South America: Until our Luck or Money Runs Out

Feeling MUCH better this morning. Still not 100% but getting there. Was actually able to enjoy my breakfast this morning. Sure hope I didn´t get the Amoebic Dysentery. Whatever I got it was bad.


Got my first taste of road rage yesterday just outside Itzucar de Matamoroas. Some car cut out in front of me right in front of a tope and then had to slow way down on the tope. I passed him on the tope and gave him the horn just to let him know I was there. For whatever reason he got angry, started honking and passed me. His friend in the passenger seat tried to throw a drink on me, but only got it on his buddy's car . So then we slowed down and let them get a few cars ahead of us, but a little while later they were waiting for us on the side of the road. They pulled in behind us and followed us a ways until I pulled into the local police station . They were just punk kids.

You know there's a way to protect your memory card and make it read only before you put it in another computer, don't you? Look on the side of it if you're using an SD card and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Sitting down here at LatteLand and Rock, Jack, Bill, Dave and I all say hello.

Spent 6 months there as a boy. I remember the square and the church. At that time it was a relatively unknown town.

Hope you boys are feeling better.

Pops.

The Wing is down but the Kawi is still running.

Hey there Ken. It´s hard to believe but I guess that LatteLand still exists in my absence. Tell everyone I say hello.

But it is just not the same...

Great thread guys. Man, what bad luck with the GI stuff.

Today was a really shitty day. It was raining when we left Oaxaca this morning so we put on all our gear and toughed it out through the city. It wasnt as hard to get out of Oaxaca as some of the other big cities in Mexico so I thought we'd actually make some time today. Boy was I wrong. 30 miles or so outside the city the PanAmerican splits three ways and all three are labeled 190. So I followed the one to the city of knew of, rembering the map which showed the highway dipping south just before the city. Since we werent close yet I figured that should have been the way to go. Sure enough just before the city there is a right turn that heads south. So I take that and shortly start seeing road closed signs. I figure there will be a detour and sure enough where the road closes there is a detour sign. Long story short we followed that road for probably 3 hours until it essentially deadended in a small town in the middle of nowhere. At that point I dropped my bike for the second time (both times were uturns that I didnt execute with enough gas so the bikes weight forced me to drop it mid turn rather than power through the turn with some centripetal force). I exploded with anger and hopped about fuming mad for a minute or two screaming obscenities while Chuck (and a number of locals) looked on. I totally lost it. Then I lost it even more when I realized that the drop had ripped one of the connections on my tank bag, and that I would have to finish the ride to San Cristobal (and back to the main highway) with a broken strap and a bungie cord in its place. I was not a happy camper. It was at this point as well that we looked at the map and realized that yes we had just rode three hours in exactly the wrong direction... in the rain.

Slip the clutch, ride the rear brake, and keep the rpm's up. Lean the bike over but keep your torso upright through the U-turn.

We turned around and rode back into town and booked a room at a local motel, where they told us that we didnt want to take the version of 190 we took and that the right turn 10 or so miles back was the correct way to go. No construction there they say. Very nice road. All in all it was a great way to cap an all around shitty day.

On the way back I got to thinking why things had happened the way they did.

First and foremost, I dont like to stop in the rain. When it starts raining my mentality is get through it, dry out and start evaluating your options after that. This is not the correct mentality for riding down here because of the frequent stops needed to confirm that you are headed in the right direction. Within 20 miles of taking the death road to nowhere my instincts were already kicking in telling me that this wasnt the right way to go and that I should stop and look or ask for directions but I didnt. And I and my bike paid the price. Moral of the story be patient, you will almost save time rather than lose it down here if you stop frequently to make sure you are heading in the right direction. Thats proven itself to me time and time again, and yet I ignored it.

Also I noticed that Im not quite back in the zone of riding yet. Physically I am better but mentally I am not as hyperviligiant as I need to be to make sure I dont drop the bike, take wrong turns or forget things. Case in point I lost my passport and tourist visa yesterday because I wasnt focused, or in my regular mode of doing things. That will probably turn out to be a $200 mistake. I cant take a mental off-day and expect things to run smoothly.

In the end I consider myself fortunate that Ive been able to really hammer home these lessons early in the game, where the stakes arent as high, rather than later where I could do myself some serious damage.

Tomorrow will be a better day.

I know how to properly execute the turn . It was a mental error that caused me to drop it (twice) mostly because I was so pissed off about the rain and the road and not getting anywhere etc etc etc.

PS- Big thanks to Chuck for staying relatively cool through all of this.

PPS- Pictures will have to wait until San Cristobal I have no intention of messing with that now.

I can understand getting upset and how weather and mistakes (both mental and logistical) can ruin a good day, but just remember, thousands of us poor shlubs with family responsibilities and living the cubical life would give our left nut to ride the wrong road to a no-where town in the rain in Mexico.

As Joe has already told everyone, we rode quite a while in the rain today. We wound our way up mountain after mountain. As we ascended we could see by all the astonished looks that we were well off the beaten path. When we got to the top of the last mountain there was an indian village there. Everyone was staring at us while Joe cursed the fates. It was clear that Spanish was a second language for the kids that gathered to gawk at us.


All the way up the mountain we had rode past people toiling on the road, there were at least 5 major landslides to clean up, and these people worked with their bare hands and wheel barrows in the rain. There were others hauling bundles of sticks up and down the mountain. These workers just gave us indifferent stares as we came up and back down. It seemed to me that those indifferent stares belied a fatalism that comes from years of toil that amounts to so little in the end. We got a taste of that fatalism ourselves today as we discovered we had rode 2 hours in the rain only to do it again. I led us down the mountian like a robot, lean left, lean right, brake, etc... until we had our hotel I forbid myself to think about when we would get there.

But this petty drama is just a brief interlude for us. I can´t claim to know anything about what it's like to do that for a lifetime, but I imagine we got just a litte taste. I had a hot shower at the hotel and am pleased to say that, after that and a gatorade, I have restored my morale. I am as ready to ride tomorrow as I was the last night I spent in the states.

Remember guys ,its the journey not the destination the trips like this are all about.(even when the weather sucks)
Thanks for your report and pics.
Good luck

I love IT ! Nice report. I like the orange text.

Looking forward to your travel. Oh, I like the pics too, especially bike ones with gear.

Where's the popcorn smiley guy, why can't I find the popcorn smiley. Subscribed anyway. No popcorn but how about this

Right here... Someone pass the butter...

Keep up the good work Joe. You got a good lesson without too high a price. And it helps if one remains cool while the other one loses it. Hopefully, there will be less of that. As you said, the stakes are too high. When all else fails, do nothing, sleep, and the next day you'll be in a better spot.

Love Pops

Good lesson learned. Keep up the good work.

Pops

This site sure gives me the run-around to post. So hence two replies.

Waiting for "killer pics"

Great adventure guys, keep it up

Not much more to report today, we are in Cintalapa. We are about 100 miles from San Cristobal, so we should be there tomorrow. No ´Killer Pics´tonight but I´m sure Joe will catch back up when we get settled into San Cristobal.