Things found on the road side:
* Fernando López who drove around the world in 1998 with a car with no steering wheel. He is now in the Guinness book of records for it. He made the car himself and now the car lives in a museum in Argentina which is where he is from. However, he now lives in Taxco which is where we meet him outside a super market. (Sorry the photo is really bad).
* An umbrella that had seen better days! Anything (at the point the photo was taken) was awesome to shade us from the intensely hot sun.
* A straw hat that Roland suits to a T.
* A donkey carrying a wheel barrow. They are handy and strong wee creatures. We see many on the road side now. Nibbling at grass or being worked.
* A taxi sign
* A packet of needles
* A freaky looking soft toy that couldn't stay on our bike cause you had to turn your head every time you looked at it.
Record breaking activity (For Cycling with Sally):
* Drinking 16.5 liters between us in one day. Since leaving Mexico City it has steadily been getting hotter and hotter. Like up to 35 degrees Celsius. It's taking some getting used to!
Our circumnavigation of Mexico City continued as we headed to Taxco, a boom and bustling silver mining town that clings to a steep hillside with narrow cobblestone streets that twist between well worn buildings. Now the ride from Metepec was made all that much more exciting by the two police car escort for 40km. We believe they had admirable intentions and just wanted to ensure our safety, but they may have been really bored as well.
Thanks to Jose Luis (Warm Showers) we not only enjoyed the many sights and sounds of Taxco, but we also managed to adventure off to an outstanding secret waterfall area with crystal clear water, lush vegetation, green butterflies (unable to capture on camera), curious caves and not another person in sight. Just what the doctor ordered.
Jose Luis is busy preparing for an around the world cycle himself and it was exciting to share some stories, advice we have gained and our many mishaps with our attentive audience member. We had a splendid time in Taxco navigating through the gauntlet of vendors, being overwhelmed by the massive amount of silver jewelry and feasting on beautiful fresh fruit in the mornings. Many thanks to Jose Luis and best wishes with your future travels.
In keeping with our snakes and ladders route of Mexico, we headed north once more and really battled the heat before arriving in Cuernavaca. Once in Cuernavaca we instantly felt at home, with our SERVAS host family Alfredo, Lilia, Liliana and Alfedro Jr. and wished we could have stayed longer. Apparently Cuernavaca has more swimming pools that any other city in Mexico and you will have to take our word for it, nothing beats the heat better then a good swim or soak. Besides taking in a few of the cities attractions, gobbling up McDonalds ice cream cones, volunteering (see our Salvation Army Journal page), taking the dog for a walk and trying desperately to fix and figure out why our stove wasn´t working, the most memorable experience was eating together and speaking both Spanish and English.
Something you don´t see every day: In the Cuernavaca Plaza, which is a large modern mall, they have a swimming pool with three large balls that children can play in. Sort of like a giant hamster ball for people. You can spend hours watching these kids trying to stand upright and bounce into their friends in this treadmill like conditions.
From Cuernavaca things really started to heat up and we found ourselves not bothering to purchase the 1.5 liter bottles of water anymore, particularly when 25 litres are required and are much better value. We initially allowed four days to get to Oaxaca, but with the heat and lack of confidence with mile markers, we had our doubts. Especially when in a span of ten km we were treated to four different signs with four different distances for the nearby town of Cuautla. (23 km, 13km, 18km, 21km). Eventually with some very early starts, a few long breaks in shaded, breezy plazas and a few gruelling climbs we managed to arrive in Oaxaca City early and immediately took refuge from the heat in a nearby internet cafe. It was just our luck that Friday (13-March) was ¨give water to stranger’s day¨ and we were treated to some refreshing coconut agua with passion fruit.
To the delight of everyone around us, after several hours of sweating and smelling, we finally left our shaded haven in search of our SERVAS hosts David and Kathy. They live in a remarkable three storey house which they have designed and had a hand in building. Kathy´s exceptional artist ability is express throughout the place with art pieces from around the world, unique hand crafted-painted furniture, brilliant tile work and design and many plants that give you a sense of coolness and homeliness. (Belinda´s mom would be in love).
Well after about three and half months of travelling in Mexico, those sneaky, creepy, yucky crummy, tummy bugs finally caught up with us and we were just so HUGELY appreciative to be with Kathy and David. Having travelled throughout the world and spending a lot of time in Guatemala they unfortunately knew what it was like being sick and abroad. They were just amazing, as we were able to ride it out for the next few days in the comforts of a cool house and breezy hammock.
We had only planned to stay a couple of nights with them, as they were expecting other guests who were travelling from N.Y. to B.A with their two year old son. Feeling sick, embarrassed, awkward and drained we were in the process of making a reservation at a nearby hostel, when the downstairs neighbor graciously invited us to stay with him and his family. At this point, the emotions of this unexpected suggestion was far too much for us to contain and we found ourselves fighting back the tears. By the third day of feeling nil, and we actually managed to summons up enough strength to meet fellow cycling tourists Scott, Karen and Martin (who we have met previously in Alaska and Creel respectively) and take in a couple of attractions.
Oaxaca is a relaxed but stimulating city with arguably the best handcrafts shopping in Mexico. We headed first to the Zocalo (main plaza) and then rambled through several markets, cathedrals, plazas with street performers and finished with traditional Oaxaca Folk dancing at the Casa de las Artesanias de Oaxaca. (No good photos though!). It was great catching up with our cycling friends as we shared adventures and future itineraries through the rest of Mexico and Central America.
Additionally, it was terrific to get to know the downstairs neighbors, John and Nora and their two kids Roan and Isla who are originally from Vancouver as well. John has just completed his second book called ¨The Tiger¨ which is to be released in August of this year. Having chatted about the book, learning about his interests and listening to him speak; I think it´s going to be a captivating read with many layers.
We know that this beautiful city has much more to offer than what we experienced, but in these unfortunate circumstances, we met some pretty extraordinary people that really helped us out when we needed it most. Our only regret was not meeting up with our friend Abraham, who was so excited for us to finally arrive and the prospect of show us his charming home town.
We then cycled for only one day to Miahuatlán and ended up staying two nights as we were still not feeling 100% and knew the road ahead was going to be tough getting to the coast. We stayed with Michael through Warm Showers and his friends, Juan, Marina and Carmen. We weren't allowed to lift a finger our entire stay and was able to rest, eat wonderful home-cooked meals and enjoy these lovely people's company. We also really liked hearing about Michael's cycling stories through Turkey. It's always good to be in the company of other cycling tourists.
Cribbage Score:
Roland 110
Belinda 69