March 30th to April 4th, 2016
Since we have an apartment rented for a week, we aren’t in a hurry to leave. We get to spend the time getting to know Gareth and Jean, and just relaxing.).
About Days of High Adventure
Gareth (Age 45), and Jean (Age 36) are both fellow Vancouverites who we have been corresponding with over the Internet since we announced our intent to cycle around the world. Somehow Gareth heard about us and from there e-mails followed back and forth over the last 20 months at varying times in various locations. As luck would have it, we’re now all in the same place and have decided to cycle together, about 500km to Puebla, where it is expected that Jean will return to Vancouver to earn money, and Gareth will find somewhere to teach here in Mexico to earn money.
One of the cool things about Gareth is that he has spent a lot of time cycling in Central and South America…and a lot of this has been off the beaten path. Amanda and I are reluctant to leave the safe confines of the cuota, or to camp out much, so to have an opportunity to do this with “professional bush-whackers” will allow us to get out of the comfort zone for a few weeks and into the growth zone.
You can read more about them at www.thedaysofhighadventure.com or www.elpedalero.com. The blogs haven’t been updated in awhile, but they post pictures frequently on Flickr under “thedaysofhighadventure”.
What happened…
Andrew writes: Our apartment is largely unfurnished, although it has a bed-frame, which we’ve put our sleeping pads on. There are also some classic 80’s mirrored glass nightstands. We have one of the only apartments with a private bathroom too, which must be why we’re paying more than G & J who are upstairs in a stuffy, hot room with several narrow and treacherous stairs to navigate several times a night if you have Amanda’s bladder. Our bikes fit inside nicely, and we have lots of room to move around too which is great!
March 31st – Not too much excitement today really. Jean spent most of the day in the bathroom puking. No one knows why. Weird. Oh, and the propane tank on the second floor sprung a leak which led to us evacuating for a good chunk of the afternoon. I’ve decided that I had everything with me that I needed in the event that the building went up in flames. I had Amanda….and the iPhone.
April 1st
Jean was feeling better today so we decided to explore the town a bit as a couple of couples. We found a beautiful park, walked through the mercado municipal (sort of like a farmer’s market), and ended up going to watch Superman vs. Batman at the movie theatre in 3D for $3/each. No lie, the popcorn and drink cost more than the movie, just like in Canada! Then, since there’s no WiFi in the apartment building, we headed down to a cafe to while away the warm afternoon with some frappucinos and Internet. There might have even been some cat videos being shared amongst one another.
April 2nd-3rd
I think everyone just wanted to lie low, so we spent a good chunk of each afternoon at a local cafe soaking up internet and keeping our lives up to date and on track (banking, calling home etc.). Gareth and I have spent a lot of time sitting around the table philosophizing or otherwise conspiring to fix the universe, and it’s great having a guy around. I share Amanda’s concerns about speed…will we be too slow for them? Will we take too much time getting ready each day? Will Gareth’s side-trips irritate me to the point where we leave them? Will going “off-road” be too hard?? Time will tell.
Amanda writes: Andrew does a great job of summarizing our days in this town. While we’ve had quite a bit of time off the bike recently I’m still happy with it. I’m still struggling with getting a handle on something with my body that will negatively impact cycling; so resting for more days is just fine. It’s also nice to swap stories with other traveling cyclists. And I feel like Jean and Gareth are more similar than other cyclists we’ve met. We have a similar budget, we ride the same speed (so they say, we’ll find out in the coming days) and it’s awesome to have another woman around. We’ve played some cards, some dice games, shared some wine and beer and chatted. So far we seem like a good match and I’m super excited to explore Mexico with these two. Oh and this town is super nice too. I like the spring colours, the stores and the people. If you’re cycling and need a place to rest your head for a bit, I’d come here.