The Way South

RO,
your knee will heal and the injury will become part of the fabric of your story. Your story is if richer than most because you have woven in your true appreciation of Mexico and Mexicans. And w are richer for your having shared it with us.

Thanks TC and Mike Mike for your morale support. I am an active guy and it is frustrating to be slowed down but being slowed down somewhat by a stupid incident has its own message and I have met some very interesting people as a result. The other day a guy came up to us on the beach wanting to sell us a fishing trip, or snorkeling, or an excursion. He saw the icepack on my knee and asked about it. I told him what had happened and that was the reason I could not buy one of his excursions. He returned about two hours later with some traditional medicines and directions on how to use them... I paid him for them and we booked a trip with him! Tomorrow we will fish for dorado, take our catch to a beach and cook it for lunch, go snorkeling and see a bit of this coast from the water... water and boats are a long term love affair with me... my next motorcycle will be a 36 foot sloop or ketch, then I can get into some really dangerous trouble! Another massage today to see if we can get the knee inflammation to calm down some more and more relaxing on the beach! Fortunately my daughter and her bf are totally independent and having a great time. That is one of the things I wanted out of this... some healing time with my kid... the endless divorce has been really hard on all of us... the kids have handled it their own way... I have handled it my way... and the mother who started the whole mess in the first place has managed to grow a cancerous breast tumor. Life has its little surprises and when the future becomes the present it is not always as we had envisioned it.



Local transportation or to infinity... and beyond!

My daughter, her boyfriend and I have been staying, since Monday, at La Casa de Las Piedras. It is, in the current jargon, an "eco-lodge". What it is is a rustic, charming, throwback to the Zihuatanejo of the 1970's. That is not an accident, the owner, Grace Relfe has owned this property since 1975. It is where she raised her children and where now she takes in vacation renters. It is a very pleasant and relaxing place with kitchen facilities and three units of different sizes scattered up a jungle hillside. It is a bit like living outdoors. The palapas are wide open, no ac (thank god), ceiling fans and breezes. Have to sleep under mosquito netting but you still get bitten.... its the jungle. The temperature of the ocean at the beach is perfection. This weekend, Semana Santa, is culminated tomorrow with Pasqua (Easter Sunday). There are a huge number of people here, vacationers from many parts of Mexico, and damn few gringos... maybe they cluster together at the air-conditioned, marble floored, soundproofed deluxe resort rooms and suites. This experience is worth a few mosquito bites and other minor inconveniences. This is like what it was like to live here 40 years ago with the convenience of global connectivity (if you want it) via the internet... or just lie back and turn it all off.

The music drifting up from the beach and the sounds of laughter and squeals of delight in the warm surf blend together on the breeze. The beach is jammed with thousands of people, hundreds of families. quarts of sunscreen, truckloads of beer, little ones wandering with a dazed looking for "mama" face and big tears. Colorful paragliders float aloft while various watercraft scoot around avoiding each other and the boat pulling the paraglider. It is a bit chaotic but it all seems to work out.

Probably the most underrated thing one can do!
I am raising a glass of torito to the Oyster!

Playa La Ropa, Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, Mexico



Cocos Frios, Cold Coconuts



Fresh Mango and Mixed Fruit "cocteles"



Not Where I Am Staying



Easter Weekend At Playa La Ropa, Zihuatanejo



Una Bonita Con Uno Bonito



Kevin Facing Down The Enemy



Dad and Capitan Armando With The Mighty Tasty Bonito



My Firtsborn Snorkeling at Manzanilla Beach/Cove, Zihuatanejo



Frog Girl



Faro on Offshore Island, Zihuatanejo



Livin' It



"La Goyita" Zihuatanejo Harbor

Great pixs!

Thanks Mike Mike, you are so right as usual and a great pal! Saludos!



Street Art on One of the Many Walk Streets in Zihuatanejo, then there is the sculpture.

Caleta de Campos, Guerrero
This was my first stop as I headed North from Zihuatanejo to La Hermosilla.



"Blow Hole" near the Faro (Lighthouse) at Caleta de Campos, Guerrero



Beach at Caleta de Campos



Point and Cove at West End of Caleta de Campos. Faro (Lighthouse) is the right of the frame. You can see why they might need it! Treacherous jagged point.



Iguana. Caleta de Campos, Guerrero, Mexico

Restaurant "kitchen" Playa Troncones, Guerrero, Mexico



Typical beachscape. Guerrero, Mexico. These beaches go on for kilometer after kilometer and many are totally untouched. They are mostly open to the open ocean and people may believe that they are not safe for swimming. They are sure safe for looking and walking!



Posole verde. Restaurant AnY, Zihuatanejo, Guerrero. This place was really good. I ate there four times and had a different thing each time. The tamales, especially the sweet ones are extraordinary. The posole comes with a little shot of mezcal that is produced for them up near Ciudad Altamirano, up in "wild west" country where laws may or may not apply given the circumstances.

http://www.zihuafest.info/

Guitarfest there just ended I get their notices on my facebook page. Someday I'll make it there for this.

I didn't know about it. I will have to get on the list and try to get there. I bet it is damn interesting! Thanks for all of the other info you have shared. Hope to see you down the road sometime.

David

David here is their facebook link. Once you hit the "Like" button they will send you updates.
https://www.facebook.com/ZGuitarFest?ref=stream

There are other festivals like this down in Mexico as you can imagine. Monterrey, Morelia, of course Paracho, etc. More info just PM me. Hope you get to practicing again on those fine instruments you have when you get back. Or you can always find one laying around down there some place.

RMO.....thanks for the RR. Great pics and information.
I am envious, as it is my goal to do some riding in Mexico.
I just retired (62) and run a 98 1100GG. My lovely wife of 32 years shudders when I mention a ride into Mexico. I will have to work on her a bit.
Again, thanks for taking us along. Love the pics and the info is appreciated! Ride safe and stay healthy.

All the best,
Nordo

Thanks Nordo and to all of you who are along for the ride. I enjoy sharing this with others. One thing I have learned on this trip is that I am probably not a "motorcyclist" some of the guys I have ridden with down here would, no doubt, confirm that opinion of myself. I like riding down here, I like riding dirt roads here or at home, I am not interested in hurtling down two lane Mexican roads at speeds in excess of 70mph with animals, kids, farm equipment etc. close on the sides and Mexican drivers in all manner of vehicles including buses and a dump truck passing me. I am also not interested in "broad sliding" a heavily laden GS through the corners on gravel roads. I had plenty of that on a Bultaco Matador when I was in my twenties. The reality is that I am a nearly sixty eight year old man who is overweight and maybe not in the best physical condition riding a heavily loaded 1150GS on a solo trip in Mexico. This is certainly not my first solo trip on my GS. I have ridden a lot in New Mexico, Arizona and Utah and a bit in SoCal and Nevada. Riding solo anywhere can be a challenge. Riding solo in Mexico is a real challenge and knowing some Spanish helps. Being a tourist on a moto has its up and down sides. It is very freeing, you can go wherever you want to go. There are many places I have seen that are off the beaten track. With the heat, humidity and Mexican traffic and "driving style" a day on the bike can be very exhausting. At the end of the day you often have to find a hotel. Sometimes that means looking around in a strange town or flagging down a cab driver to take you to a hotel... tired, and dripping with perspiration in your riding gear finding a place to stay that also has secure off street parking is not always easy. Food, good water, enough sleep... these are all issues too. All in all riding a moto is a great way to see Mexico and to experience Mexico in a way that others never will. You should also not let it be just another motorcycle trip where the riding is the main or only thing. You would miss way too much of the adventure.

I post a lot, maybe too much, on the "Is Mexico Safe" thread. It is a source of lots of fun amongst the regulars there but it is also a source of a lot of good information, nice pix of bikes and babes, and a lot of wise ass knowledge and sarcasm. Most of the regulars there have traveled in and love Mexico so check it out. Even the negative stuff is part of the learning.

RMO

I'm in !!

México lindo y querido...



Más, por favor.

Thank you for taking us along. I will check out the mentioned thread on safety in Mexico for sure.
My wife and I have been to Cozumel a dozen times and Cancun once. We knew that was not the real flavor of Mexico, and I wanted to see the real Mexico. But my wife was not too excited about getting off the beaten path, and I get that.
With a total hip replacement, and 7 knee operations she worries about me getting f$&@ed up down there and stranded. I am in good shape and ride a lot, but at age 62 I have a short window to do the dream rides I have worked for the past 35 years.
At 67 you give me hope! I will be planning and convincing my wife it is doable with the help of ADV riders like yourself and others living in Mexico.
Thanks for taking a fellow rider albeit geezer along. I look forward to your posts.

Nordo... there are a lot of us... and getting even a minor injury as I have changes your whole trip and the experience of it. Because of my messed up knee I have met a lot of caring and talented healers down here. People I never would have met had I not been injured. I have also had to go more slowly and stay in some places longer. The experience is all the richer for it in many ways. I probably not have spent a week in San Cristobal de las Casas had I not been newly injured. I did not see the place the way I normally see a town, covering great distances on foot and finding many out of the way places. I had a pretty set pattern of where I would go, how slowly I would get there and what I would do...curiously I learned that there were other people who moved slowly and had set patterns and our paths were wonderfully congruent. The best parts of life can be that way!

Iguana, Caleta de Campos



Beach Toys La Hermosilla



Zipolite Infinity