What happened…

Andrew writes: I put Amanda in charge of setting the alarm this morning, and by golly, it went off at the crack of 0500hrs. Between the two of us we managed to keep hitting the snooze button until we both felt like getting out of bed at 0600. I used our new Trangia alcohol stove to heat up some leftovers from last night, and fried up a couple of eggs and we were out the door by 0645hrs. We filled up with coffee and an electrolyte drink at the OXXO across the street and were ready to leave town by 0700. It felt as though we were firing on all-cylinders.

Having spent most of yesterday with our hearts in our throats, we elected to try the cuota toll-road (pronounced “quota”) and so off we went…except that we ended up back on the libre. Whoops! Traffic was heavy, and the insanity, adrenaline-laced ride began early and in earnest for us. Fortunately, we found a hole cut into the fence after awhile and we were able to hop onto the neighbouring road. Of course, this meant we still had to duck under a line of barbed wire, and hop a 3-foot wide ditch. Luckily, there was a man nearby who was able to help us lift out bikes over the ditch, and we were back in business.

As we were recovering from hopping the fence, a Mexican family rode by. This wouldn’t normally be notable, except they had cycled from Cabo San Lucas, in Baja. The deSoto family, mom and dad, and their 2 and 4 year old children, had left Baja 5 months earlier and were cycling to Guadalajara. Only Mr. deSoto talked, and his wife Mrs. deSoto looked mostly sullen as the kids fussed about while we stood around and talked. It seems like they are just scraping by, living hand to mouth, and Mr. deSoto picks up odd-jobs wherever he can to make ends meet. He is hoping to find work on a farm in Nayarit for a season or two, so that they can press on to Guadalajara. I was able to share some of our water with them, since they had run out. Their bikes were held together with duct-tape and love. There was no fancy trailer or seat for the children, each of which whoo sat on the rear bags and held onto Mom and Dad. Really, it’s inspiring in a way. When I think of how much “trouble” it can be travelling with children, from now on I will just picture the deSoto’s cycling down a busy highway, living their lives, their dreams, our dream too.

We kept on for awhile, and eventually the deSoto’s fell off the horizon behind us. Just yesterday I was saying to Amanda how it’s unlikely we will see other cycle-tourists because it’s late in the “season”. Amanda suggested that maybe we will see someetone cycling north from Argentina. I scoffed at her dismissively; and then today, I ate my hat. While not coming all the way from Argentina, we did come across a pair from France – Romain and Amandine! So I speak a tiny, tiny bit of french, from when we were cycling in France in 2011. Amanda knows how to say, “I don’t speak French”. Romain and Amandine knew how to say pretty much the same things in English. Strangely enough, we were able to get by with Spanish. I think this is the first time that I have shared a conversation with someone in a non-native language for either of us. It was cool, and weird, and short-lived, as our vocabularies are each still quite small. Where are you going? Where have you been? Know anywhere good to eat? etc. They started cycling in Montreal, and rode to New York. Then they took a train to Colorado and cycled south to Guadalajara. Now they are cycling north to Mazatlan, and then north through Baja and the Pacific Coast all the way back to Vancouver. Knowing the French as we do, I suspect they are both taking a year to do the trip.

Despite our early start, the day got hot. A glance at my thermometer around noon when we were eating lunch showed the mercury at 34C. The heat plus the humidity reminded me a lot of Cuba, and I felt mentally prepared for what lay ahead. In all, I think I knew that today would be 85km, but somehow I think I thought that with the “flat” terrain, we would be faster. C’est la vie! We reached the turn-off for Aconponeta and Teculala, but rather than going to either town, we settled on the Motel Buganbilla (think bougainvillaea). At 150 pesos for the night ($11.50CDN) this is the cheapest hotel we’ve found, and it sort of reminds me of the alojamientos in Cuba. It’s very spartan. The place was hopping when we showed up, but strangely enough, everybody was gone an hour later. That’s when I remembered that motels in Mexico are little love shacks, and usually the rooms are charged by the hour. In our case, I guess they made an exception.

Amanda and I sat in the shade and read, and played guitar until it was time to make dinner. I spent a lot of time in the kitchen talking and helping prepare tostadas, rice and beans for the two of us since the owner let us use her stove. She made the tostadas and I supplied and made the rice and beans. So it all worked out in the end and everybody was happy. Now we’re getting settled into our bed, which clearly wasn’t built to withstand two people on it for more than an hour. Hopefully we can get a good nights sleep!

Amanda writes: Today’s ride seemed to be filled with meeting people. From the guy who used his machete to create a path to the cuota highway, the couple from France and the family that were riding their bikes; it was all about random people. The terrain was nothing spectacular and once we were back on the quota highway I enjoyed the space on the road.

Route Description: This road seemed mostly flat today (check Garmin). We left El Rosario via the libre by accident and then found ourselves trying to get onto the cuota. The first time the two roads intersect there are no on-off ramps so we found a side road that only led us to fenced road. Fortunately there were two men working with machetes that helped us under the fence and cleared some brush with their machetes. After getting on the road we did see some other options as the roads run parallel for a bit. If you stay on the libre just near an overpass (that doesn’t actually have a road attached to it, just an overpass) there is a break in the fence and a gravel path. You can get on here.

The cuota is a good road and while there is truck traffic, you have a great shoulder the entire way. On the right there is a swampy area and I’m sure this region see’s lots of mosquitos. On the left you have the mountains. There are many small roadside stands along the way that were selling shrimp. At the 30 kilometer mark there is a town with food. At 32 kilometers there is a restaurant on the left with trucks and a sleeping area on the right that you could easily camp at. At the 52 kilometer mark there is another town on your left just off the road. At the 78 kilometer mark the fence is moved back from the road about 30 yards and there are trees with shade. In a pinch you could camp here. At about the 80-kilometer mark there are mango trees lining this area and more private opportunities for camping.

Accommodations: Due to the heat we did not try to find a camping spot along the road, although we saw a couple. At the 78 kilometer mark the fence is moved back from the road about 30 yards and there are trees with shade. In a pinch you could camp here. At about the 80-kilometer mark there are mango trees lining this area and more private opportunities for camping. We left the cuota road and headed for Acoponeta. Just after you turn left for the town there is a hotel on your right. We got a clean room for 150 pesos, nothing fancy but clean. Other people told us that the town (5 kilometers further) has other hotels too.

Today’s Photographs