Jan 7, Oaxaca, Mexico
As the 190 winded its way through the mountains, I got the chance to find out what music donkeys like.
This one in particular really enjoyed trance.
A road cyclist rode with me into a tiny town and invited me for dinner.
Then I was off, setting up camp in the fields near the road.
I took the toll road to Oaxaca city, which was pretty good.
Although there were a lot of trucks on it.
In town, against all expectations I met Luis - riding a fixie. He took me through the maze of lights, intersections and cars to the restaurant where he works.
I stayed with a warmshowers host who also had two New Yorkers visiting. They were headed to a nice spot a day's ride from here and I agreed to meet them there.
The roads here were a bit confusing. Weaving like a DNA strand, one time you are trotting along happily and next moment there is a bus heading straight toward you because your lane is now on the other side of the road.
As usual I did shopping from tiny stores, grabbing what I cant find there in the big ones. Its the best way to go, just follow the smiles.
A man drove up and started talking to me.
"That's me," he says and hands me two business cards, in case I need a clown for a party. 15 days to my birthday - you never know.
A nice bike path takes me away from the buzz of the main road.
For the second time, I get kicked off the toll road, turns out the alternate is even quieter and better. I ride along a man and his mules up the hill.
Despite my best efforts, I fail to give this dog some meat. He just runs away.
An old man on a bike and a kid on a bmx riding back to town.
I get to the spot but the newyorkers arent there. I talk for a bit with some drunk guys. They give me a beer, then a second one before I am even 3/4 done with the first. Then they try to hand me a third but I refuse...
One of them returns later to make sure i don't want another.
As I am making dinner two guys come down and tell me there is no camping here. We chat while the potatoes finish boiling, then take some night shots and fix the flat I got while riding down here.
They take me to the top where there are shelters, water and places to sit. I don't complain. How could I?
I get up early to wath the sunrise over the water. Woah!
I meet the newyorkers in the morning, they got delayed by a big hill on the way here. You can read about their exploits at www.rudimentsofgruel.com
I'm always thankful about how lucky I can be. Everything this morning that delayed me enough so that I meet Sidio. We walked up the road for 2 hours together. He used to plant trees in Minnesota, now he's back home - walking for 5 hours, working for 4, 6 days a week.
Bumpy ride back to town.
Have you ever been on those machines in the gym similar to this? How about doing it all day, for a living!
Or going in circles making Mezcal? The man working there offers me a shot, I can barely drink it.
Back on the 190, hilly as usual. Lots of double semi's carrying something heavy. They normally have quite the lineup behind them. Also kind of dangerous when they pass me because they slow down a lot so their 2nd trailer pushes me off the road.
Down to the blazing heat at 900m and up again.
Camping is tough in such narrow valleys and canyons but I managed to find a decent spot. The road winds around me about 270 degrees of downhill, so everytime there is a truck descending I get that nice 3D surround sound from the engine breaks to put me to sleep.
Next day was about counting kilometer signs to the coast,
And chilling at small rest stops.
600m. Near town I asked a man running his cows home if I can camp at his field.
He said yes, but I regretted not choosing the field which had horses in it.
40m above sea level: please kill me. Its so hot that you can't even put a number on it. I ride into another town.
Burger King! Spent an hour and a half inside with the AC, the gas station people nearby were playing rave music which completely drowned the mellow top 40 playing inside.
Well... the dog days are here, I feel just like him. Its way too hot to do anything.
So I check in a hotel, on the second floor they had a political debate - this is what was left.
Out before sunrise...
And into the wind.
It was very fun trying to stay on the bike, I was told this could be worse.
Always looking for an exuse to stop in the heat.
That puppy put his nose on the touch screen and took this second photo. Not bad.
While wondering if I should stay in the next town or keep going, a man on a motorcycle came up to me. He took me to te photo place where I could print some cards (i didnt, it was $.5 per 4x6 photo) and then to a $8 hotel.
I am not quite sure if Mexico has a space program but if there is rocket science going on here, it would be at the photo machine in Tonala. I order the photos, pay and return with the receipt. Then for 15 minutes people take turns trying to get it to work. Then they tell me to come back in 9 days. I laugh.
To get the refund its another 15 minutes (or more...), but on the bright side I found powdered oatmeal,
And also met Antonie from France. He flew to Montreal and then train-hopped to Vancouver. He had crazy stories about those tunnels in the rockies and I hope to do that one day! He is hitchhiking to Brazil. He said he camped at the gas station, I cant even sleep here... its too hot.
Only one of the paper maps showed the road over the mountains, nothing on google, alpine quest and maps.me. I figured I'll go for it anyway, anything to escape the heat.
The closer I got the the mountains, the more unlikely was the possibility of a road.
And there wasn't one, just a horse trail.
I returned to ask a man for some help with directions and he said he'll join me for half an hour. He took my gear and I carried the bike.
We kept going for 3 hours, it was exhausting and sometimes impossible to gain footing on the steeper sections. Two times I bit the dust (literally, face down in the dirt and trying not to let the bike go). After Tito left me, I had another 2 hours of relaying my gear and the bike.
Made it to the top but unfortunately my 2L water bottle had fallen off.
My quest to find a stream was unsuccessful but I found some oranges which helped a lot.
From the top there was a dirt road going down. I joined the morning commute: kids on bikes, mopeds, horses and even a cow drawn cart. I did not see a car for the first hour.
And it looked like all cows here had companion birds.
Stopping at the plaza looked like this:
Too excited that there was a river crossing, I forgot to look to the left for the suspended bridge...
Some more switchbacks took me over a ridge
And into Parral
Somebody had the foresight to install speed bumps on a straight section of highway. Mexico DOT, haha.
But I found more dirt with corn field camping for the night.
A bit of a LOTR moment here. Gandalf cow:
"You shall not pass."
me:
"but... but... google maps says so..."
And there was a road, although a little bit overgrown.
After dead-ending, I spent 30 minutes scouting for a road and by connecting few fields via singletrack and bushwacking I found one!
There was a nice dam but I got pulled over by the army. Unfortunately it coincided with a military base, so no photos. When looking for a place to eat, the more pulled over trucks the better the food.
I wonder if they have parallel parking over a ditch in the drivers test here in Mexico.
And to use the carpool lanes, you definitely need more than 2 people...
More dirt riding toward the last big town in Mexico - Comitlan.
That awkward moment when the grader is gaining distance on you, uphill...
Normally the dishes here have way too much meat. After some struggles, I found two dogs that wouldn't run away.
Highway works had it all figure out. Why cut the grass when you can set up cows to do it.
Cows also used for QA testing of powerline poles guy lines.
I visited some ruins on the way. Pretty neat but I felt a bit out of place, not having my bike with me.
I rode through a national park with lots of lakes but did not like that every road accessing the lakes had a toll booth. It really felt like a business.
But the view from town was pretty good.
Over wifi I figured the plan for Guatemala - cross the border twice via dirt and then over the official port at Carmen Xhan to get the stamps. Fingers crossed, google maps always promises adventure!
