Categories
dispatches

Towards San Cristobal de las Casas

Whoops, 19 days since my last post? Yikes! Sorry about that folks!

So, briefly, from Oaxaca I rode down to Puerto Escondido via the 131, which traverses some mountain ranges and is full of twisties. Tons of fun.  Took me about 3 hours and was for the most part uneventful, though lots of nice scenery.

Puerto Escondido is a pretty famous tourist town in the state of Oaxaca, known for the Zicalete beach and the “Mexican Pipeline,” a renowned wave that surfers from all over the world come to see.  It was also damn hot for the two days that I stayed there. I stayed at a hostel my friend in Mazatlán had recommend, Vivo Escondido, which turned out to be a palatial residence right near the beach, run by a dude named Ross. Luckily there was a bed open for me as I arrived quite late, but even more lucky, Ross had come through many years ago on a motorcycle, and had a sweet garage where I could park my DR650 next to his pretty new BMW F650.

Home sweet home for the DR and her new friends.
Home sweet home for the DR and her new friends.

Escondido was hot. Damn hot. But, still had a great time.  Hit the beach, did some partying at the hostel, and even saw a Chinese circus! I was only there two nights though, so sadly I had to move on, as has become yet another theme of this trip.

Ross had recommended a few beaches along the way; Mazunte, Zipolite, and Puerto Ángel, yet they were extremely close.  Most riders (as I’ve read) will go from Escondido straight to Salina Cruz, but local knowledge once again prevailed and Ross said it was better to skip Salina Cruz, a large commercial shipping town with not much to see or do.  So I, took off on the one hour ride to Puerto Ángel, checked into some hotel, enjoyed some food and views of the beach, and hit the sack early for a 5AM departure time the next day.

Screen Shot 2014-05-19 at 8.58.37 PM

The next day’s ride was long and difficult, with a calculated time of about 7 hours.  Heading out around 6AM, I figured I’d arrive in the early afternoon.

Screen Shot 2014-05-19 at 9.01.34 PM

Boy was I wrong.

Salina Cruz was indeed, pretty boring, and I only stopped there for some gas and a quick bite to eat. However, heading north of the city? That’s probably some of the most white-knuckled riding I’ve done to date.

I should have known my travels would get harder when I started passing the first wind farm. Wind speed must have been at least 40-50 mph, and I didn’t dare go faster than 25MPH on the incredibly light Suzuki. This added a ton of time on, but at least I’m alive. Eventually the wind died down and the elevation rose as the highway crept into mountains, and I finally came to San Cristobal de las Casas.

It’s a bit off the beaten path, but San Cristobal de las Casas is a gorgeous city in the highlands with a very rich native history. You might remember it from such armed political activists as the Zapatistas, and indeed I saw many protests during my two days there.  This also explained the heavier than normal military presence. I would have liked to have visited a Zapatista village, and even found one and a way to get there, however I just ran out of time. C’est la vie.

It’s also the site of random parades!

Note to any motorcycle riders staying there; you can get a night’s free lodging at the Rossco Backpackers Hostel. Also note it’s way flipping colder than other parts of Mexico, even in late March, so bring a sweater. I had stupidly shipped all but one back to Austin, where they were subsequently lost by UPS.

The rich culture in San Cristobal lends itself to many travelers around the world, and a lot of great food and drinks.  It also seems to be a popular spot where foreigners stop to learn English, and I highly considered it as well but I was on a deadline.

I can’t say enough good things about San Cristobal, and I would highly recommend it to any travelers out there.  I was extremely sad to leave so soon and not have enough time to explore the history of this important Mexican city.  Maybe next time?

That’s all for now!

Categories
dispatches motorcycling

I’m Still Alive! And How I Got To Playa del Carmen

Yes, despite my egregious lack of updates on this website, I’m still alive, and well!

received_m_id_521937904596016_2

I’m currently in Playa del Carmen, and have been for the past two months.  Or has it been three? This place, while expensive compared to other cities I’ve visited, is fantastic and full of wonderful new travelers everyday. I’m also not sure where the time goes or how I’ve managed to neglect my readers for so long, but that’s how it goes on the Riviera Maya.

But before I get into how I got where I am now, let’s finish up the Mexico tour portion of this grand old trip.

The following takes place on and after March 19th, 2014 (was it really so long ago?).

Throughout the trip so far I’d been pretty lucky with staying connected to friends and family through various social networks and text messaging (thanks for that amazing plan T-Mobile!).  A friend of mine that I knew from an Austin watering hole kept posting updates on his travels through México, except he was going north.  And in a happy coincidence it looked like we were in the same area, so we made plans to meet up in Villahermosa.

Screen Shot 2014-06-28 at 4.09.31 PM

First though, I wanted to visit Palenque. Palenque is the site of a Mayan city-state, containing some spectacularly preserved ruins. The best part? 90% of the site is still covered by the jungle, so there is so much more to explore.

So, I headed out very early from San Cristobal de las Casa, and subsequently broke down about 20 minutes later on a steep decline in the middle of Chiapas.  Being in heavy Zapatista country (and, at the time, still being extremely wary of many local people), I was a bit nervous and positive I was going to be kidnapped.  I’m not sure why to be honest, especially considering I had ridden so far without incident, but the irrational paranoia was there.  Luckily the problem was easily resolved; the kickstand kill switch is a bit loose, so as the suspension unloads and the kickstand drops, the switch disengages and kills the engine.  And that’s why I brought zip ties!

The bike all fixed up I headed down out of the mountains and into the sweltering heat of the jungle. Pretty uneventful and hot ride, except for me almost getting decapitated.  Well, maybe; you decide.

These women were holding up ropes and wires, some with flags, in attempts to stop cars and get people to buy bananas and what not. I was pretty furious and scared at this point, not quite sure how tight that rope was tied on and, as I later found out, rightly so.  A few days later while in Merida, while chatting with some other motorcycle travelers, they told me that a tour bus had been stopped in a similar fashion and people had rushed out of the jungle and robbed everyone blind.  Lucky me! All that said, things aren’t great in Chiapas these days, so I sympathize with the local’s plight. It’s a beautiful state though!

Eventually I made it to Palenque.  I didn’t have much time, so I paid the park employees to watch my motorcycle and belongings, gained entrance to the park and shadowed a tour guide for about an hour, admiring the ruins.  They are indeed excellently preserved.

Afterwards I grabbed something to eat at the park and headed off in the sweaty afternoon to meet up with my friend Steve in Villahermosa.

Rolling on.  Took me forever to take this photo.
Rolling on. Took me forever to take this photo.

Steve was down here scouting out locations for a new movie he’s producing about baseball in México, and was set up in a really nice hotel.  Heck, it even had the Miss Tabasco contestants staying there while the pageant went on. Bonus!

I love how the woman at the back is just mean mugging me.

It was fairly hilarious to me walking into this fancy hotel, disheveled and smelly, looking like an astronaut and asking the front desk for the extra key. First thing I did? Clean up and get a shower, you know it!

Found a stowaway in my helmet.
Found a stowaway in my helmet.

While there, he invited me along to a couple of meetings and dinners with the director, art director, and other producers.  It was a fascinating insight into the film industry that I hadn’t been privy to before.

Kicking it, Steve absent due to wheeling and dealing.

Left to my own devices most of the time, I lazed about on his couch for about 3 days, caught up with writing on this blog, hit the gym, and slept. Eventually Steve and the others geared up to leave for Mexico City, and I packed up and headed towards the Yucatán.  I had some friends that I had to meet in Playa del Carmen in three days, so I had to get moving! Many thanks to my good friend Steve for his generosity and hospitality!

Adios amigo!
Adios amigo!

So my destination that day was Merida, a place famous for hammocks. At least that’s what everybody told me.  This was my first time seeing the Caribbean as well, but it was a very long ride. Six hours later though I finally made it and checked in to a hotel.  No pictures, but I had a good time.  It’s a very European city, with great restaurants all around and multiple zocalos dotting the cityscape.

Screen Shot 2014-06-28 at 5.19.46 PM

My memory is a bit hazy at this point, but I believe I left two days later to Playa del Carmen.  First though, I wanted to stop at Chichen Itza, a famous Mayan ruin.  Sadly, I wasn’t too impressed.  It’s very commercialized, and after seeing Palenque and actually explore the ruins it’s a bit of bummer to not be able to climb the pyramids.  They’re pretty spectacular, and I imagine very beautiful during sunrise or sunset, but the hordes of people there soured my mood.

Finished with the sightseeing, and anxious to meet up with my buddies in Playa del Carmen, I cruised another three hours, stopping in Valladolid for lunch and eventually arriving in Playa.

Categories
Uncategorized

Quick Update

Cleaned the entire motorcycle today. You should have seen the sludge inside the gas tank. Carb and jets were cleaned, air filter cleaned, spark plugs replaced, and the fuel line replaced. I also managed to add in an inline fuel filter to hopefully prevent any crap from entering the combustion chamber. The spark plugs showed some carbon deposits, so I’m thinking the fuel/air mixture is probably off. Either that or the piston rings are about to go, hah!

Bonus: managed to spray carb cleaner directly into my right eyeball. Of course it was my good eye, hah! Y’all should have seen how quickly I ran to the emergency eye wash station a.k.a. the water faucet. So far so good, not blind yet!

Tomorrow I start the Beast up again!

And, well, hopefully, write something about the last 4 months.

Hah!

Categories
Uncategorized

What Should I Do Next?

So.

I’ve been offered a lucrative opportunity in Portland for a few months, which I’m seriously considering taking. This would let me refill my coffers, so to speak, allowing me to travel even further following this contract. It’s kind of a no-brainer to be completely honest.

My issue of course is what to do with the motorcycle, as I fully intend on completing the trip. And yes, I do realize this is the opportune time to head into South America, but Lady Opportunity is banging down my door.

So my choices are:

* Leave the motorcycle in Playa del Carmen. I’d store it at a friends house (drained this time, heh), and fly back later on to retrieve it.  The problem is that it is currently on an (expired) temporary vehicle import visa (TVIP), so I’d need to renew it in Cancun or at the border of Belize. Could be tricky, but certainly doable, and actually, necessary, as not canceling the TVIP will cause me serious problems any time I return to Mexico. Now being a vehicle smuggler, of course.

* Sprint to Panama. Basically run through all of Central America in 2 weeks or so, and ship the motorcycle out of Panama to Texas. There I’d retrieve it, pop it in the back of my truck and take it with me to Portland for off road fun while I work this gig. Keep the skills sharp! The main drawback is I would miss most of what the Central American countries have to offer, as I’d be speeding through to make the port. In the future I would just ship it back.

Maybe.

* Ship the bike out of Cancun. Similar to the previous option, just less traveling. Bike arrives in Miami or Houston and we go from there.

* Forget about the gig and keep going. Self explanatory.

* Ride back to Austin through Mexico. I don’t really want to do this but its probably the cheapest option. Mostly because I don’t want to backtrack north if possible. I’m guessing it’d take 3-4 days, though I’d have to pass through Tampico, which isn’t so great these days.

So.

I’m at a bit of crossroads. Leave me your thoughts in the comments!