Category: Mexico

Mexico has been an experience and in a little over four months we have managed to begin to understand this beautiful, crazy, complicated and often understood country.

Since we crossed into the north west tip at Tijuana we have cycled over 3000 miles, crossed deserts, mountain ranges, gone from freezing cold to unbearably hot…and all whilst noticing the landscape and people change at a a drop of a hat.

Of course it’s not all beauty and plain sailing, on a bike you see a place warts and all. Here, in no particular order are our positive and negative thoughts on our time inMexico.

Top 5:

Montañas: We loved cycling through the mountains, especially in the states of Puebla and Oaxaca. Quiet, bendy and with guaranteed big views they made the slog up some of the steep and endless gradients worthwhile.

Baja: For a place that is essentially just cactus, we formed a strong affinity with the 1000mile peninsula that stretches from the US border southward. People were friendly (nearly every single vehicle or person waved/beeped a greeting), roads were quiet and camping spots were abundant. We met an entire community of ‘overlanders’ moving southward…cyclists, campers and bikers. In fact we met seven other cyclists, all of which we got to know and are still in contact with.

Cheap Travel: Now this isn’t strictly Mexico’s to take credit for, but we have lived a fairly comfortable existence despite our frugal budget. We have spent a lot of time camping, but cheap hotels, the occasional meal out and a couple of beers were all within our reach. Anywhere where a beer is consistently under £1 gets a thumbs up from us.

Variety: Where else can you find endless flatlands, 50 mile straight roads, 10 000ft mountain passes, snow, concrete jungles and cactus covered desert?

People: Despite also featuring in our ‘Low Five’, people have to be one of the highlights of Mexico for us. Positive feedback goes to the folk of Baja, Indigineous children in mountain towns and also the many Warmshowers hosts who took us in, fed us and gave us a place to rest our weary heads. Once we got to know people we found that we were met with intrigue and interest, but it was hard to break through the seemingly steely exteriors.

Low 5:

Rubbish/trash/basura: whatever you want to call it it is everywhere. From idyllic vistas on mountain passes to the middle of the desert, a few beer cans and second hand nappies aren’t far away. It seems there is no stigma or ill feeling associated with lobbing your unwanted goods anywhere and everywhere.

Cheer up Mexicanos: For a nation of people who are proud, there can be a perceived reluctance to welcome us, sometimes down to something as simple as a smile and wave. In particular waiters and waitresses have been in need of a cheer up, often seeming rude and unwelcoming, it would seem that customer service hasn’t reached Mexico yet! There have been plenty of exceptions, we have found friendly and welcoming people most places that our wheels have taken us…but sometimes it takes some searching.

Topes/Cobbles: Now here is a can of worms. With some careful estimation we have ridden over 10 000 topes (speed bumps). Ten Thousand! First they must be identified (signs are available if the creator of the tope is feeling particularly considerate), then the brakes applied (usually rapidly), then the impact taken (on bikes weighing over 50kgs)…and finally the killer blow, getting the heavy bikes back up to a speed that will allow us to reach the next tope within the current century. Now repeat a further 9999 times. We could probably have saved ourselves a couple of weeks had we not had to negotiate these evil creations.

Buses (plus 90% of taxi drivers): Most traffic has overtaken us with care and space, however letting the Mexicanos down is the above category. They seem to work on a policy of flat out acceleration or hard breaking, there is no middle ground, and they seem to consider bikes a mild inconvenience…therefore making minimal effort to pull around us. An honourable mention goes to all drivers in the state of Chiapas, who are on a one state crusade to overtake touring cyclists in the most inappropriate locations…blind corners with a truck coming the other way are a favourite.

NOISE: unfortunately we won’t be rushing out to buy the latest Mexican releases. If you are unfamiliar with the musical tastes of Mexicans, try your home electric keyboard in its most obscure ‘Play along setting’ and shout any Spanish words you know as loud as possible in accompaniment.
There is also no decibel limit on, amongst others: Cars, car horns, lorries using engines to brake, buses, talking, music in shops, small children, televisions and bands playing in town squares.

It’s all part of the charm of Central America.

A mere 8miles took us from Tuxtla to Chiapa del Corzo, where we jumped on a boat for a trip up Cañon del Sumidero – a spectacular 13km long stretch of river with steep, high cliffs and populated with hundreds of birds, monkeys and crocs. The boat was fun, but rather bumpy…it resembled going over cobbles on the bikes – so not a unusual sensation for us.

We conquered the enormous hill to San Cristobal the next day, and it really did feel like we had conquered something by the time we reached the top…nearly 40miles of climbing. Thankfully, as we climbed the weather cooled and a mist hung over the hills, we cycled through lots of indigenous communities, the women in beautiful traditional dress and most speaking their own local languages. We had lots of friendly hellos and shouts and waves from young children, shouting ‘Gringos’! San Cristobal was fresh and cool, we even had rain and thunder, we enjoyed wearing jumpers, getting under the covers at night and drinking 18pesos (about 60p) glasses of wine.

After a couple of days to recouperate, we left the cool haven of San Cristobal to head back down again. We were joined by Jonas (Guatamalan cyclist we met in Muzante). We cycled to Ocosingo, through picturesque and misty pine forests, followed by greener, more tropical landscape. Ocosingo is a pretty ordinary Mexican town…a square, lots of noise but nice enough. We met a Mexican couple and their son in our hotel, they shared a few beers with us and the offered to take us out for dinner…we didn’t realise quite how drunk they were until we got out and spent the evening trying to work out what the hell was going on…not even Jonas, who was acting as our translator grasped everything, Spanish is hard enough but drunk Spanish is another thing altogether. Their eleven year old son was the most the most mature and conversational of the three of them. Nuts.

The following day we cycled to Toniná, a Mayan site about 7miles from Ocosingo. It was quiet and green and had a lovely atmosphere, we spent a happy few hours exploring and then managed to time our ride back so that we got completely soaked and forged several rivers across the road to arrive back in Ocosingo. Maybe this is the sign of the rainy season to come.

As we continued our descent towards sea level, the jungle on either side of the road became thicker and the heat climbed. It was a tough ride, lots of steep climbs followed by sweeping descents. Jonas and I were done in with 10miles to go…irritatingly Sam was just fine and patiently waited as we struggled. It was all worth it to reach Misol-Ha waterfall and jump in the cool pool in the evening light. The tour buses had returned from where they came and we had the place to ourselves as the sun went down and the jungle woke up around us.

We thought the humidity was high on the Oaxacan coast…think again, the humidity of the jungle around Palenque is something else completely. We found ourselves dripping when just standing still in the shade. We stayed in basic accomodation in the jungle near Palenque ruins, surrounded by thick green vegetation and the sounds of the forest. We woke up early the next day to visit the Mayan site, we climbed up on paths   through the jungle, littered with ruined stone structures of the ancient Mayan town. Only 10% of the ruins have been excavated, the rest is still covered in thick jungle…part of the magic I think.

We reveled in another day cycling without the luggage and took a trip to Roberto Barrios cascades…and it was so worth the trip. Awesome to feel the strength in our legs when cycling without luggage and then to find the beautiful blue/green waters of the cascades, with dozens of pools and waterfalls, caves and lagoons. A watery adventure playground. A local man showed us the ways of the cascades…where the best places to jump were, how to take a safe route walking down the rocks and lots of caves under the waterfalls themselves. We were very trusting…if he said jump, we did…but we usually sent Jonas off first as the guinea pig. Some jumps were more than high enough (8m!) to get the heart beating and adrenaline going. A different kind of adrenaline to speeding fast downhills on our bikes.

That night we left Jonas and took a night bus from Palenque to Cancun…our first night bus and a relatively pleasant experience, we were so worn out from cycling and cascade antics that we slept most of the 10hours. Cancun is not somewhere we would have chosen to come, but we are here to meet (Laura’s) Mum and Dad…time for another holiday within a holiday!

Where are we? Where have we been? Where were we yesterday…or a week ago? This conversation has become all too familiar, names of places, roads and hotels tend to blur when you are nomadic beings. For me the things that stand out the most are the people, small kind gestures and where we ate our lunch or laid our heads. I will use these things to try and remember a little of what has happened over the past couple of weeks…

With Oaxaca behind us we went over the mountains towards the Pacific coast. The ride was very picturesque and varied, but hilly and hot. We felt the temperature change as we descended to lower altitudes, the landscape also became much greener and thick with jungle like vegetation. We had a lot of fun enjoying sweeping downhill sections and I compared the feeling to that of skiing fast…but hotter and on wheels rather than skis, so in fact quite different.

On reaching the coast at Puerto Escondido we sweated…and I don’t think we have stopped since. Unbelievably hot, one day read 38degrees with something ridiculous like 80% humidity – so felt hotter. We stayed at Punta Zicatela where we lounged in hammocks, drank beer, ate lots and sweated for two days. The sand was too hot to walk on and the sea too dangerous for swimming. Craving a more satisfying beach experience we rolled along the coast to Mazunte, where we were able to swim lots and slept in a rather novel hanging bed…and sweated.

Then it was time to say adios to the coast and head in search of a cooler climate. The coast roads weren’t as flat as we expected and the first couple of days were very much up and down, these hills led me to discover that I can drip with moisture as efficiently as any man – something I had not experienced before. Sam spent the breaks wringing out his t-shirt and bandana-nice! Then we reached the flat which made for quicker progress. On our 4th night we stayed in the home of Rodrigo and his family (warm showers) We were immediately welcomed in, given a meal and made to feel at home. He hosts a huge amount of cyclists, despite not being a cyclist himself, and he and his family were incredibly hospitable and at ease with us as guests. This trip is all about meeting people like him and remembering how many kind people there are in the world, who expect nothing in return.

We were pleased to find that the kindness of Mexicans continued the next day. A man passed us a cold bottle of water out of the window of his moving car (fair play to Sam for retrieving the water and not falling off while we were all moving along) and later another car stopped to check we were OK. We have discovered such acts of kindness tend to come all at once or not at all. As we climbed, we were refreshed by the cold water and also started to feel a tiny drop in temperature which was a great relief, although very minor.

The final two days of our seven day riding streak were a little more relaxed. We hopped a short distance to Aguacero, a place with a river and waterfalls, where we had most of the morning and afternoon to walk down and up the 700steps, have a dunk in the water and relax in hammocks at the top before setting up camp for the night. A Transylvanian couple arrived and we had a nice evening, just the four of us, a bottle of wine and a couple of flee ridden dogs.

Our bodies had really had enough by the time we had covered the 30miles to Tuxtla Gutierez the following day, arriving tired and dirty…and still sweating. This will have been the most miles we have covered in 7days, so I think we are allowed to feel the need for a rest. And here I am, sat still, writing the blog, not sweating too much and dreaming of the cool mountain air of San Cristobal de las Casas, two days ride away.

We left Tula with Anko, in the search of a quiet route to Teotihuacan, unfortunately being so close to Mexico City (popultion of over 20million people) this proved difficult and we spent most of the day surrounded by smog and traffic. And speed bumps….oh the speed bumps. These Topes (Mexican speed bumps) seem to be the only way of regulating speed here and because of this, they are everywhere. It seems that if you don’t want people to speed outside your restaurant or house then just whack a tope there…and if this still doesn’t work then just pop another on top, the wedding cake effect. Another bumpy problem for cycle tourists.

We survived all these speed killers and after a long day made it to Teotihuacan where we visited the 3rd largest pyramid in the world. The archeological site was enormous and quite awe inspiring, looking out over the landscape from the top of he Piramide del Sol, it was hard to imagine discovering all these incredible ruins under what you thought were some small hills.

We parted ways with Anko the next day and headed towards Tlaxcala, it was an unexpectedly challenging ride, climbing 4000ft on a variety of roads, ranging from steep dirt tracks to busy two lane highways. Adding insult to injury we encountered 121 speed bumps over the 62miles. I was unsure I would make it at points and we tried to stop in a strange and rather unfriendly town, luckily there was no hotel so we were forced to keep going. I found a second wind and some downhill to finish the day and Sam treated me to a nicer hotel than we would usually go for, amazing what a decent bed can do…we slept for 12 hours and felt revitalised and ready for a mountain…La Malinche!

Cobbles. To the average tourist they may be charming, signifying a pretty and well preserved colonial town. To the cycle tourist…they are hell. Even the most laid back cyclist will start to sweat and swear at the sight of yet another cobble stone street stretching into the distance. It would seem that most Mexican towns love them and take time to preserve these small slick stones, I am of the opinion that they shouldn’t bother, to simply tarmac the roads would be simpler and would save much anguish for travellers on two wheels. And don’t even get me started on Mexican Topes (speed bumps)….

Full of hope for smooth roads we left San Miguel de Allende, being forced to haul the bikes up steep cobbled streets before reaching the sanctuary of the smooth main road…turns out this road was closed, but it was ok because there was a really nice cobbled diversion, followed by a dirt track which kicked up clouds of dust before returning to the road. Good way to start the day! We arrived in the early afternoon at our warm showers host in Queretero, David lives in an eco community with 10 others, he welcomed us into the fold and very kindly let us sleep in his shed. Little did I know that the shed would become my sanctuary for the next 3 days as I hid out nursing a bad stomach again. Sam had a nice time – he learnt some Spanish, visited the brewery where David works, did a little gardening and learnt how to drink Mezcal, while waiting for his girlfriend to return to the world.

After rather longer than anticipated, and a cold night of rain and thunder storms, we left Queretero (now armed with our own bottle of magic Mezcal) and headed to Tequisquiapan. Unfortunately, to reach the house of our warm showers host, the last two miles were on…you guessed it…more cobbles. This was an especially unpleasant experience after being ill, but was all worth it to stay with Luis in a beautiful quiet house in a private estate, not only did we have our own bedroom and bathroom but an adorable Collie called Nina to entertain us. We were both a little besotted! It was hard to leave this sanctuary the next day but dragged ourselves out the door at midday for the short hop to Huichapan, over a quiet mountain road with awesome views. Unfortunately all Huichapan had to offer was cobbles, speed bumps, a plaza and a grotty hotel.

The next day produced what we both agree to be the best riding of the mainland so far. After a small hitch in road choice (we discovered that the route we wanted to take was all cobbled (?!) and had to turn around) we climbed steadily up a thousand feet or so and were greeted by quiet and beautiful countryside, mountains as far as the eye could see in every direction and a smooth road stretching into the distance. Bliss. We could see our destination far below us and happily descended towards Tula, over taking trucks as they crawled down the mountain.

We thought that our favourite city so far deserved a few more pictures…

We spent many happy hours looking out from our roof terrace and wandering the maze of streets and tunnels of Guanajuato. We leapt at the chance of a luggage free spin and took the bikes round the ‘panoramica’, providing amazing views of the city from all directions and making us realise how fun riding a lighter bike is, acceleration is possible! We managed to hit a long section of cobbled streets which made me feel like I had left a trail of shattered bones in my wake, but otherwise it was fun.

We left Guanajuato after 3 days and climbed out of the city and beyond, covering 2000ft in about 8miles and climbing to the dizzying heights of 8680ft…the highest either of us have been on bikes. The altitude did not go unoticed as we puffed, panted and wheezed our way up the steep sections, having to stop to look at the awesome views (catch our breath) several times. The road through the mountains was incredible after the boring toll road – not much traffic, good surface and great views, this is what cycle touring is all about! We stopped in Dolores Hildalgo, the birth place of the Mexican Revolution, ate avocado and whisky flavour ice cream and stayed in a dodgy hotel. Then we took the short hop to San Miguel de Allende, stopping at some hot springs on the way and feeling very relaxed and civilised. We leave San Miguel tomorrow, hoping for quiet, cobble free roads with a decent view to keep us entertained.

We have made it to La Paz! Feels like rather a landmark as this is where we cross to mainland Mexico and the start the next stage of the adventure.

We rolled away from Mulege a short way along the stunning coastline of the Bay of Conception, staying the night sheltered from the wind with our tent in a shabby Palapa on a spit of beach stretching out to an island, reachable at low tide. Beautiful spot. I was struggling with the heat and energy levels so felt like I was travelling at snails pace as we continued to Loreto the next day. We had stopped by the side of the road when a Mexican cyclist pulled up for a chat, he was wearing a thick white tracksuit and we had a halting Spanish conversation in which we established that he was cold (hence the amount of clothes) and that we were hot (hence the few clothes)…so that was fun and picked up the mood a bit! Arrived in Loreto and decided to take an extra day to rest the legs which seem to be rather burnt out. Turns out that Ratna and Patrick are staying in the same hotel – cyclists seem to congregate in the same places – so had dinner with them.

We left Loreto a couple of days later to climb over the hills and into the Baja desert for the last time. The second day was one of boredom as we spent the whole day on one incredibly long straight road, the novelty of cacti wears off after a while but music kept us sane. We rounded THE corner and sat in a bus stop found two German cyclists that we had met in the bay of conception – Anya and Radko. We camped behind a restaurant with them that night and spent the next few days cycling together. This camaraderie helped the fact that we battled with a strong head wind for the next two days…even the boys admitted to finding it hard going. Entering La Paz was a strange experience having been only in the desert and very small towns for such a long time. The road was smelly and noisy and there were cars and people everywhere, it felt like a rather rude awakening from our little bubble.

This said…La Paz is quite a nice town, very touristy but beautiful coastline and beaches and not a bad place to drink beer, wash the dust of the desert away and sort out bits and bobs. We feel like we should complete the length of the Baja peninsula so we are going to cycle to Cabo and lands end before coming back to La Paz to catch the ferry to Mazatlan in a weeks time.

This little bugger jumped off the bush and skewered into my arm…

We left Guerrero Negro to cross back over to the east side, ready to escape the town and find the wilds of the desert again, which we duly did. After the first day we camped in a particularly prickly spot a little way off the highway, forcing us to carry our bikes to protect the tyres and making us realise how many things we have that rely on not having holes in (water bags, sleeping mats, tent, tyres etc)!

After an easy second day we arrived in San Ignacio at lunch time, where we sat in the very pleasant town square for the afternoon, chatting to fellow travellers and resting the legs. Lync arrived, followed by a couple from Germany – Retna and Patrick, also on bikes. They had just walked the continental divide from Mexico to Canada and now they are cycling to Argentina…as you do!

We pushed on towards Santa Rosalia, feeling like we have friends on the road as we could see cyclists up ahead (Ratna and Patrick) and a cyclist behind (Lync) we also had many friendly toots and waves from people in vans who we had met in the square the day before. The hills and the head wind were pretty hectic, making it very hard going, I took up my old ways and started swearing at the hills…this doesn’t make them any easier, but it does make me feel better. Pushed through Santa Rosalia to a beautiful spot right on the beach at San Lucas.

Watched a spectacular sunrise to bring in my birthday and cycled the short hop to the green and lush town of Mulege where we swam, drank beer, ate cake and relaxed for the afternoon before going out for a meal. There was a birthday party at the restaurant and when they sang happy birthday I pretended it was for me and Sam inserted my name…wouldn’t know the difference !

The thing about Baja is that there is not a lot here…most of the peninsula is desert, dotted with small towns along the single main road. People come here to enjoy that emptiness and outdoor lifestyle and we are passed by many a camper with all the toys on board…from bikes to boats and everything in between. This lifestyle suits us just fine, especially now the rain has stopped and the temperatures are climbing.

We hopped our way along the east coast, camping, soaking in hot springs and battling with 25miles of dirt road. Met another cyclist for the first time since entering Mexico – a young Australian called Lync, travelling on a mountain bike with a very heavy trailer, wearing a floppy camo hat and sharing our peanut butter addiction! We have spent the last week or so leap frogging him, cycling together at times and camping together in the desert. The dirt road was a challenge, it comprised of what seemed like endless rumble strip style bumps and rocks but the scenery was spectacular and felt like we were properly out in the wilds…nobody there, other than Coco. Coco is an old Mexican man with legs as far as his knees, who lives on his own in the middle of the desert, walking around on homemade leather knee pads and inviting travellers in for a drink or somewhere to stay…fascinating character and a bit of a legend among the travel community.

The dirt road gave way to the beautifully smooth surface of highway 1 and we travelled swiftly towards Gurrero Negro, crossing the peninsula again. The desert is a crazy place, so unlike anywhere I have been before, the weirdest thing it that the cacti don’t move in the wind, they just stand there tall, straight, spiked and unmoving, almost mocking us as we pass by. Maybe I am losing the plot!

Gurrero Negro is not an inspiring town but the grey whales that come to the lagoons to have their babies were truly inspiring! We had our first encounters on the Californian coast, near Ventura, and more than 900 cycling miles later we meet again…who knows, some of them might actually be the same ones. It was incredible being out in such a small boat surrounded by ballenas, some so close we could have reached out to touch them. The air full of the noises of them blowing, surfacing and splashing. Awesome.

The last few days have been those of contrast and emotions have been very high and very low. There is no other time that you feel the terrain and the weather quite so keenly than from a seat of a bike.

The roads out of Ensenada were flooded, sandy and full of holes, we headed up hill for our biggest single climb of the trip so far…25miles of gradual ascent to Ojos Negros at 2290ft. We reached the hotel and rain set in so we donned all of our warmest clothes, got into bed and stayed hidden for the afternoon. This theme continued as we left the next day in torrential and freezing rain, we lost the sensation in our toes within minutes, it was due to be a long day. The only advantage of rain and cold is that we cycle faster and stop less.

Thankfully the weather dried out the next day as we left Valle De Trinidad. The small mountain town turned out to be a maze of wet, sandy streets with hundreds (I never exaggerate) of vicious dogs biting at our heels and wheels. Once safely back on the number 3 we headed up hill with heavy legs and then the reward…20miles of descent. We floated through barren mountains and cold sandy deserts to the Sea of Cortez. From there it was flat…flat, straight and directly into the wind for what seemed like a lifetime. As 78miles ticked over on the clock we entered San Filipe, tired but satisfied to complete a monster day and reach ‘the other side’.