03/25 Wow. Talk about a big climb to get up here. Almost 5600 feet to be exact. The heat wasn’t that bad and the higher I got the cooler it was. I went through a lot of water and had it not been for some restaurants 20 miles from Chiapa I would have cut it pretty close.
The toll road worked out pretty well. I heard you can get onto it from the free road outside the city but that possibly involves climbing a fence and that’s no fun. Zipping back out the way I came in added a mile or two but it was worth it. I did have problems with some dumb ass drivers. The toll road is two lanes with a wide shoulder but people love to drive on the shoulder which means I have to be on the lookout. Why they ride on shoulder, especially when no one is trying to pass them, seems pretty stupid to me. Not only is there more glass/debris on the shoulder if something happens they have no room on the right to correct. So every once in a while someone would ride within a couple feet of me because they didn’t like that I took up a couple feet of the shoulder.
My favorite thing was watching dumb asses get stuck behind someone moving slower than them. Even with double yellow lines, signs saying no passing and a blind curve they’ll still drive right into the oncoming lane to get around the other vehicle (usually a very slow 18-wheeler). Even fully loaded buses did it. About half the time the poor guy coming the other way would have to dive over to avoid a head-on collision. Apparently killing someone, like a bus load of children/mothers, isn’t something that some people worry about here.
Pete made it into town but he’s at another hotel so we’ll hang tomorrow. For the 2nd time the bolt securing the bottom of my front rack to the frame snapped off so I have to get that fixed tomorrow. There are a bunch of bike shops so I’ll run over there after I change hotels in the morning. I’m going to stay for a couple days so I need something cheaper.
First impressions of San Cristóbal are very positive. Lot’s of things to see here. I’ve never seen so many gringos in one place! This is a very popular spot for backpacking tourists and the hipster crowd that likes to stay in hostels of which there are many here.
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