You go to the store and buy some beer for your host and yourself. He says that his bed is big so if you like you can sleep there. Or on his fold out chair. That is the only room in the house with air-conditioning. How about the bed in the other room? You ask. But no air-conditioning. He says. Hmmm.. this is awkward. But you get your way and have a great nights sleep spread out on your own.
The bike can wait until morning.
To Ciudad Obregon: Hitching in Mexico
Saturday August 11, 2007, 79 km (49 miles) Total so far: 1,071 km (665 miles)
As thanks for your host you leave a big dump in the toilet that just wont flush. Time to fix the tires. You only have one new tire but the one you got just yesterday seems to still work fine. You stock up on supplies, have a quick look at the sea, and away you go.
It is hot out but you zoom down the freeway. You should make it to Ciudad Obregon in no time at all. Except your bike doesnt want to get there so quickly. The tire blows after almost twenty km. And you bought it only yesterday. You put your last tube on the other tire which blew yesterday and that works fine. Until you hit one of those reflectors on the road and the tire gets all wobbly.
A sign points to a restaurant a few km up ahead. You ride the bike there on the flat tire. It appears to be some kind of military check point. But theres a restaurant of sorts here. You buy some water and see what you can do about the tire. Two hours later you ride off for the last sixty km on a flat tire.
Wobbling all over the road isnt much fun. You alternate between riding along the road with you thumb out in the air and standing beside the road with your thumb out in the air. The rims are looking pretty chipped from the rough treatment. How much longer before they become royally screwed?
You walk the bike into a small town. You sit down on a bench and drink some water. And then somebody actually stops. A lift? Por favor. You load the bike on the back of the ute, sorry truck and climb on in. Hurray.
And sail on in to Ciudad Obregon, which by the way isnt in your crap guidebook for a city of over a million people. Your friends drop you off outside a bike shop and you get what you need. Then find a hotel. Then spend a fair while trying to convey that you want to look at the room before you hand over your pesos. She thought you wanted to shower first. What a day. Time for some cerveza.
To Navojoa.: Just riding along
Sunday August 12, 2007, 76 km (47 miles) Total so far: 1,147 km (713 miles)
The bed feels so good that it takes so much effort to get up. So you sleep in. But sooner or later you have to get up and brave the day. First things first. Fix the tire. You take the wheel outside but it is so hot that perhaps this is best done inside. The rim is chipped to hell. You try to file the inside smooth as best you can. Then fit the tube and tire. No problem. Lets get out of here.
You try to get some supplies from a big department store on the edge of town but they wont let you in with your bags. Buggered if youll leave your valuables behind. So you go to a nearby smaller store to get what you need.
You pass through a toll station but theyre not interested in you. On the other side traffic is diverted onto the oncoming lane. A little further up a truck is wedged across the road. Guess they were trying to avoid the toll by going up a side road.
Its hot but cools down by the time you make it to Navojoa. The skies darken. It rains a little on dusk but youre in town now. Lightning brightens up the cool sky.
It is 160 km to Los Mochis. Thats two easy days on the road. But if you get up early and get half of that done by the midday heat then you can spend an extra day in town doing nothing much. Maybe.
Los Mochis.: One very long day
Monday August 13, 2007, 171 km (106 miles) Total so far: 1,318 km (819 miles)
Today is a day of snakes. There are quite a few of them waiting along the side of the road. Lucky for you they became road kill long before you chance upon them. There are two tolls today. You ride through both without concern. There is some kind of vehicular check point and soon after a military one.
It is a hot day. The sun burns your upper thighs despite putting on sunscreen. You leave Sonora state and enter Sinaloa. Roads for the most part now have shoulders. This does little to deter trucks and buses from driving as-dangerous-as-possibly close to you.
You stop at an Oxxo for an icecream and some rest. Some kids ask questions you couldnt possibly understand. As you leave one says Give me one dollar. Fuck off.
The kilometers to Los Mochis dwindle down. There sure are a lot of them. But you should be able to make it by dusk. Closer and closer you get. Your legs become rubbery. Your hands and wrists hurt. Slowly the kilometers dwindle. You make it to the edge of town. And then the rear tire goes. Of course.
If you were too tired to cycle you sure are too tired to fix the tire. So you walk. It will be a good change for the legs, anyway. There is a hotel nearby. The price is a bit steep but they will barter. Kind of. They really dont go down much on the price. So you move on. And on. Nine kilometers on you finally find a hotel, via burger king, and check in.
The plan was to spend a couple nights here to relax. But you are already ready to move on. Maybe a couple of easy days on the road is in order, find a nice beach and relax.
To Guamuchil.: A fly flew into my ear!!!
Tuesday August 14, 2007, 116 km (72 miles) Total so far: 1,434 km (891 miles)
You enjoy the bliss of dozing in when suddenly a fly decides to investigate the inner workings of your left ear. It buzzes its way in and about and there is nothing you can do. What does this mean? Will maggots now breed inside your head? Aaagggghhhhhhh!!!!
It sure is hot so you waste time filling up on caffeine in Burger King and zoom on down the highway. You make good time too regardless of a couple early breaks. Your destination is just off the freeway about a hundred km into the day. The highway seems a little busier but the shoulders are nice and wide.
Just before Guamuchil you stop in a motel. Quite cheap but only for twelve hours. Hmmmmm 7:40 PM to 7:40 AM. How about I come back in a couple hours? The guy on reception lets you stay until 8:30 though. Just as well for him. After the extra four km into town you probably wouldnt have gone back. Oh, and there is a TV in the room but it only has two channels and one of them is porn.
To Catalacan.: In the red light district
Wednesday August 15, 2007, 118 km (73 miles) Total so far: 1,552 km (964 miles)
You sure didnt get a good nights sleep. The air-conditioner only has one setting, cold and loud. You turn it off and the room quickly saunas up. You get a get up and get out bang on the door an hour before check out.
You skip breakfast, not liking anything in town and not able to find anything else until after lunch. The nice wide shoulder of yesterday disappears, first half and then in total, not reappearing until much later in the day.
Someone drives up along side. Australia? He asks. This is the same guy two weeks ago who, on his bike, helped you get past that asshole on the toll way up near Tecato. You stop and chat for a bit. Hes off to do some crazy ride up a 3000 metre mountain, over 300 km in about 30 hours.
Someone drives up along side. Australia? He asks. This is the same guy two weeks ago who, on his bike, helped you get past that asshole on the toll way up near Tecato. You stop and chat for a bit. Hes off to do some crazy ride up a 3000 metre mountain, over 300 km in about 30 hours.
The destination today is Catalacan. With just ten km to go your rear tire goes flat. So you inflate it. But as you start to ride again the other tire goes. You start walking but doing the math in your head you are better off spending the time to fix the tires. So when the opportunity arises you fix the flats and move on. And into Catalacan. This sure is a big town. With absolutely nothing of interest. After a while trying to find a hotel you decide to just find one on the way out of town.
A look in the mirror is shocking. Dirt covers your face. Your legs are blue from fuck-knows-what. But some hard scrubbing fixes that. Time for dinner. You try to enter one of those Ley stores you see everywhere but security wont let you in with your bag. You want me to leave my valuables outside to be stolen? Apparently so. You leave feeling disheartened. Oh and guess what. Youre staying in the red light district.
Towards La Cruz.: Camping along the freeway
Thursday August 16, 2007, 122 km (76 miles) Total so far: 1,674 km (1,040 miles)
You wake up late. On the way out of town you meet up with a character who claims he was kidnapped not long ago. Hes on his way south to find a hospital and fuck knows what. Strangely enough he doesnt ask you for money.
You head out of town, realizing only then that you are on the wrong road. Oh this road still heads south, just on the more dangerous highway. This means big detour to get to the freeway. Oh well. A friendly cop, on his own bike, helps with directions in the small town of Costa Rica, which is not even on the coast.
And zoom, zoom, zoom, down the freeway you go. You pile on the miles. La Cruz is the destination but it never seems to arrive. It gets dark. Time to start looking for a place to camp. You get a flat tire. Time to start looking for a place to camp very soon. And you find a place. It looks good despite being about four metres from the freeway. But it is semi-secluded and on flat sandy ground. Bed time. And look at all that pretty lightning.
Mazatlan.: More problems with the bike
Friday August 17, 2007, 85 km (53 miles) Total so far: 1,759 km (1,093 miles)
After a sleepless night from the noise and humidity you pack up early and hit the road. It takes a while to sort out the tire and when you do it only lasts ten km anyway. But it doesnt deflate that quickly. If you persevere and inflate the tire every few km you might be able to make it somewhere up the road. At least somewhere to find water. So thirsty!!!
Eventually the turn off to town arrives and you find a shop. You waste another hour or so trying to sort out the tire. Why is this so difficult? You head back out onto the freeway. Everything goes fine enough for a while. Road works are not too friendly. Nor are the big semi-trucks who absolutely insist on driving you off the road. By now youre quite used to it, a natural almost.
It sure is hot. With the first day of wearing a T-shirt, your arms are burnt red. With just thirty km to go until Mazatlan your rear tire goes flat. Well, it was bound to happen really. It seems such an easy task to fix. So why do you spend two hours at it and you still cant fix it?
Time to start walking. Its hitching time. All seems hopeless. But someone does stop to give you a lift. You jump in back with the bike and cruise into town, pass all the expensive resorts, and are dropped off on the main strip in town. You wheel the bike around until you find a hotel which is not astronomically expensive. Can I have a look at the room? You ask. No.
No wonder he wouldnt let you check it out. Dump is the only word to describe this. But it will do for tonight. Tomorrow you can find something in the old town where prices are not so extravagant.
Mazatlan.: Prostitutes and madmen
Sunday August 19, 2007, 30 km (19 miles) Total so far: 1,789 km (1,112 miles)
A couple days rest is what you need. And you kinda get it. You use the half useless tube on the tire, re-inflating it every couple km or so until you get to the old town. You find a hotel a little cheaper, but no better, and check in. With the bike as it is you really dont want to be tramping around looking for a hotel.
After the hotel is sorted what you need is a swim. And the water is oh so nice. You ask at a café directions to a bike shop and after wandering about town in the heat you find some. But two tubes is all that you can acquire. With the luck youve been having they will barely last until you leave town.
And its true. During the night the front tire also goes flat. You need to use both tubes. But before all that.. You go looking for a third hotel to stay in for your third night in town. And find one which looks nice. Another hotel looks pretty bad, and expensive too. As you walk out one of the ladies inside asks if you want something else. But you dont understand the Spanish. Thats okay as the fucky fucky gestures are obvious enough. Also obvious are the blowjob signs she gives. What?!? You want me to pay you? It aint gonna happen lady.
You meet some guy and he invites you to go for a ride with him and his friends. You um and ah over the safety of it and go along anyway. So you jump in the back of the ute with a beer in hand and cruise around town. Later, just the three of you inside the cabin your new friends pull up and chat to a hooker. They are trying to get you laid. But she wants money first for drugs so you leave unloved but still disease free. You find out later that your friend was asking for all three of you to, um, do her.
Your friends take you to there soon to be gas station. They even invite you to work tomorrow. No, thanks. You say and hope things dont get awkward. It rains. It rains a lot. The town floods. On the way back into town your friend screams around a corner sending a wave of water all over a pedestrian. He screams out and you just cant help but laugh.
You kill eight roaches that night. Hopefully the next hotel will be better.
Late and hungover you fix the bike but a new tube still leaks. It gets you to the next hotel though. It must be the valve. You fix it and the tires dont seem to go flat anymore. But for how long?
You dont do much today. You look for a bike shop but they are all closed. Well, it is Sunday after all. You go for a swim and chill out at a café. You want to see a bullfight but its the wrong time of year for that. Too hot apparently. No shit.
To Escuinapa.: A real Mexican town
Monday August 20, 2007, 98 km (61 miles) Total so far: 1,887 km (1,173 miles)
You wake up late feeling very lethargic. Indeed with the luck youve been having lately you really are reconsidering the whole trip. You pack the bags, get a bite to eat, some spare tubes and are on your way. You get six spare tubes. That should be enough for a day or two.
The tires are holding up well for now but you are very careful not to run over anything. You really are quite nervous about the whole thing now.
It is hot but soon clouds over to the point of rain. Perhaps thunder and the whole shebang. The road is great. It narrows down considerably at one point but the traffic is so slow you just nudge right in with it all. This is supposed to be the start of the most dangerous stretch of road in the world. But the new toll freeway may have negated this. It is near vacant of traffic too.