Packed and ready to start the tripWe’ll start driving to
10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1.... and off we go!!!
On the way. Enlarge and check the mirror
And so arrived the time to leave from Metepec to start the trip that we have planned for more than two years.
After four days of driving we arrived in San Ysidro, CA. We met Janelle's parents and got the bikes ready.
From a V8 to leg power
First Week
Day 1 (
Start 
We loaded our bikes at the Best Value Inn in after a good buffet lunch with Janelle’s parents and said good-bye. We were a bit wobbly at first with about 50 lbs. loaded on each of our rear racks, but soon we got the hang of it and made our way across the border. In 
Day 2 (9/23/05)
Start 10:00 a.m. in Tijuana, BC & end 3:15 p.m. Rosarito, BC – 35.2 miles = 44 total miles
Stopped in Playas de Tijuana to fix our gears and buy a rear-view mirror, then had lunch (PB sandwiches) at a park by the ocean. Got on the toll road to enjoy a shoulder away from the speeding semis. Planned to go to
Day 3 (9/24/05)
Start 10:30 a.m. in Rosarito, BC & end 5 p.m. in Ensenada, BC – 50 mi = 94.4 t miles
We got on the road among the stream of riders coming from
downtown and started hearing “look at the load they’re carrying,” “they must be going past Ensenada,” “look at the underwear!” (our laundry didn’t dry last night). Word spread that we were headed for
Day 4 (
Sunday - Rest day in
Went to church with Jorge & Marlen, who we were staying with, did some shopping, and had seafood cocktail at Marlen’s cousin’s home.
Day 5 (
Start 
Memo worked on my gears and got them shifting well. Stopped at another bike mechanic to fix Memo’s breaking chain. We planned to stop in Santo Tomas for lunch and get to San Vicente by evening, but the hills and heat overcame Janelle and we had to stay for the night. We sought shelter at an elementary school, where they let us set up camp in a classroom. Some of the kids put on a circus act for us while we waited for our laundry to dry.
Day 6 (
Start 
Progress is slow at 111°F – especially with two 4 kilometer climbs to get across. When we got to Sn. Vicente we desperately needed to cool down and stopped at a store for a popsicle and soda. A girl in the store told us about the Insituto Biblico across the street that had a rehabilitation program and ministry training program. Her mom was the director, so she called over and they invited us to stay. Cold showers were very welcome and with our tent under some trees with a good breeze, we were able to stay cool.
Day 7 (
Start 9 a.m. San Vicente & end
Heat has dropped (mostly under 100!)and so have the hills – just rolling terrain with long flat stretches between the climbs. Felt good to feel the pedals propel us forward and make some more distance. We found another church, where we attended their service and enjoyed a meal with them before staying in their nursery.
Day 8 (9/29/05)
Start 9:30 a.m. Camalu & end 12:30 in Sn. Quintin – 23.8 mi = 218.8 t mi
Planned a short day, so we could upload photos off my camera and give you our updates on the web. We found a room at a Baptist church and headed for the cybercafé. We’ve completed 7 days of riding – and our rears are feeling it, but we’re gaining strength and hope to add up some more miles in the days ahead.
Second Week
Day 9 (9/30/05)
8:30 a.m. – 2:15 p.m.
San Quintín – Rosario de Arriba – 40.9 mi = 259.7 total miles
Beautiful ride with very little traffic – started out along the San Quintín Bay, then turned up into the mountains, which gave us a beautiful view that was almost worth the climb. As we coasted down into
Day 10 (
El 
Our first day riding into the desert. I had been afraid of this stretch,
but a lady in 
Day 11 (
Rest Day at Café Los Martires
Sunday couldn’t have come at a better time. I need the day of rest to gain resolve to continue. They told us we had crossed the biggest climb and it did flatten out ahead.
Day 12 (
Los Martires – Cataviña - 51.3 mi = 339.0 t.m.
Wanted to start early to escape the desert heat, but waited to have a good breakfast. Road really was mostly flat and we made good time in the morning. Memo noticed his tire had a big bulge, so we had a good rest while he replaced it with one of the spares. A few hills brought us into rocky terrain – huge piles of boulders with cactus growing between them. Coasted down into Cataviña and stayed with a family by the church there.
Day 13 (
Cataviña – El Parador de Punta Prieta – 67.0 mi = 406.0 t.m.
Longest ride so far! Terrain changed from boulders & cactus to plain low brush, to a greener area
to more hills and cactus. Ended with a long flat stretch where we made good time again. We had lunch and rested in
Day 14 (
Parador Punta Prieta – Rosarito – 33.4 = 439.4 t.m.
Needed a short day to recover from the long one yesterday. Started out flat than got into more hills, but not like the ones we’d already done. I realize how much I pray to avoid suffering – that the hills will stop, that the heat will drop, that my rear will stop hurting – when I really know so little of true suffering – like the kind Jesus suffered for us and said that his disciples would also suffer. Maybe through this God will teach me that He can give me the strength to endure suffering, instead of just trying to make myself more comfortable. And yet God provides so many blessings, too! We came to a beautiful truck stop café in Rosarito, where we could shower and put up our tent under the trees. We rested in the hammocks and read and wrote in our journals – a beautiful afternoon!
Day 15 (
8:45 a.m. – 3:40 p.m. (4:40 p.m. local time)
Rosarito, Baja California – Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur – 52.0 mi = 491.4 t.m.
Roads have been a little rough here, which makes me grateful for how good the roads have been
for the past 400 miles! Stopped halfway in Villa Jesus Maria for lunch and rest. The first light poles and gas station we’ve seen for days! Everywhere we’ve stopped since Rosario de Arriba has used generators or solar power. From J.M to G.N. the road does not have a single curve or hill. Six miles before we reached the border between BC and BCS, we could see the Mexican flag flying in front of us at the military base there. Halfway between J.M. and G.N. the distant mountains disappeared, as well as the cactus-just flat ground with dry brush. After G.M. we will be entering the 
Day 16 (
Rest Day in Guerrero Negro
We found the Baptist church, so we set up our tent in the shade in their yard to stay tonight. Today we’re doing laundry and internet. Tomorrow we hope to see the world’s largest salt mine here.
Before continuing with our journal this week, which was a short one, we’ll describe a normal day on our trip.
We try to get up between
We check the bikes and clean the chains. Then we pack everything into the saddle bags and tie the bigger things on the rack. We have to pack everything well for it to fit. Each of us has about 50 lbs. That includes about 10 quarts of water that we drink during the trip.
Our most common breakfast is bread with a quart of milk.
Alter putting on plenty of sunscreen, we get on the bikes and begin to pedal. At about 6 mi, we stop to stretch. From there, we have 18- 62 miles left to ride for the day.
We stop several times along the way to rest and eat fruit or
whatever we have on hand. Sometimes we put more water in our Camelbacks or take pictures.
We have lunch somewhere along the way. Bread and peanut butter has been a frequent menu.
When we arrive at our destination, the first thing we do is begin to look for somewhere to stay the night. The first place we look is for a church. Other times we have lunch at a little restaurant and ask for permission to put our tent on their property. That has worked well. Sometimes we have the name of a contact that someone gave us beforehand and that helps the search, but usually they don’t know we’re going to arrive.
If possible, we shower. Until now, we’ve only had to go one day without bathing. We also wash our clothes, so it can dry for the next day. When we’ve finished that, we look for a store to buy dinner and food and water for the next day. Bread with avocado & cheese is good with bananas for desert.
We put up our tent, put air in the mattresses, and put away our clothes when they are dry. We write in our journals and read for awhile if we have time.
Before going to bed, we talk a little with whoever we’re staying with.
At the end of the day, we’re dead tired and try to rest for what’s coming the next day, which we plan based on the maps and talking with people to know what the road conditions are like.
Third Week
Day 17 (
Rest Day
Guerrero Negro
Two rest days in a row have done our bodies well. We tried to visit the world’s largest salt mines, but you have to tour by car, which we don’t have! Memo was disappointed he didn’t get to see the giant machines he’s always heard about. We visited a bird sanctuary and saw a heron, an osprey, an egret, pelicans, kingfishers, seagulls, sand pipers, ibis, and lots of little unidentified birds. The Roji family took us out to the bay where the dunes look like the Sahara desert with sand blowing across the surface and coating us as we walked across them. We couldn’t see the ocean, but the dunes and bay were beautiful! We hope to come back to Gro. Negro sometime in the winter when the Grey Whales have their calves in the Bay.
Day 18 (
Gro. Negro – Vizcaíno – 48.8 mi = 530.2 t.m.
We were told this would be the hottest part of our trip – crossing the
Day 19 (
Vizcaíno – San Ignacio – 47.5 mi = 577.7 t.m.
Our second say in the
Day 20 (
San Ignacio – Sta Rosalía – 51 m = 628.7 t.m.
Our last ride through Baja! We had been told by several people that the ride from Vizcaíno to Sta.
Rosalía would be ¨pure downhill¨ with a descent that was named ¨El Infierno¨ (Hell). (An appropriate name as we hit our highest temp. today of 116°F) We knew that in order to have a steep downhill to the coast, we would have to climb uphill somewhere, but since everyone insisted it was all downhill, I kept hoping somehow they were right. As usual, by car they didn’t remember the first 22 miles of hills (fighting a strong headwind through much of it) before the first big downhill. From the top we could see a gorgeous valley below surrounded by volcanoes. The downhill was incredible, but was followed by 9 more miles of hills before the infamous ¨El Infierno¨ that took us out to the
Day 21 (
Santa Rosalía
By the time we got into town on Tuesday, we would have only had a couple hours before we had to board the ferry to
Day 22 (
Santa Rosalía
We hoped to go to Mulege, a town south of here we had heard a lot about, but decided it was too expensive by bus and too far by bike for a day trip. Instead we are using today to send you our photos and updates. Our bodies are enjoying more recovery time before we start our journey next week into the
Fourth Week
Day 23 (Oct 14, 05)
Sta. Rosalia
0 miles by bicycle - around 112 miles by ferry
We spent the day in Santa Rosalía, waiting for the ferry that would take us to Guaymas, Sonora, our third state on the trip.
We got on board after
Rosalia by night, then went to the cabin and talked with the captain for awhile. So we left Baja without seeing cave
paintings or Neil Peart. The story is that Memo sent an e-mail to Neil Peart, the drummer for RUSH to invite him on our trip
and every time a motorcycle passed, Memo said Neil was coming to say hello . . . but it never happened.
Day 24 (Oct 15, 05)
Guaymas – Vícam - 50 mi = 678.7 t.m.
We hardly slept on the ferry because a group of workers who had just been paid were aboard and
they were celebrating all night. Our arrival in Guaymas at dawn was incredible - the sea, the mountains, the ships and the fishing boats. This was our first time in a city since we left
The vehicles pass faster than we're used to. We were happily surprised to find they respected us and we could ride relaxed. The road was flat - so we kept up a good pace.
We arrived in Vícam and stayed with a pastor - unfortunately we discovered we had arrived on the day they were having a quinceanera for his daughter - an event that seems to take as much preparation as a wedding! The Mexican saying is that it's better to be on time than to be invited - but we didn't go because we were tired and didn't have the right clothes for such an event.
Day 25 (Oct 16, 05)
Vícam – Hornos - 40.9 mi = 720 t.m.
The road is mostly flat again, so we continue at a good pace. It is refreshing to see green landscape after all the desert. Memo's legs are painfully burnt, despite the sunscreen we've been putting on (my white skin seems to be pretty sun-resistant and hasn't burned bad, though you can see the lines of all my biking gear). We ate with a family in Esperanza that has a carniceria - meat store. On Sundays they put a grill outside and grill whatever you buy for free . . . delicious! And the best was that it only cost $3.40 including our soda!
When we got to Hornos, a park that advertised places to camp refused to let us put our tent up, but we found the Delgadillo family cleaning the little property they use on the weekends and they let us stay there. They also gave us some of the bread they bought from the big clay ovens (hornos) along the highway that we had passed. We thought there would be more in the town of
Day 26 (Oct 17, 05)
Hornos – Rosario Tesopaco - 39.6 mi = 760 t.m.
Since Esperanza we've been riding along a little secondary road that lets us enjoy the scenery.
About 6 miles from Hornos, we came to Agua Caliente, a warm water spring. We should have made it here yesterday. Today we're just starting and don't want to take the time to get in. The mountains look impressive. They look far off to start, but as we continue we begin to climb. The temperature does not help. We’ve heard that the climate will change and the temperature will drop, but this has become one of the hottest days of our trip. The thermometer hit 116°F and quit working. I feel like the heat sucks out all my energy and there isn't any shade to take a break. Memo tries to keep me positive, but I don't feel like I can continue. Finally we arrived in
Day 27 (Oct 18, 05)
Rosario Tesopaco – Tacupeto - 35.4 mi = 795 t.m.
We have breakfast in a store in town. People watch us curiously and ask all kinds of questions. Sr. Salvador Acuña is one of them. As we're leaving, he catches us and gives us names of people in the towns along our route that he knows and says we can stay with. We start out happy, but I'm a little nervous as usual about the hills we have to climb and the high temperature, which once again goes over what our thermometer can handle (120?). The flora changes as we continue to climb. The cacti begin making way for trees and give us the chance to find shade to rest. We've also seen a lot of grasshoppers - some fatter than my thumb. The mountains and views are beautiful - impressive. We can't imagine the
Day 28 (Oct 19, 05)
Day of Positive Doping
Tacupeto – San Nicolás – Yécora 22.3 mi by bike (817 t.m.) / 27.6 mi by pick-up
8:35 am – 1:00 pm – 4:20 pm
The road continues climbing and the heat has not gone down. Usually we drink between 8 & 10
liters of water per day. I dread both the hills and the heat each day. A bee got caught in Memo's sunglasses & stung him between the eyes. He got it out, but the pain made us stop in front of a little house. The owners came out and asked if they could offer us anything. A little farther up the road, the lady caught up with us, gave us food, and invited us to stay a few days with them, but we decided to keep going. We kept going slowly up the hills and a car came up behind us. Memo signaled for him to pass, but he stayed behind us and honked. It turned out to be Sr. Salvador Acuña, who we met in the store yesterday. He gave us cheese, coyotas (similar to an empanada filled with cajeta) and bacanora (similar to tequila). We keep pedaling (with Memo either pushing me from behind or pulling me with a rope at times) and arrive in San Nicolas. We've been told that what is ahead is the most difficult part of our route. Memo's plan was to buy provisions and keep going farther, but he can tell I am exhausted. He asks if I want to hitch a ride (as several have suggested we should do), and I readily agree. (For Memo, this is like using oxygen to climb Everest or an athlete being caught doping). We catch a ride with a police chief - our bikes, our gear, us, and another hitchhiker in the back of his pick-up. The ride up proves that the road was one looonng uphill - almost the entire way there. We're traveling fast up into pine forest. The smell and views are incredible - and the cold is refreshing. We stay in a Baptist church and enjoy talking with the pastor and his family.
Day 29 (Oct 20, 05)
More Positive Doping
Yécora – Kípor - 1 mi. by bike / 32.4 by pick-up
Since we had decided to continue hitching a ride, we washed our clothes in the morning and went to buy bread for the road. We were surprised to run into Sr. Salvador again! And he paid for our bread. We went out to the road around
Fifth Week
Day 30 (Oct 21, 05)
11:
In the morning some of the kids from the school for Pimes Indians took us to see cave paintings. We couldn’t really recognize them in the cave, but we think we can see the paintings in the pictures we took J Then back on the bikes – Janelle having enjoyed the break – Memo repentant. It was a beautiful ride through the hills with lots of great views to photograph. Stayed in the parsonage at Mission Jesus es la Respuesta (Jesus is the Answer).
Day 31 (Oct 22, 05)
Yepáchic – Basaseachic – 29 mi = 871 t.m.
Another beautiful day through the mountains! Memo noticed threads coming through his front tire, so put on the spare we bought in Guaymas. We were just beginning a hill when he stopped to change it, and afterwards we kept climbing for 2 straight hours - 5 mi. before we finally reached the top. We had been riding for 4 hours, and were only half way to our destination, so I was really doubting
that we could make it, but Memo tried to reassure me that we could. My constant battle is to keep pressing on and not get discouraged. Memo’s constant battle is to not get anxious about reaching the goal and stay patient with my need to stop. He keeps an amazingly positive attitude with all the climbing, heat, cold – whatever the conditions, and has been very patient in pulling me or pushing me up the hills and waiting for me to rest – but sometimes I can tell he is getting frustrated. He convinced me to keep going and the rest of the ride was much faster. We came into a beautiful valley and suddenly we were in Basaseachic, where one of the brothers from the church in town let us put up our tent outside his home-restaurant.
Day 32 (Oct 23, 05)
Basaseachic
The temperatures have changed drastically from a few days ago. The ice on our tent didn’t melt until after
We took a day to see the Basaseachic waterfall – the highest in
We stayed inside the little restaurant where we were staying as long as we could (because there was a comfortable fire) before heading back to our cold tent and burrowing under everything we have.
Day 33 (Oct 24, 05)
Basaseachic – Huevachic – 23.7 mi = 895 t.m.
We had two choices to get to Creel from Basaseachic – a longer paved route or the 60 mi.
gravel/dirt road. It was a hard decision since I’m not used to riding off road and didn’t know if I could make it from one town to the next, but we didn’t want to spend extra days going around, either. As soon as we started on the dirt, I got nervous. My tires were skidding and I thought it would take me forever even if there weren’t hills – which wasn’t likely. Then a pick-up stopped and offered us a ride to Sn Juanito – the end of the dirt road. Surprisingly Memo agreed and we started to unload our bikes, but when I asked him if he was sure, he decided to flip a coin. Eagle (Mexican coins have a sun or an eagle) – we turned down the ride. I watched the truck drive off with mixed emotions – and we were left trying to decide whether to go paved or dirt. Then another car pulled up from the opposite direction – and told us that it was a rough road, but the views were well worth it. We made up our minds and headed forward.
The scenery was gorgeous! And the hills weren’t too long. We heard a noise on the side of the road and looked to see a rattlesnake warning us he was ready to strike. I was getting the hang of riding through the gravel, even beginning to pick up speed on the downhills. Still I was tired from extra concentration and a tight grip on the handlebars – so when we reached Huevachic – just a third of the way - I was done for the day. We found a warm place to stay – in the town clinic with the doctor and her family.
Day 34 (Oct 25, 05)
Huevachic – Sn Juanito – 44.7 mi = 940 t.m.
9 am – 7:30 pm
We started the day with a long climb – 6 miles. Since I wasn’t comfortable enough on the rough
road, yet, Memo couldn’t help by pulling me up, but I was enjoying the challenge. I started to feel like I could control my bike over the rocks and was proud of each hill I conquered. Then we had a couple of long downhills and a beautiful valley – followed, of course, by another long uphill. Now I was more tired than scared, so Memo tied our bikes into a tandem and we made it up. The day had been long and hard, but beautiful – and well worth taking the gravel route. Then as we came to the third and last long climb before San Juanito, it was getting late and I wanted to stop, but again Memo was positive we could make it. As he pulled me to the top, the sun set behind the hills and everything was dark with several miles left. We bounced slowly forward over the rocks and bumps following our little circles of light until finally we saw the lights of the city ahead. Once we were in our warm little hotel room (just the 2nd on this trip), I repented of all my negative thoughts about my ambitious husband (and he of his negative thoughts of my long snack breaks) and we went out for some cheap hamburgers.
Day 35 (Oct 26, 05)
Sn Juanito
We found a free house to stay in that belongs to a Christian couple in town, then spent 15 hours between two computers to slowly upload photos and update our page on the internet! I called home to talk to my twin nephews on their fourth birthday. I’ve been more homesick this week thinking about not being there with the rest of the family, so it was good to at least talk briefly. As we walked back late in the freezing cold, we were happy to not be staying outside.
Day 36 (Oct 27, 05)
Sn Juanito – Creel – 21.7 mi = 962 t.m.
12:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
We got a big breakfast from the Christian couple who loaned us their empty house. Memo realized he had broken a spoke on the ride through the dark, so went all over town trying to find a bicycle repair shop – with no luck. We were back on pavement, but with the broken spoke, he had to watch his speed on the beautiful downhills and through the valleys. Then it was me that slowed us down again as we made our way back uphill before a last downhill into Creel, known as tourists’
favorite town on the Chihuahua-Pacific Railroad. It is a center for the Tarahumara Indians who live in the Copper Canyon and surrounding mountains, and there are several museums, shops with Tarahumara handicrafts, and scenic areas to visit on daytrips. We were happy to be given a cabin behind the Baptist church, so we could spend several days exploring. We were also happy that Memo found a bike shop where he got his bike fixed.
Sixth Week
Day 37 (Oct 28, 05)
Tour around Creel 16.8 mi = 979 t.m.
12:00 pm – 5:30 pm
A spectacular day in the valleys around Creel! It was even better because we took our panniers off and enjoyed our light bikes – which our legs thanked us for. It made Memo remember his times mountain biking with friends in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. From Creel we rode up to Sebastian Cave – caves where the Tarahumara Indians live. We read that they could be larger than a normal house, are warmer in winter and cool in the summer. However, Memo wondered whether they really offered those comforts. From the caves, we went to the Valle de los Hongos (Mushroom Valley). With a narrow base and wide top, these rock formations really look like gigantic mushrooms! Next came Valle de las Ranas (Frog Valley.) They don’t all look like frogs, but the largest one by the entrance doesn’t leave any doubt why it received its name. I tried giving it a kiss to see if it would turn into a prince . . .but Memo was glad it didn’t! From there, we went on to the church in San Ignacio that was built in the 17th century. It is just a simple church with no benches, but it has a couple of Tarahumara carvings in the entrance. Memo started talking with an older Tarahumara man, who told him about the town festivals that so many people attend that they kill 4-6 cows for the food. We went on to the Valle do los Monjes (Monk Valley) – tall columns of rock. We read that it’s original Tarahumara name means ¨place of erect penises¨ and it was considered a special place for ceremonies of fertility. Finally, we went to Lake Arareko, where we ate and talked on a rock on the shore – enjoying the peace and tranquility. It was very relaxing and we returned very content to our little ¨home¨ in Creel to roast marshmallows in the wood heater.
Day 38 (Oct 29, 05)
Creel
We walked around Creel and visited the museum and handicraft stores. It was interesting to learn how the Tarahumara have rejected what we consider the comforts of civilization. The rest of the day we used for washing clothes and getting the bikes ready for the next day.
Day 39 (Oct 30, 05)
Creel – Divisadero 31.7 mi = 1011 t.m.
10:20 am – 4:00 pm
The cold kept us from leaving early again. Since we knew we would be on the hot coast for most of the trip (and considering our weight and space limits), we didn’t bring adequate clothing for the cold autumn temperatures in Chihuahua. The route, as most of the trip in Chihuahua has been, was strenuous. I was having a harder time breathing than usual for what we were doing – whether from the altitude, the cold, or just exhaustion, I’m not sure – and Memo was having a harder time keeping his patience. As we advanced, the mountain chains appeared that
Memo says he had a hard time learning the names for in school. We stopped to rest many times and walked some of the hills. The climbs seemed long and the downhills short. Memo was worried because our brake pads are wearing out from all the abuse we’ve given them in the sierras we have passed through. Finally, we arrived at the rim and ate on a rock where three canyons meet – Copper Canyon, Urique, and Tararekua (the Copper Canyon is actually a complex of many canyons that join together). The view is impressive! It is in moments like these one realizes that the human scale that one is used to in the city is small compared to the rest of creation. You can’t help but feel humble before the vastness of all that is out beyond the urban limits.
That is Memo on the rock
We stayed in la Casa de los Abuelos (the House of the
Grandparents), an older couple with some cabins to rent on their ranch. With the terrible cold that we’ve experienced below freezing, we decided to take one of the rooms, rather than staying in our tent. When we went in to have dinner with them, we discovered Don Lencho was a curandero – an Indian holy man/healer. (And he told Memo that the Mexican idea of a man becoming gay at age 41 was a superstition – how ironic from an Indian spiritualist!).
Day 40 (Oct 31, 05)
Divisadero, Chih – El Fuerte, Sin
13.8 mi by bicycle (t.m. = 1025) & around 125 miles by train
10:20 am – 9:00 pm
We went along the rim road to see the famous Piedra Volada (flying rock), a rock balanced on the
edge of a cliff. You can walk out to it easily, but have to be able to handle your nerves and the gusts of wind that come up. We took some pictures and enjoyed the beautiful panorama. Another one of Memo’s spokes broke on the road, so that with the bad brakes helped us make the decision to get on the famous Copper Canyon train there that we had wanted to take at some point anyway. It was a bit of a hassle to get on since there isn’t a car for cargo, so we had to talk the conductor, the ticket men, and even the security guards to let us on with the bikes. We didn’t even try the first class train, but waited for the economy class train. Since there wasn’t a place there to fix the spoke (thanks to the bike mechanic in Michigan who convinced us not to buy spares) we had to convince them or be stuck there. Memo planned our strategy well. I got on first with the bags, and Memo went to see the ticket agent and conductor. Our story seemed honest to him and praise God, they let us on. Memo got on the bikes on board as fast as he could, and the train was in motion before he could even tie them on. There were some disagreements with the guards about where the bikes could go, but Memo was able to move them from the dining car to the engine car and everyone was happy. The rest of the trip was an unforgettable experience – a visual delight where everywhere we looked could be a postcard. The most magical place was Temoris – too bad we couldn’t have planned a day there. We went through 86 tunnels and over some long bridges and dropped over 2,000 meters – 6,000 feet, so the temperature warmed up.
When we got off the train at El Fuerte, the town was still a few miles away from the station, so we packed the bikes back up and pedaled through the dark. We stayed in a cheap hotel ($6 for a room without a private bath), since it was too late to be looking for a free place to camp.
Day 41 (Nov 1, 05)
El Fuerte 2 mi
Our first task was to find a bike shop to fix Memo’s spoke. We thought we might have trouble finding stores open since it was All Saint’s Day, but that didn’t turn out to be the case. The problem was
finding a spoke the right size – and a mechanic willing to fix it. We finally found Don Tavo Delval, who fixed the bike, gave us extra spokes, and offered us a place to stay. We had planned to put up our tent in their yard, but when we got back that night after using the internet and visiting the cemetery (to see how they celebrate Day of the Dead here), Don Tavo's family told us we could use an empty room in their home. We liked that idea until we realized that one of Don Tavo’s sons is an alcoholic and kept his beer in the room we were using. We could hardly sleep because he kept coming in and trying to talk to us. We felt trapped, but couldn’t do anything about it at that point – we wished we had just put up the tent as we had planned!
Day 42 (Nov 2, 05)
El Fuerte
After we got up, the family prepared us a hot breakfast. Memo talked with Aurelio and told him we had not slept well and asked him not to drink today. We weren’t sure what affect those words had, but Aurelio became our tour guide for the day (at least he wasn’t drinking while he was leading us around). We followed him through different hotels built in old colonial homes on the square and
other attractions in the town. After he said he needed to go to the cemetery, Memo and I could visit the rest of the town at our own pace. In one hotel, we watched dozens of humming birds at the feeders. The experience of watching and photographing them from up close was incredible. We decided to find an alternative place to stay the night and found a church that let us stay. When we went out to buy our provisions for the next day, a family asked us for our first autograph – for when we’re famous in the news. We felt important for a few minutes and went to bed with the tranquility of not being bothered by Aurelio or his friends.
A real humming bird flying in front of a painted one
Day 43 (Nov 3, 05)
El Fuerte – Los Mochis 62.8 mi = 1090 t.m.
7:45 am – 2:45 pm
In the warmer weather, we were able to leave early. The road was mostly flat – a welcome change after all the mountains we had been through. We did start to hit some hills after maybe forty miles, and I started to get worn out. Our plan was to go farther, but when we stopped for a cold drink, I think Memo recognized the “I’m miserably hot and tired and don’t want to ride that miserable bike” look on my face as I sat rocking in the shade – and he knew we would need to find a place to stay in Mochis. Unfortunately, finding a place to stay proved to be difficult, despite having found two churches in the directory ahead of time. No one answered the phone and none of the neighbors knew the pastor or members – the problem of a bigger city. The local bicycle club didn’t pay us much attention either. A man who seemed friendly ended up just sending us in vain circles. We ended up riding an extra 12 miles around the city looking for a place. When it was starting to get dark, a man on a motorcycle told us that we shouldn’t go into the neighborhood we were headed into because it was dangerous. We thanked him for his help and after talking to him awhile, he offered us a place to stay in one of his tortilla shops. We showered in one, where his brother lived and when we got to the second, he realized he didn’t have the right key. Tired of riding around, Memo asked him just to take us to the preacher that we could hear when we passed on the streets, and we’d find a place from there. He took us, but the people we found just told us to wait to talk to the preacher when he finished. Juan – the guy on the motorcycle - didn’t want to leave us without knowing we had a place, so he went to find another church. He came back with good news and we followed him to an Apostolic church, where they said they could give us a place to stay after they got back from some things they had to take care of around 10:00 p.m. I was so tired, I fell asleep on a wooden bench outside the church while Memo talked with some of the other church members. It was worth the wait, as we slept in a comfortable full-size bed. We thank God for causing us to cross paths with Juan
Seventh Week
Day 44 (Nov 4, 05)
Mochis - Guamuchil 70.3 mi = 1160 t.m.
9am – 5pm
The pastor’s wife made us a hot breakfast and we started our longest (mileage) day, yet. It didn’t
take as long as some of the previous days, though – because there wasn’t a single hill until the overpass into Guamuchil! We kept a good pace and just stopped about every 9 miles to give our seats a rest. I love the flat terrain after all the hills we’ve climbed, but pedaling faster for more miles through the hot, humid weather takes a toll on tender skin. By the time we reached the first town outside of Mochis we had a cold coco drink – and realized we could have easily made it there instead of pedaling all over Mochis – but who knew! We spent an hour and a half enjoying lunch and resting in Guasave, then went the last 25 mi into Guamuchil. The pastor and his wife at the Apostolic church (that they recommended to us in Mochis) gave us dinner and a classroom to stay in.
Day 45 (Nov 5, 05)
Guamuchil-Culiacán 66.3 mi = 1226 t.m.
8am – 4pm
We left the toll road with its wide shoulder because it was 25 miles longer by that route. The free road was in good condition, though – and only one semi drove by close enough that we had to get off the road. The traffic on all the roads we’ve been on has been good about slowing down and/or passing in the other lane. We were back into some hills, but nothing big – and with Memo’s boosts from behind I made it easily up them all! We had lunch in Pericos (“Parakeets” –we didn’t see any, but we did see some other interesting birds that we thought were the rare quetzals of Guatemala – found out they are urracas). We stopped for some famous Sinaloan chicken at a grill by the road – and ate a whole chicken with tortillas for just $6. When we got to Culiacán, we found Gerardo, who we met the night we stayed in Vicam (it was his girlfriend’s cousin’s 15th birthday party). We stayed with him at the Iglesia de Dios, where he is the youth leader.
Day 46 (Nov 6, 05)
Culiacán
Stayed for the church service in the morning, then were invited over to lunch by one of the ladies in
the church. We stopped and bought some bread fresh out of the oven on the way, then had machaca (dried meat usually rehydrated and cooked in salsa – typical of northern Mexico) with beans and tortillas – a meal we’ve eaten a lot on this trip. We went to a cyber-café when we got back to try to post week 6, but Blogger wasn’t working – after spending 4 hours there! We invited Gerardo out for tacos when he got back from work in the evening – we didn’t mind a late night since we had decided to rest another day in Culiacán.
Day 47 (Nov 7, 05)
Culiacán (and around)
Gerardo took us out to the coast, where he wanted to buy some shrimp to sell when he went up to Navojoa for his civil wedding (Congratulations Gerardo & Aidé!!). It was about an hour’s drive out to Las Arenitas – and he found out the man he was looking for, Samuel, had gone to Culiacán! Samuel’s wife made us shrimp ceviche while we waited to see if he would return – it was the first time I’ve had a chance to watch the shrimp “cook” in the lemon. (When I asked how lemon “cooks” the meat, someone tells me it doesn’t really cook, it just “takes away the rawness”). I was a little hesitant after helping peel all the raw shrimp, but the ceviche with cucumber on tostadas was
delicious! Then a neighbour brought us shrimp empanadas – and later while we were walking around town, we got to try some grilled jumbo shrimp. You can tell what the town’s economy is based on! We would have enjoyed the walk along the beach by all the fishing boats (with bamboo masts tied on all of them) – but unfortunately the beach is also used as a town dump. Gerardo finally gave up waiting for Samuel, took some shrimp, and we went back to Culiacán. We still hadn’t really seen the city, but decided to go to Wal-mart to buy some powdered Gatorade and other things we can’t find in smaller towns, instead of doing the sight-seeing we had wanted to. Then it was time to get some sleep to get back on the road in the morning.
Day 48 (Nov 8, 05)
Culiacán – Cruz de Elota 82.9 mi = 1309 t.m.
10 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
As we were getting ready to leave, we realized my “almost
flat-proof” Armadillo tire was flat. The valve on the tube was bad, so we had to replace the first tube on the trip. Our goal for the day was Cruz de Elota – a long stretch that would take us over half way to Mazatlán, a beautiful coastal city where we wanted to spend more time. We had an early lunch at a toll booth, which left us a long way from the goal. When we got to a gas station around 3:30, we were hungry again – and had already done about 60 miles – what we usually would do in a day. We ate some snacks and rested awhile, but since we still had over 22 miles to go, we couldn’t stay long. Inspired by the desire to make it while we still had light, I picked up speed, but the sun set early (5:30) and we still ended up doing the last few miles in the dark. We had hit a new record for daily mileage – and as we took the exit into town, I was losing energy fast. We arrived ready to 
crash at another Apostolic church – and the pastor told us he was too busy for us. He sent us to another church, but no one was home, so we stopped to eat at a hamburger stand while we waited. After we had eaten and talked with the owners, I asked permission to use their shower, since the stand was there in front of their house. They let us shower – and gave us a bedroom to stay in. In fact, Doña Juana invited us to stay a week and enjoy the beach if we would like – but we need to keep going if we’re going to make it to Cancún!
Day 49 (Nov 9, 05)
Cruz de Elota – Mazatlán 69.4 mi. = 1379 t.m.
9:15a.m. – 5:15 p.m.
Doña Juana made us breakfast (machaca of course!) and we headed out inspired by a vision of relaxing on the beach in Mazatlán writing in our journals. They had told us there were some big hills, but really they were nothing compared to what we’ve been through in Baja and Chihuahua – and the views of the ocean along the way made the climbing easier (plus Memo’s boosts keep me from getting discouraged). We stopped at a look-out over the ocean early and talked with some Canadians driving their RV down to Mazatlán – a popular destinations for RV's. They had only about an hour left to drive – but it would take us all day. We planned to have lunch at Marmol – just under 20 miles from Mazatlán, but we never saw it. Instead, we came to another toll booth, and got out our crackers and cheese there. Memo discovered he had broken another spoke – and thankfully had both the spokes and the experience to do it now! That made our lunch break almost 2 hours long, so we needed to hurry to see sunset in Mazatlán. Unfortunately, just a couple of miles down the road, my “almost flat-proof” tire was almost flat again – a wire poking through the tube. That wasn’t such a long delay – and soon we were at the exit for Playas Mazatlán (M. Beaches) – and we came into the resort & RV end of town just in time to see the sunset on the beach. We went on into the city from there and found a Congregational church just a few blocks from the beach, from the market, and from the cathedral in Old Mazatlán. The church looked like an old colonial home with a center courtyard and rooms all around, one of which they let us stay in.
Day 50 (Nov 10, 05)
Mazatlán
Mazatlán is beautiful – with 16 miles of beach – and the 2nd highest lighthouse in the world (highest is Gibraltar). The “nice” beaches are on the touristy end of town, but I love the rocky coast downtown – with the waves crashing on the shore. We enjoyed the day walking along the boardwalk and sitting in a little restaurant, Puerto Viejo, to catch up in our journals. We went to a church service in the evening – and got to bed early for another day of biking.
Eighth Week
Day 51 (Nov 11, 05)
Mazatlán - Escuinapa 65.3 mi = 1444 t.m.
8:40am – 4:45 pm
Long ride out of Mazatlán – went by the harbor, where there was a huge cruise ship in port, along with a cargo ship, tug boat, and dozens of huge fishing boats. Stopped at a gas station on our way out of town, and the owner of an adjoining restaurant invited us to a couple of glasses of agua fresca. She told us about a couple of Canadians who had come by on bicycles the week before - headed for Patagonia! It would be fun to run into some of the cyclists we hear have passed before us! The day went by fast – it seemed we had just left Mazatlán when Memo told me we were half way for the day (with the long stretch of city, we probably had just left!). We took an exit into Rosario and had our avocado & cheese sandwiches there in the central plaza. From there, it was just a short ride to the Escuinapa exit. The whole highway had been beautiful – with pink, orange, and purple flowers flowing from green orchards to the road – but from the time we got off the exit, the beauty became magical as we 
were now winding through the orchards. We found out they were mango trees & they had just finished the harvest. As we neared the town, we met more and more people walking, jogging, and biking – apparently evening is the hour everyone comes out to exercise, and they all enjoy the beautiful new road out to the highway. One of the ladies gave us directions, and we found our way to the Baptist church, where they loaned us a classroom and let us shower and wash our clothes. It was still early, so we went to a cyber-cafe and finally published week 7.
Any cool place was good for our lunch break
Day 52 (Nov 12, 05)
Escuinapa, Sinaloa – Playas Novillero, Nayarit 64.2 mi = 1509 t.m.
8am – 5pm
We were told the toll road, doesn’t go far past Escuinapa, so we were back on the free road – still pretty, but much slower than the highway. The rougher surface drags on our tires, the trucks rushing by closely make us slow down or pull off since there’s not a shoulder, and there isn’t room for Memo to give me an extra push to help me up the longer hills. We stopped at a store in Palmillas
and chatted for awhile with the owners. We asked if they would sell us a bowl of beans to eat with our tortilla chips – and they sat and ate with us. With the high heat and humidity, the break in the shade was very refreshing. There was no welcome sign at the Nayarit border, instead the road narrowed and traffic got worse. We were happy to get off the road in Acaponeta & escape for awhile. We had been told about a place where you could buy drinks and they serve snacks (botana) for free. I enjoyed the shrimp dishes, even though I had to pop off their heads, but when they brought out the whole fried fish staring back at me, I let Memo finish those off. From Acaponeta, we took the exit out to the beach – and were surprised to be back on a highway with a wide shoulder – after another main town, that disappeared, but so did the traffic. We were on a little 2 lane through the marsh with all kinds of birds and flowers. We took a bridge over the coastal river and got to Playas (Beaches) Novillero just as the sun set. A hotel gave us permission to shower and pitch our tent on the sand, and the ocean waves put us to sleep.
Day 53 (Nov 13, 05)
Playas Novillero – San Vicente 25.4 mi (by bike) = 1534 t.m.
9:15 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. (+50 miles by truck&bus)
We found out the route we had been planning to take along the beach toward Mexcaltitán had been washed away in the storms – which meant we had to go all the way back to Acaponeta, so we had done 25 miles round trip out of the way. We decided to hitch a ride back to where we should have been yesterday – but only found 
a truck going about halfway back. Shortly after we were back on the bikes, we discovered Memo had broken another spoke. He worked on it for about an hour, but since it was on the chain side this time, he didn’t have the tools to fix it. We had to ride on to Acaponeta without it, where we found a bike shop to do it. We ate lunch there in the market, then got back on the narrow highway with heavy traffic that we had been on yesterday. We hadn’t gone far when a semi came by so close that I went off the road again. We got back on the road and noticed a bus pull off just ahead of us. When we got to it, 2 men motioned us over. They were on their way back to Veracruz with an empty bus after having dropped off workers in Guaymas to take the ferry to Baja. They had passed us twice already and wanted to find out what we were doing. They offered us a ride – and with the road conditions, it seemed God had sent them at just the right time, so we loaded our bikes underneath and rode almost 40 miles to the intersection headed toward Mexcaltitán. We bought ice cream from a man with a little cart there. He told us about the route and only charged us for one of the cones. We went on to San Vicente, where he had suggested and found a Church of God there (after first being directed to a spiritist “church”). The pastor invited us out to eat with his family – and we slept on our cushions on a covered patio.
Day 54 (Nov 14, 05)
San Vicente – Santiago 46 mi = 1580 t.m.
9:30 a.m. – 4:45 p.m.
A beautiful day! The roads to Mexcaltitán was a dike through the marsh & coastal rivers with very little traffic and all along were flowers, mangroves, and all types of birds all along it. The last few miles were on a rough dirt road, but soon we came to the landing, where we loaded our bikes on a row boat to take us across to the island. According to legend, Mexcaltitán is the original home of the Mexicas, who founded Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City) when they found the sign there of the eagle on a cactus eating a snake
(Mexico’s flag). The town fills the island right to the edges – and has the fame of being Mexico’s Venice since the water flows through the town during the rainy season – right into the houses – and the people travel the narrow streets in canoes. Since the rainy season was over and the small museum was closed (all museums close on Mondays), there wasn’t much to see on the island, but the ride there and the surrounding scenery made it well worth the trip. We took another boat from the opposite side to reach the road to Santiago. As we unloaded the bikes, Memo noticed there were threads showing on my tire – so we replaced it with our last spare – now all 4 tires have been replaced, so hopefully they will last! In Santiago, we found another Apostolic church, where the pastor and his wife welcomed us in. We had some tacos before we got there, but when she offered us dinner again, we didn’t refuse.
Day 55 (Nov 15, 05)
Santiago – Tepic 40.1 mi = 1620 t.m. (& from 0 to 2700 ft. above sea level)
9 a.m. – 5:25 p.m.
After a good breakfast of ham & eggs, we got back on the road (still a secondary road, so not much traffic). The hills started out small, but then got longer and steeper the farther we went – especially after we got back on the maxipista (the name for the wide roads with a good shoulder – usually toll roads – that we try to stay on). I wish we had an altimeter to measure how much climbing we 
actually do in a day – since there were some long downhills, too, we would climb, then lose the altitude, and climb it again. When a pick-up stopped to offer us a ride on one the long uphills, I would have gladly accepted, but Memo keeps us focused on doing this trip by bicycle! After another long hill, another pick-up stopped and motioned us over. “Guty” is a mountain bike fanatic who lives in California, but travels regularly to visit his family near Guadalajara and bring the latest in bikes. He was so excited to hear about our trip, he tried getting a hold of his friend on his cell, so they could talk to us. He said he would try to get them together to meet us when we got to Guadalajara – and said when he came back next month, he wanted to meet us and ride with us for a days. It was inspiring to talk to someone so excited about what we were doing! It helped me keep going until the last long climb into Tepic. By then I was exhausted and hoped to find a church quickly – but bigger cities are always more of a challenge – and it was after dark before a pastor finally took us to a house he was not using to sleep in. There wasn’t any running water, but we borrowed a bucket from a store and drew water from the underground tank that Mexican houses have as a back-up. We got some tamales for dinner – and got a good night sleep.
Day 56 (Nov 16, 05)
Tepic – Jala 47.4 mi. = 1667 t.m.
9:30? a.m. – 4:00? p.m.
We would have liked to see more of Tepic – looks like a well-kept city with nice parks, but we are close to Guadalajara and anxious to get there. At a toll booth, a couple of guys started talking to Memo about our trip and gave us 150 pesos to help us along. We got three lanes to ourselves for awhile since the traffic was detoured to the other side for construction. We just had to walk through the short area where the machines were working – then went back to our shoulder when the traffic rejoined us. An altimeter would have been useful again today – long uphills and long downhills as we passed by Volcan El Ceboruco (6,840 ft.). As we came to the top of a long hill and started the downhill, my heart sank as it looked like another climb ahead. I prayed that I wouldn’t have to climb again – and the road cut through the mountain to continue a downhill that lasted 6 miles - all the way into Jala. I don’t think God is moving mountains or cutting through them for me – but He does give me strength to make it just as far as I need to! For 6 miles, all I had to do was keep my hands on the breaks to slow me down when I needed to. I hit 40 mph once in Baja, but usually after 30-35, I feel like the road is coming at me faster than I can respond to it. Jala was a beautiful site at the base of the mountains – one of Nayarit’s “magical cities.” We stayed at El Buen Pastor and greatly enjoyed the company of the young pastor and his wife, who made us dinner and gave us their bed to sleep in – may God reward them for entertaining strangers so graciously!
Day 57 (Nov 17, 05)
Jala, Nayarit – Magdalena, Jalisco 46.3 mi = 1714 t.m.
11 a.m. – 5:40 p.m. MST (6:40 CST – Jalisco time)
Madai, the pastor’s wife, made us Veracruz empanadas for breakfast and we stayed talking for awhile, then went out to see the churches in town, so got a very late start. Jala is a magical city, as they say – worth staying again sometime and going the 7 miles up to the volcano. Just a short way up the road, we stopped again in Ixtlán del Rio to visit Los Torriles, an archaeological site. There really is a lot to see in this area – I hope we can come back to visit sometime. After a long climb 
uphill from Ixtlán, we came to an overlook of a canyon and sat to eat our peanut butter sandwiches. It wasn’t the Copper Canyon, but Jalisco has some impressive canyons, too! A couple more long uphills and downhills (one by ourselves through a construction zone again!) – and the sun set behind the mountains as we approached Magdalena. It was another beautiful site with Volcán Tequila (8760 ft) up ahead. We road into town in the dark and were told there are no evangelical churches there (Jalisco is a very Catholic state). A lady selling tamales on the corner said she knew several Christians who would probably walk by and invited us to enjoy some tamales while we waited. In addition to some pork & ground beef tamales, she had the best sweet tamales I’ve ever had made with strawberry preserves. We didn’t find someone to stay with, but with a free dinner, we took her suggestion of a cheap hostel to stay in.
Day 58 (Nov 18, 05)
Magdalena - Guadalajara 51.8 mi = 1766 t.m.
10:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Woke up late (& blamed it on the new time zone) – then went to the market for breakfast. We had
planned to stop in Tequila, but since we left late and we were high above it on the toll road, we decided to keep going to make it to Guadalajara – where we could rest! When the toll road ended, it said 12 miles to Guad., but really we were already in the city – the 2nd largest in Mexico. We called Memo’s cousin Rafa, and he met us to pick up our bags, so we could ride from there with light bikes. It was still a challenge to ride the highways heavy with traffic through town, though, and we were happy to reach Rafa’s home and leave the bikes behind for awhile! We plan to stay here for a week to recover, refuel, repair our bikes, and prepare for the second half of the journey to Cancún.
Ninth Week
Days 59 – 67 (Nov 19 – 28)
Guadalajara
This week we are resting, eating well, taking hot showers, and getting the bikes checked. Of course, we are also visiting family and doing some sight-seeing.
The bikes desperately needed some brake pads, since they were down to the metal on the rear disks. Memo also had to change all the spokes on his rear tire, so that they wouldn’t continue breaking on the road, which is a real pain. (Once one spoke breaks, the rest break more easily). Jesus Martin del Campo at the Vazher bike shop took care of us well and gave us a discount when we told him about our plans.
As of today, we have visited downtown Guadalajara: the Cathedral & several other churches, the Cabañas Cultural Institute, and the Regional Museum of Guadalajara. We also went to Tlaquepaque and visited the Regional Museum of Ceramic and Popular Art, as well as several stores with typical arts & crafts. We walked through the streets with works of art on all sides and enjoyed some delicious ice cream
We have been invited to a wedding tomorrow, so we’ll have to borrow some adequate clothing – since we obviously aren’t prepared for such an occasion.
Tenth Week
Days 64-67 (Nov 25-27)
Guadalajara – see week 9 18.4 mi in town = 1784 t.m
Day 68 (Nov 28, 05)
Guadalajara
We were planning to leave today, but it wasn’t hard to talk us into relaxing one more day here, instead of going back on the road! The FIL – Feria Internacional del Libro (International Book Fair) of Guadalajara is the largest in Latin America – and for two book addicts – quite a temptation, so when Rafa told us to stay another day to see it, we quickly took him up on it! We found out that it
wasn’t open to the public until 5 p.m., so spent the day on the internet uploading some pictures. FIL was overwhelming – a huge convention center filled with rows and rows of publishers displaying hundreds of books each. We were there for over two hours – and didn’t even see a quarter of them. We debated using the rest of the money for the trip to load up on some books and head back to Toluca, but - as tempting as that was – here we are in another state without any extra books. We caught a ride home with Rafa and got ready to leave the comforts of their home for our 2 wheel rides.
Day 69 (Nov 29, 05)
Guadalajara – Ciudad Guzmán 26.9 mi = 1811 t.m.
9:30 am – 12pm – 1:30 p.m. (43.5 mi. in truck)
We finally got up the resolve to leave our comfortable bed (thanks Pau!) and hot showers and get back on our journey. We had a long hill coming out of Guadalajara, but from there it was straight ahead across a long valley – unfortunately we didn’t make it far before we heard a loud bang
and Memo was on the side of the road jumping off his bike as it hit the ground with a blown tire. After carrying spare tires almost the whole trip, now that we needed it most, we didn’t have one. We had changed all 4 tires by this point, so didn’t think it was urgent to get another spare, yet. We were wrong – and stuck on the side of the road. But thank God it didn’t happen at top speed down the hill a few miles back! Santiago, Teresa, & Beto picked us up on their way back to Ciudad Guzman and dropped us off in front of a bike shop – where we bought 2 tires, so we wouldn’t be without again! Memo’s cousin’s husband’s sister J gave us a place to stay – with a comfortable bed and hot shower, so we had some time to adjust to leaving Guadalajara!
Day 70 (Nov 30, 05)
COLIMA
Ciudad Guzmán, Jalisco – Colima, Colima 45.3 mi = 1857 t.m.
9a.m. – 1:10 p.m.
After our easy day yesterday, we were ready to start the trip for real today. It wasn’t a typical day on the road, either, though – it was magical! We had climbed to almost 5000 ft. to get to Guadalajara – and now we were headed back to the coast – all downhill. Usually that means long uphills and longer downhills, but the toll road built bridges over all the canyons and cut through the ridges, so it was literally all downhill for most of the way. For the first 15 mi., I was pedaling easy at 30 mph as
we glided by Volcán Colima smoking just off to our right. We were close enough that there was ash on our bikes when we got up this morning – and the toll booths had alert signs (not evacuation – I think we would have hitched a ride if that was the case). Incredible scenery & easy riding made for a very enjoyable day that was definitely not spoiled by the few uphills we had to do mid-way – especially when the end of the day was pure downhill again all the way into Colima. There was no one at the church we found, so we decided to stay at a motel, rather than waste the day trying to find a place to stay. Colima is the capital of the small state of Colima – and a very pretty city. We had time to walk around and visit the Colima History Museum. In the evening we caught the end of the cultural festival. We missed the adult dances, but saw all the children performing traditional dances in the traditional dress – an enchanting end to an enchanting day.
Day 71 (Dec 1, 05)
Colima, Colima – San Juan de Alima, Michoacan 60.9 mi = 1918 t.m.
9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
We started with a couple of long climbs out of Colima, which meant even further we had to go downhill to get to the coast! Memo’s brakes weren’t working well, so the long downhills were quite an adventure for him. We made it 27 mi. to Tecoman in just two hours (that’s good time on loaded mountain bikes!) and had lunch there in the park - the usual pb sandwiches with a couple of tacos for desert. Tecoman was also the end of the toll road. On the coast from Tecoman, we finally had another stretch of the flat road that Memo gave me the impression the majority of this bike trip through Mexico would be – in over two months now, we’ve never been out of sight of mountains – and there’s only been a few days that we haven’t had to cross some. (O.k. maybe they aren’t all 
“mountains,” but they all mean climbing!) We could see the mountains ahead today, and I was glad when we turned away from them – and even happier when we found a store selling bolis (homemade freeze-pops that cost about 10 cents a piece and are great for cooling off on a hot day!). The road turned back into the mountains at the end and we started what Bicycling Mexico called 100km of “the nastiest hills” of the coast. We just had a few miles in the hills before we came to our destination on the beach. Hotel Miramar let us put up our tent there, and for the first time on our trip we went swimming in the Pacific (we put our suits on in Playas Novilleros, but chickened out when we stepped in the cold water). The water soothed our aching muscles and we had fun jumping and diving into the waves. Soon our hunger called us out of the water, though – and we enjoyed some hamburgers in front of the hotel. The waves were beautiful by starlight as we sat and wrote in our journals before drifting off to sleep.
Eleventh Week
Day 72 (Dec 2, 05)
Sn Juan de Alima – Maruata 39.6 mi = 1957 t.m.
9:30 a.m. – 3:45 p.m.
We woke up a bit deaf from the roar of the waves all night – the cost of a beautiful camp site! The
sun was hot already and my knees were sore from climbing yesterday – and I really didn’t want to be on a bike trip this morning – especially not through 100 km. of nasty hills! I wanted to head back to Toluca, but trusted my mood would change and got back on the bike. With a steep hill right from the hotel, there was nowhere to warm up my muscles – and my mood got worse. A few miles UP the road, I got a sharp pain in my knee and jumped off crying. With my bad mood and aches and pains, Memo was ready to quit, too – and said we should catch a ride back to Guadalajara to get a bus to Toluca from there. Suddenly I realized I didn’t want to quit and finally talked him into going on. Talking him into continuing changed my attitude – so I put my knee brace on the worse knee and with Memo’s help, enjoyed the rest of the day – nasty hills and all. Truth is the nasty hills gave us beautiful views of the palm lined beaches and coves below. Maruata is known as one of the most beautiful coves – and we found another campsite on the beach there. Maruata is also a sanctuary for sea turtles – so at 3 a.m., we got up and watched a huge black sea turtle dig a nest for her eggs. Memo helped one of the egg collectors pull her off the nest and dig out the eggs (they lay up to 100 eggs), then take them to the nursery to be “planted.” There they are safe until they hatch, then they are released back into the sea. We wanted to see the turtle head back into the sea, but she didn’t realize she had been removed from her nest – and after another hour of waiting for her to finish covering her “eggs, ” we finally gave up and went back to bed.
Day 73 (Dec 3, 05)
Maruata 0 mi
We stayed an extra day to rest and spent the day reading, writing, and talking with the family who let us stay in their ramada - and of course walking along the beach and swimming. In the evening, we went to see if we could help set all the baby turtles free who had hatched in the nursery, but as long as we sat waiting, the men who came to gather the eggs didn’t look like they were ready to start, so we just saw all the little turtles in the tin and went to bed. We couldn’t stay up late since we wanted to get back on the road in the morning.
Day 74 (Dec 4, 05)
Maruata – Huahua 42.3 mi. = 1999 t.m.
10 a.m. – 4:40 p.m.
We woke to a magnificent sunrise over the ocean – something strange to see on the Pacific!
Mexico cuts east here, so the ocean is to the south. The day was magnificent, too. We stayed right along the coast – and the climbs that gave us spectacular views. Memo helped me with the hills to try to protect me from straining my knees – and as result, he was exhausted by the end of the day. About half-way, Memo’s tire blew – making us think that we might be stuck on the side of the road again – but it was just the tube, so we were back on our way in a few minutes. We had wanted to make it to Caleta de Campos for the night, but we realized we probably couldn’t make it before dark, so stopped in Huahua. There’s not much to see in the little town of Huahua – although there was a circus in town (as in many little towns we have seen) – but we didn’t join everyone who was going. We just wanted to shower, do laundry, eat, & sleep – our usual itinerary (although Memo did manage to catch a soccer game at the store). The police offered to let us put up our tent in their lot, but we ended up getting permission to sleep inside an empty building adjacent to them.
Day 75 (Dec 5)
Huahua – Playa Azul 57.5 mi = 2057 t.m.
8:50 am – 4:45 pm
As you can see – we have gone over 2000 miles since we left Tijuana – check 2000 miles on a
U.S. map – that gets you a long way! The terrain today was less hilly, so we could go a little faster. It was another beautiful ride along the coast – especially admiring the mountains from a little more distance! We had lunch in Caleta de Campos - which turned out to be a beautiful town – one of my favourite on this trip (despite getting knocked over by a truck door opening as I rode past – I was going slow and wasn’t clipped in, so didn’t even get a bruise). We would have liked to spend more time here, but needed to keep going after our delicious tortas. In Playa Azul, they gave us permission to camp on the property of the Presbyterian Church, but the young widow who rents the one room parsonage from the church told us we could stay in the house and she took her 3 children to stay with her mom. She doesn’t even go to the church – and I was very touched – and a bit embarrassed to accept her generosity, but she insisted it was o.k. – so we spent a very comfortable night with all 3 beds to ourselves!
Day 76 (Dec 6)
Playa Azul – Lázaro Cárdenas 16 mi = 2073 t.m.
9:00 am – 9:50 am
The shortest day of our trip! We took a new cement road that goes right along the coast – that was
much shorter than what the map said! We wanted a short trip partly because I wasn’t feeling well and partly to take advantage of a large city to do internet. Updating our webpage was a bit difficult since the street lost power twice while we were working and we lost what we’d done since the last save. We gave up the second time, but went to another cybercafé later in the evening and were able to finish. Juan, the co-pastor of huge Pentecostal church we found in town, El Shaddai, let us stay in an empty house he rents out. As we were walking back, we passed a couple and the guy said “You’ve made it to here?” It turns out we had talked to him in the little town of Huahua yesterday – what are the chances that we would run across him again in this big city?!
Day 77 (Dec 7)
GUERRERO
Lázaro Cárdenas, Mich - Zihuatanejo, Gro 67.2 mi = 2140 t.m.
9:25 a.m. – 5:15 p.m.
Some cats fighting outside kept Memo from sleeping well – along with the negative response he got today from the scholarship committee – especially because they rejected him for being a year older than the optimum age. He may be entering a mid-life crisis soon! It gave him something to think about on the trip!
We left Lázaro Cárdenas headed for our tenth state on this trip. It was a bit complicated getting out
of town – people here apparently are not used to giving directions – they all told us straight ahead when they meant turn. The road signs weren’t much better – but we eventually found our way - first along the toll road, then the smaller highway. The road signs seemed to be designed to help me in the process that began in the counseling program of learning to live with uncertainty. One sign said 77 km to Zihua – then 20 km later, another said 67! They seem to be planning to build a new toll road along this stretch and have already started putting up some of the signs as if it were already there – so the km. marked along the road were jumping back and forth from signs that said 65, 64, etc. to signs that said 232, 231 – it left me totally unable to determine how far we had to go!
Two quotable quotes for today (see below for the original Spanish!): “If you take the toll road, you save like . . .like . . . a lot of time.” – demonstrating the relativity of time. And “from here on is all downhill” (stated while at sea level – there’s not a high probability of going lower!)
The hills continued, though not as big. On the free road, we ran into another challenge – the plants and shrub invade the edges of the road and cut down visibility – especially on the curves, which make us more vulnerable. Thankfully the traffic was slow and very friendly. It was a beautiful ride with the roadsides covered in blue morning glories – that at times painted entire hillsides.
After passing Ixtapa, the last several miles were all uphill – then from the top we saw another road right along the beach that avoided some of the climb – and later I read in Lonely Planet that there was a bike path along the beach from Ixtapa to Zihuatanejo – if we had only known! We spent a couple of hours waiting to find out if a couple of large churches in town would let us stay, but we finally gave up and went to look for a hotel. An older man came out after us as we rode by and told us to stay in his hotel. He said he was a cyclist, too and would give us a good price. Memo negotiated and we took him up on it.
Day 78 (Dec 8)
Zihuatanejo – La Barrita 35.9 mi = 2176 t.m.
12:15 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
We got up early and wanted to take some time to see Zihuatanejo, since we hadn’t last night. Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo is a huge resort area with a pretty walkway along the bay with arts and crafts stores, restaurants, and fishermen selling all sorts and colors of huge fish. There was a cruise ship arriving in the harbour and life boats bringing loads of people to the dock. The walkway continues through a rocky park area where we could see colorful fish in the water below us. After getting a taste of this resort town, we went back to the hotel and packed up to continue on our way.
We ate in Petatlán – supposedly a colonial city with petroglyphs and an important church – but all
we found was the church, which wasn’t that impressive. We continued on to La Barrita – a little village on the beach with no more than 20 or 30 houses. It has a few restaurants and one of them gave us permission to camp for free. They didn’t even seem concerned with whether we ate there or not – they were more focused on some construction they were doing for the big tourist season that starts soon. There were a couple of young Germans staying there, too who were traveling through Mexico learning Spanish and surfing. We had a relaxing evening talking with them and the restaurant owners. With our tent on the beach, we were sung to sleep by the waves.
Twelfth Week
Day 79 (Dec 9, 05)
La Barrita – San Jeronimo 69.5 mi = 2246 t.m.
9:40 a.m. –
Hot, humid weather had us pouring sweat as we rode, but the sea breeze was a life-safer and the terrain made easy riding. I really enjoyed being able to feel the bike speed forward and the breeze against my face as I pedalled – that great feeling of riding a bike! It’s good to have days like this to remember why I enjoy biking! We waited to long to eat lunch – so I was starving by the time we stopped at a store to buy bread, ham, and cheese. I overstuffed myself and would have soon been fast asleep on the wooden bench in front of the store if Memo hadn’t reminded me we needed to keep going! When we got to Sn. Jeronimo, we had some trouble finding a place to stay. We were
finally headed back out of town to a restaurant we had passed on the way in to see if they would let us camp there when we passed a Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah’s Witnesses just letting out of service. One of the ladies spoke to us as we went by, so we stopped to ask about camping in their nice green yard. They told us they couldn’t give us permission to be on the church grounds, but one of the members said he could let us use the patio of his house. We followed him back into town and he put a mattress on his porch for us – with our tent strung as a privacy curtain from the road. As long as we stayed inside the gate we were safe – their dog apparently didn’t like visitors and sat outside the gate growling at us all night. He was gone in the morning – but not before he had marked our tent!
Day 80 (Dec 10, 05)
Sn Jeronimo - Acapulco 56.9 mi = 2303 t.m.
a.m. - p.m.
We took the road less traveled today. After lunch in Coyuca – much lighter today! – Memo got
directions to take a road to the beach where we took a panga across a short stretch of water to the road along the beach leading into Acapulco. It was a beautiful route – with the ocean on one side and coastal waters on the other. The whole stretch is a laid-back tourist area of hotels, restaurants and recreational facilities for boating and skiing. At Pie de la Cuesta (Foot of the Hill), we intersected back with the highway with heavy traffic winding up the hills into Acapulco – a very tense ride. Thankfully most of the traffic was patient enough to wait to pass safely – and they kept the locos
from hitting us on the tightest turns. Finally we came out onto Acapulco Bay - a little piece of the Pacific almost totally surrounded by high-rise hotels – quite impressive. We celebrated our arrival with some Santa Clara ice creams, then met Memo’s friend Mike with his daughters Mariana and Daniela who had come from Toluca to open Chino’s grandmother’s house for us – just blocks away from the hotels along the bay. After a sleepless night last night, it was good to be back in a nice house with all the comforts of home!
Day 81 (Dec 11, 05)
Acapulco 0 mi.
Memo & Mike went shopping in the morning while us girls slept in. They made a smorgasbord brunch and we relaxed until Memo’s soccer game – Toluca in the national semi-finals. They passed – so we’ll have to find a TV next Sunday to watch the finals. We walked down to the beach around 5, but the water was too dirty to get in. We watched the para-sailors and jet-skiers and all got henna tattoos for $2 each. Mariana and I got matching butterflies, Daniela got a lizard, and Memo got an angel (trying to make us believe it fits his personality!) In the evening we went to watch the famous Acapulco divers (clavadistas). We were a little late for the show and missed one of the three divers, but at the end they announced there would be a special show at 9 that they only do once a year in honor of the Virgin of Guadalupe (Día de la Virgen is Dec. 12) – with 40 divers! They all came down through the crowd carrying torches – the youngest probably only 7 or 8 yrs. old – then swam across the channel and scaled the cliff they dive from. The youngest ones didn’t go all the way up, but it made me nervous just to watch them waiting on a little piece of rock half-way up the cliff. They had a short mass at the top, then started announcing the divers as each one went – starting with the children. Many of the children were 3rd generation divers, including one girl who they said we will be seeing in the Olympics someday! The teens and adults jumped from higher – 115 feet from the top diving into just a few feet of water in the channel. Some did turns and flips and a few dove with torches – quite a show! Some of the divers got nervous and took awhile to jump after they had been announced – so by 11:30 we finally left before the last divers had gone. We finished the day with ice cream and Dominoes pizza – a good ending to a good day J
Day 82 (Dec 12)
Acapulco 0 mi.
Mike & Memo made a big brunch again – it’s going to be hard to go back to our usual diet alter
this! Then we all went on a glass-bottom boat out to Roqueta Island. There’s a statue of the Virgin – Queen of the Sea – submerged near the island that the fisherman pray to for safety on the sea. We also saw some pretty fish that a diver attracted by swimming under the boat with food for the fish. The small beach on the island was a bit crowded, but much cleaner, so we spent awhile swimming there. Mike & his girls had to head back to Toluca, so we made bistec and mashed potatoes for dinner and they headed home. Memo & I talked about our options for finishing the trip with the budget we have left – we are taking longer than planned, so can’t make it by the route we had planned – and went to bed planning to go back to Toluca in the morning.
Day 83 (Dec 13)
Acapulco 0 mi
We spent the morning making plans to go back to Toluca and leave
our bikes to be transported later, then changed our minds and spent the afternoon getting ready to go on! We bought more supplies and decided to take advantage of being in the city to celebrate my birthday early. We saw Chronicles of Narnia – one of my childhood favourite stories. We both enjoyed it – and recommend it if you haven’t seen it. It’s a wonderfully imaginative portrayal of what Christ did for us. More internet & Memo’s gift of gab got us the last few hours free!
Day 84 (Dec 14)
Acapulco – San Marcos 44.9 mi = 2347 t.m.
9:45 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
After closing up the house, we started the long climb out of Acapulco past the new luxury district – Acapulco Diamante. It was a steep climb that made my heart pound and I had to stop several times to rest and wipe the sweat pouring down into my eyes. Even the smaller hills that came later made me cringe and slow down and I realized I needed to make peace with the hills. I was finally able to convince myself that small hills are our friends – they make the ride interesting and are actually easier on the rear-end than the long flat stretches. They give us good views and a chance
to enjoy the downhills – plus many of the hills wind through trees with precious shade. After enough positive self-talk, I started to enjoy the ride again and attack the hills with a little more speed. We had our sandwiches at a little store where a mom was helping her 2 children and a niece with their homework while 2 baby chicks picked at a sleeping puppy curled up by our feet – a nice break. Just an hour and a half later we arrived in Sn Marcos and realized we didn’t have enough hours of daylight to make it where we had wanted to go, so we stopped to look for a place to stay. We told the only evangelical churches were outside of town, so we decided to check with the Catholic church. The Priest told us the house was old and the floor falling in, so we couldn’t stay there, but told us he could help with a hotel. We went and checked the price, then waited for him to come back. We didn’t know if he would pay it, so we found a place to put up the tent behind a restaurant where we had dinner while we waited for him to get back from giving mass in another town. But when he got back, he gave us the 150 pesos for the room – and we got a free night in a hotel – with a good bed, a fan, and T.V! We both decided to get a haircut – with the heat and humidity, I keep getting a little shorter every time, but still don’t have the guts to shave it like Memo suggests!
Day 85 (Dec 15)
San Marcos – Juchitán 63.7 mi. = 2411 t.m.
9:25 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
I practiced my positive self-talk again today: hills are our friends! Really the hills aren’t very long or steep here – I just have to overcome the trauma response when I see them that I developed in Baja. The uphills are not my favorite part – but they are the necessary means to reach the downhills that I live for – the rush of air as the bike speeds forward and a chance to lift up off my seat and rest my rear! Kind of like life – sometimes it all seems like one long uphill, but I’ve got an eternal downhill to look forward to! After about 50 miles, my positive self-talk was defeated by my tired body and I was ready to be done! When
we came into town, they told us there was only a Catholic church, and the Priest didn’t live in town. The police were sitting out front of the city building on the center square, so we asked about a place to stay. The captain seemed hesitant, but the rest of them convinced him that we were harmless, so they let us put our mattresses in the meeting room and take bucket showers in the bathroom (they were going to let us use an empty jail cell that they say they shower in, but the bathroom definitely looked less grungy and more private!)
Week 13
Day 86 (Dec 16, 05)
Juchitán, Gro. – Pinotepa, Oax. 63.3 mi = 2474 t.m.
9:05 a.m. – 4:50 p.m.
I am officially old today. I heard that “jóven” (the term for a young person) ends at 29. Memo started addressing me with the formal “Ud.” instead of the informal “tú” with “respect for my age.” I felt well celebrated, though, as he decided to sing me a song every 5 km! Some of the songs were quite short as he was pushing me up a hill – especially on the one long climb in the afternoon - but they still helped the day go by fast as my husband entertained me and spoiled me. We had lunch in Cuajinicalipa – just before crossing the border into Oaxaca – the state that has the most different ethnic groups in Mexico (see the link to Oaxaca’s webpage on “the route” on our homepage). The celebration continued as we came into Santiago Pinotepa Nacional. The police closed off the road to traffic ahead and behind us and we found a parade waiting for us in the town center! There were groups in beautiful traditional dress from different regions of Oaxaca, bands, and typically dressed cowboys and cowgirls on their horses all waiting to begin. We waited for them all to pass, then joined the end of the parade behind the horses because we had been told we could follow them to where they were having the Guelagetza – dances and music from the different regions.
The crowd watching cheered us on as if we were part of the parade and followed us with their cameras as we passed. Eventually we very carefully made our way past the dancing horses who occasionally rebelled against the dancing and backed up on their hind feet toward us. As we passed the groups dancing, they were excited to see us and even had their pictures taken with us during the parade. At the end was a rodeo stand, where we took seats on the top row by our bikes and got some ice cream as we waited for the show to begin – 2 hours of beautiful dances and music (see our many pictures!). It was quite a birthday celebration!! Since it was already dark by the time it was over, we went to one of the hotels recommended in Lonely Planet. It was worth the $15 to avoid spending the night searching for a free room!
Day 87 (Dec 17, 05)
Pinotepa – Rio Grande 58.2 mi = 2533 t.m.
10:50 a.m. - 5:45 p.m.
Got a late start looking for a place to pass all the pictures I had taken last night onto the hard drive. We didn’t find an internet café open, but a little store selling computer supplies let us transfer the pictures for free. J We had lunch in Jamiltepec at the top of a long climb. There are several hotels in this little town enjoying the incredible views, but we just ate our typical PB sandwiches (with the welcome addition of the cajeta we picked up in Acapulco) at a little roadside store. We saw an evangelistic campaign in the little town of San Jose del Progresso and thought about staying there, but
wanted to make it further to have a shorter day tomorrow. Thankfully, we also found a church right away in Rio Grande. The pastor welcomed us right in and we joined him in watching a worship video of Hillsongs from Australia with Spanish subtitles. They were going to find someone from the church for us to stay with, but when we told him we had our own mats to sleep on, he let us shower & sleep in a classroom and his wife made us a pasta dinner. We discovered the fan is indispensable when we tried to turn it off during the night and were immediately attacked by mosquitoes!
Day 88 (Dec 18, 05)
Rio Grande – Puerto Escondido 31.4 mi = 2564 t.m.
1:00 p.m. – 3:55 p.m.
We decided to stay for church until 12:00, then slip out to make sure we made it to P. Escondido before dark. (It turned out to be shorter than we thought, so we didn’t need to worry!) It felt good to be in church again – but wasn’t quite what we’re used to, either. The pastor knew we needed to leave early, so they prayed for us before he started his sermon and we slipped out half way through. We stopped on our way out for some goat tacos and filled our water bottles. It was perfect terrain with just small hills and made a quick,
pleasant ride. In P. Escondido, we found a large Baptist church with a bookstore, where we entertained ourselves waiting for the pastor to arrive for the service to get permission to stay. He got there just a few minutes before the service started, so we missed the first half taking our showers, but I enjoyed the song service in the shower! After service, Memo caught the end of the Toluca game at a little restaurant, we got some hamburgers for dinner, than we went to do internet until 10p.m., when we came back and slept in a classroom (with the essential fan)!
Day 89 (Dec 19) 0mi
Puerto Escondido
After washing our clothes and hanging them to dry, we went to the market for breakfast and had Oaxaca’s famous tlayudas – huge quesadillas or true “Mexican pizzas” with a pizza-sized tortilla filled with meat, cheese, beans, lettuce, onions, etc. Memo started talking with the cook and found out she was a believer who had stopped going to church because of Christians who thought God had told them not to pay her rent. Memo spent awhile talking with her and another customer, than we went back to the internet – and spent the whole afternoon there. In the evening, Memo went to call a supporter
interested in helping us go to Argentina. Since we had found out that Memo didn’t receive the scholarships he had applied for, we thought Argentina was no longer an option. This phone call changed everything since he agreed to provide the support we needed! We went back to the internet to send some e-mails to work out the details, then went back to the church and caught up in our journals.
Day 90 (Dec 20)
P. Escondido – San Augustinillo 43.6. mi = 2608 t.m.
9:10 a.m. – 1:45 p.m.
We had spent a whole day in P. Escondido without ever seeing the beach, so we rode by on our way out. Our original route would have taken us north from here to the city of Oaxaca, but in Acapulco we realized we had neither time nor money left to finish that route, so Memo had worked on a couple of alternate routes through Chiapas that could get us to Cancún in less time (probably hitching a ride up the mountains to make it faster and save my knees that have continued to cause problems). With the news that we are probably going to Argentina, we realized we may need to change the route again, but still have time to decide as we stick to the coast down to Chiapas. Towns grew much more scarce than they had been in Guerrero. We stopped at a little store for a cold drink since the heat was up to 107ºF! We didn’t see much after than until we stopped at a little store in front of a few palm huts, where they fixed us a tuna salad & beans for our tostadas. After lunch we took a detour from the main road that went along the coast through several beach towns toward Puerto Angel, our planned destination. There were some tough climbs to get to the first beach town, Mazunte. The Mexican Center for Sea Turtles was closed, so we didn’t pay much attention to it. After reading Lonely Planet later and finding out they had all 7 types of the huge Mexican sea turtles in tanks there, we wished we had gone back when it opened. The next “town” was San Augustinillo – just a few stores mixed in with places
to camp/rent a room on the beach and a public library. Half the population seemed to be international tourists who never left. Very laid back - seemed like a good place to stay. The cheapest camping we found was $4 each – but we found a “room” at a little “hotel” for $8, so we took that instead of squeezing into our little pup tent! Our “room” was the balcony over the hotel entrance, but it was curtained off, had a bed with a mosquito net, a hammock nearby, and access to the community kitchen – quite comfortable! After settling in, we enjoyed the beach and the water.
Day 91 (Dec 21)
San Augustinillo 0 mi.
We decided to stay an extra day and enjoy this quiet little beach town, so we slept in. Then we took advantage of the kitchen to make omelets for breakfast instead of our usual bread and milk/juice. Some friends of the owner showed up in the middle of the night, so they offered to let us stay on a bed in the entryway for just $5 if we would let the family have our room, so we moved down. We used e-mail to work on details for going to Argentina. We kept talking about when we need to go back to Toluca – but we can’t really do any business until after Christmas, so for now we will keep
going. I wanted to explore some of the surrounding towns, but it was too hot to do anything mid-day, then we found out the next towns were too far to walk to, so we just stayed and walked along the beautiful beach here again (this would have been the day to go to see the turtles in Mazunte if we had thought of it!). The waves were stronger today – fun until one shook me up so badly I had to stay out of the water for awhile to recover. We got some beautiful sunset pictures from the rocks along the beach, then went back to get ready for tomorrow. We thought they were going to close off the entrance we were using for a room and have everyone use the side door, but that didn’t happen. After we were already in bed, the friends showed up and started moving all their things upstairs – coming in and out of our “room.” Oh, well – you can’t expect too much for $5, right?
Day 92 (Dec. 22)
San Augustinillo – Bahias de Huatulco 44.4 mi = 2653
8:50 am – 2:45 p.m.
We continued on the beach road with climbs so steep we took the whole road to zigzag up them and came to Zipolite – bigger than San Agustinillo, and not as relaxed or attractive from what we saw. We were glad we had stopped where we did. Puerto Angel is much bigger, but also beautiful. We saw two touring bikes fully loaded parked in front of a restaurant, so we stopped to find who was riding them. It was a couple from Mexico City who had ridden 9 days from Oaxaca to Puerto Angel and were heading back to Mexico by bus tomorrow. They said they have ridden several states in Mexico during their vacations. Sounds like a good idea for the future! They are the only people traveling by bike we have met besides the one German in Chihuahua, so we were excited to see them! Too bad they wouldn’t be going on! From Puerto Angel, we took the road back to the highway we have been following since Colima. When we came to Huatulco, we decided to take another detour on the road through the resort city that would loop back to our highway. From the first intersection that turns off to Huatulco, the road is beautifully landscaped with palm trees and rock formations and a well-kept lawn in the median. As long as we were in Huatulco, we decided to ride out to one of the principal beaches. A waiter helped us park our bikes in the restaurant, then took us to a little table right out on the beach, which is lined with tables under the canopies of each restaurant. We each ordered a drink and sat watching children play in the peaceful water of the bay – and it seemed like a whole different world than the one we have been living in. I didn’t think to ask how much my lemonade would cost. Yikes! $3.50 – that’s more than we have spent on most of the meals we
have eaten on this trip! A little taste of luxury – including the cost of luxury! By then we had decided to stay here in Huatulco, instead of going on to the next town. We tried some of the cheap hotels recommended in Lonely Planet, but Christmas and Easter are the two busiest weeks on the coast, so prices were all at least double what the book listed. We went looking for a church, instead, and the second one we came to let us shower and sleep in a classroom. We went to a little neighborhood restaurant and filled ourselves on tacos and a tlayuda – both for about the same price as my lemonade earlier today!
Semana 14
Day 93 (Dec 23, 05)
B. Huatulco – Santiago Astata. 47.2 mi = 2700 t.m.
8:50 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
It was an incredibly beautiful ride out of Huatulco. You can tell it was designed from the beginning
to be a resort town – and well done. The landscaped boulevard continued all the way through and out the other side of the city – with wide sidewalks for walking/jogging all along it. We went by some of the all-inclusive luxury resorts, then wound up the hills by more bays that are still untouched by the city. There are so many small bays in Huatulco that even with the many hotels and tourists, all of the beaches seem private. When we got back to our highway, it was a beautiful, but hard ride through the hills. We stopped for lunch at a little store with tables and chairs that also had some prepared food
for sale. Poor Memo has had an upset stomach off and on for the past couple of days and only ate plain tostadas for lunch, while I had a bistec a la Mexicana with beans and tortillas and papaya. After another theological discussion with the man who lived there, Memo laid down for a quick nap on a cot they offered him. We only had 20 km left – but with the hills ahead, we weren’t sure how long it would take. We went over a pass through one set of hills, but the highest were still ahead – and I was afraid Santiago must be on the other side. Just as we came to the base, the road curved, and we could see a village ahead. It was a fast ride from there, and being a small town, it wasn’t hard to find a pastor. He invited to stay in his home right away – even though he and his wife were leaving for a campaign in another town, so we would be left perhaps all night with just his 12 & 16 year old sons. What trust in total strangers! We went to do e-mail and send a Christmas letter (we were surprised to find out there were 3 internet cafes in this little town with dirt roads!), and the pastor & his wife got back before we made our way through the dark streets back to their home. Before we went to bed in the hammocks on their patio (Memo had to stick to the mat because his back doesn’t allow him to sleep in a hammock), we had a discussion about prophets, prophecy, and the Bible. Memo questioned the authenticity of the “powerful preacher” that had spoken in their evangelistic campaign prophesying a great tsunami on the Oaxacan coast and a massive earthquake in Mexico. We appreciated their hospitality and trust, but Memo cannot compromise his faith in exchange for a place to stay the night. That has been a constant battle on this trip.
Day 94 (Dec 24, 05)
Santiago Astata - Tehuantepec 57.4 mi = 2757 t.m.
Boiled turtle eggs for breakfast – that’s actually illegal here in Mexico, but the pastor had already fixed them for us before we could protest. Someone had previously explained to us that the people who live on the coast have always eaten turtle eggs without a problem. It wasn’t until companies started exporting turtle eggs and canned turtle meat to Europe that Mexico’s sea turtles became endangered, so we decided to accept what was offered to us without saying anything (especially since Memo had already questioned the “powerful preacher” at their campaign). Even when they are boiled, the shell is still soft and leathery and the inside is a thick liquid with almost a sandy texture. The pastor taught us the technique for eating them: pinching a hole in the shell, squeezing in some lemon and salt, and then sucking out the insides. Not at all appetizing to me, so I piled my shells with Memo’s and hoped he wouldn’t notice I’d only had three.
As usual, I occupied the first part of my ride doing conversions in my head to figure out that the 91 km we had to cover would be about 56 miles, which would mean 28 was our half-way point and 14 is ¼. Keeping my mind occupied and on the number side of things helps me not to think about actually riding 56 miles!! Actually, though, the first ¼ flew by as it was a slight downhill out to the coast. The next ¼, however, took THREE HOURS (including a break on one of the long uphills,
where we ate snacks on the side of the road.) The third ¼ after lunch went faster – just one long climb. At 108°F, it was definitely the hottest Christmas Eve I’ve ever had! The last ¼ we left the coast with its beautiful views and headed inland (north) on a new toll road with its welcome shoulder. At the top of the hill, we could see an endless plain below – the Isthmus of Tehuantepec – the narrowest stretch of Mexico, and a city in the far distance that I imagined was Tehuantepec. The road hugged the hills on the edge of the plain, but even so we started to feel some of the strong winds that the isthmus is famous for – slowing us down even on the downhills, though they were still long enough to push us up the next uphill.
When we got into Tehuantepec, we did a bit of extra riding in and out of downtown before we found a Baptist church we had missed on our way in. They welcomed us to put our mats in a classroom and join them for their Christmas Eve service – just what I was hoping for! Since we couldn’t be with family, at least we wanted to be with Christian brothers. The service didn’t turn out to be very Christmasy, but at least they were friendly and had tamales for everyone afterwards. The pastor also let us use the phone for our families to call us.
Day 95 (Dec 25, 05)
Tehuantepec 0 mi
Merry Christmas! Since it was Sunday morning, there was another church service – that was even less Christmasy than the night before! Afterwards Memo and I celebrated Christmas together at a restaurant recommended by Lonely Planet. The prices had gone up a bit, but it was worth it for our Christmas Dinner. Rest. Scarú is a restored 17th century home painted with murals on all the walls – beautiful atmosphere – and incredible food. We went looking for a museum
afterwards and ran into the owner of Scarú celebrating a friend’s birthday in the house next to the closed museum. They invited us to join them for some 30 year old mescal, and when the owner heard about our trip, he sent us back to Scarú to sign his VIP guest book. Too bad we didn’t run into him beforehand – maybe our expensive (by our bike trip standards) Christmas dinner could have been free!
Day 96 (Dec 26) 48.0 mi = 2805
Tehuantepec – La Venta
9:55 a.m. –
miles longer, but it was still the better route because we probably wouldn’t have been able to deal with the traffic and the wind on the free road). La Ventosa (means windy place) is where the highway that crosses the isthmus coming from Mexico’s east coast joins the coastal road we had been following on the west coast. It is the windiest spot in Mexico because the mountains on either side of the isthmus channel the wind. As I turned off at the exit to stay on the coastal highway, I could feel my bike pick up speed without me pedaling and I knew the wind was at my back! Memo pointed out one of the few signs that were standing –full of holes for the wind to go through and tied down by several cables. We had planned to stop in La Ventosa, but with the wind pushing us along, we decided to go on to la Venta. As we left town, though, the road turned, so the wind was blowing at us sideways and blew us off the road. We were off the toll road on a 2 lane road now, so didn’t have as much space to weave with the wind. The wind blew our bikes off the road twice before we got off and walked. When we got to a place blocked by hills, we got on and rode again for awhile, but then came down into a little valley where the wind became so strong that it would blow us over even while walking our bikes, so we had to stop several times to brace ourselves against it. We found out when we finally reached La Venta that this valley is actually where the wind is the strongest – over 80 mph at times - and the police actually shut the road down when it is the strongest because it will blow trailers over. There were a few wind vanes generating electricity and we hear there are plans to put in 100 over the area. It was frustrating at times trying to push forward and wondering how long it would take if we had to walk the whole way, but I couldn’t help laughing at how ridiculously incredible the wind was!
In La Venta, some kids quickly told us how to find a Nazarene church that has a Compassion Meal Project where many of them go to eat. The pastor’s wife was warm and friendly and invited us to rest while we waited for her husband to come home. When he came back, they let us set up our room in one of the classrooms, next to another classroom where an immigrant from Honduras on his way to the U.S. had been staying for a few months already. They heated water for us to bucket shower with – very welcome as the wind cooled the air down quite a bit. Then they invited us to join them for some delicious tamales and provided comforters that made our little air mattress bed much softer and cozier! We have definitely learned to greatly appreciate warm hospitality!
Day 97 (Dec. 27)
La Venta, Oaxaca – Arriaga, Chiapas 79.2 mi = 2884 t.m.
9:30 am – 5:30 pm
Last state on our trip! Wind gradually decreased and we were feeling good - if we pushed ourselves we could finish in just 3 days and be home for New Year’s Eve. We wanted to make it to Arriaga today because Memo had the address of the mother of a young man we met briefly in Huatulco. When we got to Arriaga, we took the exit into town and beginning riding up and down the roads trying to find the road. When we ended up in a bad section of town where it appeared illegals gathered to ride the train – without buying tickets, we decided to go back and try one of the churches we had passed, instead. The first one told us we needed to wait for the pastor. As soon as the older man arrived, Memo had a feeling we weren’t going to get very far. He insisted that he wasn’t in charge here – that it was just ladies who lived there at the church, so he couldn’t give us permission. He suggested we try the Baptist church down the road. As we left, he said “God bless you” and I wanted to tell him to eat his words because God condemns hypocrites who say that when they do nothing to help. After riding 80 miles and wandering around town until dark looking for a safe place to stay, I was not in the best of moods, but I kept my mouth shut. He will have to face God to give account for turning us away. After all our experiences this trip - I’m sure there will be a lot of pastors in heaven who had terrible theology here on the earth because they knew how to love God and their neighbor – and there will be pastors who had all their doctrines correct in hell, too – because they never learned the most basic command to love. The people cleaning the Baptist church said the pastor had just left and wouldn’t be back until late. We finally went back to the first little church we had seen – which was now open. It looked like the service had already started, so I was embarrassed to interrupt, but my desperation was greater than my shyness and I stood at the door until someone came to see what we wanted. The lady who came was the pastor’s wife and said the service had not started. They invited us to come in and shower and said we could either stay there at the church or follow them up to their house and stay with them there. It was just a handful of people with folding chairs set up in the yard outside of an unoccupied house – but it was one of the better services we have been to – especially after seeing them demonstrate the love of God to some foreign and very weary travelers!
Day 98 (Dec. 28)
Arriaga – Pijijiapan 81.93km en bici = 2935 t.m. + 12 miles. by pick-up
9:40 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. – 6:20 p.m.
Wow! We should be finished by tomorrow – I could feel the tears well up as I thought about the RELIEF of finishing! I started thinking about what I would miss – and WOULD NOT MISS
Top 10 things I will NOT miss about this trip:
10 Riding past dead animals on the road & piles of trash
9 Riding through smoke from roadside fires
8 Memo scolding me to get my bike off the road when we stop
7 Memo telling me to swallow my breakfast bread faster
6 Sore arms
5 MY SORE BUTT
4 My sore knees
3 struggling up long hills
2 trying to beg for a place to stay when I’m dead tired
1 RIDING MY BIKE (o.k. I miss it now, but not when I made the list)
What I WILL miss are the beautiful flowers all along the road, incredible views of mountains and the ocean, wonderful people who give us refuge, time with Memo, endless time to dream about having kids, living in Argentina, being a wife, being a pastor’s wife, how to reach out people the way others have done for us, and Memo spoiling me all day long so that I won’t give up!
Besides all the things I would and would not miss, I also thought about all the things I had learned on this trip. I learned a lot about myself that I did not like – how selfish & stingy I am, how hard it is for me to trust and give to others when others are so good to me. I learned a taste of what it’s like to be poor – not the true misery of being caught in poverty that you have no way out of because this was a choice we made – and we could choose to quit. But I do know what it’s like to be hungry and tired and covet everything you see around you knowing that you can’t have it. I learned that Memo can be much more patient with me and my slow pace than I am with the hills, the heat, the dirt, etc.
Memo had been hearing a squeak from his bike since yesterday and thought it was the brakes, but finally realized it was a spoke. We got permission to use the shade under the next palapa we came to and he started to change the spoke. He soon realized it wasn’t one, but two, no three – it turned out he had SEVEN broken spokes. One was on the cassette side, so he used the trick he had learned to adapt the spoke to hook it on without removing the cassette (which we didn’t have tools for) and after 2 hours, he finally had the spokes replaced and the wheel trued the best he could. We took off at a fast pace to try to make up for lost time, but we still had not made it as far as we hoped when the sun started to go down. We stopped at a hotel, but the man who runs it had not shown up, yet. We decided to try to find a ride while we waited for him to come. We started asking at the gas station and finally found a pick-up who let us load our bikes on to get to the next town. It was our last night on the road, and we wanted to get an early start , so we just got a cheap hotel and had a good night’s sleep.
Day 99 (Dec. 29)
Pijijiapan – Tapachula 96.4 mi = 3031
7:20 a.m. –
Last day – if we could make it almost 100 miles today! We saw the hurricane damage right away leaving Piji. The bridge and everything around it were washed away, leaving a wide bed of sand, gravel, and rock scattered with tree trunks and hunks of cement that had been parts of the bridge. As the day went on, we crossed many dry riverbeds like that – with just blacktop temporarily paved across it. We could see the Chiapas mountain range to our left that we would have been in had we chosen to go up through Tuxtla to San Cristobal de las Casas and Memo wished we were up there, but I thought the mountains looked gorgeous from where we were! My rear was raw when
I started and just got worse throughout the day, but this was the last day I would have to endure it, so I just put on more chamois butter and baby powder and kept going. As we were riding through one town, we saw an ambulance and a crowd in the road. We got snacks at a little store and found out a man in an immigration uniform had just walked up and shot another immigration officer and took off in his car. As we left town, we were passed by several police cars. From that point on was a rough ride for me. We had already done as much as we usually did in a day, but still had a ways to go. My rear, knees, and arm were sore and I had been craving ice cream all day, but had not been able to find any. Even so, when we finally got to Tapachula, it was tempting to take the road to the border just to say we had ridden into Guatemala, but the road looked too narrow and busy and it was getting late. It was good we didn’t – since we found out later it was another 12 miles to the closest border crossing! It was also tempting to finish the 100 miles for the day – but I thought I just did 96 miles on a fully-loaded mountain bike finishing over 3,000 miles in 100 days – I don’t need to prove anything by finishing 100 miles! I can easily do that some other time on an unloaded road bike, instead!! It was a bit anticlimactic when we arrived – we had just finished a bike trip across the country – and no one noticed. We stopped at a store for my ice cream and celebrated, but the few people there were not overly interested in what we had just done. Sad way to end, but at least it was over! We bought our bus tickets to go back to Toluca the following day, got a hotel room, and Memo disarmed the bikes to prepare them for the journey.
Day 100 (Dec. 30)
Tapachula –
Crossed the border in the morning and had breakfast in
The bus left at
Day 101 (Dec. 31)
Passed near Pico do
Arrived in el D.F. around 
to be getting on his bike to ride hour after hour and mile after mile. I was only too glad to finish, feeling I had accomplished something very challenging. I wish I could have done it stronger - with a better attitude along the way – but I am glad to have done it and very glad for the time with my husband and his patience with me.
Thanks to all who shared the journey with us. We have enjoyed sharing it with you along the way.
We made it home just in time for New Year's Eve dinner
Unfortunatelly we were so tired, we barely made it.
posted by Guillermo Bernáldez F @ 10:34 AM
1 Comments:
you have some amazing photos! you have changed a lot since I have seen you last but that was years ago... :( how have you been? send me an email sometime, I'd love to here from you. (jnnanne7@yahoo.com)
-jennifer
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