To Oaxaca

May 2nd to 5th  2009

The media drops stories concerning swine flu to cover the more pressing issue of a Coronation Street actor who has had a car accident. From this we conclude the flu threat is less serious than we were lead to believe and decide not to cancel the tour. We leave Puebla and head for our next destination Oaxaca (Wa-ha-ca) after a full 10 days off the bikes.

It’s my excuse for losing the race to this guy. He must be 60, but he sure was determined and the race lasted nearly 10kms with the lead changing many times before he pulled away on a hill…



Shortly after we pass the toll road that was deemed too dangerous for us to ride…



Mexican toll roads are prohibitively expensive to the average driver with charges every 50kms or so costing around 6 dollars! I guess that’s the reason for the lack of traffic and it’s a shame we are often turned away from this perilous alternative. Not only is the wide shoulder great to ride on, but these roads tend to be a lot flatter than the free roads.

10 days off the bikes seems to have affected our planning as we foolishly pass up the opportunity of a hotel after 75kms (50 miles). It turns out to be the last one for another 45kms and the heat and the gradient both start to rise brutally at this point. At 5pm we manage to find a room above a local village bar in Tehuitzingo just as it’s getting into full swing on a Saturday night. Daytime temperatures are becoming a serious factor and riding after midday is now a strength sapping ordeal. Despite the party below, we crash wearily into a deep, deep sleep.

But the damage has been done and the next day, our heavy legs struggle to propel us a mere 45kms further over some gently rolling terrain, before we throw in the towel and splash out for an air conditioned room for some serious recuperation. Acatlan has an open air market and we gorge on a whole roast chicken and pounds of locally grown fruit to rebuild our strength.

Recovered, we hit the road early and sight a familiar shape way off in the distance…



I take off in hot pursuit and ride down another couple of cyclistas, Anna and Alistair, a Dutch and Australian couple riding from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego at the Southern tip of Argentina. For the first time since Los Angeles we have company and we ride in a pack. Great company, and then the terrain starts to improve markedly as well. Huge bends sweep round stratified hillsides as we attack the next range after Huajuapan de Leon….



Then the land starts to break up into soft sand-stone arroyos, weathered and cracked after the seasonal gyration from torrential rain to baking sun and back again…. 



It makes a stunning backdrop as we sweep through this alien landscape….



Sue and Anna ride on as I admire yet another huge mountain vista….



Lunch stop. Sometimes you’re limited to what you can get on the road, but a cyclista takes whatever he can get. Canned sardine in salsa with refried beans in a bright blue(?) tortilla. Delicious….



After lunch it all gets a but much for Sue, who finds time for a little snooze at the roadside. This girl can sleep anywhere….



Oaxaca state is the 2nd poorest in Mexico and it’s economy is more rural than other states we have passed through. We stop in Huitzo just outside Oaxaca and this is becoming a common sight….



The next day is a short morning ride into Oaxaca city after 3 days of great riding with Anna and Ali. Thanks guys, we had a lot of fun….

Puebla

April 28th to May 2nd

Did I mention I hate taking buses. 

Well I do and we are forced to arrive in one to Puebla. On route we miss one of Mexico's finest volcanos 'Popocatépetl' close to the town of Amecameca. I wanted to climb it so I'm cross. Sue is actually quite relieved as she never really wanted to be dragged up another volcano. At 5286m is a good big higher than the 4260m Vulcan Nevado we climbed earlier, but the views are supposed to be spectacular. Travelling is supposed to cross things off the list of 'places you want to see', but I just keep adding new ones to the 'places to return to' list. Oh well.

Puebla is a good antidote to being cross. It's another Mexican city that is almost absent from guide books and they've got it wrong again! In the Spanish world you can get a bit 'cities out'. It goes like this.

1) Huge central plaza - check.

2) Enormous cathedral - check.

3) 400 other smaller churches - check.

4) Couple of dodgy museums - check.

5) Crumbling colonial style buildings - check.

They're always nice, but it does get a bit samey.

Puebla is different. Settlers from the Spanish town Talavera came here and brought an 8th century Moorish technique for producing hand painted tiles with them. They went slightly mad after that and covered every single building with them, but it does look really good. Once you get closer you start to notice colourful individual tiles, gold leaf and moulded plaster and it's like no other Mexican city we've visited.

Of course Puebla does have the requisite central plaza and cathedral, but it's a beauty and the cathedral has the highest towers in the country so Puebla is closer to God...

It does have old colonial buildings and we sneak inside to see just how nice they are. It's very nice....

But the tiling is everywhere and it just feels a little different here....

Of course, there are the churches. Puebla is allegedly more religious than any other Mexican city..... 

Now I'm a little bemused as to just how these things get weighed or measured or whatever you do, but apparently it's true. Did they hold a competition? I know not, but apparently it's just true! 

Have faith.

Above in the background is the 17th century Iglesia Santa Domingo and the gold leaf covered mouldings inside the Capilla del Rosario are genuinely incredible . 

But I really like Puebla for the food! Birthplace of many of Mexico's traditional recipes such as tinga (meat stewed in chiles) and Mole (pronounced mol-eh) - a rich, smooth, nutty, chocolaty confusing amalgam of taste sensations absolutely nothing like the black velvet fured blind rodent thing. There is an entire market dedicated to making these wonder dishes and the women inside this building will give them all to me for just 3 dollars!

If the building looks this good - the food was even better!

But panic has spread and the flu has closed down all government run buildings here as well - schools, libraries and museums. It's a shame as Puebla again has a good reputation in this area. The musuems I mean - no idea about the schools. Luckily Puebla is a good ambling kind of place and nothing shuts down a local market. You can get anything here, provided you can find it on the overstacked stalls. 

It's OK for browsing, but a ciclista buys nothing he cannot eat....

There's an artist's quarter where easels sit out on pedestrianised streets and you can watch the painters work, their creations taking shape before your eyes. Botanical garden anyone? Rather nice for chilling out....

And here's the crumbling old colonial style buildings. Actually they're not that crumbly and Puebla has a more up market, well kept air about it than many other places. We find coffee shops here and ponder....

We're getting close to the rainy season now in Mexico, which runs roughly from May through to September. On cue, every evening at 6pm, grey curtains draw themselves over the otherwise cloudless blue skies and turn the air to liquid. I am talking biblical rain, the type that turns roads to rivers and the inside of our hotel to a swimming pool. It clenses and cools everything and is welcome now afternoon temperatures approach 3 figures....

Unfortunately after 5 days, the 'flus', sorry news about flu is no better and it looks like we will have to abondon all thoughts about seeing Mexico City.

Tomorrow - we ride East.....

Plans Change in Taxco

April 22nd to 28th

Taxco was originally settled by the Aztes, and then later by the Spaniards after Hernan Cortes inquired about the origins of a coin he was given; he was searching for the source of the tin it contained. On arriving in Taxco, the Spaniards found not tin but iron, but that was OK and they stayed anyway. 200 hundred years later they found silver and now the place has more silver shops than the rest of the world combined.

Nearly. 

An estimated 900 silver vendors do business in this town of around 100,000 people. If you're not the shop guy, you're the guy making the stuff, and if you're not that guy, you're the one looking for the tourists to buy the stuff. This is a silver town. Designs are original, craftmanship outstanding and the competition is fierce.

I guess there was no other reason that could possibly persuade sane people to build a town here. Nowadays inhabitants spend more time trying not to slide off the mountain than actually mining it. It's a tough place to ride a fully laden bici....

It's also another of Mexico's "Puebla Magicos" - magic towns that offer the traveler just that little bit more than other, less enchanted destinations....

I like it. Big business has been forced to tone down it's garish shop frontage and blend in. Streets are cobbled and the place has an olde worlde charm with teeny tiny plazas crammed in between miniature buildings. Nothing is large here - there is just no flat land to build on other than the beautiful Plaza Borda where Indian laurel trees provide the shade in front of pink stoned Santa Prisca Church.... 

The rest of the town is precipitous. One museum walks you in the front door and leads you through a couple of rooms overlooking a 4 story drop at the back! It's all steps and higgledy piggledy alleyways that disorientate and confuse....

Bloody difficult to get about with heavy shopping as these locals take a breather in altitude depleted air.

However, plans change when the Swine flu hits. Originally we planned to stay a day or so and then ride the 2 days into Mexico City. This all changes when the panic hits and Mexico starts to close down. It would be pointless to ride there now, and maybe a little dangerous as well, so we decide to stay a little longer and watch the news unfold.

It gives us a little time to sight see at Las Grutas de Cacahuamilpa (big caves) where you are guided into a simply gargantuan cavern. The tour stretches over 2kms into this subterranean expanse and the tour is apparantly hilarious judging by the Mexican's reactions. Unfortunately, my Spanish lets me down in amongst the confounding echoes....

And then all the museums and some of the restaurants here begin to close. Blue face masks are starting to appear and the smell of disinfectant pervades the air as people begin to murmur and whisper. Nothing deters the silver merchant in the various markets and the ever industrious VW taxis though....

However, after 5 days we decide to make a break for it and take a bus around the outskirts of Mexico City (MC). I hate taking buses and this breaks the chain where we ride the whole route, Canada to Panama, but at this point things are looking grim. MC is officially closed, the death toll is 190 and rising. Flights from Peru and Argentina have been cancelled and travelers are leaving before the airport closes down completely. We don't want to leave Mexico, but we don't want to be trapped this side of MC either. So we take the bus to Puebla, figuring if things worsen we can still fly home from this major city. If things impove we are still  on route heading South and East. MC sounds dangerous at this point and in any case is a washout as everything will be closed for the forseable future. It's a bitter blow. I hate breaking the chain and I know how these guys feel. 

Writing now with 20/20 hindsight, the swine flu threat is being played down in the media and the world is on the verge of questioning Mexico's "over reaction". Amazingly, these same people simultaneously forget that they had earlier criticised the Mexican government for not acting quickly enough. The media is as capricious as ever! Taking the bus was the right thing to do given the situation and information available at the time. Even now MC is only just returning completely to normal and nobody then could say for certain what the extent of the threat was.

But the chain is broken and I still hate taking buses!!

To Taxco

April 20th to 22nd

The theme of the last couple of days continues.... 

We surface around dawn and tackle undulating climbs through the Sierra Madre del Sur. The gradients are more kind to us now, having scaled the cliffs that surround Acapulco. The valleys behind us are softer and pleasantly green....  

In an expression of stern authority, the sign states - "It is Prohibited to throw rubbish"

We heard so much about police corruption before we crossed into Mexico and we were also warned by the surfers we met in Aquilas del Mar who were victimised a few times. After being harangued over some "alleged" offence, an "on the spot fine" usually made their troubles go away. So I get that sinking feeling when the red and blues go on behind me and I am told to pull over. Sue is around the next bend and I cry "save yourself" as she begins to escape....

At 3mph.

Officer Ramirez is curious. 

But that's as far as it goes - he really is just curious; and the power of the bici works once more.

"These are not the offenders you are looking for"....

No, he just needs to know 

"Where are you going?"

"Panama"

"Wow - where did you start?"

"Canada"

"Wow"..... etc.

A short time later with interest satisfied, he finally lets me go.

I get 100m before he stops me again.... 

Here it comes, methinks....

But no - he just forgot to give me a souvenir! Now he presents me with an embroidered towel with the Federal Police logo and wishes me well on the journey. 

Surf dudes take note, the bici is a powerful thing.

This is officer Ramirez who restores faith in the humanity of the Mexican police force, posing for a photo with lights and sirens blaring before blazing away, tyres smoking, super charged engine growling....

We have made the first ascent and roll over the first rampart in the ascending wall of peaks that defend Mexico City. We pitch base camp in Chilpanzingo the state capital of Guerrero - and watch the stampede along main street???

More dawns....

More climbs.....

More heavily armed military check points....

The rhythms of Mexican cycle touring.

At last we see, off in the distance, across yet another deep valley, the white walls of Taxco shimmering in the sun.  

And finally, it's buildings seemingly embedded directly into the mountain side, we reach the white city. 

Leaving Acapulco

April 18th and 19th

Incredibly we see the dawn!

There just no time to waste in the mornings now as the temperatures soar to around 35 degrees by midday. Unfotunately we are thwarted by the hotel owner who has a more tranquilo approch to mornings and prefers a lie in....

When we finally get the doors unlocked, we are thwarted once again, this time by several hundred orange clad Mexicans shuffling along the city streets. It's the annual Acapulco 10km fun run, and the main routes out of town are blocked off. This is definitely not fun!

But what can you do and there's nothing for it but to set up at the roadside for a second breakfast - an act which draws the interest of the camera crew filming the event. Maybe the 2 gringos sat in the road eating a bowl of cereal made the evening news?

Around 10am, we finally weave our way through the crowded streets and the sun is beating down. We leave heading North for Mexico City. This means another crossing of the great Sierra Madre mountains that seperate these 2 cities and peak at around 3000m. The road is keener than us to tacke those 2 miles of altitude and sets off at a dizzying angle. 

Frequent traffic lights are welcome in that they allow time to load up the lungs for the next onslaught, yet we fret at the delay as time is a-wasting. We melt, sandwiched as we are between sticky black tarmac that flings off heat and the overworked car engines that boil.

A final hill top view back over Acapulco's faded glory....

All bad things come in threes and we are thwarted once again by the machine gun toting guard who point blank refuses to allow us on to the "cuota" or toll road. His grenade belt is quite persuasive, but I do my usual dumb act in the hope we can pass. This just wastes another half hour as they eventually find an English speaker to repeat what we already understood Rambo say in spanish. Now it's scorching.

We ride in search of the "libre" or free road and patience is severely tested when the only road is sign posted for Manzanillo - a city 800kms back the way we came along the coast It really should not be this difficult to find the main road to the nations capital! Seemingly bad things do in fact come in threes, but thwartations definitely come in fours! OK there's no such thing as thwartations, but we are getting a little vexed by now and new situations demand new words. 

Finally we decide to take the Manzanillo road - there's no other option and frustration mounts as the road immediately divides and signs suddenly appear for Mexico City. It's definitely not been our day!

We need diesel.

Unfortunately not for the mile munching engine of a car that could whisk us effortlessly up these hills. No we are still peddling grimly on the bicis, 15 miles and 3 hours later, but we do need fuel for the stove. We stop at the petrol station, and it dawns on both our heat addled minds that that building over there looks just like a hotel..... 

The look that passes between us is telepathic, and before either of us gets that ruthless streak of dedication back; the one where one of us explains to the other that we do not stop after just 15 miles..... we have checked in, taken refreshingly cold showers and are sipping ice cold frappes on the "balcony"....

The next day is more successful and we again beat the dawn

Criss crossing a series of rivers zigging and zagging their meandering path between hill spurs. It's a nice ride and the temperature begins to abate slightly as we climb. Not sure where the demand for all these riverside restaurants comes from though.... 

And this guy obviously knew nothing about them....

Can anybody explain this??? 

Loco Acapulco

April 13th to April 18th 2009

Having survived the ride into Acapulco and having had a good night's sleep, we change hotel and move away from the crowded hussle and bussle surrounding the central plaza. This is a place where it is definitely worth spending a little more to move up and get above it all....

Up a steep hill from the Zocalo is the famous "La Quebrada". This is the area that makes Acapulco famous with it's 45m cliff from which the death-defying divers perform their spectacular show. Under the steely gaze of hundreds of on-lookers, they first jump into a narrow canyon and swim through the boiling seas as the waves crash in, attempting to sweep them onto jagged rocks. Next they climb barefooted and without ropes up the near-vertical cliff face opposite, before making their dive. As if a 45 metre (150 feet) dive into the seething ocean is not treacherous enough, the water below is only 3 metres deep! Divers must time it just right to hit the the upsurge of the next wave.

There are 4 shows a night culminating in night dives with flaming torches and it's a fantastic experince....  

However, there are definitely 2 sides to Acapulco. The bay is stunning....

The weather is tropical, the water warm and the beaches are fine, with food always close at hand....

It's a playground for the well heeled with moorings for expensive yachts and a lively club scene. The fishing fleets supply hundreds of restaurants with fresh fruit del mar....

  

But there is definitely the other side to the place. 

Go a congested, rubbish strewn street or 2 back and you start to see the cracks. Beggars and down and outs are everywhere and the narrow streets are seedy and overflowing in this overcrowded jewel of yesteryear. In 1950 around 50,000 people called this place home, now there are 600,000 registered inhabitants. Noxious traffic fumes pervade the air and the sound of blaring horns cut and shred any kind of tranquilo vibe. It goes on well into the night.

The signs of former glory are easy to find with yesterday's fun palaces turned into today's cheap apartments....

Competing alongside the army of VW taxis is a fleet of collectivo buses. Brightly painted, they each have a unique theme. The "Dracula" bus is all dark and purple velvet drapes with dark gothic music booming out into the street. It all adds to the furor as they clatter and roar in search of prey....

Excaping all the commotion we visit the excellent museum housed in the 17th century Fort of San Diego built on a hilltop by the Spanish to protect their trade routes to the Philippines. It's always interesting to see alternative potrayals of historical figures from coutries on the other side of a conflict. Here we learn about Frances Drake the Pirate and other English buccaneers who marauded these waters for booty. One man's national hero is another man's pirate I guess.

The fort was incredibly successful, partly helped by the prevailing winds that drove enemy ships around the bay and directly in front of the huge cannons arrayed behind the thick fortifications. For 200 years it was a kind of medieval duck shoot with huge cannon balls. In fact the only time the fort was breached was in 1776, but that was down to an act of god, when the whole area was demolished in an enormous earthquake. Guns are still trained out into the bay awaiting the next Drake. 

Or.... Demolition job to create space for the next development??

There's also an excellent exhibition of Mexican folk art and colourful masks used in fiestas and day of the dead celebrations....

But back out on the mean streets, the thin veneer of quality is definitely fading. It's been an entertaining couple of days, but Acapulco is not what I expected really, with it's classy film star image. Guess those film stars were all in black and white and it's been a difficult transition into the days of full technicolour. It all looks just a bit too garish for me - like an ageing film actress trying just a bit too hard to capture that old magic for one last time....