Heading north...

Having finished up in Jalcomulco, we headed to Xalapa for a day to check out the nearest big city to our future basecamp. Xalapa turned out to be a confusing city to navigate, with lots of one-way streets, five-way stops, and steep hills. But, we found a hotel within walking distance of the reputable Museo de Antropologia, and went to check out the museum. It specialized in the history of the state of Veracruz during pre-Colombian times, and was well-organized. Probably the coolest items in the collection were the “Colossal Heads,” which were enormous sculptures of, you guessed it, heads.

It was also promising to find Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Officemax, Costco, Sam’s Club, etc in Xalapa. While we prefer NOT to shop at these stores and instead strive to support smaller local businesses, they can be helpful in a pinch. We also found and enjoyed a movie theater… one of our favorite pasttimes while traveling.

Trying to leave Xalapa, we ran into our first hiccup with the bikes. Kristin’s bike is notoriously cold-blooded, and doesn’t like to start up immediately in the mornings. As we worked to get it started, we wore down the battery. So, we tried to jump it using my bike, but its battery wasn´t strong enough to jump it. It took some frantic, sloppy Spanish to find someone to let us use their car to jump the bike… several people told me they “couldn’t” do it because of the computers in their cars. But, the bike fired right up once we had the jump.

After we left Xalapa, we started heading north. We made a stop to investigate “El Tajin,” an archealogical site filled with ruins of the vanished Totonac civilization. This site is famous for having the most ball courts… in this civilization, apparently winners of the ball game were ritualistically beheaded to appease rain gods. Yikes! Anyway, it was a very interesting site, well-maintained and very photogenic. We are interested to read more about the history of the Totonac.

After Tajin, we drove to Tantoyuca, getting even further than we had planned. Today, we hit the road relatively early (to be honest, our hotel last night was pretty cruddy) and made it all the way to Matehuala. Today was probably our longest day in terms of mileage, with something over 300. However, we got off the road relatively early, since we are now cruising on the cuotas (toll roads).

Back to the States all too soon…

Rio Actopan

Today we hit up the Upper and Lower Rio Actopan, about an hour from our base here in Jalcomulco. Better luck today… no broken paddles! We were also really lucky because Jim Coffey, of Esprit Rafting on the Ottawa River, lent us two boats, so we saved a little cash.

Because of the rain two days ago, the river was slightly higher than normal, and because we had read that in the first 2 km after the standard put-in there are bridges that are difficult to portage at high water, we entered the river slightly downstream. That meant we had to skip the 4 meter waterfall/dam that most people run.

But, the run was really fun. Super continuous Class II and III, with good scenery. There were a couple of fun play spots, but mostly the run was filled with cool boogey water. We did run into a lot of trees in the river, apparently from the storm the other night. Our choffer said it was due to the wind they call “El Norte.” We only had to portage once, though, and we think the run would be cleaner normally. We now our students would love the stretch.

Super tired… more later..

Paddling

Fortunately, Kristin and I were able to find someone to rent us a couple of kayaks. Yesterday, we picked up two, contracted a truck to take us upstream to the Puente Pescados, and hit the Rio Antigua. One really cool thing about this paddling location is that town is the take-out for the most popular stretch, called the Pescados run. It is Class III-IV, with loads of action. There are very few (and very short) sections of flatwater between really fun rapids.

Unfortunately, in the third rapid of the day, I was trying to do a wave wheel (that is a trick, mom) and the breakdown paddle I was using cracked at the ferrell. So, the paddle came apart and I was floating through the rest of the rapid with two halves of a paddle. Eventually I flipped over, and lost half the paddle when I used my hands to roll up. The half I let go of apparently sank, because we never saw it again.

But, feeling confident, we continued on, and I used the remaining half like a canoe paddle… until I flipped again, had to hand roll, and that half sank as well! The good news was that I was in a kayak that was too small for me to start with, so it was pretty much the ideal situation to be in. From there, Kristin stayed really close (in case I had any problems) and I just used my hands to make it down the rest of the run. A little unnerving, to say the least, since this was the first time we paddled in Mexico.

But, at lunch in town, we borrowed a new paddle, I switched into a boat that fit me, and we hit the stretches of river below town. These were slightly easier than the upper stretch, but still had really big waves and fun rapids. Needless to say, it was a long day of paddling, as we did a lot of miles.

Today we were not on the river, but instead hiked up a small side canyon just outside of town. We also traced the shuttle from yesterday, so that we would be able to drive it if we bring students here. And, surprisingly, we had a lot of fun looking for houses and chatting with local business owners. It should have been work, but everyone was so friendly (and complimentary–they all think Kristin is gorgeous).

Tomorrow we are going to a new river, which is close by… we are pretty excited!

Finally to Jalcomulco

Kristin and I spent a day in Orizaba, took in a movie ($2.50 each!) and visited the art museum there, which was featuring an exhibit on the African-Mexican history and cultures. Then, we only had a three hour ride today up to Jalcomulco, the whitewater town we are considering as a future basecamp for Alzar. Our initial impression is positive. The town sits right on the Rio Jalcomulco, and we have arranged to rent kayaks to paddle at least one of its stretches tomorrow. There are a number of different runs near here, and we plan on hitting up as many as possible. The town itself is a perfect size… big enough to have internet access, hotels, and other amenities, but off the beaten track. Our students will love it. We´ll write more tomorrow, but wanted everyone to know that we had made it to our destination. We´ll be here for at least a few days.

Troncones to Taxco

Finally, driving along the coast and seeing the ocean! From Manzanillo to Troncones (a small town just outside of Ixtapa-Zihuatenejo), we enjoyed views of the emerald Pacific, and tight, clean turns. The most amazing part was probably the complete lack of traffic for the majority of the day… only as we came into our destination did we see any other cars. It felt as if we had the entire road to ourselves… except for the incredible amount of burros running around.

We stopped in Troncones to visit our friends, the Long family (they own Cascade Raft and Kayak in Idaho, and spend a month or so every fall surfing… check out their site). They were welcoming and invited us to crash at their beautiful house on the beach for the night, and enjoy some super home-cooked Mexican pounded chicken. Right after we rolled in, the weather took a turn for the worst, and we were able to watch the sea get rough. We had ominous thoughts about this morning…

Our plan was to get up and leave when all the Longs went surfing… at 6:30AM. But, when we got up, it was dumping rain and they had decided to cancel. We decided to wait until it was completely light out, as we did not want to fight darkness, rain, and puddles. When we did leave, at 8, it was still raining hard. We took it slow, but even with our great gear, got fairly soaked.

From Troncones up to Cuidad Altomirano was supposed to be 186 kilometers, with no gas stations in between… that is pretty much the range of our bikes, so we were a little apprehensive. We filled at the first gas station we saw, then again at the next one 8 miles later. The ride took us up, up, and finally after two hours of suffering in the weather, past the rain. We rode along one ridge for most of the time, and came into sunshine when we began to descend down the northern side. We entered a new range of ecology as well, different from both the coast and the high altitude pine forests of the Creel area.

We got stopped briefly at a military checkpoint, but they only wanted to see our passports. One of the guards asked us how the Mexican people were treating us. The funny thing was that he seemed genuinely surprised when we said they had been very friendly. I asked to take a picture, but was denied.

Finally, at around 5PM, we arrived in Taxco, without knowing what to expect. The twisting highway carves into town and the buildings are stacked like Legos up the hills. There does not appear to be a single level plot of land, or a true two-lane road. We asked around at a bunch of hotels, and benefitted from this being the slow season, finding a very cool place with an enormous terrace.

We walked up to the ¨center¨of town, the church. Everywhere there are silver shops… that is what the town is famous for. And, fortunately for me, paleterias. Oh, and I found churros! You could spend days shopping for affordable jewelery here… if you´re into that sort of thing. We are going to move on tomorrow.

Down the Devil’s Backbone and along the coast

On our own now, Kristin and I made it from Chihuahua to Rodeo on our first day (just shy of Durango, where we had hoped to make it). Turns out Rodeo was the birthplace of Pancho Villa. Who knew? Anyway, we were excited to turn south-west from Durango, as we were about to enter the ‘El Espinazo del Diablo,´or the Devil´s Backbone. Our guide from the first week with Motodiscovery, Alfonso, told us this was another ride the company offered, so we expected it to be fun. The first hour and a half past Durango was relatively mild, a few turns threw pines, chilly, but nothing stunning. As we continued, though, it got twistier and steeper, and then, all of the sudden, there was a gap between the trees… and it looked as if you had reached the end of the world. Because we were cruising by quickly on motorcycles, it was hard to believe the glimpse was real. But then another gap would appear, and BAM… a stunning, gagged, lush canyon. You almost expected to see pteradactyls flying around, maybe a brontosaurus head poking out the trees. Eventually, we reached the classic photo op spot… a point where the ridge was barely wider than the two lane highway, and views to both sides. We stopped, took some pictures, chatted with a couple of Americans driving to Panama (one of whom owns a rafting company in Boquete).

That night, we made it to Mazatlan, tired and ready for a good night´s sleep. We strolled to find dinner, and ended up in the historic zone, at a quaint, beautiful square surrounded by nice restaurants. We had dinner, listening to a brass band play Beatle´s hits, songs from Grease. After dinner, we stopped in for a paleta-a homemade popsicle-and helped the owner of the store translate her menu to English.

Today, we rode from Mazatlan to Puerto Vallarta. The tolls between the two cities were unbelievable! I think we spent close to 50 US dollars! But, we did arrive in Vallarta with enough time to stroll down the lovely beachfront, taking in some great music and a gorgeous sunset. This town is definitely a tourist destination, but it still has Mexican character, and does not feel gawdy or awkward. Plus, we found a decent hotel for $28, which was also cool enough to allow us to roll our motorcycles through the lobby to the courtyard, so they wouldn´t be parked on the street overnight.

First week in Mexico!

Hello! Kristin and I are wrapping up our first week in Mexico, in which we are participating in a instruction-based tour with Motodiscovery. We met Sam, Rob, David, Bryan and the rest of the gang in El Paso, TX. We crossed into Mexico and worked our way south to Creel, which sits on the northern edge of Copper Canyon National Park. This canyon is INCREDIBLE. It is deeper than the Grand Canyon, and believe it or not, probably more rugged. We have been learning to ride our dual sport motorcycles, and just spent two days riding into the canyon. We are learning a tremendous amount, and definitely considering this region for future Alzar trips.

Probably the neatest thing we have done so far, though, is to drop off the large box of school supplies that we brought. We found a VERY rural school for indigenous peoples in the town of Quirare. Thanks to the Key Club at Boise High for gathering the majority of the supplies. The kids really needed the supplies, and appreciate them. We´ve got pictures and will be posting them on our website when we get back.

Tomorrow we head off on our own… just two Bierle´s and the road. We will probably spend another day or so in this region, before heading even further down south. Our helpful guide, Alfonzo, has helped us plan a fun, safe route that takes us along the Pacific Coast, south of Mexico City, and up to Veracruz, our last stop before heading to the States. We´ll try to post to the blog as often as possible, so stay tuned!