we were way within the limits. We saw lots of fish on this dive. The deeper we got the less we saw. There were lots of colorful fish, electric skates (shocking fun), big sea horses, lots of small eels with black and white markings and also colorful ones. These eels were fairly aggressive. Live coral, octopus, stick crabs, fuzzy crabs and all kinds of things. Shallower is better. There was this wild noise like rain hitting wet leaves or crackling. At first I thought it was my ears playing tricks but later I realized it was real. The dive master said it was the "song of the rocks". I think it was all the live corral making noise.
-This dive outfit is billed as the most professional in the area. They were not too bad, but the absence of tank hold downs and the poor condition of equipment makes me wonder.
-Later I went out for a ride around the area. First I hit Zi.... to get cash at a bank and look around. Not much really to see, just the usual tourist shops. Not a bright, colorful place but not too bad. Then I went to Ixtapa. This is where the resort hotels are. They are gated to keep the riff raff out. Not a place I would want to be. I stopped at a place where you can swim with Dolphins. They wanted $115 US, I passed. I then went to Playa Linda which was a small quiet beach where the Spanish people go. I had a good meal and beer for about $70P. A nice place to stop. There was a stream nearby where there were a ton of crocodiles and turtles sunning themselves.
-Back at the Hotel there was one crocodile sunning himself at a special place they made for him. You can get within a few feet of him. Not very safe though, as the 6 inch wall is not likely to even slow him down if he decided you looked tasty.
-My hotel had huge buckets and swimming pools loaded with sea turtles. They are scheduled for release in December as part of a program to bring back the population.
-There are few tourists here. This is normally their busy time, although it is not the best time to dive. Everyone is afraid to fly. I doubt any of the hotels have many guests. I saw very few people on the streets or on the beach. You would think they would lower their price during the slow times, fat chance.
-Up early again. Packed the bike and had breakfast. There was a guy there looking very impatient waiting for clients for a kayak bird watching tour. They had not shown up, and unlike others around here, he was not calm like a Mexican would be. I asked if his accent was from New York City. He said yes. Later I talked to him, he was a nice guy, but he has definitely not lost that NYC hurry up attitude.
-The dive was interesting. We had a different dive master. There was two other guys diving, a psychologist and an archaeologist from Mexico City. They were not very experienced either.
-The place we were going to dive was a big rock that we could just about see from the shore. On the way out we picked up a hitch hiker. There was a guy in the water with a mask and snorkel waving his arms. He was on an open kayak when a boat ran over him. Destroyed the kayak. he was headed to the same place as us to look for Abalone. He grabbed his bag and his steel pry bar made from Re-bar and hopped on. We dropped him off at the rock we were going to dive near. He climbed up and started to get the shellfish. We dropped anchor.
-The boat was smaller than the one yesterday. It had no tank tie downs either. One of the tanks dropped on the dive masters leg. The engine kept stalling at slow speed. We went down to 87 feet then came up a little. We saw lots of the same stuff as yesterday but more of it. We saw one of the electric skates and I showed one of the divers how to get shocked by it. He laughed. There were bigger schools of fish today than yesterday. This dive master was even less professional than yesterday's. He had no dive computer, he did not check the gear before we left (I checked mine), and he owned no dive gear. When we got out there, one of the regulators was leaking at he BCD inflator. The guy dove with it anyway. I noticed a few of the tanks were leaking where the head mounts to the tank. I wonder if these tanks are ever inspected. There were an assortment of leaks on the equipment.
-When we finished the first dive we had to pick up the hitchhiker. We drove up to the rock with the engine stalling. The waves were undulating back and forth. We got close to the rock and the hitchhiker handed us his pry bar then handed me the bag of abalone. It was heavy and he thought I was going to drop it. You should have seen the look on his face. Then he hopped on. We dropped him off at a dock and I guess he walked home from there.
-It was early afternoon when I left the dive resort. I rode south along the coast towards Acapulco. It was a great ride, much of it along the beach. I stopped at a place advertising Cabanas. I thought it was shacks for rent but it was a shack used as a restaurant. It had very loud music and no place to stay. I finally got to Playa De La Cuesta, 6 miles north of Acapulco. There were many fairly cheap Hotels there but I picked a campground. I got the price down to $80P then got permission to move to a seaside spot, no charge. I should have stayed at the cheaper spots. I thought the cheap spot would not have a breeze and be too hot but as it turned out they left the light on along the ocean wall all night so it was hard to sleep. While there I met a couple from Vancouver. They normally sail all around and live on their boat but this time they decided to try traveling by land in a camper. The beach here is nice and clean and empty.
-I had checked my tire pressures today for the first time this trip. They were just slightly low.
-The restaurant had terrible service and was very expensive but the pizza was pretty good. There was no broiled fish, only fried, so I got pizza. There was only one other table with customers. A group of French people with a big dog that wanted growl at everyone. When someone walked by he would growl with his tail wagging and the group would tell him no then hug and pet him to calm him down. Gee, I wonder why he kept growling? There some very bored looking private security people here with shotguns etc. They talked to the French people and after that they kept their dog held tight. I wonder what he said?
-I have a stuffed up nose and sinus. Mostly from sea air, smoke and my "cold" that won't go away.
-The more northern cities and towns are fairly clean with reasonable smog and pollution. This area has more and worse traffic. More pollution and smog. They also burn, or rather smolder their garbage which stinks and smokes up a huge area. It is also how they get rid of yard and farm waste (palm trees, corn stalks etc.
-The shower in the camp turned out to have salt water. Yeck. What I wanted was a nice clean hot shower but got the water that I was swimming in the day before. So much for washing off the salt.
-During the night I woke up. All the lights were still on at the camp, my throat was sore and I was coughing. All of a sudden I felt the ground tremble. No noise, just a weird trembling of the ground. An earth quake. Very weird. For the rest of the night I kept having strange dreams of Tsunami waves. I was on the beach, but I was not swept away by the tidal waves.
-I left at 7am. I wanted to get out earlier but I had to wait for my key deposit. Between the smoke, lack of sleep, salt air etc. my sinuses are completely blocked. If it does not clear up I may not be able to dive tomorrow.
-I took the toll road to Mexico city and over to Vera Cruz. Some parts were pretty. The scenery is the same as the free road but less curves, much higher legal speeds, fewer miles, no topes, no small towns etc. I made great time but the trip cost $640P or about $69 US in Tolls for 390 miles. No wonder so few people take them. If I took the free road I would have lost at least a day.
-I stayed in Vera Cruz at the Royalty Hotel for $290P
-I talked to a dive instructor at Dorado Buceo Divers (2)931-4305 eldorado@veer.megared.net.mx I set up a dive for tomorrow but Sunday's weather was not looking good.
-I did nothing but rest here. There is a lively square to visit but I had little interest. The hotel had great parking in an underground garage with security.
-The Hotel was near the Mexican Navy port. It was also near the raw sewage outflow and the beach where some people swim. Yeck. Mexico has much to offer but it is often spoiled. I walked up and down the beach before I went diving. A nice town all in all but nothing special.
-The dives went well. Different kinds of fish, corral and scenery. There were other divers, mostly from Mexico City. It was a weekend. They say this is their slow time and that there is better visibility in the summer. They were very professional. The weather for tomorrow was supposed to suck so I did not plan on diving again.
-I left Vera Cruz at 2pm It took a while to get out of there and find a good road north. Eventually I found a crappy little hotel and restaurant. There were lots of rundown looking beach "resorts" here. This one advertised that they spoke English. There was a kid there home for the holidays. He goes to high school in Colorado. I got a room for $35. The place was in terrible shape, but adequate.
-I went to the attached restaurant. I could not decipher the menu but the kid from the hotel helped me a little. I decided to try the fish soup and one of the fish meals. I didn't notice that the soup was almost $5 and that the one meal I picked did not have the price on it. The meal was $7.50US.
-The soup was a meal in itself. Picture a large, wide crock bowl. In it there is a light tomato and fish broth, lightly spiced. Then picture a whole fish, eyes and all, sitting in that bowl. It looked weird but was actually very good. I think they just boil the fish in the bowl with the soup. The fish was hard to eat but it was a meal in itself. I saved room for my meal.
-The meal was pretty good. It consisted of the big brother to the fish in the soup but deep fried whole and French fries on the side. It was good but not worth the price. I was their only customer.
-This was an outdoor restaurant complete with the first large mosquitoes that I have encountered. I don't know if they were malaria type mosquitoes. The first table I sat at had large black dots half the size of raisins showing up on the table, complete with half sprouted seeds. These were droppings from birds or lizards in the rafters. The second table I found was clean.
-It really poured last night. This morning was nice though. I am glad I did not try to camp. Not much wind today and the skies were clear.
-I rode the Tajin Highway, with signs to the Tajin Ruins (route 180). At one point there was a fork in the road. Left to a small town just north of where I was, right to the town where the Tajin ruins were. No other signs. Both ways were route 180. I went right, it took me 10 miles north of the city I wanted. I was charged $3 toll. There was no easy way to find the ruins from there. Fortunately I had a book with fairly detailed directions. I only lost 45 minutes. There wer no good signs to find the place.
-The Tajin ruins were pretty cool. A lot to see and walk around and climb. I got breakfast at a small restaurant there. It was $25P and the girl could not make change for a $200P bill (about $21US)
-I wandered around for a while. There were few signs in English and no maps. The main grounds were not that big, I covered them in an hour. The rest of the grounds are huge but are all jungle. You can walk around there an see un-restored ruins. You could also get lost forever.
-I thought the highlight of the stop was going to be the Voladores. These guys hang upside down from ropes and swing around a pole. The description sounded exciting. It turned out to be just interesting. There were no signs saying when they were gong to perform this. There were not even any signs saying they do this here. I guess they don't care if you come or not. 6 colorfully dressed men come out, one plays a flute. They looked extremely bored while they performed a long slow ritualistic dance to the flute. Then five of them climb the pole while the 6th collects donations. The flute player sits at the top of the pole while the other four sit on a wooden frame around the flutist. There are ropes wrapped around the pole that the four tie to their waists. When the flutist finishes, the four men lean back and hang from the ropes upside down. Their weight slowly unwinds from the pole as they make 52 rotations to the earth. The number 52 is a magical number having to do with the calendar, but I am not sure why it is magic. When they reach the ground they spin on the rope and land upright on the ground.
-From there I headed for Tuxpan for a cash machine. No clear signs to the center or back to the highway. I lost 45 minutes doing this. I got enough cash for 2-3 days, $2000P. After that I decided that I would be heading straight home and out of Mexico tomorrow. I could have gotten away with $500P.
-Going into Tampico I missed the by pass because of poor signage. From that point there was no way back. When I finally found a sign headed the right way it looked like they would send me to a beach resort area. I wandered around for a while and found access to sand dunes. There was a beautiful beach, but it was littered pretty badly. People were out on ATV's and dune buggies riding around on the dunes. It looked like I might be able to camp there, but I did not think it would be safe.
-Leaving there I got good and lost. There was an area under construction and they never bothered to put a sign up at the detour so that you could find your way. When the four lane highway was reduced to a bad dirt road, I turned around. The signs on that side of the highway were intact and I found my way.
-I made it to Manuel a little before dark. I found a Hotel for $150P and a BIG chicken dinner for $25P. I was in bed with nothing to do at 7pm.
-The fuse to the headlight was blown. Not sure why but it appeared to happen today.
-I took my last Cipro pill. My sinuses and throat were not too bad all day but I still had a cough. I do not think the Cipro had any affect.
-There was a nice loud truck idling outside my window, lulling me to sleep.
-My jeans are beginning to smell, they are tough to wash in a sink and do not dry quickly. A different material would be better. There are some available for camping that might clean up better in a sink.
-I got up early, was out the door before first light. Headed for the border. I crossed in Phar, Texas. It was windy most of the day but the day was nice. I headed towards New Orleans.
-I stopped at a Dairy Queen because I was craving good Ice Cream. Not very satisfying. Needed better ice cream than that crap.
-Stopped at a McDonalds for supper, really not sure why, that sucked too.
-I stopped in the Baton Rouge area.
Left early. Got some slight rain during the day. Around Birmingham Alabama it started to rain pretty heavy. I suited up and then it rained non stop until well into the night. A little while before I stopped the rain stopped and the moon came out.
-Out early, ride, ride, ride. Got home at a fairly decent time. Prepared for gong to work the next day.