Mexico and a couple of days of De javu

 

As I begin my trip back, the road signs become varied. This one is about 200 miles into Mexico from Guatemala.

Feeling I had kind of lucked out with the hotel I stay' d at the night before, I was reluctant to leave it. But as so often happened on this trip getting back on the road in the early morning before the heat of the day and having time to think were often the best times on the trip. This morning after getting lost almost immediately in the first town I came to and getting back on track I came to this crossroads with the sign above. I wish I had maybe taken more pictures of all the different signs on the trip to sort of give perspective to where I was at.

This home with a hammock on the front porch and wide open land and mountains around it with a horse nearby seemed to have everything a home needs.

There was a restaurant nearby where I had breakfast. A good breakfast with coffee for about 3 or 4 dollars. After words in the clear morning I got back on my bike in the Mexican desert and headed out feeling a little like Peter Fonda and Easy Rider again! And a sort of pride came in that here I was, alone in southern Mexico, kind of living a dream, riding my bike, making it. Within a short distance I came upon another rider heading south, here out in the solitude of southern Mexico it seemed almost mandatory to stop and say hi. I think we both kind of slowed down maybe thinking the same thing, but I didn't stop. It sort of seemed like what was the point, we both knew what we were doing down here. And while it would really have been nice to talk to another biker on the trip since I hadn't the whole way, I continued on my way, and he his. It looked like he had all the world traveler gear. Like a full Darien Suit, neoprene or gortex riding gloves, a dual sport bike with metal panniers, the whole outfit for the professional motorcycle traveler. I wondered if it was Greg Frazier the author of Riding South. I had spoke with him in Duluth at the "Very Boring Motorcycle Rally" in September I believe and he said he was planning on driving down to Costa Rica for Christmas. Well here it was December 8th and if it was him I passed I kind of wish I would have stopped.

This area of Mexico before Saline Cruz and the Pacific Coast seemed very arid and dry, though there were some rivers coming out of the mountains.

Its funny as big as the world is, travelers still tend to know each other, or know of each other. Like sailors who know who's in port and who's not. And thru word of mouth may find out so and so is in Lisbon, or Rio or the South Seas. The points of crossing paths are somewhat limited, even in world travel, so its not hard to keep track of the few people who actually make travel a good part of their lifestyle.

When I lived in Alaska it was  no different. As big as that state is, the roads only go a few places and so people tend to congregate, or travel to the same places. I remember when I lived in Seward Alaska for a time and one day I was looking out my window and my best friends old girl friend was walking down the street, I called to her and we ended up talking for awhile. We were all from Michigan, and here 4,5000 miles from home, we just happen to run into each other. Yes the world is not that big a place and is made that much smaller by the limited amount of roads and ports that are our crossing points.

Saline Cruz is a big port on the Pacific about 360 miles from Acapulco.

Later on this part of the trip I was to run into another Dual Sport bike with two riders on it, something I had not seen before. I saw at least one other dual sport rider and a Honda Goldwing along with a couple on bicycles heading south and a hitchhiker heading north, he looked like he was from the states as well. These two things, riding a bicycle or trying to hitchhike down here were things I had to have as much or more respect for then what I was doing. I could not imagine trying to ride a bike loaded with gear on these roads with the heat and heavy traffic. I also could not imagine hitchhiking because I would think you would often have to just sleep wherever you got left off. I would be curious to see how those things went. I should have stopped and talked to the hitcher. Another opportunity missed, probably because of trying to make time and get where I was going. Again the discipline of travel, to get good stories and good pictures, you often have to work for them. And realize you may never be back again so its worth the extra effort to take the time every day to get them.

Much like Acapulco, much of Saline Cruz is built on the surrounding mountain sides.

This was indeed a busy part route for travelers coming from the north heading south. Unlike my trip coming down the east side of Mexico, or my trip in Central Mexico, this stretch running along the Pacific Coast from Saline Cruz to Acapulco (about 360 miles) was obviously a well traveled route. It was also a heavily checked route by the military. There were about 6 military check points on the highway, half of which stopped me and ended up searching the exact same bags as the last check point. It was sort of annoying. At one point one of the soldiers got on my bike so his friend could take a picture of him with his cell phone. Meanwhile their CO looked totally annoyed. I thought it was pretty unprofessional to be taking up my time and sitting on my bike just so his buddy could take a picture of him, but then again what can you do. I thought I should have just had fun with it and taken their pictures  as well. I'm not sure how their CO would have taken that though.....perhaps another opportunity lost.

Saline Cruz from a distance, you can see its port and the Pacific Ocean.

Just deciding to take this highway and come back a different way then I had taken down was a big decision. I wasn't sure what I would find coming this way. My plan was to drive the Pacific Coast to Acapulco, maybe stay a day there, and then drive straight north, thru Mexico City and up to Texas. This looked to add about 300 miles to the trip, but I knew how bad the roads were coming down the way I had, and the traffic and maze of roads around Veracruz and Tampico were no fun. I thought whatever I run into going this way, it can't be worse then what I came down on. The only thing that really bothered me was having to go thru Mexico City. There was no way to go around a city of 20 million people and looking at the map it didn't look like there was freeway that went thru it either. The only way would be to just get in it, and keep driving north until I got out of it and hopefully recognize a highway that would keep taking me north.

The start of the highway from Saline Cruz to Acapulco. 360 miles of winding coastal road with not much in between.

I spent about two days on the highway between Saline Cruz and Acapulco. It is a beautiful highway that follows the coast, winds thru the mountains and gives beautiful views. It is also sparsely populated and there are few towns or hotels the first couple of hundred miles coming from Saline Cruz.  When I did finally find a hotel one night, over priced again at 300 Pesos and not nearly as nice as the one I staid at the previous night, I ended up getting some sort of skin rash from it. I generally just slept on top of beds of hotels I staid at and used my sleeping bag which worked out well. This was the first time I had contacted anything on the trip. The skin problem lasted for a week or so and I almost suspected I had lice or something, even maybe scabies. I was kind of bummed because it wasn't something I wanted to deal with, especially on the road. Usually you have to buy something like Quell, or whatever it is for your skin, and then you need to wash all your clothes etc. Being on the road in Mexico was not the place to do this, but I was also worried about infecting other places I went to. It did not seem to get worse though and eventually went away all together, knock on wood. Considering all the interesting places I had been and slept, it was amazing I had not gotten sick or gotten anything else on this trip.

Looking out over the coast and where the highway takes you on your way to Acapulco.

With all the winding roads coming out of Saline Cruz I was only to make about 300 miles my first day in Mexico, which was about the best I could hope for anyway. My second day I was able to get into Acapulco late in the afternoon. It was more then I expected. The traffic was terrible and it consisted of at least two very big cities right next to each other. Much of them built on very steep hills and mountains along the ocean. While my plan was to try to find that great Acapulco beach front and maybe stay for a day or two and do some Christmas shopping, the reality of the traffic or of even finding the beach front became apparent.

I was stuck in traffic for about two hours while heading for downtown Acapulco. I think the whole time I was there I was in a traffic jam. At one point one guy was yelling at me because I wouldn't let him in and I thought ok here I am going to get in a physical confrontation with a guy and his buddies in a traffic jam in Acapulco. I let them get way ahead of me and lost them in traffic. I missed my exit to the beach front while I got just a quick glimpse of some of the huge hotels there along the ocean. They probably would not have been cheap to stay at even if I had got there. Finally I was able to turn around and I decided to just get out of the cities and all the traffic. Its one thing about the cities, if your going to visit and stay in them, then you have to commit to being in them. You have to have the time, patience and make security a priority if your going to spend any amount of time in them. I was continually conflicted between simply wanting to get out of the country and back into the U.S. where things would be easier for me, and wanting to try to take as much time as possible since I didn't know if I would ever be back this way. Acapulco just turned out to be too much of a hassle though and finally like I said, I just started heading north out of the cities and towards the serenity of Mexico City of all places.

The service at this gas station between Saline Cruz and Acapulco was terrible. After waiting an hour for an attendant, I just left.

One town I thought would be nice to come back to and visit was San Marcos. It was maybe 100 miles farther down the coast from Acapulco. It is right on the ocean, looked to have good beaches and also lots of internet cafes as well being set up for some tourism. It also was not huge like Acapulco yet seemed to have everything Acapulco has, without all the traffic and maybe crime as well.

So as I made my escape from Acapulco following signs for Mexico, which meant Mexico City, I was so happy to get out and away from the city and find some good roads. There is a five mile tunnel that goes under the mountain and takes you out of town towards Mexico City. It is a toll road and costs about $6 to use. There was hardly anyone on it, due to the price no doubt. From this point to Mexico City, about 240 miles, it is all a toll road, and not cheap. While in some ways worth it considering the time you save and the fact that this is really a good road that rivals anything built in the U.S. as far as technology or ingenuity and its engineering marvels for some of the canyons and gorges it passes over, it none the less came to about $28 to drive the whole thing to Mexico City.

I ended up staying in a Hotel along the interstate (I'll call it) in a protected area. These areas can only be accessed by people driving and paying the tolls. They have gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants and hotels. They seem safe and the hotel was certainly cleaner then the one I had stay' d at the night before, and even had internet. I think it was also the same price at 300 Pesos and check out wasn't even until 1 p.m. the following day. I had some tacos before going to bed and a coke, all for probably two or three dollars. Again pretty inexpensive. In the morning I headed out for my dreaded crossing of Mexico City, I was not looking forward to it, but meanwhile the road going in and the scenery were some of the best of the trip.

The road goes on and on, and.....

Tomorrow I get into Mexico City and after that start to tackle some of biggest mountains and toughest roads of the trip.