Greetings:
I know this update is long overdue, but you
have to understand, it is very
difficult typing while riding a motorcycle.
Actually, I wanted to send my
next update from Central America, which starts
at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (the narrowest
section of Mexico). I am now in
Antigua, Guatemala attending Spanish school
and living with a Guatemalan family until the
19th. Beautiful city but I seem
to have a hard time staying in one place for
more than a few days. I guess it will be good
for me to get a little Spanish
under my belt before I move further south.
I stayed a lot longer than I planned in Mexico
- about a month and a half.
This is not nearly enough time since Mexico
is very large; it is packed with
culture, history, great people and beautiful
landscapes. Someone told me
that if you want to get a good feel for Mexico
you need least three years.
Maybe next time around.
SOME HIGHLIGHTS: Driving down the dirt road
to Gonzaga Bay in Baja,
Mexico. Driving to Batopilas in the Copper Canyon.
Mexico City and the
Anthropological Museum. Bullfight in Mexico
City. Valle De Bravo. Seeing
clouds of butterflies at the Monarch Butterfly
Reserve. Staying in a
Lacandon Indian village in the jungle of southern
Chiapas.
LOWLIGHTS: Having to turn around in Baja and
return to Tucson to get the
bike fixed. Getting pushed off the road by a
pick-up truck on the way to
Batopilas. Having my tent stolen off my bike
in Guanajatro. Having a
"stomach problem" for a couple of days. Having
a gout attack. Having this
cold.
THE ROUTE: When I last left you I was in the
Southwest, having some work
done on my bike in Tucson and Phoenix. From
here I backtracked and crossed
the border into Baja, Mexico just west of Yuma,
CA at Algadones.
From
Algadones I headed down the Gulf of California
(Sea of Cortez) to San
Felipe. From San Felipe I took a "God awful"
(the way it was described to
me), but fun and beautiful, dirt road about
100 miles to Gonzaga Bay. I fell
once and had to dig the bike out of the sand
once. Upon arriving in Gonzaga,
I realized that I destroyed my brand new rear
shock and cracked the metal
frame that supports my saddlebags. Now that's
a "God awful road!" Next
day I drove back out - on the "God awful road"
- all the way back to Tucson.
In Tucson, I had the rear shock replaced and
the rack welded.
My next attempt at Mexico was down the mainland.
I crossed in Columbus, NM
and headed down through Nuevo Casa Grande to
Creel and the Copper Canyon
area. From Creel I went down into the canyon,
to the small, Tarahumara
Indian village of Batopilas. This was a very
demanding (fell twice and lost
the back break three times), but breathtakingly
beautiful dirt road. The
next day I returned to Creel. From Creel, I
headed southeast to Hidalgo Del
Parral. From Parral to Zacatecas, then to Guanajuato,
Patzcuaro, Morelia,
Zitacuaro, Valle de Bravo and Mexico City. From
Mexico City, I went east to
Puebla and then south on Rt. 190 to Oaxaca.
I've been told that Rt. 190 is
the Pan-American Highway but I am not sure.
Can anyone confirm? From Oaxaca
I continued down Rt. 190 across the western
side of the Isthmus of
Tehuantepec, to Tuxla Gutierez and then to San
Cristobal de las Casa. From
San Cristobal I headed northeast to Palenque
and Aqua Azul.
From Palenque
I
took a road southeast and then due west, that
followed the
Guatemalan/Mexican border through the Lacandon
Jungle. This road doesn't
seem to exist on some maps. Luckily, it did
exist when I was passing
through. I crossed the border into Guatemala
at Chiudad Cuauhtemoc and
followed rt 190 (the Pan American Hgwy. ???)
into Guatemala City. From
Guatemala City to Antigua.
THE DRIVING: Pretty exciting. You never know
what is around the next
corner. Surprisingly, in Mexico, most of the
drivers are courteous. My
biggest problem was always underestimating how
long it would take me to get
from point A to point B. Most of the roads on
my route have been twisty,
steep mountain roads. This is because I've staid
fairly close to the
Continental Divide for much of the way. On these
roads you often find
yourself behind a line of buses and/or trucks,
slowly snaking its way up a
steep mountain road, spewing black diesel fumes
in your face, while you are
trying to peak around the vehicle to see if
there is enough of a clear,
straight-away to quickly pass.
Then there are the numerous military checkpoints
and endless topes (speed
bumps). Every time you are near a town (sometimes
two houses seem to
constitute a town) you come across at least
a few topes. Last Friday I was
driving through the Lacandon Jungle, in the
southeast corner of Chiapas, on
the Mexican/Guatemalan border and there must
have been at least 8 military
checkpoints. Today someone from the US embassy
in Guatemala told me that
the Lacandon is a big drug smuggling area. That
explains it.
Road conditions are often unpredictable. Major
roads turn into dirt roads,
gravel roads, are abandoned in various states
of construction, have chunks
missing, have boulders, sand or gravel piles,
or are washed out. To be
fair, most of the roads in Mexico are in pretty
good condition but there are
always surprises. If you want to be assured
a smooth, fast ride you can
always use the quotas (or toll roads). These
roads are very expensive and
as a result are never crowded because very few
people can afford to use
them. I tend to dislike these roads because
you are in this sterile
corridor, isolated from the people and the towns
that give you a feel for
the everyday life in Mexico. They are just plain
boring.
There are also numerous creatures that seem
to dash, crawl, slither, fly or
waddle across my path everyday. There has been
every farm animal
imaginable. There have been vultures, bats,
owls, and lately, I seem to be
getting more brilliantly colored birds. There
have been some very good size
snakes, a monkey, porcupine, etc. Every town
seems to have at least one dog
that specializes in chasing motorcycles. When
a dog is coming at you, you
slow down and then you quickly speed up. This
throws them of their
trajectory.
In Mexico City it seems that it is a sport for
drivers to run red lights.
So, when in Mexico City do as the Mexicans.
During rush hour they also have
high-speed buses running against traffic on
some of the broader, one-way
streets.
Surprise! I
still haven't figured out what you do at an
intersection without a stop sign - who has the
right of way? There are, in
theory, traffic regulations, but these are interpreted
extremely liberally
when not ignored totally.
THE BIKE: The bike has been holding up great
considering some of the abuse
I put it through. The only problems I've had
was with the rear shock and
the cracked metal frame in Gonzaga; getting
a bubble in the sidewall of the
front tire in Batopilas; and losing the front
brake in Oaxaca due to the
cable rubbing against another cable. My main
problem is that I keep
looking for dirt roads and I am carrying way
too much weight for serious
off-road riding. I will try to restrain myself
in the future, but no
promises.
THE FOOD: Food is generally pretty good but
not great. Good soups and
juices. Lots of tacos and tortillas. Among the
many different types of
tacos, I had the pleasure of trying tongue and
brain tacos. Another unusual
thing I tried in Oaxaca were chapultes, which
are small grasshoppers that
are cooked in spices. I'll stop here.
THANK YOU: To Frank Zabriskie, from ZMW Motor
Werks in Tuscon, for doing
such a great job preparing my bike for the ride
south and for putting me up
for a few days. To Clay, Randy and Lloyd for
their warm hospitality when I
showed up in Gonzaga with an ailing motorcycle.
To Jim, Mike, Brad, and
Gregory for coming to my rescue on the road
to Batopilas. To Juan Carlos
for his hospitality in Valle de Bravo and his
great route selection. To
Marisa, Adriana and Thierry for their hospitality
in Valle and Mexico City.
And to John Daughty - a fellow GS rider whom
I met on the road to Guatemala
City - for putting me up and taking good care
of me when I was sick, dirty,
cold and hungry.
I want to thank the rest of you for your emails
and general encouragement.
It is always nice to hear from a friend when
you are far from home. And as I
said before, if I have someone on this list
that does not wish to be on this
list, please let me know and I'll be happy to
remove you.
I am going on 19,000 miles since I've left home.
I'll check in again once I
make it to South America
So far, so good.
"Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to
trust strangers and to lose
sight of all that familiar comfort of home and
friends. You are constantly
off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential
things - air, sleep,
dreams, the sea, the sky - all things tending
towards the eternal or what we
imagine of it." Unknown (at least to me)
