After traversing the perilous Rt 134 Churro and I arrived back to Zihua to shift gears back into beach mode, something I have got pretty good at over the years. There was some surfing, some eating, and pretty much just lazing around.
I did talk to some Canadians staying at the same AirBnB I was staying at, they were traveling around Mexico on a couple mopeds. Only 1 is shown in the picture, but these things did not look like they had much power. They had traveled the coast and were heading to more beaches in the North before they planned on redirecting to the mountains. I am not sure they know what they are getting into as the coast is very flat, where Mexico’s mountains will really put those little bikes to the test, but I admire their sense of adventure. One of them mentioned they had never left Canada prior to this trip, so again I was impressed that he would start in this country which doesn’t have the best of reputations.
Someone on a small KTM stayed here a night as well, though I never saw the person. I also discovered that the enormous gas tank makes a great night light late at night when on the beach trying to pack stuff up. Yeah, you can see by my stories not much happened here, just how I like it.
As much as I was enjoying the beach, I also knew I had to move on, with Semana Santa coming up I had plans to be in the Cancun area…a location which you already know I hate. Of course, that is pretty much on the exact other side of Mexico, so I would need to move quickly in order to get there on time. As usual I don’t recall the exact routes, or any small stops, so am focusing on the main destinations. That also doesn’t mean I went from 1 to the next in a single day, so don’t use this as an estimate for travel. This is not the most direct route to Cancun, but I still had some time so it allowed me to take back roads to various cities I wanted to revisit. I also planned to come back the same way spending a little more time at each, so stopped quickly at each this time as I had to keep moving.
I went back to Morelia to drop off the surfboard, and headed to Pachuca since I had never been there. There was a famous church with some kind of elaborate ceiling carved from wood, but I already knew that was shut down as there was a bad fire destroying most of the church a week prior to my arrival. That was all I knew of Pachuca, but it ended up being a decent place to stop. It was a small city where there wasn’t a whole lot going on so 1 day was plenty to take in the area around my hotel. I did the usual thing of walking around to check out the stores and food, but I will be honest I don’t know what I may or may not have missed.
Random countryside on the way to Pachuca
Between Pachuca and Oaxaca I got very lost in some small town where the blue church is located, so stopped for a break looking for food. Nothing looked promising, but it was a good excuse to check out a random place. I believe it was just outside Puebla so maybe someone on ADVRider recognizes it. I wouldn’t go back, but am curious to where I was.
From there I headed down to Oaxaca, a city I have been to several times but one which I enjoy. I feel like there was more color in the city this time, like they had painted more of the buildings various colors, and cleaned up the area a bit. There were also a lot more vendors selling their crap, but that added to the vibe so it was great. I thought this was for Semana Santa since this is a huge holiday and was the reason I was headed to the Yucatan, but on the return everything was still setup in full force, so I don’t know why the city felt busier than my previous visits, perhaps it’s popularity has grown due to social media.
I cut down towards Salina Cruz, which doesn’t get the best reputation online, though I don’t mind it at all. It is a port town which is a bit run down, and I read people say that people are not friendly etc, but that has never been the case to me. I believe the state of the town gives some the incorrect perception in travelers heads. As usual with the moto everyone likes to say hello and ask about Churro, and when I went to the mercado I even had a young girl 10 years old or so sit down next to me and start speaking in English, asking me all kinds of questions. There is not much going on here, but I always enjoy a quick stop over.
I eventually ended up in San Cristobal, another great city. San Cristobal is located in Chiapas, which might be my favorite state. The fog hanging in the mountains makes for some beautiful scenery while on the bike, and the roads are chocked full of twisties, Churros favorite. Of course it was dry this time, but the beautiful blue skies and refreshing mountain air made up for it. Unfortunately Chiapas is the poorest of the states in Mexico partly as a result of NAFTA screwing them over, and many of the people live in extreme poverty.
San Cristobal was 1 of the LEAST compliant places I have seen throughout all of Mexico when it comes to mask wearing/restrictions. Due to the local attire it is very easy to tell the locals apart, and while the gringos did a pretty bad job, in the mercados it was obvious the locals did not give an F, I would estimate there was about a 1% compliance on mask wearing. It is in these scenarios that I am reminded the overblown reaction to the whole situation, as these people have continued living their lives and working in these tight quarters because day to day life is essential, staying at home is not option for the poor.
This sweet bike still runs, and is used daily….it was 100cc if I recall correctly
From here I moved onto Palenque. The road here can be slow as there are a lot of construction trucks, and passing can be difficult due to the curves, but it takes you through a great part of Chiapas as far as scenery goes. At one point I had to stop for 30 or so minutes for construction which shut down traffic in both directions so I grabbed a seat in the shade, you can see the line of cars in the pic below. Well, this is Mexico so eventually people got pissed and cut the line, effectively blocking any traffic from coming the other direction. A very dick move, but the upside was that this forced our side to get through 1st once they opened the road back up, so who am I to complain. Once I made it to Palenque I grabbed a hotel in the centro. When I came here 10 years ago I stayed somewhere closer to the ruins so never really saw the centro, so it was nice to hangout here briefly as well. I don’t like Burger King all that much, but there is one here, and after months without it I admit it was delicious. I was definitely getting sore from all of the riding and knew I would need to rest up for the easter break madness on the beaches, but from here it will be easy to get to the Yucatan, so Churro is not worried.
