Well what can I say, I think if I have to eat another taco I may very well go on a crazed rampage with one of the stale tacos they hand me every time and scure the next sweaty vendor who promises me his is the best taco in Mexico. Whoever said Mexico has the richest choice of food is quite simply a liar. So far anyhow.
I knew there was a saying that bad things always happen in threes but after the old man dropping dead on me I thought that was easily bad enough to add up to 3. But oh how wrong I was....
So there was me and Tim more than ready to Leave Baja and escape to the mainland where we hoped things would get cheaper, but also people would not be dropping dead on us, so off we head to get the ferry to Topolobompo (i think) We arrived at 9 O'clock in the evening and the ride to the town was about 30 mins, and only the second time ever I have needed to ride in the dark, and what happens, the fuse on my bike goes for all the lights. Now you might say that is bad thing number two, but oh no, this was just a teaser. I carry spare fuses, but the annoyance was having to take all the stuff off the bike in the dark, in order to get the seat off to replace the fuse. Finally this was done and we headed into town. We found a hotel after Tim dropped his bike as his foot got caught on the top (hard to imagine but easily done I can assure you, oh, and no this too is not bad thing number two you will have to wait...) So we got to our hotel and unfortunately Tims bike had suffered some damage with a part broken clutch lever and a bent gear selector, so for good reason he was pretty annoyed.
That night we went out for a quick drink in an impressively seedy bar. After several mentalists tried to soak me to death with their drool when repeatedly asking for money and beer we decided to leave and get some sleep. The next day we left this fair sized town and here the fun begins. Straight away in the traffic we got separated, Tim had no phone and after I waited for a while he didn't appear so I thought the obvious thing to do will be to wait on the main road out of town, the only way he can go. So off I head and wait at a petrol station for 2 hours, and no sign. I am forced to head on as it seemed pointless waiting any longer, also he knew we were heading to a place called San Blas. (This was the basis of bad thing number 2... losing my friend) The one impressive thing to note, is that within about 50 miles either side of the tropic of cancer, which I have now crossed the scenery turns from desert straight to jungle. All pretty cool , but that only opens the road hazards up to more exotic things than just withered 3 legged dogs.
I spent that night in Mazatlan but still no sign on Tim, so the next day I continued on to San Blas, on the way there the final (well I really hope it is the final) bad thing happened to me, I went and bloody crashed! And yes, it really rather hurt. Lucky for me, it seemed to have hurt the bike more than me, as it is looking rather bent, but still fine to continue.
I was riding out of a small town called Rosario when (at this stage I might add it was totally my fault!) I clearly had some major lapse in spacial awareness. On seeing a rather large hole in the ground, and a massive boulder to the left of it I decided to avoid the large hole and forget the boulder. At I think about 25-30mph my right pannier hit the boulder and I did a very impressive superman impression for about 10 meters in the air, the landing I can assure you was not so graceful. And I can honestly say I am most glad I wear all my safety stuff regardless of the heat, as the landing tore right through one of my gloves, and my knee protector tore through as well.
Before you all rush out to buy seedless grapes and get well cards to post over here, I am clearly fine and with all my limbs in tact or clearly I would not be typing this right now. All that happened to me was a slightly swollen knee and a tiny cut on my hand. As I said a second ago, the bike was not so good. The pannier has a huge dent in it, the other pannier is now more like a parallelogram shape and the frame for the panniers broke into two pieces. Also the handle bars don't really point straight anymore, but thats more cosmetic I think.
So there I was looking slightly worse for wear with a rather bent bike wondering what to do. In the end I got some locals in a pick up to carry my stuff to the local welders shop whilst I followed on the bike.
At the welders was a man called Herman (I think). It was basically a court yard with a dirt floor, an archaic welder and a fat caged pig, however Herman did a spectacular job at fixing the bike, and 3 hours work only cost me 5 pounds!
After I left I rode to San Blas, which is a small town with great surf and very few tourists. I spent 2 days there camping and getting my gammy knee back to normal. Then I moved on to Syalita just North of Peurto Vallarta where finally I met Lui. It was quite an expensive place but it was very nice to be with Lui and not camping for once. After two days we moved south as we are currently trying to get to the Chiapas region and into Central America. We have stopped at various small towns with Lui on the bus and me ahead on the bike. This seems to work quite well so far, but the ever increasing amount of wildlife that keeps throwing itself in front of the bike is quite spectacular. As always there are many leathery dogs to dodge but now I am getting lots of other things. I'm afraid I ran over a gang on mini brown frogs the other day, but in defense I didn't realise what they were until they went splat. I was also forced to dodge some large lemur type thing (not sure what it really was) and also had a stand off with a large orange crab, which on seeing me stopped in the middle of the road, raised its claws in a ´fancy a fight` kind of way, but then realised it may loose, so ran off sideways into the jungle. All quite amusing.
Acapolco is OK but nothing special, and by Christ, riding in the traffic here is a NIGHTMARE. I never thought there would be a chance of meeting a grizzly end by being run over by 400 Beatles at one time! argh! However the cliff divers were certainly worth seeing (twice in fact as Lui got her way!)
After Acapolco I rode down to Peurto Escondido which is now where we are. This place is actually pretty nice and the nicest place I have seen in Mexico so far I think. The waves here are huge, and famous so I'm told for surfing, but only if you're any good so I am staying well away from them, they are huge! The ride down here confirmed to me that I was clearly wrong when I said Mexican drivers aren't that bad. They are terrible, and seem to get worse the further south I get. A typical example would be their use of indicators. You might think it is obvious that if someone indicates right, it means they intend to turn right. But no, not here, it could mean one of several things, either they are turning left, so indicating right to tell you that its OK to pass them, or that they think you should pass them regardless of a big lorry coming the other way, or that they are aware you are there, even so they may still run you over. Finally if you are very lucky it may mean that they are actually turning the way they are indicating. But I can only stress this is a rarity!
So anyway, three days here then off to Oaxaca the state capital then its off to Guatamala via San Cristobal. I feel this entry isn't that riveting-a-read, but what can I say, lots of jungle, large ants, dead dogs and crazy drivers. Not too much else to say. (there seem to be lots of rogue pigs on the loose down south too). Next entry will prob be in Guatemala. So me and Lui are off to eat some food that we are going to cook. The only way to ensure it hasn't been clawed by a sewage stained local chef. Oh and ill add photos soon, I just cant be bothered now.













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