Mexico

Mexican roads are a joy to travel on. Paying a toll at the prices they charge is a bit hard on the pocket, but they are great when you have to cover distance in a hurry. So it was, as we travelled up the Yucatan coast heading towards Cancun. Stopping at some lovely beach side towns on the way it is easy to see why people flock to this area for summer breaks etc. Hot sun and white sand all the way to Cancun.

Cancun was something else. A big hit of western lifestyle for us as we had not been in anything like this since starting our trip. The tourist area is a bit like a big Surfers Paradise and a small Las Vegas. All the brand hotels and resorts line the beach front and every food franchise imaginable line the roads. It is a very busy place indeed.

We said goodbye to Joanne as her ten days came to an end and she had to return to Reno. So from Cancun we rode across the Peninsular and stopped at the town of Izamal for a night, a lovely country town with the distinction of being painted totally yellow. Quite something to see. The town has its own ruins and was the town that Pope John Paul visited when he came to Mexico some time back. The local church has the second largest outside courtyard area in the world. The twist being that the church was built out of the stone that was dismantled from the local Mayan temples as a way to stop the Mayan from practising their religion.

Next it was onto Campeche on the Gulf of Mexico coast. A town with a pirate history of rape and pillaging as it was the port that gold and silver was shipped to Spain from. To stop this the Spanish enclosed the town and harbour in a stone fortress. Today some of the old forts are still standing in the historic area of town and have been turned into museums of art and history etc.

Instead of continuing up the east coast of Mexico we turned westward toward the hills. This meant long straight roads that disappeared into the distance, but it was worth the ride when we came upon the ruins of Palenque. A stunning place set in the foothills amongst the steamy rain forest. At these ruins you get to go inside the temples and tombs which make it quite special. We spent the night there in the park and were pleased we did, as it would be our last time we would hear the Howler monkeys doing their thing and they did not disappoint. It was a beautiful night watching the stars above, the fireflies at our feet and the bats zooming past our heads. One to remember.

High in the mountains San Cristobal de Las Casas was to be our next stop and we wanted to spend a few days here and catch up on laundry etc. It was a beautiful twisting ride through the hills and villages with the cool mountain air making a pleasant change, but what was not pleasant was the random placement of speed bumps. Not only coming into or out of a village but on long down hill straights or on the brow of hills. I lost count of the number of times we had to change down then change up gears. You can usually tell when one is approaching as people are lined up trying to sell you something when you have to slow down. The guy who thought up this way of slowing down traffic must have owned a clutch repair business.

The group was now three bikes as we had met Chad from Canada the previous evening. He was heading our way on a two month holiday from the snow at home so it was good to have a fellow rider travel along. He intended spending a week in the city taking Spanish lessons. We spent some time at some local water falls before heading into the hills and Zapatista country. This area’s claim to fame is it is the area that gave rise to the Zapatista movement for indigenous rights and land reforms. Their last armed struggle with the Mexican army was only back in the 90s with fifty guerrillas killed. The army now has a permanent base in the area but Zapatista slogans and paintings are quite prominent along the road sides with the movement still strong in the poor rural indigenous areas

San Cristobal is proving to be a lovely colonial city and we are looking forward to a couple of quiet days exploring.