Mexico City and south on a bike
My Diary – Oaxaca to San Cristobal
3/02/07 Oaxaca (Rest day)
Eventually found somebody who was able to make some simplified steel hooks (to replace broken pannier mounting clips)to my design. It only cost about 7 pounds. I bought some nuts and bolts fitted it all and problem solved. Spent the rest of the day wandering around Oaxaca trying to find some books in English
4/02/07 Oaxaca (Rest day)
Went to see the archaeological site of Monte Alban.
5/02/07 Oaxaca (Rest day)
More wandering around Oaxaca looking for an English book - no luck. Went to the market - disgusting, crazy, massive place.
6/02/07 Oaxaca to Benito Juarez (26 miles)
Not much mileage today, but it was a big very steep climb on a twisty rough dirt track up to 3000m. I got there at about 4:00pm. Stayed in a cabańˇ ©n the Indian village of Benito Juarez which was very nice and very good value at 90 pesos (about 4.20 pounds). Very cold up there.
7/02/07 Benito Juarez to Yalalag (40 miles)
Rough road for first few miles then tarmac. lots of ups and downs and nice mountain scenery. Stopped at a roadside stall and had a piece of fish caught from a local river - very nice. Had a chat with the Indian owner of my age who had lived in the USA for a few years. Got a room in the village of Yalalag
8/02/07 Yalalag to 10 miles SW of Totontepec
Lots of climbing on a tarmac road to Villa Alta and then a bastard of a climb on a dirt road. This climb was so steep and I was so exhausted that I ended up pushing. This was a moment of the trip where I was thinking "Why are you doing this to yourself John?". Eventually I reached the top of the pass and as it was getting dark I camped just off the road at the edge of the jungly forest. I had a nutritious meal of Mexican pot noodle equivalent and some nice soup cooked up on my petrol stove.
9/02/07 10 miles SW of Totontepec to Ayutla
Short dirt descent and then tarmac the rest of the day. The mountain scenery today was stunning - not bare mountains, but mountains covered in oak trees and other more exotic stuff.
10/02/07 Ayutla (Rest day)
Had a rest day in the small town of Ayutla
11/02/07 Ayutla to Santa Cruz Ocotal
Today was all minor dirt roads way off the beaten track. A few miles from Ayutla a man driving a pickup stopped to offer me a lift and to generally have a chat. He said that the route I was intending to take along minor dirt roads to Tehuantepec was not passable. I thought I would give it a go anyway. At the village of Tepuxtepec they are obviously not used to seeing tourists. I had a chat with some soldiers in the square. The road to the village of Juquila Mixes was hardly used and very rough. When I got to the village before Santa Cruz Ocotal I had a chat with somebody and he said that my intended route after Ocotal was not passable as there was an armed conflict in progress between two neighboring villages along the road. He suggested I wait for him for 2 hours at a crossroads further up the road and that I could stay at his house for the night and then in the morning take an alternative route. Shortly after we parted I decided to drop down into Ocotal anyway and see what happened. I managed to get a bed in the storeroom of a shop, where a team of men were stacking a whole load of steel rods, for use as reinforcement in concrete for the construction of a house. The owner of the shop would not accept any payment for the room. One of the steel handlers showed me to a house where an old lady made me some scrambled egg and beans with tortillas.
12/02/07 Santa Cruz Ocotal to Ixquintepec
I asked the owner of the shop if it was safe to proceed and he said it was fine. When I got to the outskirts of the village I found a fixed barrier across the road with various warning signs but I just went through. The road went downhill and got rougher and steeper until I could not ride it safely and I ended up slithering down the hill. Nothing but a 4x4 or motorbike could have got through there. When I got to the bottom of the hill (about 2 miles) I noticed that one of my bags ha fallen off containing my passport, map and 400 dollars amongst other things. That was a bit of a panic. It would have taken a huge effort to push the bike back up and there was nowhere feasible to hide it. I decided to chance it and just left the bike there by the side of the track and went back up on foot. My rationale was that I must get back up as quickly as possible before somebody else found my stuff and I guessed that at the bottom of the hill there was unlikely to be anybody passing as the track was quite overgrown. I ran up the hill with dread - in the worst case scenario I would not find my bag and then I would find that my bike had gone as well. I felt as though disaster was looming, but after about 20 minutes I found my stuff. When I got down the hill my bike was thankfully still there. After the next village the road got smoother. I saw several men walking around in groups and alone with what looked like ancient rifles, but I did not see any signs of trouble. In the village of Ixquintepec I found accommodation in the town municipal buildings. I was quite a curiosity for the locals there and about 20 of them all came into the room where I had my bed to look at me and ask questions. It turned out that 3 locals were sharing my room as well for the night.
13/02/07 Ixquintepec to Santa Maria Guienagati
Dirt roads all day again. Two teenagers rode with me from the village before Guienagati to the town itself. I found accommodation above a bike shop in the town of Guienagati. This town was less Indian than the past few days.
14/02/07 Santa Maria Guienagati to Juchitan
The dirt road only lasted for a couple of miles out of town and then I was on tarmac most of the way to Juchitan. It was a harder ride today than I was expecting: I thought I would be riding in a flattish big valley most of the day but the road took the hard route across many smaller valleys. I was planning to have a rest day in the town of Ixaltepec, but when I got there it turned out to be a bit of a hole, so I went on to the city of Juchitan. The guide book was unfairly critical about this place. It described the city as a dusty, congested place and that Tehantepec was a much better bet. I thought it was quite interesting. It was very lively around the central square with loads of stalls and a market to one side. There were loads of palm trees in the central square full of screeching green parrots. My hotel was fairly grimy and there was a makeup wearing lady-boy with a big perm hanging around there (I think he was the owners son).
15/02/07 Juchitan (Rest day)
Woke up with a really nasty sore throat and I had blood in my phlegm (nice!) so I went to a Pharmacy and bought some iodine based gargling stuff. Just wandered about a bit around the Zocalo. Bought a battery charger for my camera.
16/02/07 Juchitan (Rest day)
Not much done today.
17/02/07 Juchitan to Tepantepec (67 miles)
I had a good day’s cycling today. The road was mostly flat and I did 67 miles before stopping at 4:00 in a hotel which had cable TV with films in English. That was fantastic. Not so nice were the scores of ants in the room although they did not bite me. One stretch of the road, just after the appropriately named village of Ventosa, had extremely severe side winds, which combined with the narrow roads with in places no hard shoulder and massive 34 wheeled 100 foot long lorries doing 70 mph was entertaining!
18/02/07 Tepantepec to Cintalapa(46 miles) (791 miles total)
Today involved climbing a mountain pass where again the wind became a problem. Passing vehicles were a worry but as I got close to the summit I had to walk some sections as I simply could not keep balance against the gusts which would stop the bike dead. It then started to get ridiculous: the wind was blasting grit and small stones at me with such force that it really hurt and I could only push my bike with extreme effort, stopping and bracing myself for the gusts. I have never experienced anything like it on a bike - all good fun though. Once I got over the top I stopped in a small town to eat and the owner said it was always windy like that. Once I got to Cintalapa I met a German couple, Christain and Tanja who spoke English. Chistian had an interest in cycling and was very proud that I was using German tyres (he noticed them within seconds of our meeting) and rack. We had a meal together and it was really nice to have a near fluent lenghthy conversation in English. We ate in a grotty little comedor. I had 5 beef tacos, Christian had a couple and Tanja had her tacos without meat (wise girl!). Fitted my new chain with the intention of moving on the next day.
19/02/07 Cintalapa (Rest day)
Spent much of the night pucking my guts out in the toilet. Did not get much sleep. Very ill and weak the next day. The only thing I ate was an energy bar given to me by Christian.
20/02/07 Cintalapa (Rest day)
Very weak again today. I decided to upgrade my room to one with cable TV for 50 pesos extra. I ventured out to buy some plastic sliced cheese and dried toast. This is all I could eat for the next two days.
21/02/07 Cintalapa (Rest day)
Feeling better today, but I decided to rest some more to regain my full strength. I am glad I stayed because that evening when I was in a shop I noticed somebody go past on a loaded touring bike. I rushed out of the shop and ran after the bike. The rider was Nuno Pedrosa from Portugal and he speaks near fluent English. He started his trip in Northern Canada and is planning to go all the way to the bottom of the Americas! I was amazed that it had only taken him 7 months to get from Canada to here. He is considering attempting to cross the Darien Gap which is an area of jungle between Panama and Colombia. This is the only break in the road network from North America to South America. I have been toying with the idea myself, so maybe...
I liked Nuno´s story of a cyclist he met in Northern Canada who was attempting to break his own record for cycling in the coldest temperatures for the longest time. His idea of cycling was attaching stabilizing skis to either side of his bike and tying a few huskies to the front and heading up a frozen river.
Nuno and I agreed to ride together to the City of Tuxtla Gutierez the next day, where he would take a bus up to Cancun to have a 2 week holiday with his ex-girlfriend.
22/02/07 Cintalapa to Tuxtla Gutierez (56 miles)
Easy day´s cycling today, just one biggish hill to climb and all on big main roads. We got to Tuxtla at 3:00pm. Nice to have some company. We resolved to stay in touch by e-mail and perhaps we will meet up later in Central America. Check out Nuno´s website www.ontheroad.eu.com
23/02/07 Tuxtla Gutierez to San Cristobal De Las Casas(38 miles)
Mostly uphill all day on a big toll road with about 2000m height gain! The hill was a nice even gradient all the way up (low fourth most of the time). I later heard from Nuno that he saw me, as he was passing in the bus, taking a siesta by the side of the road. He found the comments of the other passengers quite amusing: "Look at that crazy gringo, with the bike by the road." The sun was very strong today and the road was light in colour so my eyes got very sore as I had lost my sunglasses a few days earlier.