Late Starts, Nice Days - Huatusco, Veracruz, Mexico

[andyc740]

Late starts; it seemed I couldn’t get things together this year. I finally headed out for my 6th annual winter trip to Huatusco, Veracruz at 8:00 in the morning. Normally, I’m on the road by 6:00, but decided not to hurry. The first day’s ride is pretty straightforward; cut over from Corpus Christi, hitting Highway 281 at Falfurrias, then just keep heading south till I get past Tampico, then start looking for a place to spend the night.

Note: These trip reports seem like they get longer and longer. If you want to go through and just look at the pictures, you won’t hurt my feelings. I didn’t take any pictures the first day on the road, so there’ll just be a couple maps and lots of verbiage. The first day’s ride is not too exciting.

Last year, Bato came along for company, but he wasn’t available this year so I was doing the trip solo again. (Last year’s ride report is at: Coughs, Coconuts and Coffee in Huatusco, Veracruz, Mexico) I did have the Spot Tracker along so my wife and friends could keep up with my location along the way and I also had a GPS this time, loaded with city maps for Mexico, a Christmas present from my wife. I hadn’t time to wire up the GPS, so it was in the trunk, conserving its battery charge.

The slow start was compounded by hitting every red light on Business 281 in Pharr (grrr!), then needing some extra time to renew my paperwork at the border. When I renewed my plates for the bike in June last year, I made the mistake of doing it at the local grocery store instead of mailing it in or taking it downtown to the county courthouse. The receipt the grocery store gave me had their name on the top of it as a subcontractor, instead of listing my name and the bike details.

The officials at the border had objected to the paperwork and I wound up paying an extra $20 for some cooperation. My six months’ papers for the bike had expired since then and the issue came up all over again at the border. This time, they didn’t seem to take the situation as seriously and settled for an extra fifty pesos, about $4.00. I could live with that. Looking back, I should’ve taken the receipt down to the courthouse and gotten another one with my name on it. Oh well, I know better now.

I was further delayed by being behind a family of Central Americans in line who had transmigrante visas, had come up to the border, then paid a visit to the US side. They were being told that their exit from Mexico had invalidated their 6-month visas and they would have to cancel the old ones and pay for new visas. I’m not sure how that turned out. I know they didn’t budget for paying for visas again.

I was on the road again by 1:00. The day warmed up nicely. Nobody at the border was interested in seeing my paperwork or looking in the bags and the same thing happened again at the aduana checkpoint 10 miles down the road south of Reynosa. Usually they ask to see the papers there. Traffic seemed to be up on the highways compared to previous years. Heading south from Reynosa, I couldn’t spot the place where I ran over the dog in June on my way back from San Luis Potosi and I didn’t see the dog, either. (Stretching Our Legs - Bike Rally, San Luis Potosi, Mexico) I stopped for lunch at a restaurant near San Fernando, then pushed on to the turnoff to Soto La Marina, where I stopped for gas 175 miles south of the border. There’s a checkpoint 4 miles before the turnoff for northbound traffic on the highway and the trucks were backed up for 3 miles waiting to get through the checkpoint. Good thing there’s a separate line for the cars (and motorcycles).

In keeping with the leisurely nature of the ride, the gas station on the north edge of town was out of Premium, so I had to ride on to the next one to fill up. Previous trips have shown that it costs just about a peso per mile for gas for the bike so that is how I base my fuel budget, but this fill-up worked out to almost P1.35. Wow. I would be short on money if that kept up. Later fill-ups ran between P1.15 and P1.25 per mile, which I mostly attributed to higher gas prices. The generally higher elevations in Mexico and the lack of ethanol in the gas usually means my gas mileage improves once I’ve gotten the US gas out of the system.

South of Soto La Marina, I ran into the construction zone. The road has been under construction for the past number of years, but the zone under construction keeps working its way south towards Aldama. This year, construction started about 20 miles south of Soto and continued off and on for another 25 miles. Road surfaces varied from new pavement to hard-packed dirt, to dirt and gravel to loose gravel to old pavement, with an occasional detour into an arroyo where a bridge is under construction. I was glad it had not been raining. The Guzzi would’ve been a handful in the mud. I eventually made it to Aldama, where the road turns west toward Estacion San Manuel, took a brief break, then pushed on.

Twenty miles after Aldama, the road intersects the Victoria - Tampico highway. At that point, it’s four-lane divided highway all the way into Tampico. In Tampico, I took my customary beach route bypass. The highway through downtown Tampico doesn’t seem to have very good signage, includes miles of stoplights, and I always seem to get lost. The bypass only has one stoplight until you turn off the beach road headed downtown, and by then, it’s only a couple miles till you hit the bridge across the Rio Panuco. The only tricky part is, once you go under the bridge, you keep going till you turn right at the light at the supermarket, then keep bearing right until you’re on the bridge approach.

There’s usually a police car or two at the first light on the bypass, so I take it easy on that stretch of road.

There were lots of people leaving work when I came past the Pemex refinery at 6:00 (there always seems to be people leaving work when I come by there) and by the time I crossed the bridge, daylight was pretty much gone. I stopped at the first hotel I saw down the road, a 3-story hotel across the street from the gas station, got a room and got some supper next door. Maybe I should’ve stayed across the street at the less-imposing Hotel Corral, they probably would’ve had some hot water. Anyway, the price was right, P200.00, $16.00. Mileage for the first day, about 525 miles, if I remember right.

 

[andyc740]

Saturday, Day 2: The run to Huatusco.

I woke up about 5:00 at the hotel and was on the road by 6:15. My plans for an early-morning cup of coffee were foiled by the fact that neither one of the 24-hour convenience stores within sight of the hotel opened until 7:00. I probably should have waited. The morning was dark and foggy and it was hard to see potholes. I coped by following cars through the fog and dodging when they did.

After a foggy start to my ride two years ago, I decided to invest in a pin-lock insert for my helmet. It's a piece of plastic shaped to fit the visor with a seal around the outer edge, creating an air gap between the visor and the insert. This acts like the two panes of an insulated window, preventing condensation on the inside of the visor. It works great. I've ridden in conditions so humid my mirrors were fogging up, but the visor stayed clear on the inside. I still have to wipe the water off on the outside, but I don't have any trouble with fogging anymore. Well worth the money I spent on it.

By 7:00, the sun was up and I was 30 or 40 miles down the highway. I was looking forward to having some huevos motulenos at the Restaurant San Carlos in Cerro Azul, but they were closed, too, when I went by. I was almost at Alamos by the time I finally stopped for breakfast and coffee about 8:30.
I commented on the car and truck batteries in the place and they said they were not on the power grid, but instead used solar cells for lighting and to keep the batteries charged.

I also thought the speaker they had for the smartphone was interesting. It was just the top off a pop bottle, but when they put it over the speaker opening on the phone, it made the music quite a bit louder. Like many places in Mexico, the coffee was Nescafe.

Breakfast was pretty good and after taking a picture with one of the local guys who wanted to sit on the bike, I was on my way again. I had my rain and cold-weather gear and my tool bag in the marine duffle strapped to the passenger seat on the bike. I always debate about how much to bring in tools along on the trips and usually decide in favor of too much instead of too little. I don't like to keep them in a saddlebag or in the trunk because of the weight, instead I strap them down to the seat.

I like to detour around Tuxpan, through Alamo, to avoid the town and take the chance to pick up some fruit at the fruit stands along the highway. Once I rejoin the highway, I jog a bit to the left to take the toll road that bypasses Poza Rica. One of these days, I need to go through Poza Rica and take the side trip to see the pyramid at Tajin.

From Tampico Alto, it’s a little less than 300 miles to Huatusco. Total distance from Corpus Christi is 810 miles according to the trip odometer on the Guzzi.

Because of the previous day’s late start, I didn’t get quite as far south as I usually do before stopping for the night. I was hoping to make Huatusco by early afternoon, so I didn’t stop for pictures and skipped getting a fresh coconut along the Costa Ezmeralda.

I did stop for gas once I was just about past the Costa and a boy asked me for some change to buy some crackers. I didn’t give him any, but I dug around through my trip supplies and offered him a little bag of yogurt pretzels my wife had packed. He didn’t like them but his mom, who was also hanging around outside the store, was happy to eat them.

It’s always so nice to finally get past the stretch of Costa and all it’s topes (speed bumps), go by the nuclear power plant, and get on the 4-lane highway that heads on into Veracruz.

This shot is from a trip several years ago.

On the way down, the ride takes me through brush country, then gets into fields and pastures, orange groves, coconut palms along the beach, bananas, sugar cane fields, etc. The nice thing about a bike ride is smelling the fresh orange juice someone is selling along the road, the sugar cane being hauled out of the fields, the smell of coffee growing and, once in a while, the dead dog alongside the highway.

Traffic was relatively light this year and there even seemed to be a few less topes along the way. I think, though, for every missing tope, I had to dodge another pothole. There must be some sort of symbiosis going on.

To hit the highway to Huatusco, I have to take the highway to Xalapa from Cardel, turning inland a bit, ride up it until I come to the Pemex, take the turn-around heading back to the coast, then take the exit to Paso de Ovejas. There’s no exit on the north-bound side. That had me messed up on my first trips until I finally figured it out. Before Paso de Ovejas comes up, the road passes through Puente Nacional, an old town boasting two very old stone bridges. Just past them is the turn-off to Huatusco, the first time the name shows up on any road signs.

From Puente Nacional, the road climbs steadily through fields and flowering trees, heading for the mountains. Like a lot of other roads in Mexico, this one was currently being resurfaced. Traffic was stopped by a flagman at one point. I just rode up to the front of the pack and waited for our turn to go. This is the accepted practice for motorcycles in Mexico. If traffic is stacked up for some reason, just squeeze on by and work your way up to the front.

There’s half a dozen small towns along this stretch, lots of bougainvillea flowering, white-painted rocks and tree trunks. People are selling peanuts and papayas alongside the road.

Once the road reaches a certain elevation, things change dramatically. Scenery is a lot greener, roads are lined with coffee, bamboo and fruit trees. Curves are tighter and traffic is noticeably heavier. The last 10 miles or so into Huatusco are a really nice ride.

I rolled into Huatusco shortly before 2:00 Saturday afternoon to find Manolo, Hortensia and their two girls waiting at the house. They had been following my progress on the Spot Tracker site all day and knew I was pretty close. It was great to be there.

 

[_RG_]

 

[andyc740]

Sunday, Day 3 - Riding with MikeMike, How high can we go?

Thanks for the interest, RG. Time to add to the story.

I had been in touch with MikeMike, a TWTex member and inmate of advrider.com, frequent poster to their on-going Travelling in Mexico thread. He is an ex-pat Canadian, living and working in Veracruz for years. We met through Bato last year, who had gotten to know MikeMike from the forums. Mike and I made arrangements to meet Sunday morning at Los Cocuyos, the tourist hotel just outside Huatusco, ride over to Coscomatepec and see just how close we could get to the Pico de Orizaba while staying on pavement (out of respect to the porky Guzzi). FYI: Orizaba is the highest mountain in Mexico, with an elevation of 18,491 ft.

Mike is an accomplished photographer and gave me permission to use his pictures in my trip report. These black and white shots are his.

(My riding buddy for the past two years.)

After breakfast at the Restaurant Carnitas Boulevard in Coscomatepec, we wound up in a little town called Cuiyachapa, about 25 miles from Huatusco. According to the app on my tablet, elevation is about 8,500 ft., still 10,000 ft. from the summit. We stopped to take a few photos on the way up and wound up talking to a family who recently moved back to Mexico after living a number of years in Oregon. I thought that was interesting. I’ve read reports saying these days there’s more Mexican families moving back to Mexico from the US than there are emigrating to the US.

Here’s a few shots of mine from the ride:

Waiting for Mike at Los Cocuyos (he was right on time):

On the ride up, I could see fields of corn planted on steep mountain slopes. This is a sign of trouble brewing for the area. Mike was telling me about recent mudslides that had killed 7 people. The family we spoke with had lost relatives in the slide. Slides happen when the trees get cut down, the area is planted, but there are no provisions made for erosion control. Thirty years ago, living in Honduras, I had friends who were working to try to prevent that very thing. They were teaching terracing methods to minimize erosion and water runoff. They were also teaching composting techniques to keep the soil fertile. This was knowledge mostly borrowed from Guatemalan Indians who have been practicing these methods for centuries.

I did see some areas that had been replanted in pines, always a welcome sight. But, instead, we were mostly seeing flood damage caused by rainfall from hurricanes which passed through the area last summer.

Look likes work is starting on a bridge.

It was also evident, the higher we rode, the poorer the settlements. Living high up on the mountain wasn’t their first choice. It was what was available. Needless to say, people were friendly and happy to talk with the strangers who showed up in town to gawk and take pictures.

I like the incongruity of the cell phone tower next to the town church,

and the vertical flower garden.

The time had come to ride back down the mountain. Mike needed to get back to Veracruz, while I was headed back to Huatusco.

Mike and I took the opportunity to do a bike blessing for his motorcycle before we parted ways.

What a great ride. I covered all of about 50 miles that day. Quite a contrast to Corpus Christi where it’s 30 miles just to reach the city limits, and several hundred more to get to anything resembling interesting riding. Thanks for the chance to ride with you, Mike!

Back at Huatusco, Manolo and family had not yet returned from their church in Fortin, about 20 miles from Huatusco. I rode over to the nearby city park and watched families enjoying a sunny Sunday afternoon. Kids were out showing off their new rides.

After I met Manolo and family back at the house, it was time for a relaxing Sunday afternoon. Manolo had an excursion planned for Monday, but I wasn't sure where.

 

[andyc740]

Monday, Day 4 - Xico, Pueblo Magico

Monday morning, Manolo asked me if I would be interested in a ride to Xico, a town about 50 miles from Huatusco. He said, even though I’d ridden to Huatusco from Corpus Christi, he knew I was interested in riding the area as well. I thought Xico was a great idea. Manolo hadn’t been there in years and was interested in seeing it again.

Mexico’s Secretariat of Tourism began a program in 2001 known as Pueblos Magicos. To date, the program has grown to include 83 towns in all 31 states in Mexico. This is their definition of a Pueblo Magico (their translation):

Mexico recognizes its Magical Towns its greater tradition and beauty with this title, which describes the beauty of its picturesque streets and its buildings. The features that a site must have to be magical town include being located in areas near large cities or tourist sites, accessible by road and a high historical value, religious and cultural.

Their common denominator is having a great importance in the national tradition. These corners hoard their wealth, which is stored in a routine exalted color, passion for the everyday, smells and flavors able to sublimate the spirit, tradition enriched by the lives of those who reach their tiles or their convoluted streets darkened by time and moisture. A magical town commits the company benefits from tourism to participate as excellent hosts, so visit is an alternative to national and international tourism.​

Xico joined the Pueblos Magicos in 2011. It’s an area known for it’s coffee, regional cooking and waterfalls. A great resource for travel in Mexico is Mexico Desconocido (Unknown Mexico). Their website is in Spanish, but contains a lot of information on interesting places to visit in Mexico.

Once Manolo had his borrowed Yamaha XT125 started, we geared up and headed out. The route takes us back out of town to Totutla, where we turn north for a run down the mountain towards Jalcomulco, turning left at the bottom towards Coatepec, then on to Xico. The map shows the steep gorge to the left on the run down the mountain offering some very nice views. The upper half of the road has been resurfaced, while pavement at the bottom is fairly broken up.

At the river crossing is a seafood restaurant that’s a favorite of Manolo’s. I’ve eaten there several times with them. Today, we were there well before lunch, so we just sat and had a Coke before heading on.

Like much of Mexico, they still had Christmas decorations up:

We followed several carloads of soldiers before they turned off before Coatepec. Apparently they have been running active patrols in the area, trying to cut down on nefarious activity.

In Xico, our first stop was the redundantly named Hotel Hacienda Xico Inn, an old hacienda converted to a hotel. The grounds and buildings were beautiful. Posted rates looked like a nice room would be about $85US a night. When we rode in to look around the grounds, one of the staff showed up to give us a guided tour of the place.

Either people are wrong about where Amelia Earhart crashed or this is some playground equipment for kids:

And I thought it a bit ironic the chapel was located adjacent to their casino.

A tree out front had some mamey (or sapote) growning. It’s a fruit not often seen, but a big favorite of my wife’s.

And, apparently, this fellow had been caught misbehaving:

As we fired up the bikes to ride off the property, a dog appeared out of nowhere and got just enough teeth into my calf to let me know he could’ve bit me if he wanted to. When he started a second run, I got just enough boot sole on his nose to let him know I could’ve kicked him if I wanted to. We called it a draw and both went our separate ways.

 

[andyc740]

Monday, Day 4, continued - The Falls of Texolo

Xico boasts several waterfalls a mile or two outside town. We visited the falls of Texolo, which are located several miles down a cobblestoned road. Leaving the bikes in the parking lot, I was suprised to see what was obviously the penstock for a hydroelectric plant running down the hill. According to a plaque on the wall, the power plant had been installed in 1898 and we were told it is still in operation.

A nearby iron bridge boasted a construction date of 1908. Apparently the main purpose was to carry another water pipeline across a narrow canyon, but a pedestrian walkway had been added to allow people to walk up to the falls.

It spanned a deep, narrow gorge.

And featured an interesting light fixture.

There wasn’t much of a view of the falls from the trail and we didn’t feel like hiking up to the opposite side, so we backtracked to the buildings at the hydroelectric plant. This looked like a modern version of the RCA logo. I’m not sure what the dog was doing there, but I saw his litter-mate in Veracruz two years ago.

The falls were pretty impressive. The area around it was planted in coffee and bananas and there were shops selling tourist knicknackery.

Business was slow. We rode back into town and had a late lunch at the restaurant El Campanario de Xico. Excellent food. I had the Molcajete de Costillas, pork ribs cooked in a hot pot with scallions and nopal. It was as good as it looks.

Outside, some of the locals were keeping an eye on our bikes. Well... maybe not.

It was time to saddle up and ride back to Huatusco. We had a very nice ride back up the mountain. Total mileage for the day, just about 100 miles. It was a real treat to spend the day with Manolo.

Tuesday, the plan was to ride back to Coscomatepec to run an errand I had pending.

 

[andyc740]

Tuesday, Day 5 - The Huatusco, Coscomatepec Loop

When Mike and I were talking with the family we met on our mountain excursion, I offered to give them one of the CMA biker New Testaments I had brought, then found out I had unloaded them with the luggage left in Huatusco, so I wanted to ride back over and deliver a New Testament to them. Manolo volunteered to ride along and we rode up to their house, found the wife at home and left a New Testament with her. (Any excuse for a ride, right?)

Riding back into Coscomatepec, Manolo took me by a saddle shop and the owner was happy to show off some of their saddles. It’s been a long time since I’ve been on a horse (we owned a few when I was growing up in Oregon), but the saddles looked nice. The owner said all the tooling was done by hand in their shop.

They even had some children’s saddles.

Manolo asked how I wanted to get back to Huatusco, and I suggested the back road through Ixhuatlan del Cafe, that drops down into the barranco (canyon) on the west side of Huatusco. I’ve been through that way several times and always enjoy the ride. The road a concrete, washboard style road that is only a few years old. Bing maps doesn’t know it’s there, but it shows up on Google maps. If Mike hasn’t ridden this road, it’s one he needs to add to his repertoire.

Once the turnoff is made past Ixhuatlan, things begin to get really nice, riding through the coffee plantations.

And it’s always a pretty view crossing the stream at the bottom.

Heading up the east side into Huatusco, the road is much steeper. We ran into some repairs going on where a landslide had partially covered the road. I thought the folks working there had a pretty interesting method of levelling up their back-hoe so they could work without completely blocking the road.

Up near the top of the hill, Manolo swung left onto a dirt road that road through the coffee areas south of Huatusco. We were looking for a friend of his, but when we got to the house, we were told he was back in town. It was an interesting diversion anyway.

Back at the house, it was time to relax.

In the evening, I wound up going into Fortin to go to church with them. I took the bike because I tend to get carsick, riding as a passenger through all the curves. It was a nice run into Fortin, though rain was threatening. We did go through a few sprinkles on the way home, but I managed to get back relatively dry, but late for me. It was 10:00 by the time we got back to the house after stopping for some supper when we got to Huatusco.

I had enjoyed my stay with Manolo, Hortensia and their daughters, but it was time to move on. The weather was due to turn colder and I was headed up onto the central highlands Wednesday to visit more friends, Angel and Carmen in Mixquiahuala, Hidalgo. Given the weather, I was not going to try for an early start.

 

[andyc740]

Wednesday, Day 6 - A Nippy Ride to Mixquihuala

It was 10:30 Wednesday morning before I left Manolo and Hortensia’s house, heading for Mixquiahuala. I was scheduled to meet Angel at the McDonald’s in Puebla at 2:00, alongside the toll-road to Mexico City. He said I couldn’t miss it.

The ride is 250 miles, starts off by going through Coscomatepec (once again), down the hill to Fortin. Once there, pick up the toll-road that runs from Veracruz to Mexico City. Once past Puebla, turn off onto another toll-road, the Arco Norte, that loops north around Mexico City, getting off at Tula, then head north to Mixquiahuala.

By far the most interesting part of the ride is the climb up to the central plateau, known as the Cumbres de Maltrata. The road climbs 4,000 ft. or so in about 20 miles. It is often foggy as the clouds coming off the Gulf pile up against the eastern faces of the mountain. I was willing to wait for clouds to move out. Though the road is 4-lane divided highway, due to the steepness of the terrain, they wind back and forth, crossing over each other several times, winding up looking like mating snakes.

I was geared up for the ride, long underwear, liner in my jacket, textile riding pants on over my blue jeans. It still felt chilly when I reached the top with a strong wind blowing. I took a break at the gas station, then pushed on up the highway to Puebla, watching the temperature readout on the dash drop into the 40’s.

Angel was right, I couldn’t miss the McDonald’s. I arrived a little before 2:00 and treated myself to a hamburger while I waited for Angel (the ¼-pounder, it doesn’t come with lettuce). When Angel showed up, I was surprised he wasn’t on his K1200LT, his big Beemer touring bike, instead, he was on the 1150C, a naked bike with no windscreen. He was also all bundled up and was wishing he had come on the tourer.

We gassed up on our way out of town, and kept moving up the highway till we reached our turnoff at Tula, then headed north the short bit to Mixquiahuala. A sign on the edge of town informed me that Mixquiahuala meant “Encircled by mesquite trees.” That was good to know. I had always wondered.

It was nice to arrive at Angel and Carmen’s house in Mixquiahuala, and to have a guide to get there. I was pretty sure I could find it on my own (I had done that coming in from the north two years earlier), but it was sure easier to follow someone else that knew the way and knew the necessary detours due to streets being dug up in the middle of town.

Angel and Carmen have a hardware store in town and live above it. The construction has been added on to a number of times and it’s an interesting piece of architecture. Angel is also an artist and does art pieces using tiny pieces of dyed straw glued to a backing to make elaborate pictures. He is the fourth or fifth generation to practice this art after the family learned the techniques from some local Indians. He is also the only one currently practicing this in Mexico. I carried an old magazine to Angel that Manolo and Hortensia had found that contained an article on an uncle of Angel’s and his work.

Here’s a picture I took two years ago with some examples of Angel’s work. The large Mayan calendar he did contains over a million pieces of straw. The level of detail is incredible. His work has wound up in museums and art collections around Mexico.

The hardware store:

Every inch inside the store is used for display:

And everything at the house becomes a craft project:

In the evening, we went to the Wednesday evening service at their Baptist church in Tula, about 30 minutes away. With temperatures dropping, I rode in their Jeep. Even though the pastor is American, the service ran more to Mexican standards than American. It was another late night getting back.

By morning, outside temperatures registered 29° F. I slept in my longjohns and socks in the unheated house and wound up wondering why I scheduled these trips for January.

I knew Angel had plans for Thursday, I just hoped it wasn’t going to be on the bike.

 

[andyc740]

Thursday, Day 7 - Barbacoa de Borrego for Breakfast

Thursday morning, once their girls were up and off to school, Angel and Carmen drove me over to the neighboring town of Progresso for some breakfast, barbacoa de borrego (mutton), a specialty of the area. They patronized a particular vendor in the market at Progresso, but when we got there about 8:30 or so, it was a little early. The borrego is cooked off-site and hadn’t shown up yet. They assured us it would only be about another 15 minutes, so we wandered around the plaza a bit while we waited.

The local police force was doing their morning formations:

Mexico has no problem with municipal Christmas decorations:

The bandstand:

And a shot of Carmen and Angel:

A neighboring meat stall at the market:

Some ladies serving up atole, a hot, thick drink. Angel and Carmen got chocolate. I asked for guava.

And, finally, the barbacoa. The proprietor’s name was Buyo, if I remember correctly. It was good. We had some mutton soup to go along with it, accompanied by fresh, hot corn tortillas.

Afterwards, it was back to the hardware store to drop Carmen off before Angel and I headed out on our junket.

 

[andyc740]

Thursday, Day 7, continued - A Really Big Tree

Two years earlier, Angel took me on a day ride east of Mixquiahuala, passing through Pachuca to a geological site known as the Prismas Basalticas. It was a great ride, passing by some very old haciendas and through a number of picturesque towns.

This time, Angel offered me several options for the day; we could drive into Tula and see a really big tree, then visit some of the archeological sites in the city, or we could see a bit smaller tree out in the country, then drive over to Huichapan, a Pueblo Magico, in the area. I voted for the day in the country and the smaller tree. It was 50 miles to Huichapan, but would take us several hours to get there.

Not too far outside Mixquiahuala, before we went past the reservoir, we turned north in a small town, towards the mountains, and quickly wound up on a cobblestone road that petered out as we came up to a large, very old cypress tree. Known as sabinos in Mexico, we call them the Montezuma Cypress. This tree had suffered some fire damage several years earlier and a rude fence had been put up around it, but it was still impressive. We shared the experience with some uninterested cattle grazing in the area.

By contrast, this is the tree in Tula. It's known for having the largest trunk of any tree in the world, nearly 120 ft. in circumference. (Image taken from wikipedia.)

We backtracked from the tree and headed on.

 

[andyc740]

Thursday, Day 7, continued - Nopala

Our drive took us past a reservoir with some jumbled-up shipping containers by the side of the road. Angel said they were from a train wreck that was caused by the railroad ties being stolen. I didn't see any evidence of the rail cars. Maybe the railroad had salvaged them, leaving the shipping containers.

In Nopala, we swung by the plaza and paid a visit to the Palacio Municipal (City Hall). Angel always likes visiting them and they usually yield some interesting things to see. He's not one for going in the churches in town.

Angel was excited when we saw this. It's a torofuego (fire bull), brought out during festivals. It has roman candles and sparklers strapped all over it and charges through the crowd on the shoulders of several men. Like to see that happen in US.

Notice the wires in this picture for ringing the carillon?

And a few more photos from town:

From Nopala, we pushed on to Huichapan, a few miles up the road. On the way we passed signs to an aqueduct in the area, but skipped seeing it for time reasons. Promotional pictures show it to be pretty impressive. According to a website I found, the aqueduct was built in the 18th century and is the highest in Mexico. I'll have to save seeing that for another day.

 

[M38A1]

Excellent RR.... Thank you sooooo much for taking the time to share the experience. Makes me want to go try something like this someday.

 

[andyc740]

Thursday, Day 7 - Huichapan and the Return Trip

In Huichapan, the main street ran between the plaza and the palacio municipal. We found some off-street parking, then wandered around the area. Apparently, Huichapan's claim to historical fame is that it is the original location for the rememberance of the grito de Mexico. Independence Day in Mexico is celebrated on September 16th. The celebrations begin the evening of September 15th with the Grito, which commemorates the call to arms beginning the 10-year war for independence from Spain. The war began in 1810. The first celebration of the Grito was in Huichapan, in 1812. The building and balcony still stands and there is a small museum at the site explaining the history. Buildings and balustrades still have bullet holes from the time of the war.

Again, we walked through the Palacio Municipal and found some interest in the building.

They had a double-decker tourist bus, currently parked:

These churches are across the plaza from the Palacio and are where the museum is located:

Headed back to the car, we ran into a local out and about on his Harley. Large motorcycles are rare in Mexico and always attract attention. We visited for a while and Angel was invited to an outing this fellow's club had planned in February.

Somebody trying to get out:

On the ride back, Nopala was obviously getting ready for a fair. They had just celebrated Christmas, New Year's, Kings' Day and now they were gearing up for another. They were still selling roscas, the round fruit cakes, that are traditional fare on Dia de los Reyes, Kings' Day. That celebrates the arrival of the three wise men to see the baby Jesus, and is usually when gifts are given in Mexico.

Angel stopped to pick up some candy for the girls.

Heading on, Angel wanted to stop for a shot of the wrecked shipping containers.

Then it was back to Mixquiahuala. I really enjoyed the outing. Friday, I needed to head back to the states. I'd been on the road a week and it was time to get back home. I warned Angel that the Guzzi might be a bit cranky about starting in the morning. She's not a fan of cold-weather, early-morning starts. In keeping with the late starts on this trip, I didn't plan to head out until 8:00 to give things a chance to warm up a bit before getting up into the mountains.

 

[_RG_]

Outstanding RR! Your appreciation of the Mexican culture and skill in sharing it are only rivaled by some of these images. Beautiful!

Thanks for taking us along.

 

[andyc740]

Friday, Saturday, Days 8 and 9 - The Ride Home

Excellent RR.... Thank you sooooo much for taking the time to share the experience. Makes me want to go try something like this someday.

M38A1, I'm sooooo glad you're enjoying it. Mexico is well worth the effort to go see, on so many levels. I don't get into the dirt riding that many do, but I thoroughly enjoy these trips.

Outstanding RR! Your appreciation of the Mexican culture and skill in sharing it are only rivaled by some of these images. Beautiful!

Thanks for taking us along.

RG, again thanks for the encouragement. Feedback is only means I have of knowing if anyone appreciates the write-up. Thank you for the comment.

Let's see if I can wrap this thing up.


Sure enough, after packing up my luggage and loading the bike, Rocinante didn't want to start. On cold mornings, this one was 41 deg., the starter solenoid just goes "phut!" when I mash the starter button, but nothing else happens. Usually a short session on a battery charger or a jump start and she's good to go. I told myself to bring along my battery charger on this trip for just such an occasion, but then forgot to pack it. No worries, Angel had one.

Charging the battery gave me time for breakfast with Angel and Carmen, which was much appreciated. Meal times in Mexico are different from what I'm used to. In Mexico, breakfast usually happens around 9:00 or 10:00 or so, lunch is often not until 2:00, then dinner gets served at 8:00 or 9:00. When I'm in Mexico, my stomach knows it just needs to be patient. We'll eat when we eat.

Once breakfast was out of the way, Rocinante started readily and I was on the road, only it was 9:30, not 8:00, as planned. I would have to hustle to reach my goal of Ciudad Victoria before dark.

According to the maps, I had about 350 miles to cover to reach Ciudad Victoria. Bing says 11 1/2 hours, but that proved to be pessimistic. Though the pace was about right initially. Hwy 85 runs right through the heart of the Sierra Madre Oriental. It took almost two hours to reach Tasquillo, where I stopped to top up the fuel tank, then another three hours to reach Tamazunchale on the eastern side of the mountains. One hundred fifty miles, an average of 30 mph.

The hundred mile span to get across the mountains is a wonderful ride. Traffic light, the weather very nice, a great day to be out for a ride. Two years earlier, I did the ride in the opposite direction, crossing the border at 6:30 A.M., doing the last several hours in the dark, arriving in Mixquiahuala about 8:00. This time I wanted to take things a bit easier and see more of the mountains in daylight.

Vegetation and climate change continuously as the road climbs higher and higher. It starts as desert, climbs up into hills forested in pine and juniper, shades into oak near the top, then has changed completely to tropical vegetation by the time one is descending the eastern slopes. I tried to stop to take a few representative pictures, but because of the late start, I didn't stop very much.

Rocinante on the battery charger. Notice how clean and shiny the bike is. While Angel and I were out Thursday, he asked his guys to give the bike a good wash and polish. It was much appreciated. I frequently get asked in the states why I never wash my motorcycle. I usually answer, "Because I'm going for a ride and she'll just get dirty again." It was nice of Angel to not buy that.

Just past Tasquillo, things are getting interesting.

This is an hour or two on up the highway. The first picture is looking back. The houses you see are strung out along the highway.

Nearing Tamazunchale, I stopped at a gas station for a break and took the chance to take off my riding overpants and a sweater. Having the armor is nice, but the day was warming up nicely. It also gave me a chance to put on some lighter gloves in place of the winter ones I was wearing. Winter road trips mean packing for just about every kind of possible weather; rain, freezing temps and temps into the 80's.

Past Tamazunchale, the highway reaches the eastern foothills of the mountains, then turns north toward Ciudad Valle. The area is very green and tropical. Plant nurseries are scattered along the highway. I wanted to turn off at Xilitla and see Las Pozas again, but didn't have the time.

The pace was picking up as I rode northwards. I stopped for gas and a bite to eat from the convenience store on the north side of Valles and then pushed on. I knew it would be dark by the time I got to Ciudad Victoria and debated about stopping for the night in Mante. When I got there, I was following several State Police pickups and they were keeping a pretty good pace, so I decided to see how far up the highway they were going. About dark, they finally turned off, but by then I was chasing a couple sedans, so I followed them on into Cd. Victoria, arriving about 7:00.

I stopped at the first cheap hotel I saw, La Blanquita, across from the bus station. They rented me a room for P270, a bit more than $20.00 US and let me park the bike on the sidewalk in front of the room.

After some supper a couple doors down, I noticed a latch was coming apart on one of the saddlebags, so I drug my tools out for the first time on the trip, took things apart and got it reassembled where it should stay. I really like those saddlebags. They say Moto Guzzi on them, but they're made by Givi. They're very sturdy, go off and on easily and are pretty watertight. They also came with bag liners when I bought the bike.

The room had all kinds of light shining in through the thin curtains and there was lots of traffic going by, but a pair of earplugs and a towel over my head let me sleep in peace.

In the morning, I was up, packed, and on my way about 7:00. Now I'm on pretty familiar ground, just 200 miles from the border.

I stopped for gas, coffee and pan dulce at Nuevo Padilla, then pushed on. There was a bit of ground fog, but it quickly cleared up. One of the good things about highways in Tamaulipas is that there are very few topes and I can make pretty decent time. Makes up a bit for the lack of scenery.

At the checkpoint, just past the turnoff for Soto, the line of trucks was still there, but it was only half as long as before. I was waved over to inspection, but the soldiers just wanted to know where I was coming from. I usually just tell them where I started in the morning. I don't want to pique their interest too much. They did ask me how fast the bike could go, but I low-balled them on the answer. I'm not sure they believed me, but waved me on without checking any bags.

The ride to the border was uneventful. I did amuse the lady at the toll gate on the Reynosa bypass when I had to pay my P7 toll with a P200 note because I had gone through all my pocket change. At least she took it well and said, "Count your change!" as I rode off.

Crossing Highway 2, the last mile or two to the bridge had both lanes jammed up with trucks. The semis are supposed to stay in the right lane, but that wasn't happening. I cut over to the shoulder, lane split between the cars and trucks for a ways, went back over to the shoulder, did more lane splitting again, and finally worked my way through the mess. I hold my breath lane splitting but that doesn't make those saddlebags any narrower.

The traffic jam served to slow down traffic over the bridge, so lines at US customs were very short. I got through with a minimum of delay, changed my leftover pesos into dollars, had a late lunch at the Subway up the street, called my wife (she was watching my progress with the Spot Tracker), tooled on up the highway and was home shortly after 3:00; 9 days, 2035 miles.

I really enjoyed the trip, though 9 days is pushing things a bit. It was good to be back home. It was also great to see my friends with CMA Mexico and to spend some quality time with them. I'm already thinking about when the next trip will be. Hopefully, we'll be able to make a bike rally somewhere in Northern Mexico in the spring.

Thanks for riding along!

 

[Arte]

gooood!!

 

[Arte]

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Next time you may want to ride thru this road (red dotted), is saves you about 40 minutes (no speeding) and is much much better looking than the other.
We rode it past October on our way to Chiapas, and is very good!

 

[MikeMike]

Great stuff, Andy! Always a pleasure to ride with you. Un abrazo, hasta el proximo año! Saludos!

 

[andyc740]

Next time you may want to ride thru this road (red dotted), is saves you about 40 minutes (no speeding) and is much much better looking than the other.
We rode it past October on our way to Chiapas, and is very good!

Glad you enjoyed the report. Great suggestion on the route from Aldama to the port. I think Bato rode that on the way back from Motohermandad in Tampico one time. He wasn't too impressed at the time, but the road's probably been worked on since then. I'll try it next time through.

Great stuff, Andy! Always a pleasure to ride with you. Un abrazo, hasta el proximo año! Saludos!

Mike, thanks. The pleasure is all mine.

 

[MikeMike]

Andy, I was back up there today with the Mystery Rider. B&W pics will be up on the ADV forum Mexico thread. Weather was almost exactly the same as when we went. Didn't see Victor or the family, but the house was open so they must have been around somewhere.

 

[cdc]

¡Excelente!
Enjoyed your report and the pictures.

 

[Jerry]

I love Mexico ride reports. Xilitla and Las Pozas are a bucket list destination for me. Thanks for taking us along!

 

[andyc740]

¡Excelente!
Enjoyed your report and the pictures.

I'm glad you liked it.

I love Mexico ride reports. Xilitla and Las Pozas are a bucket list destination for me. Thanks for taking us along!

Thanks, Jerry. Xilitla is only a day's ride from the border, 400 miles from the Pharr International Bridge, where I usually cross. The Hotel Guzman in Xilitla is clean and cheap. From Xilitla, it's a nice ride to Jalpan and the Sierra Gordas. Let me know when you'd like to go.

Waltzing through the Sierra Gorda - another Mexico ride!

 

[grandpaul]

Dang, Andy, that was one wonderful trip, in every possible way. You are getting more picture-riffic, by the way.

I especially liked the two litter-mates, and the draw between you and the parking lot dog.

Fantastic write-up.

 

[andyc740]

Dang, Andy, that was one wonderful trip, in every possible way. You are getting more picture-riffic, by the way.

I especially liked the two litter-mates, and the draw between you and the parking lot dog.

Fantastic write-up.

Thanks, Paul. It was good to see you at the Texas Mile last weekend. Sunday was a complete washout. Maybe I can get some pictures posted this weekend.