World Tour - Europe, Asia, North and South America - Entries for: Mexico
39° | sunny | km 1573
Finally free again!
on 2017-08-09 in Mexico
We crossed the borer into Mexico and were immediately surprised by the fact that there was no border control of any sorts. No stamp in our passports nothing. No one even had a single look at our bikes or our documents. Therefore we crossed in a matter of minutes and soon got the feeling that our journey, the real adventure finally continued. We instantly felt very comfortable in Mexico, everything was a bit more dirty and dusty. The roads had all sorts of crossings, some let into dirt roads, the traffic was chaotic. Things are being repaired right on the street, welder weld in public. What can we say we felt at home and we were happy.
We arrived in Ensenada that night, where Steffi was waiting for us in a Motel, because her Visa was a day short and Fabi had brought her here the day before. With an empty stomach we decided to go for a walk and find something local to eat. We chose the first place which looked open and busy. We tried basically everything they had on the menu. Everything was cheap compared to the US and it tasted great. The beer costs 1,50 $ and it tasted awesome. The whole ambiance reminded us a bit of south east Asia. What a nice contrast to the sterile parking lot feel of many US food places. The food tasted great even though we did not know most of what we had ordered. All in all after a great dinner we slept very well that first night in Mexico.
Over the course of the next week we rode further south through the famous Baja California. Every once in a while we were reminded of childhood cartoons like roadrunner, just because this scenery looked very much like in the cartoons. A lonesome road through the vast rocky desert. Cacti to the left and right amidst sand and dried out brushes. So our journey continued along highway 1, the only good tarmac road to the south.
Obviously the road got soon a bit too boring for us and so we decided to spend a day on the many gravel and dirt roads through the desert. Since we had no idea about the road conditions we planned only 200 kilometers for the first day. What a great idea!! The first 50 kilometers we road on a newly maintained gravel road at high speeds. The next 50 were a bit more bumpy but still we were making good paste and we were feeling very confident that we would make it easily before sunset. But when we turned right at an intersection we suddenly stopped in our tracks. You can say from full speed to no speed in under 10 yards... The "road" ahead was deep sand with cacti bordering to the left and right. Just wide enough for a small four wheeler. It took us about half an hour for the first kilometer. After which we decided to spend some time in the shade of a nearby brush cooling down and discussing the further game plan. Turning around was off the table because none of us wanted to go all the way back. Our navigators reminded us that we still had 95 kilometers ahead. If all of them would be under these conditions we were looking at another full day of riding at least. There was no other option, so we let the air out of our tires and soldiered on. Fully packed it was more than a struggle but after a while we got the hang of it. In the distance we saw some mountains and we quickly convinced each other that the sand must stop there. And it appeared as if we were right, after another exhausting 20 kilometers we arrived at the bottom of the hill on a tarmac road. We immediately inflated our tires and were looking forward to ride the following 70 kilometers towards the main road. As it turned out the tarmac only led up the mountain from which point on we headed further on gravel and sand. In the end we also managed those 69,5 kilometers and were very happy to have made it back to highway 1. Still it was an awesome day and we are very glad to have made it.
On Sunday we rode together to the harbor of La Paz in order to get our bikes on the next ferry to the Mexican mainland. At the ticket office we were immediately asked about a tourist card and a temporary importation permit for our bikes. We had not been told about any of these documents on the border and so we had none of them. After telling the guy behind the counter that we had neither we hoped to be able to get the documents at the next customs office or airport. To our great disappointment this was not possible, the only place to get these documents was at the border almost 1000 miles behind us. We talked about all our options and after trying the airport as well as the local customs office we had to give in and started our way back to the border between the US and Mexico...
We arrived in Ensenada that night, where Steffi was waiting for us in a Motel, because her Visa was a day short and Fabi had brought her here the day before. With an empty stomach we decided to go for a walk and find something local to eat. We chose the first place which looked open and busy. We tried basically everything they had on the menu. Everything was cheap compared to the US and it tasted great. The beer costs 1,50 $ and it tasted awesome. The whole ambiance reminded us a bit of south east Asia. What a nice contrast to the sterile parking lot feel of many US food places. The food tasted great even though we did not know most of what we had ordered. All in all after a great dinner we slept very well that first night in Mexico.
Over the course of the next week we rode further south through the famous Baja California. Every once in a while we were reminded of childhood cartoons like roadrunner, just because this scenery looked very much like in the cartoons. A lonesome road through the vast rocky desert. Cacti to the left and right amidst sand and dried out brushes. So our journey continued along highway 1, the only good tarmac road to the south.
Obviously the road got soon a bit too boring for us and so we decided to spend a day on the many gravel and dirt roads through the desert. Since we had no idea about the road conditions we planned only 200 kilometers for the first day. What a great idea!! The first 50 kilometers we road on a newly maintained gravel road at high speeds. The next 50 were a bit more bumpy but still we were making good paste and we were feeling very confident that we would make it easily before sunset. But when we turned right at an intersection we suddenly stopped in our tracks. You can say from full speed to no speed in under 10 yards... The "road" ahead was deep sand with cacti bordering to the left and right. Just wide enough for a small four wheeler. It took us about half an hour for the first kilometer. After which we decided to spend some time in the shade of a nearby brush cooling down and discussing the further game plan. Turning around was off the table because none of us wanted to go all the way back. Our navigators reminded us that we still had 95 kilometers ahead. If all of them would be under these conditions we were looking at another full day of riding at least. There was no other option, so we let the air out of our tires and soldiered on. Fully packed it was more than a struggle but after a while we got the hang of it. In the distance we saw some mountains and we quickly convinced each other that the sand must stop there. And it appeared as if we were right, after another exhausting 20 kilometers we arrived at the bottom of the hill on a tarmac road. We immediately inflated our tires and were looking forward to ride the following 70 kilometers towards the main road. As it turned out the tarmac only led up the mountain from which point on we headed further on gravel and sand. In the end we also managed those 69,5 kilometers and were very happy to have made it back to highway 1. Still it was an awesome day and we are very glad to have made it.
On Sunday we rode together to the harbor of La Paz in order to get our bikes on the next ferry to the Mexican mainland. At the ticket office we were immediately asked about a tourist card and a temporary importation permit for our bikes. We had not been told about any of these documents on the border and so we had none of them. After telling the guy behind the counter that we had neither we hoped to be able to get the documents at the next customs office or airport. To our great disappointment this was not possible, the only place to get these documents was at the border almost 1000 miles behind us. We talked about all our options and after trying the airport as well as the local customs office we had to give in and started our way back to the border between the US and Mexico...
42° | sunny | km 3900
Riding for miles and miles
on 2017-08-23 in Mexico
We quickly shook off our disappointment the next morning, set course to Mexicali at the border. Planning the route was easy. We set our Navigators to "Fastest Route" and after a short calculation time we noted that we had 900 miles ahead of us. The next two days we got up early rode the entire day and only stopped for food or gas. We rushed through the Baja California North and found ourselves back at the border in just two days. We quickly got our tourist cards for about 30$. For the temporary import permits we had to go to a military bank to put a deposit down for the bikes. This bank was sadly not at our border point but at the other one in town. Luckily it was not too far away and they were still open when we arrived. So we got all the paperwork sorted out and after about 2 hours we were back on the road with all necessary documents for the Mexican mainland. Sun was already setting but we still decided to ride further South East at night. We did not plan to spend a night at the border to the US and so we continued on for about 60 miles. We found a nice little motel in the end and fell exhausted but relived into our beds.
Since we did not want to loose too much time because of our detour, but we also did not want to continue riding like through the Baja before, we agreed to take roughly 3 days for the 800 miles towards Los Mochis where our ferry would have eventually landed. The roads were quite boring since they stretched for many miles straight along the ocean but the countryside and scenery along our way was breathtaking at times. On the North East coast of the Gulf of California we suddenly rode through some beautiful sand dunes and large dried out flatlands. But the scenery changed constantly. In a matter of miles we rode out of the sandy part of Mexico that we knew and into a green jungle like region that we had not expected. We were suddenly surrounded by trees, palm trees and lots and lots of other plants. When we finally left the coast and turned towards the mountains we were eager to get going on some of the mountain roads. Some of the passes went over 8000 feet and we quickly left the 110°F temperatures behind us. We enjoyed a couple of days riding through the mountains without having a certain destination and simply explored the Mexican outdoors.
A couple of days later we found ourselves looking for another cheap place to spend the night when suddenly a nice driver in a Mustang stopped behind us. He stopped when we stopped and asked if he could help us out somehow. In the blink of an eye we decided to take him up on his offer and so we followed Salvador and his son Salvador to the nice Hotel Hacienda de los Galvez at the outskirts of the small village Colotlán. We decided to meet back up later to spend the evening and enjoy some local cuisine. We talked about his passion for bikes and that he was a member in a local small biker club. Luckily he and his son spoke good English because our beginners Spanish would not have allowed for much conversation. We decided to end the night with a bottle of Tequila "Tradicional", together with the owner of the hotel. The next morning he also invited us for probably the best breakfast we will have in Mexico. Thank you all for an unforgettable time in Colotlán.
On an entirely different note we noticed that a lot of the "Motels" were in fact payed by the hour. We have found them in and around every city and they usually are completely upfront about it. From menus with sex toys, viagra or lingerie to sex chairs and porn channels on TV. Good about these establishments was that each apartment had their own parking lot with at least some plastic curtain for privacy reasons. Overall all of them were very clean and well maintained. The only thing missing was a catalog with women, these you still had to bring by yourself.
When we parted ways with another one of these hotels we set out for one of our more unlucky days of this journey. It already started with rain in the morning and after just a few meters Fabi noticed on his bordcomputer a yellow warning light. His rear tire had lost over 1 Bar over the last night and so we knew that we had to stop at the next gas station and take a closer look. We quickly found two small punctures which we luckily could fix quickly with plugs. We have to give a little sympathy in this occasion because anything that Fabi owns what is supposed to keep air in, has had punctures by now. Sleeping mattress, pillow, tent, a couple of times the front and rear tire, a lot of fixed punctures started leaking again. But for this day the fix held up and in the end we arrived save and sound in our next destination.
Since we did not want to loose too much time because of our detour, but we also did not want to continue riding like through the Baja before, we agreed to take roughly 3 days for the 800 miles towards Los Mochis where our ferry would have eventually landed. The roads were quite boring since they stretched for many miles straight along the ocean but the countryside and scenery along our way was breathtaking at times. On the North East coast of the Gulf of California we suddenly rode through some beautiful sand dunes and large dried out flatlands. But the scenery changed constantly. In a matter of miles we rode out of the sandy part of Mexico that we knew and into a green jungle like region that we had not expected. We were suddenly surrounded by trees, palm trees and lots and lots of other plants. When we finally left the coast and turned towards the mountains we were eager to get going on some of the mountain roads. Some of the passes went over 8000 feet and we quickly left the 110°F temperatures behind us. We enjoyed a couple of days riding through the mountains without having a certain destination and simply explored the Mexican outdoors.
A couple of days later we found ourselves looking for another cheap place to spend the night when suddenly a nice driver in a Mustang stopped behind us. He stopped when we stopped and asked if he could help us out somehow. In the blink of an eye we decided to take him up on his offer and so we followed Salvador and his son Salvador to the nice Hotel Hacienda de los Galvez at the outskirts of the small village Colotlán. We decided to meet back up later to spend the evening and enjoy some local cuisine. We talked about his passion for bikes and that he was a member in a local small biker club. Luckily he and his son spoke good English because our beginners Spanish would not have allowed for much conversation. We decided to end the night with a bottle of Tequila "Tradicional", together with the owner of the hotel. The next morning he also invited us for probably the best breakfast we will have in Mexico. Thank you all for an unforgettable time in Colotlán.
On an entirely different note we noticed that a lot of the "Motels" were in fact payed by the hour. We have found them in and around every city and they usually are completely upfront about it. From menus with sex toys, viagra or lingerie to sex chairs and porn channels on TV. Good about these establishments was that each apartment had their own parking lot with at least some plastic curtain for privacy reasons. Overall all of them were very clean and well maintained. The only thing missing was a catalog with women, these you still had to bring by yourself.
When we parted ways with another one of these hotels we set out for one of our more unlucky days of this journey. It already started with rain in the morning and after just a few meters Fabi noticed on his bordcomputer a yellow warning light. His rear tire had lost over 1 Bar over the last night and so we knew that we had to stop at the next gas station and take a closer look. We quickly found two small punctures which we luckily could fix quickly with plugs. We have to give a little sympathy in this occasion because anything that Fabi owns what is supposed to keep air in, has had punctures by now. Sleeping mattress, pillow, tent, a couple of times the front and rear tire, a lot of fixed punctures started leaking again. But for this day the fix held up and in the end we arrived save and sound in our next destination.
21° | sunny / rainy | km 1110
Sierra Madre and the Mayas
on 2017-08-31 in Mexico
We headed further through the so called Sierra Madre mountains. The roads were completely free of traffic and therefore we could simply enjoy riding once again. The only thing we had to watch out for was fallen rocks and debris on the road.
We reached the grottoes of Tolantongo after just a short while. Sometime before our journey we had seen pictures of this unique turquoise river flowing threw a small valley. To make things even more incredible we were told that the water would have a nice warm temperature since it comes from a nearby hot spring. We were intrigued to say the least. Since we arrived late in the evening we decided to go to bed first and enjoy ourselves the next day.
Our room had a small balcony and from it we had a clear view of the nearby river. And it did not disappoint. Right after getting out of bed we were able to have an extraordinary glance at the crystal turquoise water. It almost looked surreal. So we stuffed some food into ourselves as quickly as possible because we did want to head out as soon as possible. The entire area looked like it could hold tons of tourists during tourist season, lucky for us it was not tourist season right now. The water was nice and warm and after going to the nearby waterfalls and caves we slowly drifted down the river towards the basins at the bottom. From the basins we had an incredible view of the surrounding valley. All in all it was am extraordinary experience and one we will surely never forget.
We headed directly from the grottoes to Teotihuacan, our first Mayan temples. It was not as big as we had anticipated and so we were done after about two hours. It is kind of sad that due to the Spanish settlers most relics had been destroyed and so a lot of history was lost about the Mayan culture. We still had a great sense of what this foreign culture had achieved with these monuments and cities. Another completely new culture for us and therefore more than worth the visit.
We reached the grottoes of Tolantongo after just a short while. Sometime before our journey we had seen pictures of this unique turquoise river flowing threw a small valley. To make things even more incredible we were told that the water would have a nice warm temperature since it comes from a nearby hot spring. We were intrigued to say the least. Since we arrived late in the evening we decided to go to bed first and enjoy ourselves the next day.
Our room had a small balcony and from it we had a clear view of the nearby river. And it did not disappoint. Right after getting out of bed we were able to have an extraordinary glance at the crystal turquoise water. It almost looked surreal. So we stuffed some food into ourselves as quickly as possible because we did want to head out as soon as possible. The entire area looked like it could hold tons of tourists during tourist season, lucky for us it was not tourist season right now. The water was nice and warm and after going to the nearby waterfalls and caves we slowly drifted down the river towards the basins at the bottom. From the basins we had an incredible view of the surrounding valley. All in all it was am extraordinary experience and one we will surely never forget.
We headed directly from the grottoes to Teotihuacan, our first Mayan temples. It was not as big as we had anticipated and so we were done after about two hours. It is kind of sad that due to the Spanish settlers most relics had been destroyed and so a lot of history was lost about the Mayan culture. We still had a great sense of what this foreign culture had achieved with these monuments and cities. Another completely new culture for us and therefore more than worth the visit.
30° | sunny / rainy | km 2497
Adiós Mexico
on 2017-09-03 in Mexico
We decided to skip Mexico City and were eager to head into the mountain range south of it. Our excitement did not last for too long though because we headed from one heavy thunderstorm into the next. The fog was so dense at times that we barely could see the bike ahead of us. To make matters worse the roads turned into slippery hell when wet, so we had to go much slower than we wanted and soon were fed up by these conditions. We decided that we couldn't take this miserable weather no more and so we headed on the shortest and quickest road out of the mountains towards the general direction of Cancun.
It turned out to be the right decision because once we left the mountain range it rained much less and we were able to pick up some speed on the well maintained highways. It only took us two days to reach Palenque, another town near Mayan excavations. The town thrives due to tourism attracted by the ruins. So we quickly found us a nice hotel for the following two nights. The Mayan ruins were well restored and gave an incredible insight of the Mayan culture and architecture. On some of the temples there were still Mayan symbols to be found. Quite an extraordinary sight since most of the temples had been destroyed or poorly renovated by the Spanish colonialists. It is a marvelous experience to walk through ancient ruins like these and to swell in the atmosphere of past civilizations.
After Palenque we headed further east towards Cancun. But no matter how straight and little populated the road, no matter how small the village, Mexico is by far the number one in laying down speed bumps. It is one of the most annoying things in Mexico, because most of them are barely visible or at complete and utterless senseless locations. Almost daily we were at least thrown once out of our seats shortly after hearing our front forks being brought to their limits. We believe to have had more break wear in Mexico than in the past 30000 miles. In Cancun we split up for a short time again, because Denis, Heather, Steffi and Fabi decided to enjoy a couple of times in an all inclusive hotel near Tulum. Basti meanwhile explored more of the area surrounding Cancun.
Basti had decided that he had not seen enough of the Mayas yet and therefore he headed straight to Chichén Itzá. But since the ruins were quite close to Cancun and other tourist spots in this area, it turned out to be too busy for his taste. On top the entrance fee was more than quadruple than those of other historic places. All in all Palenque was much more worth seeing in his opinion.
On the way to Cancun he decided to try to see a couple of flamingos near Rio Lagartos. It was not the right time for the usually huge flocks of flamingos but after a while he was happy to have seen some. A truly unique experience!
From Cancun he took the Ferry to Isla Mujeres. Thanks to a friendly Mexican he was able to move into a nice apartment right at the ocean for a good price. At lunch he met a crazy group of Americans that told him about their incredible experiences snorkeling around the island. He decided to look for one of these trips in the city and soon he had found a tour to swim with whale sharks. Since he had never swam with a bigger fish he was quite nervous about swimming with the largest fish of the seas. But once he was brought up close by the boats there was no time to think about it. Since they are so fast you have to brought up close to them and hope that they swim towards you. They swim along the surface totally calm and majestic. Since their movement is rather slow and predictable, Basti did not feel uncomfortable going up close with them. He enjoyed himself very much watching this incredible creature glide through the water.
Five days later we were back together. Steffis flight turned out to be delayed for an entire day, since the planes were used to evacuate the islands endangered by the hurricane Irma. The following day she made it to the airplane safely and we had to say our farewells. Steffi had been with us for the past 4 months from Washington D.C. to Cancun in Mexico. The time flew by and we had a lot of fun together, glad you could make time!
Consequently after Steffis departure we were back to the infamous threesome! Basti, Denis and Fabi gathered their belongings and rode towards the border. We have spent a little over a month in Mexico and we have to say we had a great time! The people are friendly and hospitable, we had never worried about us or our bikes. It is sad that this country has such a bad reputation because we had no bad experience whatsoever.
Happy and with a good feeling we crossed the border without any issues towards Belize. Muchas gracias, adiós Mexico!
It turned out to be the right decision because once we left the mountain range it rained much less and we were able to pick up some speed on the well maintained highways. It only took us two days to reach Palenque, another town near Mayan excavations. The town thrives due to tourism attracted by the ruins. So we quickly found us a nice hotel for the following two nights. The Mayan ruins were well restored and gave an incredible insight of the Mayan culture and architecture. On some of the temples there were still Mayan symbols to be found. Quite an extraordinary sight since most of the temples had been destroyed or poorly renovated by the Spanish colonialists. It is a marvelous experience to walk through ancient ruins like these and to swell in the atmosphere of past civilizations.
After Palenque we headed further east towards Cancun. But no matter how straight and little populated the road, no matter how small the village, Mexico is by far the number one in laying down speed bumps. It is one of the most annoying things in Mexico, because most of them are barely visible or at complete and utterless senseless locations. Almost daily we were at least thrown once out of our seats shortly after hearing our front forks being brought to their limits. We believe to have had more break wear in Mexico than in the past 30000 miles. In Cancun we split up for a short time again, because Denis, Heather, Steffi and Fabi decided to enjoy a couple of times in an all inclusive hotel near Tulum. Basti meanwhile explored more of the area surrounding Cancun.
Basti had decided that he had not seen enough of the Mayas yet and therefore he headed straight to Chichén Itzá. But since the ruins were quite close to Cancun and other tourist spots in this area, it turned out to be too busy for his taste. On top the entrance fee was more than quadruple than those of other historic places. All in all Palenque was much more worth seeing in his opinion.
On the way to Cancun he decided to try to see a couple of flamingos near Rio Lagartos. It was not the right time for the usually huge flocks of flamingos but after a while he was happy to have seen some. A truly unique experience!
From Cancun he took the Ferry to Isla Mujeres. Thanks to a friendly Mexican he was able to move into a nice apartment right at the ocean for a good price. At lunch he met a crazy group of Americans that told him about their incredible experiences snorkeling around the island. He decided to look for one of these trips in the city and soon he had found a tour to swim with whale sharks. Since he had never swam with a bigger fish he was quite nervous about swimming with the largest fish of the seas. But once he was brought up close by the boats there was no time to think about it. Since they are so fast you have to brought up close to them and hope that they swim towards you. They swim along the surface totally calm and majestic. Since their movement is rather slow and predictable, Basti did not feel uncomfortable going up close with them. He enjoyed himself very much watching this incredible creature glide through the water.
Five days later we were back together. Steffis flight turned out to be delayed for an entire day, since the planes were used to evacuate the islands endangered by the hurricane Irma. The following day she made it to the airplane safely and we had to say our farewells. Steffi had been with us for the past 4 months from Washington D.C. to Cancun in Mexico. The time flew by and we had a lot of fun together, glad you could make time!
Consequently after Steffis departure we were back to the infamous threesome! Basti, Denis and Fabi gathered their belongings and rode towards the border. We have spent a little over a month in Mexico and we have to say we had a great time! The people are friendly and hospitable, we had never worried about us or our bikes. It is sad that this country has such a bad reputation because we had no bad experience whatsoever.
Happy and with a good feeling we crossed the border without any issues towards Belize. Muchas gracias, adiós Mexico!