06/27 Worst day ever. Started off very early with heavy rain all night. Barely got any sleep (loud in tent). Next up were fire ants which chewed merrily on my feet while I was packing my gear in the rain. Finally on the road I hit a water-filled pothole and destroyed my front rack. Half an hour after that my rear tire went flat. Had it filled 90% of the way and it went flat again. Got a decent sunburn. Found a hotel in town, opened my toiletry bag and discovered that the tube of BenGay had ruptured and was all over everything. Jumped in the shower and was electrocuted by the shower head.

The funny thing about today was I had a feeling this morning that it would be a really bad day. I should have stayed put. This will be hard to believe but I didn’t swear or throw anything all day.

The front rack is a major, major problem. The bottom half bent under the weight of the pannier when I slammed down into the pothole. It’s actually a miracle that only one spoke was broken. Glad there are 35 more. I spent the next hour taking off the front fender and trying to straighten the rack back out. Of course bending medal that’s already damaged usually makes it more damaged. Now one of the weight-bearing bars is almost ripped right in half. Getting someone to weld it might work but I’m only going to try that as a last resort. The one bar isn’t the only one that’s damaged. I took almost everything out of the pannier and managed to make it here without it failing completely. There’s no way I can ride off-pavement and that’s another problem because the next part of my route after Coban tomorrow was supposed to be gravel. I’m also down a front fender which makes riding in the rain a mess.

I’m hoping that Coban has some sort of bike shop that could at least order me a new rack and fix the spoke. If it doesn’t I could probably fix the spoke but I’d have to order the rack from the States which would cost a fortune.

The flat tire sucked because now I’m down to 2 spare tubes and it’s harder than I thought to find ones with Presta valves. The one that went bad was the last from a batch of 3 I bought in Mazatlan. All three ended up wearing out at the inner seam.

Camped out last night in the back yard of the people that run the local restaurant. The lady spoke a little English which made things a little easier (even though I could have gotten through it in Spanish). She even offered to let me stay thanks to the weather but I set off to see how bad of a day I could have. It ended up not raining the rest of the day until literally 10 seconds after I got to the motel.

Mega hills today. One of them was the steepest I’ve ridden up on any major road. Traffic was light so I rode up it side-to-side and would have made it all the way except for one truck that messed it up for me.

Rode through some amazing scenery over the last 2 days. There are some beautiful national parks in Guatemala and I was lucky enough to pass through one of them–Ceibal. That place had the biggest trees and ferns I’ve ever seen. The mountain range called Sierra Chinaja was equally impressive. The mountains aren’t extremely high but they are entirely tree-covered and rise up from the jungle like huge pillars.

GPX Track

Pictures are here. Once again the site breaks when I try to include them in the post. Argh.

12/26 So the grass is greener on the other side. Rain must be plentifully in this area because things are alive and well on this side of the Sea of Cortes. I wasn’t sure what the land was like outside Mazatlan but I’m glad it wasn’t more desert. Baja is the 2nd longest peninsula in the world and pretty much all of it was desert so I had my fill.

I spent way too much time trying to find a place to get some coffee on the way out of Mazatlan this morning. It got to the point that I was about to give up on breakfast and just leave. I ended up having Coke and some kind of shrimp cocktail thing. It was pretty good though.

The ride started off fairly flat but the free highway 15 started meandering back into the hills and stayed that way for the rest of the day. The highway is in a lot better shape than Baja. There are still no shoulders and traffic is heavier but at least there’s not a massive drop if you do have to bail off the road (I didn’t). Saw lots of dead things which made for a stinky ride at times. The biggest thing was a cow. Garbage isn’t as bad as Baja but it can still be nasty in places.

El Rosario is off the main highway and once you get past the huge gate the main road slowly gets smaller as it flows into the homes and businesses that sit side by side on every block. Some (homeless?) guy was standing at the side of the road with his junk hanging out when I first rode past the gate. That kind of ruined the quaint, Mexican village image I’d been forming in my head. The streets are crazy. Very narrow, usually one way and mostly cobblestone which made for some bumpy riding. There’s no way I’m walking around tonight without bringing my GPS. The buildings are very old but things seem like they’ve held together a bit better than the older sections of Mazatlan.

I finally gave up trying to find a motel on my own and asked a guy for help. He pointed up the street and said there was one right around the corner. Sweet. I would have never found it on my own. The only sign is the word “Hotel” painted on a light pole. Paid US $9.60 for a room. I’ve heard about this place from another bike touring web site so I wasn’t that surprised when I discovered how tiny it was or when I saw my very first electric shower head. I tried to ignore the exposed wire while waiting for the water to come out warm which never happened. I ended up taking a very fast cold shower. There are also ants crawling all over the place so I think I’ll sleep with some extra clothes on tonight.

The new seat I bought in Mazatlan hasn’t done anything to help with the chaffing problem I’ve been having for weeks now. After 20 miles it gets to be pretty painful not having 3 layers of skin where you really need it. I stopped and lowered the seat all the way which helped a little. I have one more seat that’s narrower so I’ll give that a shot if this one doesn’t work out. The Brooks went into the garbage before I left. It wasn’t even worth giving it to the bike shop.

GPX Track

There are now 5 touring riders staying in the hotel here. Byron didn’t leave this morning and might end up staying through Christmas. Tom and Haley, who I met a couple weeks ago in Santa Rosalia in Baja, are here now. James is also here. I ran into him at the town square but he’d already met Bryon who told him about this place.

While wandering around this morning I passed by a dentist office. Figuring it was a good time for a cleaning I walked in prepared to be told it would take a couple weeks and cost way more than I’d want to pay (no insurance). My appointment is tomorrow afternoon and it’ll cost just under US $40. Holy crap. I’m going to learn the phrase “no extractions!” just so there are no misunderstandings.

Went over and exchanged my bike seat for one that fits the brackets I have. I tried it on but I’m not sure I’m going to like it. I’ll keep the Brooks just in case.

Now if I could just track down a supermarket I’d be all set.

Just read this interesting bit about Mazatlan while trying to find the name of the church I saw this morning:

The city of Mazatlan then got the dubious distinction of being the 2nd city in the world after Tripoli, Libya of being one of the first to suffer aerial bombardment. During the revolution of 1910-17 General Venustiano Carranza (later president) intent on taking the city of Mazatlan, ordered a bi-plane to drop a crude bomb of nails and dynamite wrapped in leather to the target of Neveria Hill adjacent to the down town area of Mazatlan. Well the bomb was crude and the art of bombing was cruder. The bomb landed not on target but on the city streets of Mazatlan and in the process killed two citizens and wounded several others.