|
Where were we? I had
made it to Tequis right as it was getting dark, I found the hotel I was
looking for, Posada San Francisco, which was listed in the Lonely Planet as
budget hotel. When I walked in I was greeted very nicely by the manager, but
she had a much higher price in mind than I thought it would be based on the
LP listing. Not a big problem, everything is negotiable, so we ended up
agreeing on a "special" 33% discount. Now it was a much more appealing place
to stay.
Tequis became what it is thanks to hot springs that were used by Mexico
City’s rich and famous as a place to cure what ills them. This included a
long list of presidents as well, and since in countries like Mexico you
needed (many say you still have) to be close to the source to land lucrative
business deals, everybody else followed. Now Tequis is a well established
weekend resort town and it shows. It has that look one imagines quaint
Mexican towns do, but still retains the feeling of a real working town, not
a tourist resort, such as those you find on the coasts.
I had a long day ahead of me, so I got up around 7, and went out to find
something to eat about 30 minutes later, only to find out again that in
Mexico, the saying "no por mucho madrugar amanece mas temprano" is always
true. It took me 20 minutes to find someone that already had something that
would pass for breakfast close to 8 AM. Not a town of early risers.
Breakfast ended up being a warm cup of atole de fresa and sweet Mexican
bread I ate while sitting on a bench in the main plaza across from church,
watching people coming out of the morning mass. No wonder there was no one
in the market. Market starts only after mass ends...
It was time to get on the road. The road east out of Tequis doesn’t start
out very promising. If you don’t know where you are going, you’d be forgiven
if you think you are about to spend the day riding mostly in a straight line
and down these mild hills. Once you get near the San Joaquin turnoff, the road starts to get more interesting. As I had never been
up to San Joaquin, I decided to go
check it out. 20 miles each way, over an hour to do it, with only one short
stop. Now this is more like it.
Back on the main road to the Sierra Gorda, the road takes a nose dive into a
valley, then starts to finally climb into the mountains. At one spot in the
road, as you are climbing further into the Sierra, a sign proclaims this to
be the Gateway to Heaven. If you are a motorcyclist, they are not
exaggerating. OK, they actually meant it in the sense that this is a natural
reserve, but I couldn't have agreed more anyway.
At one point I looked over the valley, and saw a beautiful cloudy carpet
completely filling the space between the peaks. The sun was shining, the
temperature very comfortable for riding, and I couldn’t help but think about
that sign again. This was the roadway to heaven. Of course, about 30 minutes
later, I was riding in those clouds, as I was descending to Jalpan.
Visibility very limited, and since I couldn’t see through my heavily
misted/fogged face shield, I had to ride with it up, getting wet and cold in
the process. So much for heaven.
The ride through the clouds didn’t really last as long as it seemed at the
time, and I quickly found myself in Jalpan. Since we visited Jalpan last
year, I decided to skip the town and go on towards San Luis Potosi. After
some short straight sections in the valleys near Rio Verde, the road climbs
into the mountains again but this time, as the road to SLP is a major access
east, there was a lot more traffic. Luckily, it was all dispatched without
too much trouble using the techniques of Johan the master of Mexican
traffic.
San Luis Potosi is a very large, industrial city, with a lively
colonial/historical city center. It may not be a tourist destination, but if
you are on the road and need a place to crash for the night, it may make an
interesting overnight stop. Zacatecas is more interesting, IMHO, and that
was my target for the night.
I have usually stayed in the city center, but parking is a hassle (none of
the places I can afford have onsite parking) so I decided to try a hotel a
bit further out. I picked Hotel Colon out of the LP budget list, since it
listed parking was available. That was not the case, no parking is
available, but they didn’t mind if I left the bike in their reserved
loading/unloading area, just in front of the main door, which I figured was
just as good.
I went to have dinner at Doña Julia’s (excellent gorditas), but as is often
the case, it was packed and there was a long wait for a table. I was really
hungry, so I decided to go have dinner at Acropolis, a restaurant
recommended by Gourmet Magazine (it was Lizbeth’s suggestion, I was talking
to her on the phone as I walked around the city, she remembers those kinds
of details).
The place was nice, the food tasty, but for some reason, it didn’t agree
with me at all. So much for Gourmet Magazine recommendations... To make a
long story short, it was a very long night, which was really bad timing, as
I was looking at an 880 km trip then next day to get to Chihuahua.
I decided to fill up before leaving Zacatecas, so I rode to the gas station
on the outskirts of town without all the cold weather gear on, thinking I’ll
tough it out, it’s a short distance. It quickly became clear that was a
mistake, and that this was going to be a cold day to ride. I left the gas
station a little after 9:30, and it was still cold. Around Fresnillo, the
wind picked up and it was only getting colder. Great. I decided that if I am
going to be cold, I might as well keep it as short as possible and put the
hammer down. That worked well for about an hour. I reached the Cuencame toll
plaza and looking north it was getting darker and darker.
Is that storm all the way to Chihuahua? That’s a long way to ride in a
desert rain storm. I figured that if it was going to be raining, I might as
well take the highway, as it will be slow going on the libre. It started
almost as soon as I got past the toll booth and it rained hard, like it
often does in the desert- big drops that hit you like it was hail (it was
cold enough to be hail, but I didn’t see any) and it didn’t stop for about 2
hours. It wouldn’t have been that bad had the ‘Stitch not leaked. It was
less than 40F most of the day, even after I crossed into Chihuahua and the
rains stopped. It wasn’t warm enough to get dry, so it was wet and cold all
the way home. Didn’t I come to Mexico to escape this kind of weather? Where
do I claim my refund?
It took a hot shower and lots of hot fluids to get me to defrost from this
ride. Now, there was one more ride to take, to get the bike back to NM,
where it will stay for now. I was just hoping the weather will be a little
nicer for the weekend, I have a plane to catch, postponing the ride is not
an option.
Saturday dawned with
clear blue skies. That was good. But it was also pretty chilly, not much
above freezing. I had a plane to catch, so waiting for the day to warm up
was not a real option. Off I went. It was indeed a chilly ride, the Heat-Troller
again cranked to the max. Using the same logic that got me to Chihuahua in
record time earlier, I figured if it was going to be cold, might as well
keep it short and I put the hammer down.
I got pulled over by the
army checkpoint near Samalayuca. As I was chatting with the soldier that
inspected my luggage he mentioned that he had heard it was snowing in El Paso. Great. As I was
nearing the border, it started to drizzle. Soon the drizzle turned to wet,
fluffy, snow, that luckily was not sticking. It took me longer to get
across the US border than it took to get the tourist and temporary import
permit to go into Mexico three weeks earlier. In the process I learned that
riding a motorcycle from Portland around Mexico is very dangerous. If the US finest immigration officers think so, it must be true.
After a long and almost
unbelievable exchange which I can not repeat here (I can hear the black
helicopters already) was over, I was finally on my way to Las Cruces.
What a fantastic four
weeks. I rode through what seemed like four different seasons, countless
different landscapes (not to mention roads) and had a great New Year’s
celebration with friends I don’t get to see very often. What more can you
ask for?
YNewYear'sRideMV
Gustavo
|
