Part 2:Taxco was a cool little city, with winding roads and pretty buildings, but not much going on….again most likely due to covid.  I spent a day or two wandering the streets, but I don’t recall doing anything at all aside from ordering a pizza.

So with a full belly, Churro and I headed off for Altamirano, once again taking the long way.  I saw something about some natural pools of some sort on google maps, so let that decide the route, but even those were closed due to covid, with no plan of reopening anytime soon according to the sign left behind.  Luckily the route to and from here was excellent, as there is great ridding in Guerrero, so it didn’t even matter.  We took the route which led us through ixcateopan, I only recall this since the name is in the photo…I am getting further behind every day.  I noticed the pyramid and spun Churro around at the last minute to grab the shot without really paying attention….only to drop him right on the surfboard….ahh, probably broken before it ever saw the water.  Two guys jump out of a truck going by and help me lift him up, and I decide I don’t even want to know what happened so we carried on towards Altamirano, going through awesome little towns and great mountain roads.

Altamirano is hot, which comes as no surprise since everyone says this….yet I was still unprepared mentally for how hot it was and this was probably back in January, maybe February!  There are couple of hotels, and some foods options, the typical local junk being sold so it is a common stop over for the few who make it out this way.  We stayed in the cheap hotel with a lot of reviews, it was empty, but I later found a trip report elsewhere where others had stayed in the same hotel years before, so it has probably seen its share of ADVRiders.  I also mustered up the courage to check that surfboard and surprisingly there was no damage.  Now, that is partially because rather than a typical board I bought an NSP surfboard which while lacking in performance, is built like a tank….perfect for this type of adventure.

From here the mountain road will take us down to Zihuatanejo, unless we go around to Acapulco which neither Churro or I want to do again.  The problem here is that the mountain road (Rt. 134) has a terrible reputation, and most people do everything they can to avoid it.  You won’t see many cars so you are on your own if something goes bad, I think I saw 6 in the 4-5 drive between Altamirano and Zihua.  You need to know this going in, make smart decisions, blah blah blah.  I don’t recommend anyone take this route on their own, but I never follow my own advice so away Churro and I went.  Well, it is definitely isolated, but it is also beautiful, and more important a winding road which Churro loves.  There are a ton of small landslides that no one seems to maintain, as some had small trees growing out of the rock piles.  At times large boulders were found in the road, as well as cows and donkeys, nothing out of the ordinary for Mexico.  The ride was uneventful for Churro and I, which is a good thing on this road.

And now back to Morty.  I try to be optimistic, so while Mortys time with Churro and I was short lived, I like to think as much as he loved life on the road, he found himself a home like so many of us do while on the road, and decided to stay behind and live out the rest of his life in peace.  Or perhaps he wanted to check out the pyramid and jumped off when Churro took his nap in the road….only to be picked up by some adventurous little girl who took care of him from that point on.  The reality is Mexico is a tough place, and he probably lost his grip through the turns on Rt. 134, eventually getting run over by a big rig…I never said I was good at this optimism thing.  No matter what his fate was, Morty will be missed.

RIP Morty.