Brian and I were talking the other day about the things you learn on bicycle tours. This is a partial list of the things we have learned in the last 10 days:
-Mexican Bakeries are THE best. Never pass up the opportunity to buy a pastry or some bread.
-Grocery stores are basically non-existent along our route. We buy most of our supplies at "tiendas" or "mini supers". The food available always varies, and we are lucky if vegetables and fruits are included in the selection. This of course leads to creative menu planning.
-NEVER ever drink coffee from a mexican truck stop. This will without a doubt end badly.
-If a hotel does not exist in a town, it does not mean that there are not rooms available...
From Felipe Carrillo Puerto, we were on the road bright and early to get some miles in before the heat. The day presented some "points of interest" finally and we took a break at the equivalent to a truck stop for some late morning cookies and coffee. Luck would have it that I realized that drinking instant coffee is the same as drinking the water immediately after I had chugged down two cups...and it got me. I was thankful for the travel prescriptions that we brought with us later in the day. We also met Rico the Dejon at the truck stop. We aren't exactly sure what a dejon is, but it looked like a mix between a raccoon and anteater. Rico was the pet of the truckstop's owner and climbed all over the place. it was really weird.
stretching break along the highway
Later in the day, we stopped at a fruit stand for a bag of tangerines and mangos. Best 20 pesos spent on the trip. We ended in Limones, which didn't amount to much. The town was small and saddled the highway. There were no hotels, and a few people told us we could camp inside the fence of the small pyramid they have. We were shooed away from the pyramid by the town drunk and eventually found a man who rents rooms thanks to the help of a nurse from the public health building.
our "cuarto" in Limones
From Limones we headed to Muhahual. We experienced our first military checkpoint and had all of our bags inspected before we could continue. We had an extreme headwind the entire ride and the sun strong with little shade along the way. Definitely the toughest day yet. Muhahual was a nice town though. We spent two nights camped along the malecon, a beachfront walkway.
We departed Muhahual this morning unsure of where we would end. We were planning on some beach camping along the old coastal road, but reached our destination early enough that we decided to continue. Tonight and tomorrow we will spend in Xcalak. It's a tiny town without much tourist development. The main attraction here is the scuba diving. We have scored a nice little campsite for 35 pesos a person and we can't complain. From here, we will head back to Muhahual for a night and inland after that.
Old Coastal Road to Xcalak
Old Coastal Road
Old Coastal Road
