Mexico continued ...

Friday 4th September
Zacatecas to San Miguel Allende

As it was to be short, I went for a wander around the city, very modern shops hidden in older colonial buildings, the streets cobbled and narrow struggling to carry the modern traffic. The pedestrian crossings are amusing as the time counts down the animated figure starts running faster and faster. Getting the bikes out of the underground parking was fun, there were a lot of cars parked in the way, after clearing these we had to ride up a very steep ramp to the street, one of the group had been having digestive problems and couldn’t get his bike off the centre stand, so we had to put this in the support van and he spent this day in the van. Apart from the awkward navigation of the city, this was a basic riding day through a generally busy part of Mexico, there were more trucks and cars (mostly pick-ups) here, and the scenery stayed the same all the way to San Miguel.

Miles
Today : 213
Total : 8639.4
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Saturday 5th September
San Miguel Allende
Day off

After the Cosmopolitan city of Zacatecas San Miguel was a smaller town, but no less active the central plaza full of people sitting in the shade of trees eating ice cream and drinking cold drinks. Most Mexican town have a main central plaza where most activities take place. I visited some colourful markets in this town which had all sort on sale, this is another town of narrow cobbled streets, easy to navigate as it has a grid system, most shops are difficult to spot being open doors at the side of the street you think they are peoples houses not shops. He view from the hotel was fantastic, overlooking the chaotic scramble of houses, many with nicely maintained roof gardens as below there is little space for such. The day remained very warm well into the 30’s so it was good to relax, wander about and soak up the atmosphere of a different culture.


Miles
Today : 0
Total : 8639
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Sunday 6th September
San Miguel Allende to Huetjutlas

This started off in the heat of San Miguel, we had some changes to the route due to roadwork’s which had complicates things when we road in, after clearing the town we had some very nice sweeping roads with the temperature dropping into the pleasant mid 20s, we progressed into the mountains. I had got behind and I made up some time on a series of very sharp bends as we climbed into the mountains the 800 being very nimble even though I have an off-road tyre on the front. When I caught up with the group we moved into the cloud layer and it started to rain. The road continued as sharp bends left and right at each bend was a few houses constituting a village, these had “topes” speed bumps with the other traffic slowing for these, just as you get up to speed another appears this and hauling the bike around very tight bends, became quite tiring. This continued for almost 100 miles and when we arrived at the hotel in the rain most of us were very tired, normally this type of road would be sought after by motorcyclists, but a road this long becomes very tiring. A quick look around town and we settled on a small taco stall for dinner as one of the group had seen the food being prepared fresh !

Miles
Today : 285
Total : 8924
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Monday 7th September
Huetjutlas to Costa Esmeraldas

We started off in the cool aftermath of the nights rain, following the exact route notes took most 30 miles extra due to a missing sign, but I followed my map and short cut across to the main road. The wet damp roads and fields showed the signs of the wet season, most of the area covered with greenery. As the ride continued the whole scenery slowly became more tropical, the temperature rose and it got a lot more humid. Small palm trees appeared and then the sea appeared on my left, The Gulf of Mexico ! Arriving at the hotel very hot and sticky the first thing to do was to get the swim trunks on and dive into the sea, it was fantastic. The area is normally covered in tourists but we are I the rainy season and the whole beach was empty, we had this tropical paradise to ourselves. Later we were invited to dinner at a restaurant around the corner, the food was the best I have tested on this trip, gourmet food, soup, pasta and then fish main course.

Miles
Today : 163
Total : 9087
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Tuesday 8th September
Costa Esmeraldas to Catemaco

I was reluctant to leave this place as it was so nice to be beside the sea, climbing into the bike gear in heat and humidity is not pleasant but as soon as you get going you cool down. This was another relatively short day generally on busy main roads, each of the major bridges carry tolls even for bikes (19 pesos - 95p) and there are still military check points to negotiate here most again wave you through, another toll road (33 pesos) and a straight run. Arriving in Catemaco the notes mentioned arches, however these had been demolished so I got lost, two locals on mopeds were only too happy to lead the way to the hotel just so they could be seen riding with the big bike!. This town was on the side of very large lake with a number of islands, one of which is called Monkey Island for obvious reasons. The locals do boat/sight seeing trips to this island but as we were here only for one night there wasn’t enough time to go, a nice meal at a lakeside restaurant with a dry thunder storm in the background capped the day off very nicely.

Miles
Today : 208
Total : 9295
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Wednesday 9th September
Catemaco to Palenque

Starting this longish day the scenery became more jungle like and very nice for the first 50 miles, then we joined the main road, dual carriage way for another 200 miles, with lots of tolls. The quality of the road varied quite a lot from nice dual carriage way to bumpy potholed single carriage way and as ever turning to dusty potholed night mare as it passed through each village. At one point the dual carriage way had a topes (speed hump) in the middle of nowhere and for no know reason with no signs, everyone hit this at speed I managed to scrub off speed but still hit it a 50, I had thought bike broken with the force, but these GS’s are built strong as proved in Copper Canyon, so no damage. I was following 3 others making good time, these straight runs don’t suit the 800 and the fuel soon disappeared from the tank, the last 50 miles saw me nervously checking the miles to empty reading, the last 9 miles I dropped off the back of the group doing only 40 and hoping to see the Pemex sign (state run fuel stations), as the gauge read 1 miles left, it was relief to see the sign in the distance and just made it.


Miles
Today : 284
Total : 9579
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Thursday 10th September
Palenque
Day off
The accommodation was small thatch covered cabins and very nice, the hotel had a swimming pool, but I had had a bad night stomach cramps, showing I had eaten something bad (I suspected the fish in the hotels restaurant the night before), the cramps eased that day allowing me to visit the Mayan ruins just down the road. We left early to avoid the heat of the day and hired a local guide. He took us around, on and into the ruins, the part we saw had been excavated in the past, but the rest, a huge area 30 times the size has been left untouched. After walking around the ruins and taking photos we moved the museum a mile down the road, the air conditioned
Rooms being a welcome relief from the stiffeling, humid 35 deg heat. The museum had many of the artefacts excavated in the past, including a replica of the sarcophagus of the Queen buried in one of the excavated “houses”, the large buildings we think of as temples are now considered to be “houses” for the kings and queens and only become temples when they are buried in them. Most are then built upon for re-use as houses with access stairs to previous levels. The rest of the day was spent trying to rid myself of the stomach pain, and resting in the room.

Miles
Today : 8
Total : 9587
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Friday 11th September
Palenque to San Cristobal

Starting off this day I still had the stomach cramps, though not as bad, I started a course of antibiotics to help clear it. Putting on the bike gear in this heat and humidity was again uncomfortable. The run being short but with a stop at the Agua Azul waterfalls, stopping there late, I followed where I thought the others had gone up the trail, carrying my coat, tank bag and back-pack. After 40 minutes of walking in the jungle heat, I got to “El Canyon” which was little more than a distant view of water running in a gap in the rocks, very disappointing and not worth the walk. Gladly getting back to the bike, buying a couple of bottles of water, I moved on. Back on the same road all the way to San Cristobal it was a relief to find the humidity drop, eventually I ran not rain and put the water proofs on until arriving in the busy city. Unloading the bike I got a complimentary fruit drink, and then moved the bike to the secure compound across the street. We had a briefing to go to explain the boarder crossing procedure into Guatemala as this was our last night in Mexico!

Miles
Today : 138
Total : 9725