Page 59: - No Return Ticket - Just a Ride Report /w Pics - From the beginning
Sweet, we finally made it to Xalapa. The first two hotels we checked were way over our budget. Both are on the main road running through downtown and we guessed the price would be high. Next we started to search the side streets. It wasn’t long before Heidi yells out “Hotel” We are set. $38 a night and blocks from the central zone.
OK, not much to say. Just another beautiful colonial Mexican city, the type Heidi and I enjoy exploring on foot. Let’s go…...
Center of town (Centro) .
Gas in Mexico is under $3.00 a gallon. I can see why some people don’t want the gas industry to be privatized in Mexico.
This is Mexico. Nobody is getting out of line here.
Street musicians play every day here.
The city center sits high on a hill.
The central park is big, beautiful and clean.
Local cool dudes.
We find a street market.
Interesting treats.
I go off solo one day and stop at a cocina econominico (economical dinner) I get a large bowl of noodle soup to start. Next, all this food comes including a glass of juice. The stack of steaming hot tortilla was two inches thick, $2.70.
Allie Centro; this is where Heidi and I like to sit at a coffee shop to talk and watch the world go by. This ally is lined with coffee houses and restaurants. Stands are set up selling beads, jewelry, stuff and whatever. I bought an awesome T-shirt here. No, I mean it….
We’re glade we visited Xalapa.
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Back On the Road:
Almost every night and every day we have experienced torrential rains. We extended our stay in Xalapa a couple of days hoping for a reprieve from the rain. The Last day here we had only light sprinkles so we were confident tomorrow is the day to ride. The whole state of Veracruz and others near Mexico City are experiencing bad flooding. We had plans to check out other locations people recommended to us but with all the flooding and rain we decided to ride for the east coast then head north toward the U.S. border. The plan then is to regroup in Wisconsin for a couple of months before heading down to South America.
Heidi suits up in her rain gear right away. She says”Don’t you think its going to rain” She balks at my optimism. The skies looked dark in the direction we’re riding. I’m sure Heidi is going to be the smart one today, again.
It wasn’t long before my rain gear goes on. And it wasn’t long after that, it was raining so hard Heidi gives me the ‘single jabs’ signal meaning ‘we gotta’ pull over. She was right, it was difficult to see. We were lucky again. This gas station was in just the right spot. We waited until the rain was down to steady and light before taking off again. It cost us maybe 15 or 20 minutes. We see this as a small price to pay for the added safety.
The rains lessened the further south we rode. We finally made it to the Emerald coast village I remembered from another ride. There are a lot of hotel options here. We think we found the best beach hotel in town. $40 a night,
The people who run and own this hotel are real pleasant and friendly. The grandmother directs me to park the bike right in front of their house under this awning.
We are four blocks from the main city beach. This is a paradise in our book.
City beach.
The first photo he didn’t think he had enough shrimp in his hand. He grabs more and poses. He has a scale on the ground and is loading this pan full of shrimp and selling them to the restaurant.
We get a plate of Mexican snacks included with our margaritas today. Can ‘dig it’.
Nice view of the tropical bay.
There’s a small fishing boat coming in. A White heroin slowly flaps into flight.
The fisherman studies the location hard before he sets his net.
The Emerald coast is great. We celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary here. We can’t believe it’s been that long. This also marked ‘one year’ from when we started the ride. ‘Way’ cool….
Tomorrow we are gunning for Ciudad Victoria. It will be a long day and ride. From there it’s a half a day to the US border. It looks like smooth sailing.
The Ride Continues………………….......
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