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The owner of the little restaurant thumbed back and forth in the dictionary section of my Lonely Planet phrase book as I ate the grilled chicken she had brought out. But instead of attempting the English translation, she wrote it down in Spanish...porque viajar aqui, "why travel here". Damn. She could have asked where I'm from or where I'm going. Maybe even something about my motorcycle. But no, as if the language barrier isn't enough, she asked one simple question that I have no good answer for. These are the photos and stories from my 3-week motorcycle trip to Mexico. It's a bit hard to decide just how to tell such a story. I could get into details that no one would want to read or I could simply let the photos tell what they tell. I guess I should at a minimum list where I was at the end of each day...maybe I'll add more details as time permits. |
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| Saturday, October 22, 2005 | All packed and ready (I hope) with the odometer reading 30041, I left Tulsa, Oklahoma around 9AM. About 400 miles of fairly boring riding later I camped at Palo Duro Canyon. Palo Duro Canyon is a beautiful "hole in the prairie" about 30 miles south of Amarillo. The road that gets you there is so Kansas-flat you'll be convinced that it could never lead to where it does. | |
| Sunday, October 23 | I left Texas, traveled through Roswell, NM, through Lincoln National Forest, then spent the night at a B&B type place in Mayhill, NM. This is a beautiful but cold area. I encountered the only precipitation of any kind when a light mist started just before I stopped for the night. The motel/b&b place where I stayed is apparently the only game in town. It's relatively cheap and has a diner downstairs. Definitely workable. | |
| Monday, October 24 | After Alamogordo, Las Cruces, and Deming, NM, I crossed the border at Columbus, NM. The border Crossing was confusing but uneventful and I followed it with lunch in Las Palomas, Mexico. From there I rode on to Nuevo Casas Grande where I spent the night at a decent little motel down town where the girl behind the desk drilled me with questions concerning proper English grammer. This place wasn't too exciting but I did have some fantastic tacos at a small place just south of the downtown plaza on the right. | |
| Tuesday, October 25 | Today my travels took me through Buenaventura, Zaragoza, Gomez Farias, then west and back a little north to Maderas. After diner at a little diner and a cross-lingual "conversation" with the ladies there, I went in search of a place to sleep. I had heard of a small lake north of Maderas where camping was available. It's a nice place but it was cold enough to freeze the monkey cajones off a brass witch...or some such nonsensical saying. I ended up sleeping with my riding gear on top of my sleeping bag. Camping there was 50p (about $5), and it included a flat spot by the lake, a fire pit, and a table. There was only one other paying customer as far as I could tell but I would expect more in summer months. | |
| Wednesday, October 26 | Because of having very little to do after the sun went down I went to bed really early (after a shot of the tequila I had picked up along the way). As a result I was up early and went to explored the mountains north of Maderas. I found a local archeological site, Cuarenta Casas, but it wasn't open for business (though the sign and stated hours indicated otherwise). Not that unusual I would learn. this is a very nice area but my destination was Creel and Barranca del Cobre, (Copper Canyon) so I headed south on the two-lane and curvacious road to Creel. Found a nice place in Creel for 20p a night...not bad. | |
| Thursday, October 27 | Today was a much appreciated full day in Creel. I spent the day exploring the near-by attractions, specifically Cusarare Mission and Divisadero overlook. I also did some hiking, which felt really good after several days on the bike. All were well worth the effort and there's not shortage of cool scenery to enjoy along the way. Cusarare Mission is in a small village and near several Tarahumara Indian homes and farms, including some of the cave homes they're known for. If you're up for a bit of bumpy dirt road, I suggest you explore a few miles of the road past the mission. | |
| Friday, October 28 |
Today I'm off to Botapilas which lies at the bottom of Botapilas Canyon. The main road into Botapilas includes about 40 miles of paved highway, then 40 more on gravel/dirt. Many miles of these last 40 are switchbacks and "shelf" roads with absolutely breathtaking scenery. It's hard to even describe...and with no shoulder or guard rail between safety and freefall, it's sort of hard to stop and enjoy as well. Quite a day's ride. In the photo on the left you can see a small portion of the road on each side of the river and going up the mountain. Below and on the left are some of the switchbacks. I followed a herd of goats that would go over the edge as I approached, only to be on the road as I made the next switchback. Below and far right you can see the dust from a car on the road on the left. |
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| Saturday, October 29 |
Another whole day in one place...and well worth it. Botapilas is a very cool little town that's sort of in the middle of nowhere with no TV, no phones and definitely no internet. I stayed at a place on the plaza west side of the plaza (I think) that was very comfortable and had a great atmosphere. I met a group from Missouri there who were planning to take their 4WD and two bikes, both a bit more off-road-oriented than mine, out of Botapilas and back to Creel "the back way". I also met a couple riders from Canada who came in from "the back way" and suggested that the road quality was way worse than we had in mind. It didn't dissuade us as much as it should have. I spent the day exploring Botopilas and the surrounding area then that afternoon we rode to Satevo Mission, or "The Lost Mission". I never really understood just what's lost about it but it's very nice and worth the 5-6 mile ride south along the river. After that, Denver, one of the bikers from Missouri, and I roade on down to where the road crosses the river. There's a broken down foot bridge nearby that looked like a scene from an Indiana Jones movie. We turned around there, I have no idea where that road leads. |
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| Botapilas | ||
| Botapilas | ||
| Sunday, October 30 |
Sunday started out with a good breakfast of Huevos Muchaca and coffee at Carolina's restaurant in Botapila's little plaza (not the main plaza) where I was joined by my new acquaintances from Missouri and Canada. We then began our trek up that long ragged road.
The first portion was every bit as bad as our Canadian friends described, with steep climbs, switchbacks, steep descents, all mixed with deep ruts and enough sand, loose gravel, and soccer-ball size rock to virtually eliminate anything resembling traction. In short, one of my riding buddies hit the ground pretty hard early in the journey and hosed up his first gear (an important one it turns out). He eventually put his bike in the back of the truck for the rest of the way. I dropped my bike a few times with no real damage other than to my pride. Over all, the first 10 miles took hours to complete..and we had 80 more miles to go. It was one of the most exhausting experiences I've had in a very long time. Fortunately it did get better at times and we could actually get up to 15 or even 20 miles per hour. We rode well after dark and ended the day in Cerocahui, where the others went to a ranch that they had heard about and I got a room on the town plaza. |
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| Monday, October 31 |
I woke up early and roamed around the little town with my camera. When I got back and started packing my bike for the ride on into Creel, a young man led a bull into the gated parking lot. By the time I left, they had put the big guy down and were ready to make steaks out of him. Not something I expected to see in the parking lot of a motel. The ride from Cerocahui to Creel included another 30-40 miles of dirt road, though better than yesterday's. I spent the night in Creel at the same motel I'd stayed at before but this time with no water for some reason. Glad I'd had a good shower in the motel in Cerocahui...though those last miles of dirt road had generated a need for another. Oh well. |
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| Cerocahui | ||
| Tuesday, November 1 | I left Creel early and made it to Basasiachi Falls National Park early enough to hike around the area some. Like the other canyons the area offers beautiful scenery but the falls had a fairly small amount of water. Still nice but I can only imagine what it's like in the wetter season. I spent the night in a place that falls in the category of "cheap and worth it". | |
| Wednesday, November 2 |
I decided to head into the state of Sanora, specifically to Alamos. I had another good breakfast (huevos rancheros this time) and left with ice on my motorcycle. Before 1PM I was riding in over 100ºF temps in the Sanora Desert. The ride along MX16 was beautiful with many many twists and turns through beautiful mountain vistas. The quality of the road went downhill a bit when I entered Sanora, but still nice riding. I checked into a motel that came by recommendation, Casa de los Tesoros, or "House of Treasures". This place was the most expensive of my trip and it too was worth it. This restored colonial mansion was definitely high contrast to the dump I stayed at the night before.
As I was checking in at the front desk a couple walked up and said to me, "Are you on the GS out front?". "Yea" "We saw your bike in Creel and wanted to meet you." This couple was from Ireland and had shipped two BMW F650GS bikes to southern Chili. They were on a multi-year journey, ultimately to the northern borders of Alaska. Someone I'd met in Creel had told me about them but we never managed to crossed paths until now, hundreds of miles later. We had dinner and a beer together at a cafe on the square and walked to the local cemetery (it was November 2 after all...look it up). They were a very cool couple, I would like to have talked a bit more with them...but as it goes with traveling we both had places to go. |
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| Thursday, November 3 |
I spent two nights in Alamos and very glad I did. This is a very nice little town though it's being taken over, and purchased, by retired and/or wealthy Americans. Of course that's why there's money to restore the old places, but some of the people weren't exactly my crowd.
This probably sounds crazy but by all means try the hot dogs from the street vendors on the plaza. They wrap them in bacon, add grilled onions and roasted peppers, and condiments include guacamole, ketchup, more chilis, etc. I'd recommend a fine Tecate in a can to go with it. I've never had one quite so good. |
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| Friday, November 4 |
I left on the fairly short ride to El Fuerte and decided to stop in the beach town of Huatobambito. This place has a nice beach but the area looked a bit like a ghost town. The homes were all empty and the businesses weren't open. Odd...off season I guess. I finally found someone that would sell me a Coke, and later found a restaurant that was just opening. I had some shrimp ceveche that was wonderful, sat around watching the waves and pelicans for a while, then headed on.
I arrived in El Fuerte and checked into Pescadore Hotel. It's a very nice place just off the main plaza. I talked them down to 250p for the night...a steal for this place. |
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| Saturday, November 5 |
Another day of misinformation and "interesting decisions". I decided to check out of the motel in El Fuerte and ride the dirt road to Creel. This was "about 5-6 hours" according to the person working at the motel. I rode a few hours (and lost some time due to getting a little bit lost near Choix) then met three other bikers going the other way. "You're not making it to Creel today, it's another 5 -6 hours." Nice. I rode off, a little less cheery than before, and a couple hours later I stopped in the little community of Tubares only to have the one guy who spoke English say, "Creel's another 5 hours." Nice. So no matter how far I ride, Creel will always be 5 hours from there...it's the damn Twilight Zone! So in short my info was way off. I camped that night outside of a small adobe house. The owners made me some beans and corn tortillas...fresh off of a clay oven...which I fully enjoyed with a glass of water. Pretty hospitable of them I'd say. After enjoying the cool evening air, spending some time staring amazed at the number of stars there were to count, then waiting for the dogs and donkeys to stop their evening racket I fell asleep. I awoke the next morning to chickens trying to get inside my tent and the home owner selling goat skins to some other locals. I confirmed that it was 5 hours to Creel (because it might have become 7 while I slept) and headed out. |
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| Sunday, November 6 | The ride eventually met up with the road I'd been on before...through Cerocahui. I finally made it to Creel (in 5 hours of course), checked into a motel and took the bike to a car wash. The young attendants at the car wash got quite a laugh as I hosed off my waterproof pants and boots. They laughed and offered me some shampoo. Smart asses. | |
| Monday, November 7 | From Creel I decided to head southeast to Hidalgo de Parral. The road there was spectacular both with scenery and with some fantastic sets of curves for the bike. Needless to say it was very nice to be back on asphalt having covered about 300 miles of Mexican dirt roads. I ended up in Hidalgo de Parral after dark and checked into the first decent place I found, El Camino Hotel. Nice but sort of expensive at 450p per night. | |
| Tuesday, November 8 | Hidalgo de Parral is a nice little town and I considered staying a couple nights there but opted otherwise for some reason. I headed out for Chihuahua city. The ride there was ok but nothing spectacular compared to the canyon areas. I rolled through Chihuahua with minimal sight seeing and went on to Aldama, which I read has "touristic interest". I beg to differ. I stayed in a very odd motel just outside of town that had dozens of picnic tables and bars on the windows & doors. Who knows? | |
| Wednesday, November 9 | With another early departure on MX16 towards the border, I had breakfast about an hour later at a roadside cafe where I had a very broken conversation with the only person there and ended up with huevos con jamon. A little later I met up with four other riders and rode along with them for a while. I/we crossed the border at Ojinaga/Presidio. Once back in the states I made a right turn and headed to Big Bend National Park. This place is beautiful, I'm glad I did it. I rode many of the roads in the park and up to the basin, then out of the park to the north. I stayed that night in Marathon, TX at the Marathon Motel which is a nice place. I have to admit it felt good to brush my teeth with tap water again :) | |
| Thursday, November 10 |
Today was a serious long haul, about 550 miles worth and the longest day of my trip. Ended my day at Wichita Falls, TX which is on the Oklahoma border. I stayed at Motel 6...yup, I'm back in the states.
Note that the photo on the left is from earlier in the trip...not from the Motel 6. |
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| Friday, November 11 | I left Motel 6 around 8 and was back in Tulsa by mid afternoon with the odometer reading 34566...4526 miles total. | |
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I've been asked a couple times if I'd do it again and my answer is, "Absolutely!" If I'd had 4 more months and enough money I would have used it all. I've also heard, way too many times, about how dangerous my trip was, how crazy I was to do it alone, etc. Mexico is way more than many Americans think. In fact I'm a little embarrassed that our "highly educated" citizens have such profound ignorance of our nearest neighboring country to the south. For the most part I can't comprehend it. No, traveling 4500 miles through rural Mexico and along canyon walls isn't as safe as sitting in my living room at home. That's no secret. But I have yet to find one person with this negative conviction who could present any solid information that US tourists in Mexico are getting hurt or killed at a significant rate. Not one. So to every coworker or acquaintance who feels that going to down town Tulsa is an adventure and who were certain I'd be shot just for my motorcycle, and those helpful folks who have interrupted my stories of a fantastic trip to Mexico with their own story of a corrupt police officer or a kidnapping in Mexico City, thanks for your input....really. The following is from Nationmaster.com, who list their references online. Assaults per capita United States 7.6 per 1000 Mexico 2.4 Total crimes per capita United States 80.1 per 1000 Mexico 12.8 Drug offenses per capita United States 5.6 per 1000 Mexico 0.25 Rapes per capita United States .3 per 1000 Mexico .1 As of this writing, 16 November 2005, the US Department of State lists no travel warnings for Mexico. Do your homework. |
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