Our route from Oaxaca to San Cristobal – over 400 miles!

View during the climb into Chiapas

Our introduction to Chiapas included another raging headwind combined with an unexpectedly steep 3,000′ climb.  At times it was literally impossible to ride and we had to resort to walking up the hill.  During the wind gusts it was too difficult to even walk, and we had to use our bicycle’s brakes just to keep from getting blown back down the hill.  Yikes!!  Needless to say, it was another day where we didn’t make our intended destination.

The winds were fierce – and so was Jason’s face

We turned off the main road an hour before sunset to seek out a small town to pass the night.  Yet again, we found a tiny town where perhaps no gringo has ever gone.  As we approached the main square we heard fresh bread being announced on the loudspeaker.  We followed this sound to its source: the beer dispensary.  Apparently, a local family uses it as a base to sell all sorts of homemade foods.  The bread was delicious!  We asked everyone we met about who to ask to get permission for camping. The town’s main official was out of town for another few hours, so we set up on a basketball court to make dinner. As we did so wave after wave of interested young men (and a lone woman) came by to gawk at us and ask us questions about our trip.  Luckily, the official eventually returned and let us camp in his mother’s patio.  She was kind to us and showed us her pet squirrel that she had rescued after it was hit by a car.  It was a restful night, but we were ready to be back on the road in the morning.

Countryside during our dirt-road tour towards the Sima

Our next day in Chiapas was supposed to be easy…  but of course it wasn’t.  We had a nice morning of riding up and down rolling hills, and we planned to stay at an ecotourism center situated next to a giant abyss in the ground over 400′ deep.  Unfortunately, we missed the shortcut turnoff and as a result we almost didn’t make it by dark.  The last 8 miles of riding were on a narrow dirt road that led us to the middle of nowhere.  We saw goats, horses, and cows all relaxing on the road.  What we didn’t see were cars or any other tourists, but we bravely rode on.  We emerged into a surprisingly well-kept and lovely area on the edge of an impressive abyss.

Jason is happy to have made it to the top of the 500′ dirt climb

Cattle (almost) blocking the road

The hole in the ground was a real thing!  It was a circular area about 400′ wide that had simply sunk into the ground.  The walls were sheer cliffs 400′ deep.  We camped for free that night in a flat area off to the side and comfortingly nearby were fully functioning restrooms.  The downside was the crazy British man also camping there who proceeded to have loud arguments with himself in the middle of the night.  Luckily, he left us alone and was gone early the next morning.

The Sima de los Cottoras (Sinkhole of the Parrots). Unfortunately for us, the birds migrated north in November so we didn’t get to see their dramatic circular exit at sunrise. (On the other hand, we got to sleep in!)

Traffic as we entered Tuxtla Gutierrez

Our next stop was the capital of Chiapas: Tuxtla Gutierrez.  For the last five or so days we had been seeing caravans of folks running along the road carrying torches.  We learned that these were pilgrimages for the Virgen of Guadalupe, who is very important for Mexicans.  The runners were always accompanied by festively decorated pick-up trucks, mini-vans, or even tractor trailers.  We exchanged waves and honks as we passed and got passed by them on the road.  Their pilgrimages finally ended on December 12, and we were lucky to be in a very major city for the final celebration.  The main street of this hectic town was shut down entirely to make room for pilgrims, street vendors, food, carnival rides, and thousands of pedestrians.  We were delighted by the festivities, if a little overwhelmed.  Once again, we were reminded that Mexico really knows how to party.

Main street turned (mostly) pedestrian during the celebration for the Virgen de Guadalupe

We were surprised to see carnival rides on some of the side streets!

Don’t forget the hundreds of motorcycles that were also part of the parade/pilgrimage – and the noise they made…

Many “colectivos” lined up to take folks all over the place. For less than $1 US each, we got a 20 minute ride.

Initially we planned to spend a single night in Tuxtla, but Jason began to feel a bit unwell the next day so we decided to take a rest.  In the afternoon he felt good enough to venture out of the hostel. We took a collective bus to a nearby town where we boarded a speed boat to take a sightseeing tour of the Sumidero Canyon.  This canyon was impressive for many reasons.  The sides of the canyon rise up to 3000 sheer feet above the water in towering walls.  In the narrow areas that weren’t cliff faces, rain forest abutted the river’s edge.  We even saw a crocodile!  It was a wonderful trip.

The canyon walls were tall and sheer

We loved how the hands went up to take photos – and we got to see it all from the back of the boat. The best was the girl with the full-size iPad.

Water dripped from above and created a formation they call the Christmas tree

This tourist attraction wouldn’t be complete without a floating snack store! (Surprisingly, there weren’t any dogs at this stop…)

The next day we set out for our biggest day of climbing yet on this trip.  It was 6,300′ of elevation gain over 28 miles as we rode to the city of San Cristobal.  It was to be our hardest day yet, and not just for the climbing. In the morning Jason decided he felt good enough to make the climb, so we headed out.  Technically, he was right, but in retrospect we probably should have stayed put.  About 1/3 of the way into the climb Jason was feeling poorly with an upset stomach and a headache.  It was a surprise to both of us when he suddenly vomited in the road during a rest stop.  It sounds horrible, and I guess it was, but after it was over Jason felt much better and remarked that it tasted like a strawberry-banana smoothie.  Bizarre, but oh well.

Daisy’s super-loaded bike

Daisy enjoys a much-earned “elote” for a snack. She even likes the spicy sauce!

I took as much of the weight as I could off of Jason’s bike and we slowly continued climbing. He didn’t feel like eating but I tricked him into eating a lunch of fruits and veggies with peanut butter.  Slowly, slowly, slowly we made it up the mountain.  It was quite a moment of relief when we finally crested the last part of the hill and saw the shining city of San Cristobal in the valley below.

For now, we are staying put in the city while Jason recovers for a bit.  We hypothesize that he ate something that really really didn’t agree with him, and it is just going to take a bit to work its way out of his system.  We plan to stay here for around 5 days to also allow Jason to take some language classes, as long as he feels up to it.  We’ll let you know how it goes!

When last we updated we were in the charmingly named town of Tamazunchale, where we took the laziest rest day ever.  Mostly, we laid in bed and read novels, only venturing outside once to buy food supplies.  It was great!  Since then, we have climbed back up and over the beautiful Sierra Gorda mountains and into the arid Mexican highlands surrounding Mexico City.  We spent an amazing night in a tiny town church celebrating the villages patron’s saint day and learning their traditional dance.  Back in the highlands we stayed with another welcoming host and then did some fast riding to visit ancient ruins – including the third largest pyramid on the planet!

It looks like a short distance – but that elevation profile explains a lot!

Now, some pictures and highlights.   

Climbing high again.

Climbing over the Sierra Gorda again took us three days of effort.  On the first day we enjoyed the climbing and felt good, but the clouds rolled in around 2pm and visibility was so bad that we decided to call it a day.  We got a hotel in a little hill town and I (Daisy) managed to sleep from 7pm until 7am the next day.  This was after I ate most of a large papaya and a big dinner of mole chicken with lentils.  I was stuffed!

Yes, I ate nearly all of it. Then I ate dinner.

This house had coffee drying on the roof. Yum.

The next day we hoped to make a lot of miles (70?), but then reality hit us hard.  There was still about 5,000′ of climbing to do that day, and there was no way.  We did stop for ice cream in a little town after the one bit of downhill for the day.  After that it was up, up, up to about 8,000′.  We entered the high altitude pine forest, which was beautiful, but we were very tired well before our intended stop.

That is when something amazing happened!

The road we followed into the woods, complete with local fauna.

The next little town we came to was called Nogales, and seemed to consist of a few houses, some unfinished, and a tiny little church with a nice flat yard.  We decided to try and get permission to stay in the yard of the church. We couldn’t find anyone, but a couple of teenagers told us that the whole town was at a party up the road. Following their directions, we took a little road a mile into the hills where sure enough, the whole town was having a party.  They had a big tent set up outside a church, with music playing, big pots of tea and punch, and steaming plates of food. Apparently, it is the day of the patron saint of the town, so there was a big fiesta!

Fiesta! This is the only picture we took because it just didn’t feel right to take a ton of photos.

As we rolled up, all the ladies in the food line looked at us curiously, and by the time we parked our bikes and walked over to say hi they had already dished up two plates and sent them over! We were made to sit down with the young folks crowding around us to eat. As we ate they kept bringing us more things to drink – soda, black tea, fruit tea. This whole time we chatted with a growing group of village kids. Eventually we finally got to asking about where we could camp. We got permission to camp “anywhere”, but the food ladies insisted that we sleep in the church kitchen, where it would be warmer.

At this point the party was winding down. Jason and I helped put the chairs away, and Jason helped carry a heavy table back to someone’s house. The matron of the house insisted I go along with him, and then she sat us down in her kitchen to share some spiced Mexican coffee and a crazy fruit that they like to eat with coffee. We spent a while there, and then returned with her and her family to the church. Once there, we were roped into dancing with a small group of the local folks. We learned the traditional dance of that area and had a fun time. Of course, we were really tired by the end of this! We laid down in the church kitchen and were asleep before the dancing was even over. What a night!

Our corner in the church kitchen

The family that adopted us. Jason looks like a giant.

One last look at the wrinkly mountains.

Birthday treats for Daisy.

The next day we finally emerged from the lush mountains and re-entered the arid Mexican highlands.  Not too much to remark about this day except that we finally were able to do decent mileage again.  Also, it was my birthday!  Not that we really remembered or did much to celebrate except for getting a nice(r) hotel room in the next bustling town.  Oh!  We did each eat an entire bag of potato chips in celebration.

The celebrated Christmas tree in Pachuca

We entered the city of Pachuca on another festival day (aren’t we lucky?), and found the central plaza swarming with police and workers setting up stages for musicians.  Apparently it was exactly a month before Christmas and time to light the giant bizarre looking Christmas tree in the central square.  As we later saw, there were even fireworks.  We spent the night with Enrique and his family.  His mother really took us under her wing and insisted we eat, eat, eat.  She also spoke very slowly and clearly so that Jason could understand everything.  His Spanish skills are getting so much better.

Bruno, Enrique’s rescue dog. He was so cute!

Finally, our last highlight for this section was the ruins of Teotihuacan.   We spent the morning visiting the archaeological ruins, which were visually stunning. It was strange to realize, however, that the pyramids and other buildings were mostly just lumps in the field until the Mexican government got to rebuilding it with concrete. We weren’t sure how authentic the rebuild was, but it was still fun to imagine what the site was like a thousand years ago.

Also, the on-site museum was excellent. We particularly enjoyed watching the school field trip groups walking through. The little kids oohed and ahed at the human remains section.

Now, we are heading off into the countryside again to explore some backroads and head south towards Oaxaca.  This upcoming area promises more mountains (no surprise) and also more jungle.  Finally, there are few more random photos I would like to share that didn’t fit anywhere else:

For you, Xiomara!

One of the many unexpected vehicles we see on the roads here. This was a trailer being towed by a motorbike veeery slowly.