What happened…

Andrew writes: I personally set the alarm clock for 0530hrs, because I wanted to get an early start. Amanda woke us up at 0600, wondering why the alarm hadn’t gone off. It had, but the phone volume was turned off. By the time we had breakfast, and said a tearful goodbye to my Mom it was 0730hrs. I think I started the day frustrated with Amanda for seemingly taking so long to do everything that needs to be done before we can leave in the morning. Somehow I managed to get over myself, and put the day back on track quickly.

The ride through Mazatlan was pretty good. Traffic in Mexico, while a little chaotic, is actually pretty good as a cyclist. Similar to Cuba, the drivers seem to be used to slower moving vehicles like bicycles, and they give us lots of room on the road. Strangely enough, the Mexican cyclists ride very timidly, and often on the sidewalk, or to the very right side of the road. So while the drivers are good, I question the ability of the cyclists. Anyhow, we got to the turn for Hwy#15, the libre, and despite agreeing with Amanda yesterday that we would take the cuota, I turned off and started heading towards the airport, and freedom. Well, not really the airport, it just happened to be along the way.

Riding the libre was at first very easy. For the first 30km or so, we had a lane to ourself, or a nice shoulder to ride on. Then everything went to shit, and we were riding by the seat of our pants. There were many short, punchy climbs and we always seemed to reach the top just as a semi-truck was coming up behind us, and another coming towards us. Unlike in Baja, there was often no where to get off the road, as it was a drop of about a foot. There were a few close calls for sure. Maybe they seem like close calls when looked at from behind because both Amanda and I have flags sticking a metre out into the road now, and the cars/trucks would get really close to the flag. Anyhow, tomorrow we will take the cuota for sure!

I really enjoyed passing through each of the small towns, and there seemed to be lots of people working in the fields that we passed also. We stopped for lunch in one small, nameless village, and I tried to buy a few beers to enjoy, except they only had light beer. Ugh! Eventually we reached El Rosario, which ended up being quite large I thought. After cycling around in the heat all day, it remained unspoken between us but instantly agreed upon that we would get a hotel so we could enjoy air conditioning, and a shower. El Rosario had several hotels to choose from including one with a water-slide! We found the San Angel Hotel to be within our price range, $250MX ($19CDN) and after showering, we went for a walk around town.

There is a lovely church that absolutely dominates the skyline with it’s steeple being several stories tall. Something that struck me while we walked along the streets was how clean everything was. People were cleaning off their front steps and sidewalks, and there was very little garbage on the ground. I asked a woman why this was, and she replied that is was good municipal government. I think this is the first town since we left Cuba that we have seen to be so clean. During our walk, we found “alcohol industrial” at a paint store, which we will use as fuel for our new Trangia stove that my Mom brought us from Canada. We finished our walk with a visit to a big grocery store where we bought everything we needed to accompany dinner; some vegetables, some meet, and a bag of Doritos.

After dinner we went to bed pretty early because we were a) tired, and b) we wanted to wake up and leave early again in the morning to try and beat the heat. It’s Friday night, and hopefully things don’t get too rowdy around here.

Amanda writes: Leaving Mazatlan was exciting because it’s the furthest South we’ve ever been, if we exclude Cuba of course. We enjoyed our time with Andrew’s Mom so much and are so happy she came to visit. And while the time was great it was also nice to be on our way. Andrew and I enjoy being alone sometimes, not only for the reasons you’d think but because people have a rhythm and habits they like. I’m sure Andrew’s Mom is also enjoying her own rhythm back at home without us two in her face all the time.

So we headed out early in the morning the try and beat the heat and as with most days it came with our few grumbles at each other. Most notably was my frustration with Andrew’s broken bike. It bubbled over because as we were riding out of the town the welder happened to be open and I asked him if we should go and he said no … I was frustrated. Let me back it up a bit. When we left San Carlos two weeks ago as we were waiting for the bus, Andrew noticed his rack was broken … again. He vowed to fix it in Mazatlan. Heck we had two weeks; right? Well he waited until the very last day and then the welder’s shop was closed. And now we were heading out with his rack connected with a zip-tie. This would be the rack that holds about 50 pounds of gear. And then he decides to just ride by when the shop was open. Needless to say I don’t get it.

Once we passed our bickering in the morning, we headed onto the busy highway which I’m sure Andrew will tell you about. I was happy to get a hotel and the price was right. Maybe we’re getting soft, but the hotel was nice.

Today’s Photographs