Mexico City and south on a bike
The master plan
The plan is to fly to Mexico City on the 13th January 2007 and cycle down to Lima (Peru) by the 13th July 2007 via Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia (perhaps), Ecuador, Peru.
I plan to cycle as much of the way as feasible. I will certainly try my best to cycle to Panama City without any lifts. From there I may fly to Quito (Ecuador) and continue cycling down to Lima. There is a possibility that I may try to cross the Darien gap between Panama and Colombia (there is no road... only jungle, swamps and rivers), but by all accounts it is very dangerous there at the moment what with drug smugglers, bandits, terrorists, military etc. Another alternative would be to find a boat to take me from Panama to Colombia.
This trip is a (reverse?) continuation of the trip I did in 2003 where I cycled from Lima to Santiago (Chile) via Bolivia and Argentina.
Am I doing it for charity?
- No, purely for selfish reasons.
Why donīt I just take the bus then?
1. I am a Mountain bike junkie anyway - when not touring I am out in the wilds of Wales every weekend, so it is a natural choice for me.
2. I travel to see the cities and all the bits in-between which you miss on the bus.
3. I have complete freedom to choose any route that takes my fancy. The places I tend to like most are those which are off the beaten track and to which few other tourists go.
4. Traveling by bike is a big adventure - you are at the mercy of the elements, all the people, animals and traffic you pass.
5. Local people in rural areas are usually very friendly to cyclists, many people are interested and bemused in what I am doing.
6. As so few people actually do cycling like this it is like being a member of a very exclusive club, so that when two such cyclists meet it is usually a big occasion where tales of the road are exchanged and they may even ride together for a while if going in the same direction.
7. Traveling by bike is cheap.
8. I donīt like traveling by public transport I find all the delays very annoying and sitting for long periods hurts my back.