June 30, 2012
Today's drive was
absolutely stunning. Leaving Monterrey going south I was surrounded
on all sides for the majority of the trip by mountain peaks reaching
high up into the clouds. At every turn I happily saw that instead of
tunnels like home the roads here ran up and over the mountains. For
most of the day I was surrounded with breathtaking sites and I know
the pictures don't do it justice, but trust me when I say it was
incredible.
After 3 long days
of being on the road, today's sites couldn't have been more
welcoming. By the time I pulled in Zacateras approaching the heart
of Mexico I felt completely exhausted with the thought of turning
around soon in my mind. For the first time I left as early as I had
wanted and it paid off because my ride today was almost too cold for
just a t-shirt and jeans underneath my armor. 7 hours later when I
finally came to the city it was only just starting to get hot, but
Mexico again proved that driving around in its cities is no easy feat
and certainly not for gringos.
Again trying to use
my google maps to point the way, I took wrong turn after wrong turn
after wrong turn. Eventually I found myself at least a mile away
from my destination with the only way to get back being a huge hill.
I think Saphira was overheating in the stop-and-go/stand still
traffic because when I tried to power up the hill she just didn't
have it in her. After 3 more attempts only to stall each time I
finally gave up and continued in the wrong direction looking for
another way to get back. By this time I was my usual self when
arriving at my destination: hot, exhausted, and ready to be done for
the day but it would be another 30 minutes until I stumbled on to my
hostel this time totally by mistake but what a happy mistake it was.
As annoying as my delay was I couldn't have arrived at a better time.
Less then 30 minutes later the skies let loose in a torrential down
pour. Watching from my second floor balcony above the street I
noticed that the rain strangely turned into hale. At first I thought
my eyes were deceiving me so extending a hand I quickly learned from
the stinging pea sized ice cubes that it was in fact hale. Now I
just found out that it is the rainy season here so the rain and
thunderstorms weren't surprising, only that it's the first I've seen
them, but can hale really be normal here?
Speaking of hostels
though, mine is absolutely perfect! For $8 a night I have a bed,
kitchen, shower, breakfast, wifi, a balcony, and all the creature comforts I
could hope for at that price. Just like the rest of the city of
Zacateras the hostel is in an ancient 3 story house with little
lighting, excellent wood work, and colorful Mexican style. The city
of Zacateras similarly is known for being an ancient city. It's
streets are primarily cobblestone, many only one way with cars
jamming them from side to side. Unlike Monterrey though everyone
here is much more peaceful. Cars genially allow me to cut in, don't
seem to mind when I take too long looking at google maps, and an old
man even came out of his shop today to help push my bike backwards up
a hill due to me being stuck behind a parked car (the bikes heavy!)
Tomorrow promises
to be an exciting day. The architecture, the people, and the many
historical sites promise a great day of sight seeing. There’s even
a cable car to give you a panoramic view high above the city and I've
been told that it only costs around $2 so that's a must. The
question now is will I stay here for two nights or more? How long
will it be until I feel the need to continue further south back on my
beast, only creating more of a distance to backtrack when my time in
Mexico is up. I'm not sure, but after a refreshing shower, a nice
chat with a local exp-pat, and this journal entry I think I'm ready
for a walk.
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