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.

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

Lot’s of farmland today. I was surprised to see a white guy wearing a straw hat driving a tractor down the road. It was such a strange sight that I turned around and took another look just to make sure I wasn’t seeing things. When I made it to the town center I was even more surprised to see strangely dressed white people all over the place. Turns out they are Mennonites and are quite harmless from what I hear. Apparently the Mexican government hooked them up with some free land so they settled into the area and started growing whatever it is they grow (I think the fields I rode by were corn).

This state is definitely the second worst in Mexico as far as the amount of trash along the side of the road. Number one was Guerrero. There are even a couple large garbage dumps although that still didn’t keep some morons from dumping their garbage right at the entrance to it.

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Campeche is a very cool place. It was founded back in 1540 and its the oldest Spanish city on the Yucatan peninsula. With no natural land or sea defenses it was an easy target for pirates so a wall, 26 feet tall and a mile and a half long, was built. The wall ended up getting torn down to make way for the growing city but the original gates and bastions still stand.

There are several very large supermarkets here and I went a little crazy buying things. One thing I picked up from a hardware store was a 5″ pair of vice grips. Since I break bolts all the time now maybe I handle some field repair work.

I’m going to change my route to try to get to Cancun a little faster. My sister is still in a coma but she’s stable so I’m going to push on and try to get there in a week. From there I can fly up to Calgary and know that all my belongings are in a safe place.

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When I arrived in Cuautla is was about 3pm so I found a motel and took a taxi over to the Walmart. I was hoping they’d have a better selection of cameras. They did but the one I wanted wasn’t there. There was an Office Depot next door but they didn’t have very many cameras. I need a Best Buy but I don’t think there’ll be one until Oaxaca, if there’s even one there.

Across the street there’s a restaurant called California Buffet so I headed over for dinner. For US $10 you get the dinner/salad/dessert buffet and all the beer (Corona) you can handle. What a deal.

I decided to stick to my original plans and skip dropping down to Acapulco. It’s a lot warmer now and once I get past Oaxaca I’ll be in lower elevations anyway.

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The highway numbers were messing with me today. My map said I’d be on a toll road all day so I was all psyched up to sneak around toll booths. I ended up on a free highway (Mex-43) that was just fantastic. The road was in great condition and there was a huge shoulder. Couple little hils but nothing like a few days ago. I also had a strong tailwind from the SE all day. The wind is supposed to be even stronger over the next couple days so I’m glad I’m going north. All this made up for having to fix my front tire that I noticed was flat right when I was getting ready to leave. It gave me time to chat with one of the guys that works in the motel while I was fixing it so it worked out OK.

I think its time I started looking to replace my poor old front tire. Its not worn through enough to see the tube or anything but it has to be getting pretty thin. The Mr. Tuffy liner I have inside is probably the only thing keeping me from getting flats all day. Maybe I’ll hold out until Mexico City.

When I made it into Morelia I was surprised how big it was. Traffic was crazy. Riding wasn’t bad but I had to wait forever for cars to pass so I could take pictures of things. In the central plaza there were all these crazy looking people in costume tap dancing so I stopped and watched that for a while. After stopping for a beer I cruised around the historic area a bit but decided not to stay. Leaving was a little challenging. Someone had plastered stickers over the highway signs so I wasn’t sure what road I should be on. I ended up just heading north like my GPS said and it worked out.

The town I’m staying in is different from any other town I’ve been in. All the buildings along the main street are exactly the same and the name of the store is written in black letters on the building but there are no signs or anything. I rode right by the hotel. Had to stop and ask a cop for directions. When I was walking back that way to get some food I smelled pot for the first time in Mexico. A scruffy looking guy had lit one up in the plaza not 100 feet from the police officer who was directing traffic. Seemed very strange considering what I’d heard about drug enforcement down here.

When I came back to the hotel the door to my room was open a little. I would have locked it but the lady said they only had one key for it so she didn’t give me one. The main door is locked all the time so I wasn’t worried about it when I left. I’m the only one staying here too. There’s a little kid running around inside. Maybe she opened it. Nothing was missing.

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Tlaquepaque is a city right next to Guadalajara so it was a short ride today. The first thing I checked for when I woke up was the sun. It was out. So long rain. Guadalajara has lots of sights to see being the 2nd biggest city in Mexico (3 million people). Riding around wasn’t bad at all but I think it being Sunday had a lot to do with it. There were a lot of people walking around the central cathedral district. Can’t say I blame them because it turned out to be a beautiful day and there was so much to see and do.

Turns out I make a good tourist attraction too. 2 police officers on bicycles rode up to where I was taking a picture and started asking all kinds of questions about my gear. They were just curious though–it wasn’t a shakedown or anything. The racks drew the most questions. They didn’t have any and I bet they thought have bags mounted right on the bike was pretty sweet. While they were still standing there more and more people kept coming over to ask questions. Next thing you know there are 20 people standing around me in the plaza. It was pretty cool. The family in the picture below gave me their number and invited me to stay at their place in Mexico City if I get down that way.

Next stop was to track down my Mexican hosts for the next three weeks. It was only a 3 mile ride from Guadalajara so I took my time riding over. Off one of the side streets I saw a bicycle shop so I headed over. Ever since the rain day yesterday one of the gear shift cables has felt really tight. The dad runs the place with his wife/kids so he had them get my bike on a stand and bring him some tools. He spent the next 45 minutes cleaning the cables, the chain and the derailleurs like they’ve never been cleaned before. Then when I went to pay him he wouldn’t take any money! Wow. I’ll stop back over when I find something cool I can bring them.

Next stop was the plaza and market streets in Tlaquepaque. Took lots more pictures and then left. I’ll be spending a lot of time there because it’s only 2 blocks from where I’m staying. Met a gorgeous girl outside one of the stores. I think I’m keeping her.

I’m liking the Olympus camera. It tends to wash out parts of the picture if the lighting is bad but the Pentax did that too. The shutter lag and start up time, things some other people complained about, didn’t bother me at all. I kept the box just in case but its looking good so far. This morning I taxied over to Best Buy and exchanged the SD card. Left my hotel room key in the hotel room and couldn’t remember the name of it so I walked back. Glad it was only a mile (and a $2 cab ride).

The house I’m staying in is very luxurious. It’s not just one house; it’s kind of like a mini compound because there are 2 separate houses sharing the same fenced-in property. The private 3 car underground garage and only entrance, is protected by a wrought iron gate so my bike should be safe and sound outside. I stuck the rain cover on it and it’s out of sight from the street. The mom, Grace and her 2 sons and daughter live here. The daughter lives in the 2nd house. Both places are used to house people going to the Spanish school. The room is the one complaint I have. The bed is short and isn’t up against a wall at the head or foot so parts of me are going to be hanging off the end. The worst part is that it sits on the 2nd floor right over a fairly busy street and the window lets a lot of noise through. There’s either bar or a party a couple doors down too. I can almost see having to move to another place if sleep becomes an issue.

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Beautiful scenery along the highway pretty much all day. The free road ran more or less parallel to the toll road but it wasn’t as flat which worked out perfectly because the views were better. There was one stretch where they joined together and I got to enjoy a luxury that I haven’t had since I left Mazatlan–a wide shoulder. It was kind of funny in a couple spots where they had rumble strips set up to slow traffic down. There would be a dozen street vendors lining the road with booth set up to sell what mostly appeared to be shrimp. Some of them even tried sell me some.

Staying at a motel in Acaponeta tonight. It’s a pretty big building and I thought it might be too expensive. It was only US $12 though. When I walked inside I looked up and was surprised to see that there’s no roof. It must get a little wet in here during rainy season. Walked around the town square for a bit checking out the sights. The central cathedral is huge. First town I’ve seen with a fountain in the town square too. There were lots of vendors sells pretty much everything on the outside edge of it. I bought a big chunk of what I think was honeycomb. Also got a big bag of dried fruit. Hopefully none of this makes me sick because all the food is out in the open and there were lots of bees enjoying the honey. No flies though so I should be OK.

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The sun has set by this point, the ferry is 13 miles from the cafe and I’m tired and quite starving by now. I decided that 5 more days in La Paz would be less than ideal so I turned on my front/rear lights and started riding. It was a terrible experience and I thought of turning back many times. Riding at night is bad enough but I was on a rural road with occasional semi’s, cars, no shoulders and zero street lights. I wasn’t even 100% sure where I was going or if that was even the right place to buy a ticket. It was probably a stupid move riding out there but I was careful to move off the road when I needed to. The worst part was how tired I was about half way.

Somehow I made it though. I’d even found the right place to buy tickets. So US $130 later my bike and I were in line to board. Only problem was ticket salesperson thought bicycles were “cargo” and had me in the wrong line. I found this out after standing there for 20 minutes. Now I have 10 minutes to ride another mile to get to the right place before the ferry leaves. Brutal. Complaining wouldn’t help so I jumped back on my bike and raced over to the right place.

Finally I was on board and ready to go. They didn’t even check to see if I had a ticket. In the area where they had me park my bike I was happy to see 3 other touring bikes.

Funny thing is the ferry didn’t end up leaving for another two and a half hours. Not sure what the hold up was but I was kicking myself for riding like a madman fr 3 miles.

The ride across the gulf was 12 hours and it went pretty fast. After eating (cafe on board) my next goal was sleep. I didn’t get a cabin so at 11pm I curled up on 2 seats called it a night. The next morning I grabbed some breakfast and met some of the other touring bicyclists on board. Byron is heading down to Argentina. Chris is another guy that I first met in Alaska (still amazes me that you can run into the same people thousands of miles away like this). There were also a couple from Montreal but I don’t remember their names. They are heading north up the coast.

Once the ferry landed we all packed up and rode into town. Byron and I had a similar plan to hang out here for a couple days and figure out where we’re going next. We gave that even more thought while drinking Coronas down by the beach all afternoon.

Mazatlan is easily my favorite place in Mexico so far. From the bustling city streets filled with vendors to the sidewalks that that are completely different in front of every building it just feels different from the other cities. The town square was amazing as was the huge church next to it. More pics tomorrow. Best part– the motel is US $10.83 a night. It has hot water and a fan so I’m good.

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La Paz isn’t too far so when I left this morning I figured I’d be looking at a Friday arrival. Today was an easy day of riding, minus a headwind, so I’ll probably end up there on Thursday. The big challenge of the day will be to get a ferry ticket to Mazatlan.

Didn’t see much of interest on the road today. There were a lot of roadside memorials though. Some of them were pretty elaborate too. I did notice one thing that I’m surprised I didn’t pick up on earlier. There are no mailboxes…anywhere. Or if there are I’m not seeing them. I don’t even think any of the buildings alongside the highway have numbers on them. Weird. Maybe everyone has to drive into the nearest town if they want mail?

3 large, carnivorous dogs came tearing out of a yard while I was riding peacefully down the highway. I yelled at them and they decided I wasn’t worth consuming. My Dog Dazzer failed me again. I really need to find a nice bamboo stick.

People were acting kind of stupid today. This happened twice– I’d be riding down the road when an 18-wheeler would come up behind me and another vehicle would be approaching from the front. Instead of just maintaining their speed and maybe moving over to the right just a little, the cars would slow down and almost come to a complete stop right before they got to me. So now the truck can’t pass and has to slow down to a crawl. If they would have just kept going they would have only slowed down the truck for a few seconds.

Camping out in the desert was a no go thanks to fences on both side of the road. About an hour before dark I finally had enough riding for the day and asked the owner of a ranch/market if I could camp there. No problem. So here I am in my tent with goats, roosters, dogs, cows and donkeys all running around.

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Some idiot in an unmarked white U-haul-like truck thought it would be funny to drive over into my lane and slam on his horn as he approached. I didn’t have a place to bail off the road and he didn’t come over far enough where I thought I’d have to dive into the ditch. Normally something like this would piss me off for the rest of the day but it was hard to stay mad when half the people that passed me waved or gave me the thumbs up.

For the first time someone spotted me as I was leaving my campsite this morning. It was a guy in a truck but he didn’t seem to care. I looked back down the road and I swore I could see the 2 German riders I saw late yesterday. They are heading up north from Argentina but I didn’t catch to where.

As noted on FB I finally broke 10,000 miles on my trip this morning. Oh and what a 10,000 miles it’s been.

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