No-Moto-Boundaries-Latin America n' back n' da' TAT, un-planned, un-hinged, and solo

Damn Sean your getting really good at this.

• Consistent postings - check
• True adventure rider (no poser here) - check
• Superb narrative - check
• Incredible photography - check
• Local food hunter - check
• Shredder and crasher - check
• Video compilations getting better & better - check
• Relationship building, city by city - check
• Livin' large - check

Huba huba

Ahem, Look out Sir Coalbatch; just saying.

awesome video dude. Looks like the bike is putting up with a lot of abuse

all those water crossings look fun, but you're going to need to re-lube those wheel & swingarm bearings pretty soon or else they'll fail you in the middle of nowhere. do it while you have a shop to use.

She see's her fare share of abuse but she seems to like it, as long as she gets some TLC in between the roughhousing. With the water this weekend, giving her wheel and swingarm bearings a Re-packing is on the list.

unreal rr op. yeah, jelly I am.

Your buddy Zach up here in latte-land txtd me yesterday asking if I had or knew of a decent adv bike all set up for this sorta thing. He's got it bad it must be said... you've set a firm hook.

This well farkled '99 specimen has now been duly tested by said buddy. A virgin it is. I've just returned from his bar after receiving my complimentary beer-and-shot.

He said he'd have to quit his job to make it happen. "So what?" I said.

Couldn't have said it better! Great video!
More please!

Right on, pretty much anything will do. Something tells me that his bar would still have no trouble making money if he left.

More coming, been off the grid for a few days up north in the state of San Luis Potosi. Now heading out again for the long weekend. Updates when I get back.

you better!!! you have quite a few fans here!! and WE are waiting for more stuff!

D

Hey Damaso, hope Baja is treating you well. I'm back in DF now, updates coming soon.

Several people have told me about a place called Xilitla and how there is an amazing garden that exists there. Xilitla is about 6 hours north of DF in the state of San Luis Potosi. It’s rural up there and largely comprised of small farm communities, this means good roads, unmolested scenery and culture. I set out early in the morning to beat the commuter traffic that floods into the city every morning. There is an immense gravitational pull that Mexico city emits towards its surrounding areas. As if it were a black hole, everyone and everything is sucked into its center as I fight my way out. Once I get free of its grasp it began to rain, and from this moment until the moment that I arrived in Xilitla, 10hrs later, it pissed rain continuously.

About 1/3 of the way to Xilitla I came through a small pueblo called Atotonilco. Here I stopped for some food and to take a minute to try and warm up to a decent temperature to safely operate a motorcycle at.



The food was bomb. Maize tortillas pumped out right in front of me with some freshly done up, well…. some sort of roasted cow. They called it something different though and people seemed to be all worked up about them having it today.



This little pup was having an extra tough day due to the rain so I chucked him some cow.



He seemed to like it and sat very attentively next to me for the rest of the meal. Gave him a hefty helping at the end for his patience.



It was raining so much that I didn’t take very many photos, and the ones that I did take my camera was so wet from being in my tank bag that everything came out foggy. Along the way I took a shortcut through a curvier and more interesting road. There were some sticks across the turn for the shortcut. This is the standard latin american placarding for “don’t come this way”, but this signage doesn’t always apply to offroad oriented motorcycles though. This time they did apply, and so I waited for the dozers to clear the rock slide.



I took no more photos until I arrived in Xilitla as I was simply too wet and too cold to care to do so. It rained so much that I managed to suck water into my carb somehow, not sure where, maybe the air filter…but a quick drain of float bowl and she started right up. Nice having a simple machine to work on. It took longer to get my hands warm enough to be able to access my tools than it did to solve the issue. Other than this I had no troubles, and by dinnertime I rolled into where I was going to spend the night for a couple days in Xilitla. When I arrived I shakingly introduced myself to the other guests and chatted for a bit, then explained that I would be MIA until the morning, and rid myself of everything wet to retreat into my sleeping bag to warm up until the sun rose.

In the morning I awoke feeling fresh as rain…”rain”…well that’s weird, but yes I awoke feeling like a champion. With the sun out and clear I got a good look at the place. It’s called Casa Caracol. Rudolpho and his wife run it and its super laid back. With a fun design and cool places to hang out in, it’s easy to kick back and relax here.





There are private bungalows available but most people stay in the tipis which fit 4-5 people.





The grounds are full of fun sculptures and places to hang out.





I was sharing a tipi with two guys from Australia and we set out to find a cave that we were told had a pretty spectacular entrance.



They were correct, it was spectacular.



The opening of the cave is the main attraction in and of itself, but we hiked down into the bottom where there was a smaller mini-cave. The depth of view is hard to gauge here but if you look down and to the right you’ll see a large australian for scale.



Inside the cave there wasn’t a ton going on besides a fair amount of bird shit and a bit of graffiti. A long exposure though lights it up enough to see what’s up.



Looking up and out of the smaller cave.



We left and found some oranges.



Assessed their level of deliciousness.



And packed a few for later.



Back at Casa Caracol I met up with Fey, a girl from Queretaro Mexico who was visiting her sister here in Xilitla for the weekend. We set out to explore what for me was the main reason for coming to Xilitla, Las Pozas de Edward James.



Edward James was an Englishman born in 1907 into a fair bit of money. He was a lot of things (poet, artist, etc) but he is most prominently known for his early support of the Surrealist movement in the arts. For example, sponsoring Salvador Dali in his early years so he could continue to paint and also supporting him through the collection of his art. Eventually, Edward James would be known for having the finest private collection of surrealist works of any collector. The time would come though when he grew tired of simply collecting and supporting, and he wanted to create a masterpiece of his own. He set out to find the perfect location to blend the beauty of the natural world with his taste and flare for surrealism, and he set out to do it on a grand scale. He considered places all over the world, but when scouting for a location in Mexico he was blown away by the natural beauty of the high mountain subtropical forest just outside of Xilitla. He chose this location in 1945 and began construction of his personal sculpture “garden of eden) in 1949. He named the garden Las Pozas, “The pools”. Although he was a wealthy man, the project was on such a grand scale and required such expertise and craftsmanship that he had to sell the majority of his private art collection to afford the construction. The wood molds used to form the concrete structures as scene as works of art all by themselves. Here, high in the mountains, he took 80 acres of natural rain forest, waterfalls, and rivers, and built enormous concrete surrealist structures amongst them. He also brought in many exotic plants (at one point the grounds boasted 29,000 orchids) as well as exotic birds and animals. It took decades to build and although many structures are left unfinished (or have been lost within the jungle), even now, after his passing and the properties opening to the public, it doesn’t fail to fascinate and intrigue those that venture into its landscape.

As you wander through, it’s eerie to think that this was not created for the public, nor was it made to be inhabited or lived in. None of the structures were built with any functional intention other than as an enormous surrealist work of art for Edward James’ and his private guests to be amazed by. It is a real life work of art that you can physically walk through and explore, and at less than $5 to get in, it is a pretty cheap trip to an entirely different world.

Many structures have stairways that lead to nowhere. Edward James named this place “The House on Three Floors Which Will in Fact Have Five or Four or Six”. (Fey is near the center several stories down for scale)



And bridges that simply end before they’ve reached their destination.



Other times there will be stairs that appear out of nowhere that lead to an amazing structure, yet they are found on the other side of a small river with no walkway.



There are no signs that tell you where to go, and everything is dense jungle so you never know what’s around the corner until you walk into it.



You simply have to wander, explore, and keep your eyes out for clues to venture further into an area. If you are willing to explore though, and get a little wet, you can stumble upon to some pretty amazing locations hidden within the gardens 80 acres.























By the end of the day Fey and I had been walking for 5 hours or so and the night was taking over the garden. With no guardrails or ropes keeping you from exploring, high structures with no logical architecture, and the entire place being a dizzying maze of pathways and hidden trails Las Pozas is not a place you want to be lost in at night without a light. We found a trail out just as the last bit of light was dipping over the mountains. That night we stayed up late hanging out with Fey’s sister Eunice, and Eunice’s boyfriend Sobo. Great people to hang out with and I’m glad I got the chance to meet them. Shit, is my Spanish getting somewhat conversational?!

Here’s a video from the trip. Mr. Edward James, you were one ‘pinche loco’ mother fucker, but I sure had a blast exploring your fascinating mind today.

<iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/79910758" width="1080" height="608" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>

Damn I love that place, crazy stuff in the jungle. Pretty darn impressive cave, too bad I missed it but at least I have good reason to return

Nice report

Wow, THAT is VERY Cool! So much to discover, well done. Any more pics from that place? How much of the park do you think you covered?

Pretty surreal right (yep, shitty play on words). There's a few more pics here that I didn't put in the post but my camera battery died so I didn't get a ton of photos. It's a popular place for people to snap shots though so check out a google search and you'll find some way better photos. We saw quite a bit of the stuff but my camera battery died so didn't get pictures of everything. There's a section that's completely off limits to the public, but not sure why and we couldn't find a way in, but you could look in from a higher vantage and see some sweet stuff.

There were quite a number of trails though that we didn't explore either, one that Fey said she went 2 hours up the other day and never made it to the end, and another that we started on but was just too dangerous to continue down (cliff thing, wet, lack of sobriety, etc), so there's definitely more to see there...

Thanks SeanPNW,
I'll be researching that from the confines of my office (er , PC at home , off hours, of course) while waiting for your next report. Keep bringing it young sir, your doing it right.
As a former PNW'r (Astoria) I imagine you're appreciating the weather right now regardless off an occasional daylong "pissing rain" event.
Wride on !

Good to see you having so much fun!

You travel well, carry on!

Thanks for helping me get started right, more coming today.

After a few days of relaxing up north in the state of San Luis Potosi, I returned to Mexico City to head out for the weekend. This weekend is a long weekend with Monday being a state holiday and Edgardo has invited me to tag along with his family for a weekend out of the city at his home in Valle de Bravo. He said he could show me some good enduro riding and that he had a XR250 for me to use so no need to bring my bike. We had stopped in Valle de Bravo for a bite to eat after our ride last weekend in Toluca and I really liked the place. Some enduro riding and a long weekend out of the city, sounds rad to me.

Valle de Bravo is situated a brief 2 hrs from Mexico City to the north east, and sits right on the shore of Lake Avondaro. Its proximity to Mexico City and Toluca, it’s beautiful terrain, and ample outdoor activities make it a popular weekend getaway location for many of Mexicos affluent families. There is plenty of boating, mountain biking, paragliding, and of course, endless amounts of offroad riding of everykind. You can tell how centered around outdoor activities the community is by the sheer number of outdoor recreation shops that can be found in town. These are high quality shops too, with all the kit, parts, and top of the line bikes you could want. KTM, Husqvarna, Yamaha, etc are all represented in full. Do you want to buy a brand new KTM 6-days, or a rally outfitted 690 without having to special order it? No problem, plenty for sale here. Or maybe you just want to rent a race ready bike and bring it back muddy and haggard for someone else to deal with, that can be arranged no sweat.

Edgardo and his wife Jessica have a beautiful home here with an amazing view of the area.



We geared up for a day of riding and I met my noble steed that Edgardo was kind enough to lend me for the weekend. I’m glad he had a few bikes laying around, as I wouldn’t be able to do what we had in mind on the KiLleR.



Edgardo would be on his KTM.



Edgardo asked me what my level of riding was to get a gauge for where we should go. The riding options vary wildly here, with everything from beginner to professional quality routes. I said I knew enough to know that I’m no expert, but I always would rather be challenged than bored. He thought for a second then nodded and we headed out.

We started off with some easier stuff so I could get used to the bike and so Edgardo could gauge where I was at.



After a while tooling around Edgardo asked if I wanted something more difficult. I said yeah let’s kick it up a notch. He said he knows of a place but once we start we can’t really turn back and are committed. I said great, let’s do it.

We rode to the base of what I could see was a very steep little mountain,Edgardo pointed to the top and said we are going there. “There will be lots of roots, rocks, and it is very slippery yet hard clay. It’s possible that you won’t be able to make it”. If there’s anything that lights a fire under me it’s a challenge coupled with low odds of success. Sounds great, let’er rip!

As soon as we dropped it into gear the riding was both technically and physically demanding.



About 2 minutes in I was sucking water like a camel and enjoying the grind immensely.





We ran into 3 other riders working up the same trail, all on pretty light enduro bikes. It’s good we ran into eachother, because you needed at least 3 people to get up some sections of this route.









3 hours of huffing, teeth clenching, body crunching and eventual triumph later - we made it to the top. If you have a slight masochistic side to you this is a lot of fun. I had an absolute blast.

Here’s a video of the ride:

<iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/80474750" width="1080" height="607" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>

The next day my whole body was pretty sore, it’s a good feeling. One that shows that you pushed your limits and persevered to succeed. We spent the next day out on the lake towing the girls on a large banana.





Kicking back some cold beverages on the floating tienda.





And having Edgardo and his family trying to teach me how to wakeboard. I didn’t really learn how to wakeboard, but I got really good at ragdolling and spitting up water. Thanks for a fantastic couple of days Edgardo and to your warm and welcoming families hospitality. For such a physically demanding weekend, it was exactly what I needed.I now feel refreshed, recharged, and ready to hit the road again.

I have been in Mexico City now for 3 weeks. Being in one place for a while can have a lot of positives. I&#8217;ve gotten a feel for the city, experienced some of the many things it has to offer, and been able to meet great people. I&#8217;m intrigued by this place and have started to get comfortable here. Having a set of keys to an apartment, getting to know local food vendors, and putting my head in the same spot every night starts to make daily life here feel typical. It brings a sense of stability and normalcy that is usually so lacking when you travel. I&#8217;m realizing though that this sense of stability is beginning to have the opposite effect on me. I&#8217;m especially aware of this opposite effect when I talk with other people. When people tell me about where they are from and what they love about their home, the Yucatan, Columbia, Southern Argentina, I&#8217;m thrown back into yearning for the road that will take me to those places. It can be difficult leaving any spot that you have grown comfortable in, but I find myself becoming uncomfortable with the comforts of normalcy. I want, I need to be on the road again.

The day before I left I knocked back my favorite street tacos, snagged dinner at my favorite restaurant, and ate my favorite dessert from the local cafe. In the early morning the next day I loaded the bike and worked my way towards the exit of the large apartment complex I had been calling home. It felt weird to be leaving and I had a sense of nervousness. A sense of not knowing where I was going or what I would find when I got there. I wound my way through the city heading south east, observing the cities people getting ready for the work day as I rolled by. I kept thinking about why I felt nervous. I didn&#8217;t feel this way at all when I left Seattle 3 months ago? What was different now? As I reached the edge of the city the road became less congested, the buildings and sidewalks were traded for fields and cattle, and I was hit by the beauty of it all. I put on some music and everything felt normal again. A smile cracked itself across my face as I chucked the bike into beautifully repeating corners. The road is exactly where I want to be.

I decided to head towards the southern coast of Mexico in the state of Oaxaca, first going to the city of Oaxaca in central Oaxaca.



There are several routes towards Oaxaca but I wanted the more scenic and less populated one that cuts through the Sierra mountain range.



I crossed through the state of Puebla on my way and grabbed food in a small pueblo called Izucar de Matamoros.



This place had some damn fine smoked meat. I talked with the owner for a while about the food and his restaurant. He told me about the history of &#8220;pastor&#8221; and how it means food from the pastor, pastor is grass, so food from the fields and cooked in a way that people would have cooked it while in the fields. This means cooking the food over a wood campfire. Hence why he cooks with wood burning stove/oven/thing.





The drive from DF to Oaxaca city is about 6 hours by bike. It&#8217;s a beautiful ride and very relaxing as you carve through the sierra mountains dipping in and out of small towns. Each one seems to be quite proud of it&#8217;s history and what it contributed towards Mexico&#8217;s historical moments.





I made it into Oaxaca city and found the hostel I would be staying at, Casa Angel.



It&#8217;s a chill and clean place with a nice homelike feel to it. It&#8217;s a decently sized place and the staff and other guests are cool. I met two girls from Spain, Helen and Tucan, the first night while out for food in the local zocalo (park/square/market). There are some pyramids here in Oaxaca called Monte Alban, so the next day we went to go check those out.

Monte Alban was founded around 500 B.C. and was one of the earliest mesoamerican cities. It would reign as the socio-political and economic capital of the region for nearly 1000 years before it lost it&#8217;s power and was soon after abandoned. The original Zapotec name is unknown as it ceased to be populated before people were really writing anything down.



The sits 1,300 ft above the surrounding Oaxaca valley allowing great views for the people who ruled over the land.





This is the highest point where the royalty and higher classes would gather for ceremonies and the sort. On top of each of the structures sat adobe temples.



Lots of different structures and stairs to climb.







Their ability to build lasting structures and their attention to detail is pretty interesting for being so old.



There are lots of carved stone monuments throughout the plaza. They depict the captured and tortured rulers of other surrounding towns and cities. Usually they are shown having blood collected from their mutilated genitals and their bodies contorted in weird positions.



Here&#8217;s a pretty flower.



I&#8217;ve spent several days here now hanging out with some people that are also traveling. This is Shaked (Shuh-ked), he&#8217;s a funny dude from Israel. He made us Israeli coffee.



Got the recipe for some pretty killer fish tacos when a girl from Tijuana made us some for dinner.



Nancy, who works at the hostel, showed Shaked and I some of the local digs.









And checked out some of the art scene.



The food is good here, with Mole being the name of the game. Mole is a popular dish for the states of Puebla and Oaxaca but it&#8217;s said that 99% of Mexicans have tried it at least once. There are about 7 kinds but the most well known/common is Mole Poblano and is typically dark red or brown and served over meat. It&#8217;s weird having a chile and chocolate tasting sauce poured over meat but it works really well.

After eating some grub and some number of drinks we came back and I met a guy named Ulises. He really liked my bike so I let him take it for a spin around the block (don&#8217;t worry he was tipy-drank free). The next day he took me up into the sierra mountains outside of Oaxaca for some brunch.



Good traditional food and my favorite rendition of chorizo that I&#8217;ve had.



He took the bike for another spin after eating.



Been hanging out here with Helen, Tucan, and Shaked and having a good time. We are all headed south next so are probably going to meet up in Puerto Escondido which is a surf town on the coast. Until then.

It’s been quite a while since I have been at sea level and dipped my toes in mother natures bathtub. As I headed south from DF and into Oaxaca the weather got considerably warmer with the drop in elevation. I’m ready for a bigger drop though, maybe even a sunburn. The bike is pointed due south for the surf town of Puerto Escondido.



Out of Oaxaca it’s about a 5hr drive to Puerto, again weaving in and out of the sierra mountains and it’s surrounding plains.



Some of the riding reminded me of eastern Washington in the fall.



After getting into Puerto I found Tower Bridge Hostel and shacked up. It’s a cool place with a surf bum feel and a splash of drugs and alcoholism.





I found Helen and Tucan shortly after and it didn’t take long before we were getting the night started with a round of ‘Wheel of Fortune’ with the rest of the hostel. It’s the fast lane to drunkenness and may or may not be rigged to land on body-shot. Some options are more desirable than others, but all options are entertaining.



The next day we checked out what the town had to offer. There is a large market in a large farm stable looking thing nearby. This is where all the locals shop and where you can buy whatever type of food you may want.







Here you can find this lady slanging some pretty bomb tortas (mexican sandwich) for ~$1 each.



If you head further into town you find the main tourist strip. Here there are restaurants, bars, and surf gear. All the typical main drag stuff.



In addition to the typical tourist drag shops, there are two locations that stand out far among the rest in my opinion.

One is Black Velvet Fish Taco & Beer. Rad ambiance heavily leaning to the high-end gnar scene with tattooed owners, dark leather and stone furniture and over the fucking top food and presentation. If you are in mexico and have anything to say about fish tacos anywhere else, you must wait until you have tried these to solidify your opinion. We have taken freshly caught dorado and swordfish there as well to be coooked up and they are definitely multitalented when it comes to food.



The other place that stands out among the rest is this place, Palma Negra.



They opened a week ago and sell great homemade icecream and crepes. Their spin on it is ice cream with a more adult or nighttime feel (hence the name Palma Negra because at nighttime in the sunset all the palms are silhouetted and appear black), such as flavors with rum or tequila in them. But the flavors are very creatively concocted and meticulously balanced. They seem to be constantly creating new flavors and testing out ideas.





To round the place out the guys that run it are super chill and it’s a fun place to hang out in the evening, shoot the shit, watch the nightlife, and knock back the latest flavor experiment. Can’t say enough about this place, wish you guys all the best with your new shop.





The main attractions in Puerto Escondido, aside from the ice cream and killer fish tacos, is the beach and the surf.





Alena (from Germany) and I took the bike to meet up with some other people at the beach. There are several beaches in the area, this is the most popular one for swimming.





We shot the shit, knocked some drinks back, and lounged the day away.







If you buy and drink a coconut, they’ll scoop out the meat after you are done and chuck salt, chili, and lime in it.



We lounged until the sun started to go down.





Local families where there with their kids. This guy was a surfer and his baby seemed to be getting started in the water early. There aren’t any waves in this beach so it’s pretty calm. Trips out into the water on the board where enjoyed by both. Talk about growing up in the water.





Another dad was helping his daughter practice standing up on a paddle board. Every now and then a small wave would come in and she would ride it to the shore.



Sunset here is pretty good.



Russell took the sunset for a good photo op ontop of a rock way out from shore. Either that or he’s god.



Russel and I heard there is a lake in the area that a couple times a year for a few days has a bioluminescent plankton bloom and they fill the entire lake. There are tours that take you out into the middle of the 6 kilometer long lake to see it for $25. We decided it would be more fun and a good workout to go it ourselves and swim out there instead. I have seen phosphorescence before but nothing on a scale like this.

Camera couldn’t pick it up well but here’s a photo I pulled from the internet.


http://ajinpuerto.blogspot.mx/

We swam over a quarter mile out into the lagoon to get away from any lights that were on the shore. Think Avatar but in water. Whenever the plankton are agitated or disturbed they glow blue. So as you swim along in the pitch dark lagoon every part of your body that disturbs the water glows blue and shimmers. It’s an amazing phenomenon and is incredible to watch when it is on a scale like this, where the entire lagoon is filled with these plankton. Under a clear night sky with no moon it was incredibly dark so the luminescence was bright like a glow stick as you swam through. You could lift your hand out of the water and watch the lit up water shimmer and flicker as it rolled down your arm and dripped back into the dark undesturbed water of the lagoon. After swimming and treading water for an hour or so we turned back to head to shore. I’m so glad we did it this way instead of paying to go on a boat. Amazing experience and a highlight activity so far in Mexico.

Snapped this with a waterproof camera.



Puerto is a fun place to kick it and the people here at the hostel as well as all the locals are great. Tonight there is a big party on the beach for all of Puerto, not sure what the occasion is but they are bringing in a band etc. Should be a good time.

After 5 days of warm weather my bones feel nice and hot again. It’s convenient being able to dip in and out of climates as you see fit. Last night we went to a party on one of the local beaches. The town was swelling as people from all over flooded in for the show. There were no taxis anywhere so we thumbed down a truck and jumped in the back. First we swung by our favorite shop, Palma Negra for some of their awesome ice cream.



We headed down to the beach afterwards to check out what the big deal was with the concert. I thought it might be for an event but all I could figure out was that the band Molotov wanted to play a free show for the people in Puerto Escondido on the beach. They are a 4-time Latin Grammy Award-Winning mexican rock band from Mexico City.


http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/latin-notas/1664052/molotov-working-on-new-album-announce-us-tour-dates

They are heavy, loud, and a lot of fun to watch. The crowd got rowdy for a bit and the throwing of bottles of sand at eachother escalated to throwing glass bottles. A girl got her eye put out, the band called the people shit heads, and the music picked back up as the crowd relaxed and ceased hurling things at eachother.

We watched the rest of the show and finished of several bottles of rum in the process. It’s the first real concert on a beach I’ve been too and was a good time. The bar scene afterwards was slammed but we checked it out for a bit.

The next day I drug myself out of bed and packed up. Time to hit the road, I’m wanting the Yucitan and quite honestly, to get further south. There’s so much to see here in Mexico but as I’m currently so close to the Guatemalan border, I can’t help but get excited about what might be found in other countries. First though, the Yucatan needs to be experienced as well.



My next major stop will be San Cristobal de las Casas. A decently sized city in the state of Chiapas. I hear the weather is much colder up there. With a late night and a sore head this morning I’m getting a late start. Today I’ll split the distance to San Cristobal and spend the night in Salina Cruz instead.

The road to Salina Cruz is nice and winds along the coast, crossing tributaries along the way.





Along the way I stopped for a rest to watch a local soccer match for a few.



And enjoyed the slow, meandering road as it wound through the woods and passing through small towns.





I started seeing quite a few other bikers as the afternoon wore on. Looked like there must have been some sort of event that had happened over the weekend and now all the bikers were going back to their prospective cities. I came across a group of 12 or so pulled off on the side of the road. Looked like one of the bikes was having some troubles. I pulled over to have a look and see if they needed any tools.



They were all members of a motorcycle club and were returning from a weekend Moto Fest that had been happening a few cities back towards Puerto Escondido. Meet the Biker’S M.C. from Oaxaca city.



One of the guys had blown a chain on his bike and was trying to repair it.



It was going to get dark soon and the pressure was on to get back on the road for their 7 hour ride back to Oaxaca.



I stuck around to see if they needed any help and to provide a tow to the next city if they needed it. Eventually another club member showed up with a spare chain and we were able to get on the road. I had been hanging out with them for a bit and was dark now so I figured I might as well ride as a group with them.



This turned out to be a good idea because shortly after we got on the road again another rider had fuel delivery issues and then shortly after that the front axle on Jesus’ bike snapped clean in half while clipping down the road. It sent him into a pretty massive speed wobble resulting in a snapped clutch lever and a myriad of smashed lights and turn signals. It was pretty late now and none of us were going to be making it much further tonight. They made some phone calls and decided to spend the night in Salina Cruz where one of the bikers had some family. We tied his bike to the back of mine with some rope I had and we all rolled the 10 miles into Salina Cruz together.

After this the guys said that I didn’t have an option and I must stay with them for the night and kick it. Awwww thanks guys. After we got in we jumped in a truck and headed to the center of town for some late-night grub.



We went to a torta stand near centro.



They said this place is slammed all day long. Makes sense because the tortas (think ‘mexican sandwich’) was really good.





We came back to the house full and happy. We stayed up for a while shooting the shit and swapping stories of the weekend and the road.



The next day we cruzed into town and bought the parts that we needed to fix the bikes. My ignition had come loose so we got some bolts for that as well.



We came back with the parts we needed and got the bikes fixed up right as rain.





Before parted ways we went to Ivan’s Grandpas work to grab some breakfast and say thanks for letting a load of bikers crash his pad last minute.



His grandpa has a business near center in the industrial area.



Cool place for photos of bikes.



Ivan’s grandma cooked us a great breakfast here and we hung around shooting the shit and laughing about all the little things that went wrong yesterday..





Ivan’s grandpa just so happens to make icecream for a living, so we all got to try his icecream treats as well.





Great thanks to Ivan and his Grandpa for all of their hospitality. And thanks to the Biker’S M.C. of Oaxaca for inviting me into your family for the weekend. Hasta luego cabrones!