May 17th, 2016
Pronounced Toox-tla, a very Americanized Mexican city, with all of the trappings of Western culture, like Burger King and Starbucks, and Quizno’s. What better place to get lost in?
Cycling Stats
Start Point: Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico
Destination: AirBnB Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico
20.5 km trip, 1:47 time, 30.5 km/h maximum speed, 11.4 km/h average speed
Route Description:
Today we simply road from the bus station and meandered through the city. Nothing spectacular, just a city with lots of cars and people.
Accommodations:
There are many hotels to choose from along with AirBnB homes available. We chose an AirBnB that was reasonable in cost. Selecting your hotel is dependant where you want to be.
What happened…
Andrew writes: So our bus pulled into Tuxtla Gutierrez at around 0500hrs and I felt like such a zombie so we just sat in the bus terminal with one eye closed and the other eye on our bikes. I had done some searching on AirBnB and kept hoping that we would get a reply in the morning so that we could check in right away. While waiting for a reply, we rode through the city. It’s full of American stores and restaurants, but at least there is a bike lane down one street. We’ve been in our share of world-class cities over the last two years, and well…Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital city of Chiapas, is not one of them. For us, T.G. was a place to do laundry and relax for a day or two. We pulled up outside of the AirBnB we had hoped to stay, and Amanda went and dropped off our bag of laundry. Then I got an e-mail saying that we couldn’t get a reservation. We hurried back to the lavanderia but she had already started our load, and it would be ready at about 1700hrs. By hook or by crook we ended up on the other side of town, and I would spend 2 hours on the following day taking a the “collectivo” buses to go and get our laundry. Our hostess was really nice, and a real God-fearing woman. I enjoyed talking with her, although it made me feel a little uneasy, perhaps embarrassed how she would go on about God protecting us on our journey…but when I stop to think about it after the fact, I’m happy knowing that we are in someones prayers, and that someone or something greater is looking out for us.
Amanda writes: Take a couple of days rest was nice. Our host Patricia was so kind and she really opened her home to us. She could see we were rather warm upon arrival and got a fan on us immediately and shared some iced tea and mangos. Over the course of our two days there she made us feel at home. Combined with her genuine blessings we felt recharged and protected as we ventured on the next leg of our journey.