What happened…

Andrew writes:
When we woke up on the 25th, I didn’t have any responses from Warmshowers for a place to re-locate to, so I ended up booking with AirBnB in the south part of the city, near where we would need to go to leave for Puebla. Really, at this point, Amanda and I just wanted a day or two to recharge our batteries after so much walking the last few days. It was a short-ride to relocate, only about 15km, and we were excited with the change of scenery too I think. Our ride across town included a stop for french fries at McDonald’s, and getting to see more of the City’s parks and infrastructure. Cycling in Mexico City was really nice. Then again, we were helped by the fact that the two days we had to ride were both on holidays, so there was less traffic than normal.

We got to spend all day Saturday in full-on relax mode. We watched a New York Yankees baseball game online in the morning, and then went and bought a replacement Kindle for Amanda. I had also noticed that some cycling friends of ours were nearby, and we made plans to meet up in a few days. This meant that we would either have to cycle 200km, including 50km through Mexico City, or take a bus. The bus was inexpensive, and as luck would have it, our friends from Puerto Vallarta (Emilio and Paty), were vacationing in nearby Queretaro. So on March 27th, we would take a bus there.

We took our time getting up and about on the morning of the 27th, and ended up at the bus station around noon. The next bus was leaving at 1400hrs, and so we sat and read in the terminal. Mexican bus stations continue to be amazing, as we once more were given the entire baggage compartment for our bikes and luggage. Something else we have noticed in large cities though is that there is an expectation for us to pay a little bit more for this privilege, so we ended up “tipping” the baggage handler $50MX at the bus drivers suggestion…despite me being the one who loaded everything. Whatever, we were on the bus and all was well with the world.

The bus (Futura Select) was really fancy, with faux leather seats, lots of leg room, and a tablet in front of every seat too. The only thing I could find to watch was a movie called “Inseperable” with Kevin Spacey that was mostly in Chinese (with Spanish subtitles) and English (with Spanish subtitles)…so I understood about a third of the film. Unlike our bus trip from Ziwa to Mexico City, there was no motion sickness for either of us, which was great. Travelling out of the city, I think we drove through some slums because it was definitely really dirty, and the homes were quite simple. I’m glad that we decided to take the bus, even if, as Amanda said, we were “going the wrong way…”.

When we got to Queretaro, Emilio picked us up at the bus terminal and we loaded everything into his SUV. Emilio has so much energy, and is a lot of fun to be around. We went out for dinner with him, and Paty, and then I went for a walk around Centro with him while Amanda and Paty went home to watch movies. There were thousands of people in Centro, all celebrating Easter Sunday, and there were fireworks and live music and fantastic food. It was really great being a part of this, but also it was nice to have some “guy” time, just Emilio and I. Sometimes I think that it’s good for Amanda and I to spend some time apart, even if it is for two hours, every 6 months.

Amanda writes:
Andrew worked his magic again and managed to secure is a place to stay. While my body protested the short ride to our new location I was then able to relax for almost two full days so I was feeling a bit better. Buying a new Kindle was a piss off because I dislike spending money, particularly when it was my own doing breaking the other one; but I read my Kindle every day so it is needed. As I was relaxing and not moving too much Andrew was able to easily convince me that we should go North instead of South. Sometimes I think we’re riding in circles on this trip, and maybe we are. And then I’m reminded that this trip is actually our life and things don’t always go in a straight line. I was looking forward to seeing Paty and Emilio and the kids again.

I was also really excited about finally meeting our friends Gareth and Jean. Gareth reached out to us just before our departure from Vancouver in 2014. He somehow heard about our adventure and contacted us in hopes of meeting up with us somewhere. As we all know our plans changed drastically since the start of our trip, but here we were; within a few hundred kilometres of each other. So combined with Paty and Emilio being close by; I knew it seemed right. I’m stoked to meet some other cycle tourists and hope they’re as keen to ride together as Andrew and I are.

Today’s Photographs