chasingsummerp.013

Chasing Summer p.013

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Oct 27th - Batopilas

Still no phone this morning; At least I had kept my hopes low. I cross my fingers for my friends to arrive and that’s about all I can do: I know that they were in Creel yesterday so it would not make sense to look for a pick-up today and pass them on the way!

I visit other parts of the city like one of the few perpendicular streets going up the hill. The houses seem way poorer there.

The limits of the city are rather rough...

But the streets are lively

“The Hacienda” ruins date from the glory days of Batopilas starting in 1880 with the purchase of the San Miguel mine by Alexander Shepherd. The former governor of Washington D.C. lived in Batopilas with his entire family and his operations included a dam, and 5-km long aqueduct. That system provided water for the first hydroelectric plant in Mexico.

Finally around 3:30 PM I hear a familiar sound! I run down the street to catch then and here they are! It’s so great to see them and to have finally the 3 amigos together! They rode from SF to Creel in only 3 days and arrived like promised on Thursday night there by 11:59 PM, but technically they made it

. They had to do half of the extremely twisty road 16 at night and when they finally arrived in Creel all the hotels were closed. They were so tired and cold that they just slept between their bikes more or less on a side street. Creel is about 2300 m high and the nights go down to 20F.

I’m of course anxious to see the clutch line they got for me and all. When I see the bag my hear sinks: it’s visibly too short! I verify right away and yes it’s indeed way to short.

The KTM dealer in Chihuahua had told me on the phone that he thought all KTM clutch cables were the same. That surprised me but what do I know? It looks like they may be the same for all their dirt bikes but the 950 being a much longer bike obviously needs a longer cable. After so many days waiting for it, it’s all for nothing and I don’t know when and where we could get the right one!

The other issue is that they have not even 1000 pesos (less than $100) between the 2 of them. The ATM was broken when they left and they thought it would not be a big deal anyway since they would be back with me just one day later. So, it’s back to the exact same issue for me but it feels good to not be by myself to tackle them.

Later this afternoon, around a beer, we try to evaluate our options: either we find a pick-up to carry the bike to creel, or one guy rides to creel to get more cash while we order the part, or we find a way to ride the bike out. I spent some time asking everyone in town for a ride and the only possibility was 2,700 pesos! I’m still hoping to find someone who would not do the trip just for me but would just take me along and so I decline the offer. In the same time, tomorrow is Sunday so there will be no delivery and probably no truck on the road either.

Besides that I’m playing the ‘tourist guide’ for my friends, which doesn’t take too long around here. Even more Tarahumaras are showing up on their traditional clothes.

I don’t think that the plants could damage the seals and the feel at the lever is pretty good, now we’ll have to see how it really works…

I go for a quick test ride in town and although the riding position is very uncomfortable, the clutch itself works perfectly!

A goodbye tour to the city. This guy rode 3 days from the mountains to come here and guide a tourist on the trail to Urique.

The plaza where I spent so much time

Teryk and Andy come back from the mission (16 kms round-trip) on only 3.5 hours! We grab lunch, say Adios to the abuela and leave Batopilas around 1 PM. No trouble for me, even if the handlebars position is not good (especially standing up) the bike is definitely rideable.

Getting ready

One more pictures of the road coming out of Batopilas.

I’m waiting on this spectacular viewpoint to take a picture of the 2 other bikes when I realize that it’s been way too long and that they should be by the bridge by then.

I do a U-turn to check them out and indeed there is a problem: a truck going downhill was not leaving any space to the bikes! Andy was barely able to ‘survive’ by stopping and laying on the cliff side, while Teryk, in a bad spot couldn’t avoid crashing in the ditch. Unfortunately his right foot got caught between a rock and his side bag and the Daytona boots being very flexible (sole non protective) he hurt his foot pretty bad.

After a while and a couple of Ibuprofen Teryk gets on his bike again and despite the pain we’re on our way to Creel. Yes, there is a motorcycle in this picture...

You always need to be cautious when passing traffic

It’s pretty hot so we don’t stop much on the dirt road but the more we climb, the cooler it is and the paved section is again a blast.

Arrived in Creel it seems quite crowded to me after several days in the quietness of Batopilas. It’s good to be back “in the world” though and to have access to Internet cafes.

Oct 29th - Creel

Teryk’s foot is still quite painful and so we decide to stay one more night in Creel. As usual the weather is gorgeous, even though Creel is really cold when the sun is not present.

We’re enjoying a leisurely morning, with of course time spent on the ride report. I call a KTM dealer on a town 3-4 days further south but he’s not open on Monday.

On the afternoon, it’s laundry time and mechanic time: I put back my street tires back on while Teryk works on his Autocom and other things.

After dinner we discuss about the itinerary since Teryk is OK to try riding despite his foot. A bad news pops up in the conversation: Andy has realized that without Spanish he cannot communicate with most of the locals and so he is eager to take Spanish lessons ASAP rather than crossing Mexico without being able to speak.

So he will ride with us for a while but we will continue without him when he will find a place he likes to learn Spanish. Andy was the latest (and very welcomed) addition to the team and because of that he feels that the trip would not be jeopardized by his departure. It’s true indeed but it’s still deceiving even though I understand his point of view. Not being in a schedule he has to set priorities differently. Actually Teryk too has way more time that I have so we hope that our pace will be compatible, if not he might also stay longer in some place in South America.

Oct 30th - Creel to Hidalgo del Parral

Interactive maps: http://www.gpsxchange.com/phpBB2/download2.php?id=1444

Before leaving I finally get the Leon KTM dealer on the phone: they don’t have the part in stock but they will check if they can get it. From my understanding either it’s available in a local warehouse and they will have it in a week or it will take about a month!

We go again on that section of paved road towards Batopilas. It’s the 3rd time but it’s still as fantastic. We then take a road going SW towards Hidalgo del Parral. This is a beautiful road too, including the scenery. We stay at high elevation (2300-2700 m) so the temperature is perfect.

It's hard to see in the picture but the road was really awesome in this picture...

In most places we've been so far they don't use tractors and so the fields have an unusual look (for us)

We arrive at 3:30 PM in Parral and try to have lunch there but it’s not easy to find a place opened since it’s siesta time. After lunch it’s already past 4 PM which leaves only 1.5 hours of light. Since we have a good feeling about the town and there’s not much after it on the road we decide to stay there for tonight.

We find an hotel recommended by the Lonely Planet. Everything there is like it was 40 years ago but the people are extremely nice and let us put our bikes in the hotel’s hall.

The room is fine but the best part is the terrace that offers the best view in town.

Besides the very beautiful cathedral the most noticeable thing about this town is that in just 2-3 blocks we count 25 shoe stores! Seriously, it’s a very agreeable place with very nice people.

On TV at the restaurant we hear that there are massive flooding in the state of Tabasco with more than 12,000 people evacuated. It’s really bad indeed but Palenque should be the closest we would ever get to that state so hopefully we’ll keep a blue sky above our heads

Oct 31st - Hidalgo del Parral to Durango

Interactive maps: http://www.gpsxchange.com/phpBB2/download2.php?id=1445

We have fresh fruit juice and pastries in one of those street shops facing the cathedral. There are about 4 of them attached, exactly on the same ‘model’. They also all have a small TV, something I’ve even seen on shoe shinning stands! We then visit the very beautiful inside of the Cathedral before to leave.

The road 45 seems really straight on the map so we’re trying a smaller parallel West of it. The goal is also to check the small village of Canutillo that’s highlighted on the map. On the few kilometers to the village the road is filled with potholes and we have to keep it slow. Arriving to this small village in middle of nowhere the mission really stands out.

Nice effort on the lighting

Part of the building (that used to be an hacienda) was also the residence of Pancho Villa and is now a very modest museum for him.

We test the road after the village but there are only minor dirt roads ahead so we go back to the 45. It’s rather narrow but unfortunately a very long section of it is as predicted as straight as an ‘I’. It’s quite surprising considering that we’re still around 2000 m elevation where you would expect high mountains instead of what seems almost like a valley or a plateau.

We keep ourselves entertained on that straight stretch of road.

We arrive around 3:30 PM in Durango. We still have 2 hours of daylight maximum but it’s a city worth visiting so we decide to stay there.

First look at the cathedral

The hotel recommended is right by the cathedral and being 150 years old has a lot of character. And again we’re extremely lucky with the view offered by our room!

Tonight is the beginning of the celebrations of the Dias del muertos (days of the dead people) that will last for about 3 days. The plaza is getting crowded and a show will start soon.

Andy is taking some amazing night pictures and share them (on the screen at least) with the children...

Decoration of the plaza's center

We walk quite a lot on the streets and Durango is definitely more upscale than the places we’ve been into so far.

This is an ex-palace from ones of the 'Silver barons' that is now transformed in offices for the administration.

One of the Police's bikes...

On a side note we are surprised to see how though it is, for a city that size, to find any Internet place opened after 8 PM.

Nov 1st - Durango to Zacacetas

Interactive maps: http://www.gpsxchange.com/phpBB2/download2.php?id=1446

We haven’t covered much ground lately and our goal is to leave early this morning to get a good day of riding. We skip breakfast and leave at the record (for us) 7:45 AM towards Zacatecas that we’re planning to visit. 50 kms later Andy tells us on the radio that he’ll stop for a minute to put his liner and he will catch up later. We slow down an continue on our way. 10 minutes later there is still no sign of Andy so we wait for him on the side of the road. We wait and wait until we finally hear his voice on the radio: looking for his liner he realized that he had forgot his tourist card and vehicle permit in the hotel!

He will go back to get them while we will wait for him in Zacatecas, 250 kms down the road.

The elevation is still high (2000 m in average) and it’s pretty cold even with the sun higher. It’s actually a good surprise: I was afraid that Mexico would be really hot in this season but, besides at the border the temperatures were always mild or even cold.

The road to Zacatecas is not bad and we arrive there at 11:30 AM. We enter the city through a side way, coming down the hills and we immediately love those steep and narrow cobble streets. We stop at the first placita where we see an internet place to check our mail in case Andy run into problems. As you can see, there is nothing special but we just love the character of it.

Nope, no messages from him so we head towards the central place (called again “Plaza de Armas”) where we’re supposed to meet Andy. It's located just by the amazing cathedral.

No one there yet, so we leave a note on the bikes and go grab something to eat. When we come back there is still no sign of Andy so we update the note and go for a nice walk around the town.

Many places are decorated for the 'Dias del Muertos' celebration.

By then it’s almost 2 PM and it seems that our best option will be to stay here tonight, which would be nice because the city is really great. At 2:30 PM we head back to the bikes and are relieved to see Andy who had just arrived. He went back to the hotel in Durango, realized that his papers were not in the room and so emptied all his bags until he finally found them!

There are plenty of hotels close to the cathedral but Teryk and I are really tempted to go back to the ‘hills neighborhood’ instead. We find there a very nice and cheap hostel that let us park our bikes inside and has a nice terrace with great views.

We spend the rest of the day walking around. I so love the narrow streets that remind me of Europe. Zacatecas is a medium size city (120,000 people) funded in 1548 and so with many historic buildings. Today is more for children in the ‘Day of Muertos’ celebration so we can see many of them, all costumed and asking for candies. I notice that they target mostly shops rather than houses. Unlike in the US, kids are usually serious (i.e no big smile) when you take a picture of them...

One of the costume 'competition'. Most people have pretty elaborate costume and make-up. Not sure why but we notice that the 'dead bride' is quite`popular with the girls of all ages.

In one of the small streets we see a minuscule machine shop where an old guy is fabricating something, listening to a big band jazz. I ask him what he’s making and he invite us in to show the ‘pinion’ he’s making, tooth by tooth with no other measurement than his eyes and experience.

There is one thing that could definitely be improved here: the omnipresent cables

And if there are not enough cables, you use a broom and just add one

One more serious bride...

I could (and we did!) spend hours on those narrow streets

Quite a funky house!

Zacatecas is located in a narrow and steep valley, so there is a lot to climb on each side...

It’s getting colder (the elevation is 2,500 m) when we start looking for a place to eat.

Not that many restaurants for such a big town and so the one we find is not great for the price.

The decision was not easy to take but we’ll stay longuer in Zacatecas. It’s not difficult to be charmed by this city and it’s also the main celebration evening for the dias del muertos which should be quite interesting. The hard part is “Can I afford it time wise? What will have to be sacrificed later down the road?” I need to be in Costa Rica on the 22^nd of November to meet my family flying there and I’m really looking forward to enjoy their company for a week there.

I usually don’t like scheduling stops ahead of time. For me planning the route with main point of interest and different options is fine and even necessary since you have limited time for research when on the road. However, planning the place for every night, even in a loose schedule would dramatically reduce my feeling of freedom. So, the way we’ve done it for Alaska for example, was to calculate the average mileage that needed to be done by day. If we wanted to stay 2 days in the same place we knew that we would have to ride more the following days. It’s also easy to do checkpoints: “OK, we’ve been gone for 10 days, so we should have done more or less that many miles - do we have some slack or should we hurry?”.

So far we’ve been spending more time than scheduled in Mexico but I must say that the towns have been getting better and better.

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