Seattle to Ushuaia

I did not write in very much detail about yesterday’s ride.  This was mostly because yesterday was intensely frustrating, and I did not want to think about it.  My plan was to find the road that connects the coastal highway (MX-200) with the inland highway to Oaxaca, but my hopes were frustrated by bad roads, misleading directions, and imprecise/inaccurate GPS map data.  After a long and broken conversation with a group of four local men who (I think) were saying that the road I wanted was in very bad condition, I cut my losses in the late afternoon and returned to the city of Ometepec for dinner and a night’s rest.  As it turns out, this was just what I needed.

Today I woke up earlier than I have this entire trip.  I woke up so early that it was still dark out!  Laugh if you want, but I am not a morning person by nature, so setting my alarm to 5:30 AM was truly a testament to my devotion towards finding Oaxaca.  I was on the road by 6:30, and the sun did not rise until close to 7 so I enjoyed the twilight and the cool morning air while I had it.

The fields were covered in a thick mist this morning, and the riding was cool and quite comfortable.

After a couple of false starts, I found the right highway and made my first real foray into the highlands of Mexico.  The road I took (MX-125) starts off slowly, but soon begins to climb into the mountains.

Clouds dominated the skyline on the southern side of the mountain range, but it never rained.

This was exactly what I’d been looking for.  Don’t get me wrong – the coast is nice, and I love the beaches and the sandals and the warm weather, but I’d been missing the mountains and those lovely mountain roads for a while.

Today was a day of (nearly) non-stop jaw-dropping riding.

The air chilled considerably as I climbed. I actually had to close the air vents on my jacket for the first time since entering Mexico!

The riding was phenomenal, and it was only with great difficulty that I was able to pause and snap a few shots before jumping back on the bike and zipping off.  The extremely narrow (and often non-existent) shoulders complicated things, as I had to search hard for safe places to leave the bike in order to shoot photos.  I’m very glad I did so.

The road had very little traffic, which helped make it safer for photographing.

Imagine this, only 200+ kilometers of it.

Exhibit A: one extremely satisfied motorcycle rider.

According to my GPS, the route peaked at about 8000 feet, whereupon it began to descend into the valley which contains the city of Oaxaca.  The mountain must have a very powerful rain shadow effect, because the southern side was green and moist while the northern side remained arid and hot.

The northern slope was less green but still beautiful.

The mountain road eventually turned into a high-speed toll highway which I followed for the last 110 KM into Oaxaca.  By then my ass definitely felt the effects from all the hard mountain riding, so I was more than happy to coast the rest of the way to the city.  I found a hostel near the historic center of the city, and tomorrow I intend to explore some of the ruins near the outskirts of Oaxaca.  I probably won’t stay for more than one night since I’m excited to get to Guatemala, but this city has already shown me some cool sights.

La Iglesia de Santo Cristobal - a really large church in the middle of the historic center of Oaxaca.

I watched these kids toss around a large, inflated plastic bag in the city's main plaza.

I had my first chance to try the Oaxacan cuisine. This tamale wasn't much to look, but it sure was tasty!

My first impressions of this city are decidedly good.  It’s at a higher elevation than most places I’ve stayed so far (5000 feet), which helps with the heat and the bugs.  I’m looking forward very much to going out tonight and checking out some of the bars that I noticed while walking around earlier this evening!  I don’t know where my next destination will be, but stay tuned – I expect to be in Guatemala in 3 or 4 days.

This entry was posted on December 3, 2009 at 7:42 pm and is filed under On The Road.

Tags: mexico, pictures