July 27
Early to bed and early to rise! We got up and out early (on the road by 8:30 am), which was fortuitous, as there was construction right out front the hotel. Which, apparently, was in the process of expanding. And, apparently, expanding without warning the businesses/patrons on the other side of the construction. None of the cars nor the big bus in the parking lot of Hotel Pepe’s were able to leave the hotel come 8 am… For how long? When would they be able to get back on the highway???They didn’t know (I talked with the bus driver - he was pissed!). Wha?!? Can you imagine… taking a bus in the USA (so you and 40+ other people) and getting stuck on the wrong side of some road construction and the answer/solution to when you can get around and back on the highway is “I don’t know”. Ha! But with the motos we were lucky as we could hop a few curbs, squeeze through a dirt passage, and make it back out the highway (and yes, the Tara of a month ago would not have been cool simply hopping a few curbs and squeezing through a dirt passage). We got out of town no problem thanks to yesterday and had a nice scenic drive for at least 50 or so km. It was full of steep ravines - the kind that remind me of the scene in The Princess bride when Buttercup pushes Wesley down the hill and he shouts “Assss Youuuu Wiiissshhhh”.
Was wanting clw as a tour guide today - so many wetlands and estuaries!!! Funky algae that I wanted to know all about. Were they bueno or no bueno clw? I was trying so hard to make sense of the landscape, but alas, I needed clw. We had lots of questions about the differences between all the bodies of water we saw today… was by far our biggest freshwater day of the trip and they all looked so different. At times we could even see all the different bodies - rivers and estuaries and isolated lake-wetland things…. What was growing in them was so different! They were also full of many cows and birds. Herons and egrets for sure. Decent amount of chachalacas! I swear I saw a pink spoonbill, but it was not confirmed by Ernesto so it can’t be counted. Same for a few jacanas - their legs and walk seem to be the giveaway but I need confirmation.
One funny I forgot to write about yesterday - Anotonio. The X year old from our snack break (or however old about 2 ½ feet tall is). We stopped for gas and after filling up we pulled under the one sliver of shade and drank coke’s and ate chips. Anotonio came over and sat right with us. “Da me dinero” he said (give me money). After it was clear we weren’t going to give him money he started asking questions. Which, was fun as his spanish was about as perfect as mine, which is to say as good as a 2 ½ foot tall child. He asks what we are doing on the motos. I say we are traveling through Mexico. He says, why? I say to experience the country. He says, why? I say to meet its people. He says, why? I just start laughing… and he looks at me oddly while I’m laughing with just makes me laugh harder. Kids and their “why?” Are the same in every country, and it is just a wee bit funnier when they say “por que?”
We drove through a secret today - Punto Escondido. This stretch of Hwy 200 is not covered in guidebooks and while we largely see why, we think even Lonely Planet and the like would like to keep at least one part of Mexico sacred. It is the second place on my list to come back to - a more real and genuine but just as lovely and more easy to navigate Puerto Vallarta/Zihua/Acapulco. With so many real estate signs, we hope it does not turn into that.
Crop of the day = limes! And they smelt like limes! Like key lime pie in fact. We drove by a few lime packaging-type facilities and the smell was pretty overwhelming. They are shorter citrus trees than expected, so it makes a bit of sense why they are so cheap (as a man could pick all the hundreds of fruits off one tree while standing comfortably around said tree - is that politically incorrect to say?)
Currently in Puerto Angel. It is nice. Much better on foot than on a moto. The streets are very steep and patched-potholed and who knows what is at the top if these crazy streets if we were to choose to ride up or down it... The hotel “could” be right up there, or it could lead to another road that is steeper and chunkier than the road we can see… What should we do? We talk to a taxi driver - “claro que si” he exclaims. I.e., of course we can make it to that road and hotel! Which is all of no help, as we learned in Zihuatenejo that cab drivers will support any gringo in any stupid endeavor. Any way, there was one hotel we saw driving in, but we would have to go back and really scope out the driveway from a different angle. We decide we can do it! And we do it! Unpack bikes, turn on AC, then take our sticky stinky selves down to the playa. Although in this town the major attraction is a large dock. Disproportionately large… as if it were for a boat hundreds of feet long rather than the 20’ simple fishing boats that are lining the shore. Children are jumping off. A woman is selling snow cones and some Mexi version of an elephant ear. We are dripping with sweat and disoriented and tired (it was a 200+ km day averaging only 40 km/h). So we decide to just sit and have a few cervezas. We are in the shade, there is a nice breeze, and we are chatting about the last few days and the days ahead. A fish truck with a bluefin tuna pulls up and hangs. I am curious… bluefin? Really? Here? What do they do with all the money? Or is it just a logo? So I ask the waiter, he says “Si Si Si”. I think they catch tuna, but not bluefin. Either way Mr. Truck is waiting for the day’s catch. Luckily during our second beer we got to see it. Marlin. Couldn’t read the kilos while I was interrupting their entire exchange. Why was this white woman in Keene’s and an iPad was so curious about their fish???
Post beers and marlin-fun-times we gave ourselves a tour of the fishing boats on the beach. Cast nets and trolling/long lines. Mostly done on a small scale, but nothing seemed official.
We are at one of our first hotels that isn’t worth the money… The AC isn’t doing anything (and in some places they have two prices, one with AC and one without). Ernie and I are paying the “despite-your-insane-driveway-at-least-we-could-make-it-up-this-one-so-we-didn’t-have-to-ride-around-anymore-tax”. Given what we spent on the hotel we enjoyed a ramen noodle dinner (augmented with chili lime peanuts, so don’t feel bad for us! Yum!). Our patio made us feel even more hot and sticky, but it is a lovely view. After the sun got low in the sky we took a break for showers and an attempted body cool down… Fail. We are back on the patio and sweating. There is a nice breeze however, and town is coming alive for the evening. (We make such terrible Mexicans… for many, many reasons... but a big one is that we want to be “home” chilling by 8 pm and not out and about looking for where to eat dinner).
There is sunset aerobics in the town square. Ernie is trying to play guitar but the 60’s style hispanic aerobics pop is overpowering his Black Mountain Rag, so he stops. I look at him and he can tell I want to ask him why he stopped. We are both a bit baffled by the aerobic scene. He says, “I am wondering if they are they all tourists? Or are they the fishermen's wives that come down? I doubt they are they fishermen's wives but you never know…”
July 28.
It has now been 30 days since we left Oregon. Wow! I said to Ernie this morning, “Happy One Month Anniversary!” He giggled. There was a pause and I followed up, “We haven’t fought yet. I don’t think we are going to”. He said, as if it were obvious (which by the way, I love it when he does that) “I wouldn’t have wanted to come on this trip if I thought we were going to fight”
Another 200+ km day. No more please! Ernie is tough and can handle the longer stretches better, but I get cranky after about 4 hours of riding, and 200+ takes us at least 5 if not 6 hours. We are going to try and plan some shorter days to leave Mexico and enter Guatemala Wednesday, August 2. (We have more on this plan and our latest mistake in an upcoming post… Super Hero Tonya Butts is going to save the day with some missing paperwork).
We got up and out of Puerto Angel early, so that helped. Although not as early as the fisherman! As we drank coffee on our lovely balcony there were already boats (at 8 am) unloading their catch. Mostly skipjack tuna, I believe caught with a small purse seine net. I think the baited (trolling?) hooks are for the marlin, mahi, etc.
.
We had a nice ~45 minute water and snack stop in Santiago Astata. There was a taxi and public bathroom area in the shade outside of town that had benches. We had a nice chat with a man (we never got his name) who was curious about us. He gave us some good pointers about the roads in Central America as well as the roads to get to Guatemala. My personal favorite part of the experience was the old man in a red plastic chair across the street. I didn’t know what he was doing at first, but by about 30 minutes in I figured it out. He was the man in charge of shouting what bus was approaching (see pics). I have so many questions… Does he do this every day? What if he is sick? How long has he been doing this? About how many people rely on him shouting which bus has just pulled into town?
Ernie had a quetzal sighting today… uncorroborated by me, but knows them from his in Costa Rica so he has a trained eye. I am ready to see one please!
Once in town we decided it was worth every peso to get a taxi to take us to the bank (which was downtown) and then to the grocery store. We needed more coffee and treated ourselves to good ingredients for Tacos al Ernesto. It took about two hours in total, so it was nice to be driven through a town without having to worry about anything related to driving.
Oh… and that super steep driveway to the hotel? It was way worse going down. Even Ernie said it was bad! Both of us got a big adrenaline boost.
“Ernie, would you like to say anything about the hotel driveway this morning?”
“It was very steep and bumpy, and there was a lot that could have gone wrong but didn’t. The guy starting at us from the top didn’t help a whole lot either.”
Early to bed and early to rise! We got up and out early (on the road by 8:30 am), which was fortuitous, as there was construction right out front the hotel. Which, apparently, was in the process of expanding. And, apparently, expanding without warning the businesses/patrons on the other side of the construction. None of the cars nor the big bus in the parking lot of Hotel Pepe’s were able to leave the hotel come 8 am… For how long? When would they be able to get back on the highway???They didn’t know (I talked with the bus driver - he was pissed!). Wha?!? Can you imagine… taking a bus in the USA (so you and 40+ other people) and getting stuck on the wrong side of some road construction and the answer/solution to when you can get around and back on the highway is “I don’t know”. Ha! But with the motos we were lucky as we could hop a few curbs, squeeze through a dirt passage, and make it back out the highway (and yes, the Tara of a month ago would not have been cool simply hopping a few curbs and squeezing through a dirt passage). We got out of town no problem thanks to yesterday and had a nice scenic drive for at least 50 or so km. It was full of steep ravines - the kind that remind me of the scene in The Princess bride when Buttercup pushes Wesley down the hill and he shouts “Assss Youuuu Wiiissshhhh”.
Was wanting clw as a tour guide today - so many wetlands and estuaries!!! Funky algae that I wanted to know all about. Were they bueno or no bueno clw? I was trying so hard to make sense of the landscape, but alas, I needed clw. We had lots of questions about the differences between all the bodies of water we saw today… was by far our biggest freshwater day of the trip and they all looked so different. At times we could even see all the different bodies - rivers and estuaries and isolated lake-wetland things…. What was growing in them was so different! They were also full of many cows and birds. Herons and egrets for sure. Decent amount of chachalacas! I swear I saw a pink spoonbill, but it was not confirmed by Ernesto so it can’t be counted. Same for a few jacanas - their legs and walk seem to be the giveaway but I need confirmation.
One funny I forgot to write about yesterday - Anotonio. The X year old from our snack break (or however old about 2 ½ feet tall is). We stopped for gas and after filling up we pulled under the one sliver of shade and drank coke’s and ate chips. Anotonio came over and sat right with us. “Da me dinero” he said (give me money). After it was clear we weren’t going to give him money he started asking questions. Which, was fun as his spanish was about as perfect as mine, which is to say as good as a 2 ½ foot tall child. He asks what we are doing on the motos. I say we are traveling through Mexico. He says, why? I say to experience the country. He says, why? I say to meet its people. He says, why? I just start laughing… and he looks at me oddly while I’m laughing with just makes me laugh harder. Kids and their “why?” Are the same in every country, and it is just a wee bit funnier when they say “por que?”
We drove through a secret today - Punto Escondido. This stretch of Hwy 200 is not covered in guidebooks and while we largely see why, we think even Lonely Planet and the like would like to keep at least one part of Mexico sacred. It is the second place on my list to come back to - a more real and genuine but just as lovely and more easy to navigate Puerto Vallarta/Zihua/Acapulco. With so many real estate signs, we hope it does not turn into that.
Crop of the day = limes! And they smelt like limes! Like key lime pie in fact. We drove by a few lime packaging-type facilities and the smell was pretty overwhelming. They are shorter citrus trees than expected, so it makes a bit of sense why they are so cheap (as a man could pick all the hundreds of fruits off one tree while standing comfortably around said tree - is that politically incorrect to say?)
Currently in Puerto Angel. It is nice. Much better on foot than on a moto. The streets are very steep and patched-potholed and who knows what is at the top if these crazy streets if we were to choose to ride up or down it... The hotel “could” be right up there, or it could lead to another road that is steeper and chunkier than the road we can see… What should we do? We talk to a taxi driver - “claro que si” he exclaims. I.e., of course we can make it to that road and hotel! Which is all of no help, as we learned in Zihuatenejo that cab drivers will support any gringo in any stupid endeavor. Any way, there was one hotel we saw driving in, but we would have to go back and really scope out the driveway from a different angle. We decide we can do it! And we do it! Unpack bikes, turn on AC, then take our sticky stinky selves down to the playa. Although in this town the major attraction is a large dock. Disproportionately large… as if it were for a boat hundreds of feet long rather than the 20’ simple fishing boats that are lining the shore. Children are jumping off. A woman is selling snow cones and some Mexi version of an elephant ear. We are dripping with sweat and disoriented and tired (it was a 200+ km day averaging only 40 km/h). So we decide to just sit and have a few cervezas. We are in the shade, there is a nice breeze, and we are chatting about the last few days and the days ahead. A fish truck with a bluefin tuna pulls up and hangs. I am curious… bluefin? Really? Here? What do they do with all the money? Or is it just a logo? So I ask the waiter, he says “Si Si Si”. I think they catch tuna, but not bluefin. Either way Mr. Truck is waiting for the day’s catch. Luckily during our second beer we got to see it. Marlin. Couldn’t read the kilos while I was interrupting their entire exchange. Why was this white woman in Keene’s and an iPad was so curious about their fish???
Post beers and marlin-fun-times we gave ourselves a tour of the fishing boats on the beach. Cast nets and trolling/long lines. Mostly done on a small scale, but nothing seemed official.
We are at one of our first hotels that isn’t worth the money… The AC isn’t doing anything (and in some places they have two prices, one with AC and one without). Ernie and I are paying the “despite-your-insane-driveway-at-least-we-could-make-it-up-this-one-so-we-didn’t-have-to-ride-around-anymore-tax”. Given what we spent on the hotel we enjoyed a ramen noodle dinner (augmented with chili lime peanuts, so don’t feel bad for us! Yum!). Our patio made us feel even more hot and sticky, but it is a lovely view. After the sun got low in the sky we took a break for showers and an attempted body cool down… Fail. We are back on the patio and sweating. There is a nice breeze however, and town is coming alive for the evening. (We make such terrible Mexicans… for many, many reasons... but a big one is that we want to be “home” chilling by 8 pm and not out and about looking for where to eat dinner).
There is sunset aerobics in the town square. Ernie is trying to play guitar but the 60’s style hispanic aerobics pop is overpowering his Black Mountain Rag, so he stops. I look at him and he can tell I want to ask him why he stopped. We are both a bit baffled by the aerobic scene. He says, “I am wondering if they are they all tourists? Or are they the fishermen's wives that come down? I doubt they are they fishermen's wives but you never know…”
July 28.
It has now been 30 days since we left Oregon. Wow! I said to Ernie this morning, “Happy One Month Anniversary!” He giggled. There was a pause and I followed up, “We haven’t fought yet. I don’t think we are going to”. He said, as if it were obvious (which by the way, I love it when he does that) “I wouldn’t have wanted to come on this trip if I thought we were going to fight”
Another 200+ km day. No more please! Ernie is tough and can handle the longer stretches better, but I get cranky after about 4 hours of riding, and 200+ takes us at least 5 if not 6 hours. We are going to try and plan some shorter days to leave Mexico and enter Guatemala Wednesday, August 2. (We have more on this plan and our latest mistake in an upcoming post… Super Hero Tonya Butts is going to save the day with some missing paperwork).
We got up and out of Puerto Angel early, so that helped. Although not as early as the fisherman! As we drank coffee on our lovely balcony there were already boats (at 8 am) unloading their catch. Mostly skipjack tuna, I believe caught with a small purse seine net. I think the baited (trolling?) hooks are for the marlin, mahi, etc.
.
We had a nice ~45 minute water and snack stop in Santiago Astata. There was a taxi and public bathroom area in the shade outside of town that had benches. We had a nice chat with a man (we never got his name) who was curious about us. He gave us some good pointers about the roads in Central America as well as the roads to get to Guatemala. My personal favorite part of the experience was the old man in a red plastic chair across the street. I didn’t know what he was doing at first, but by about 30 minutes in I figured it out. He was the man in charge of shouting what bus was approaching (see pics). I have so many questions… Does he do this every day? What if he is sick? How long has he been doing this? About how many people rely on him shouting which bus has just pulled into town?
Ernie had a quetzal sighting today… uncorroborated by me, but knows them from his in Costa Rica so he has a trained eye. I am ready to see one please!
Once in town we decided it was worth every peso to get a taxi to take us to the bank (which was downtown) and then to the grocery store. We needed more coffee and treated ourselves to good ingredients for Tacos al Ernesto. It took about two hours in total, so it was nice to be driven through a town without having to worry about anything related to driving.
Oh… and that super steep driveway to the hotel? It was way worse going down. Even Ernie said it was bad! Both of us got a big adrenaline boost.
“Ernie, would you like to say anything about the hotel driveway this morning?”
“It was very steep and bumpy, and there was a lot that could have gone wrong but didn’t. The guy starting at us from the top didn’t help a whole lot either.”