dia 16y17 Maleque a Zihuantanejo, basura, topes and other wild Mexica stuff

Yesterday was probably one of the most challenging days Ive had on a motorcycle ever. We covered 322 miles of Mex 200 between Maleque (actually a Canadian retirement community, kidding... but more Canadians in that town that Mexicans) and Zihuantanejo (were we are staying for 2 days and my favorite place so far). Again I don´t want to beat a dead horse but mex 200 is an absolutely amazing road. It is more twisty than would be legal in the US and gains and drops elevation like a chairlift. After riding that last section i think it is better than HWY 1 between Carmel and San Simeon in every category except for pavement quality, but the pavement isnt bad, and in some places its brand new. We had so much fun riding it that we pretty much didnt stop the whole day, only for gas 3 times, once in the morning at the Pemex and then for peace of mind i bought 5 litres from a local on the side of the road, I think it was a good move because it wasnt for another 90 miles that we hit the next Pemex.

Its really mind bloggling what a big country Mexico is, I mean its a real wilderness riding along the coast for several hundred miles there is really nothing except for little towns, most of which have no running water and few have easy access to gasoline. As a result there is a nice little black market gasoline business driven by travelers like Clay and me. The vastness of this place and the dispercement of its people really add to the wild feeling of the country.

Finally after 7 hours in the saddle we pulled into Zihuantanejo, there are hostels everywhere in this town and after getting a quick lay of the land we posted up at Hostel Mauran. Its owned by a local veteranarian I guess he really wanted us to stay because he dropped his price from 460 pesos to 350 pesos and he let us push our bikes into the court yard for safe keeping, pretty much a no brainer. so good in fact this is our second day in town. we wanted to take a rest and take care of an oil change and some other preventative bike maintanence as well as some laundry.

Anyways Zihuantanejo is a really cool town, it has a nice mix of Mexicans and Foreigners while still maintaining an authenic feeling. I really like it here, it feels safe to walk around at night but it doesnt feel like you are in an american resort town like Cabo San Lucas or Cancun or something. Anyways pretty cool, definitely a little bit of an older crowd here but still cool.

So today we got our oil changed which i feel pretty happy about because after logging all those highway miles seems like it would be putting a lot of stress on my 650 single. The local shop was pretty funny. Bunch of Mexican mechanics hanging around yelling and being loud in Mexican, we did not understand a word they were staying and anytime Clay or I tired to say something in Spanish everyone just laughed, but they were good guys. We intially went there with the intention of just using their shop to do the change ourselves, but they offered to do the labor for 40 pesos, which is less than 4 US dollars at that price I just sat back and watched. The guy did a great job and we were out of there in 20 minutes. The owner was pretty funny, he was walking out his shop in bare feet and was just generally a very dirty individual. He spilled oil a few times and just left in on the ground and throw the empty old bottles behind him once he was done with them, but aside from being messy and dirty he was a good mechanic.

So tonight we are just taking it easy no visit to the cantina or anything we need to get to Alcapulco tomorrow to check out the divers.

so I wanted to make a few observations. First is basura. it is everywhere and i know i mentioned it early on during san felipe but ive had more time to think about it and really Mexicans dont really have anything else to do with their garbage except throw it on the side of the road or burn it. There are no garbage services in these little towns and even if there were, how would you convice anyone to pay for it when all they have been doing their whole life is bringing their trash to the end of town and adding it to the other smoldering trash. You usually can tell you are getting close to some people when in the distance you can see some smoke or smog in the air. the air can get fairly bad down here as well our visors get dirty quickly and we have to clean them a couple times per day, not of bugs but of film from the air. Dont let me leave you with the wrong impression this is the most beautiful country.

So clay mentioned topes a last time and I would add that topes are all over the place. sometimes where they dont even make sense like on the way out of town or before a bridge. but mind you when you are accelerating up to speed leaving town of if your goinga along at 60 mph over a bridge one of these topes which are sometimes marked and sometimes not can be a real surprise. Once way we have figured out how to be extra alert for topes is the presence of road side vendors. These guys set up shop right next to the topes because they know people are going to slow down.

Other wild stuff in Mexico road signs have little relevance and many times they will show conflicting information. for example as you approach a town the kilometer distance will sometimes increase which of course is rediculous. or the arrow on the sign will say Playa Azul straight ahead but you can only turn left or right. you pretty much just need to use your intuition and your mapa to figure out how to get anywhere and it always works out. Also cattle it just roams around freely. we see horses or donkeys tied to a tree in the middle of now where and you will see cows and bulls grazing by the side of the road, mind you they are not behind fences they just wander by the side of the highway. Oh and dogs, well dogs in Mexico breed like rabbits and dont usually have homes. they are typically starving or injured or on the side of the road as road kill. This is because the healthy ones chase after cars and motorcycles which are passing by barking their heads off. Also driving rules, apparently some stop signs are for stopping and others are for running. and passing omg you will see truckers pass in the wrong side of a bling turn at will they are definetly crazing drivers but most of them are good drivers. I mean they are paying attention we have yet to have anyone pull out infront of us which happens all the time at home. also kids drive at a young age, like 12.

also im tired and this blog session is over.