Is Mexico Safe?

[Tengai In Toronto]

Sjoerd, the choppers woke you up? This leads me to believe you sleep in even later than the narcos, and on a weekend too!

PS, thanks for sending me the hotel books. You may not remember me, but you sent copies to me in Toronto just before you hit the road I think? Anyway, they've come in handy many times.

Adrian

[Old-n-slo]

Originally Posted by Sjoerd Bakker

AND NOW FOR A SITUATIONAL UPDATE FROM THE FRONT LINES....
This morning in Chinipas Chihhuahua I awoke to the sound of choppers overhead. looking outside from the hotel I counted 5 choppers and two fixed wing air craft of the Mexican armed forces circling low over the town center and then several of them let off groups of soldiers at the riverside behind the plaza
Choppers kept circl¡ng for over an hour.Obviously it was a military action in search of narcos who may have been in town for the horseraces yesterday .
While getting breakfast at a plaza side restaurant I could see militaries doing car and house checks.
Upon leaving town for the new river bridge I had to wait a while in line as the army checked documents and detained several people.The soldiers were very courteous and friendly to me , professionals all around. While there the choppers landed at the airstrip giving a dust shower to us
Now , the new river bridge is a bit of a cruel joke as there is really no direct road leading to or from it, and no useful directional signage to get you there or to the entry of the actual continuing road to the west.
It took me a while to glom onto the fact that one needs to go north by the airstrip,over the bridge then back south to the old river crossing and the immediately beside the fancy horse paddock start the gravel road. It is marked as being 110km to Alamos, which it is.
But hoooo boy!!! what a road!!! It is far more difficult than I was led to believe from other travel treports. It climbs steeply into the mountain , zillions of curves, many very steep sections ,lots of ruts,rocks, deep rock flour stretches as it travels through deposits of volcanic ash rock, Verrry challenging to say the least. I had some sweaty moments at first but got into it and kept my cool and stayed in first gear most of the time, dragged the back brake and rarely used the front, always searching ahead for the easiest line around the bad bits... No hero stuff for this lad! Slow and easy did it and I never once dropped the bike or got stuck or damaged the standard KLR plastic engine guard,YaaaaY
What a relief to be getting down out of the sierra and finally some more level desert ranches and finally pavement 20km before Alamos , Reached the town at fifetwenty CHIH time, long before sunset, and directly went to a motel.

All the while the only "danger " perceived en route was that of actual physical damage potential from dropping the bike, ripping the ehgine open on rocks or riding off the cliffs, " voladores " as a local just described it to me The traffic I did meet, all pickup trucks and a few 2 ton trucks, were friendly enough to wave or answer my question of whether this was the right road to Alamos.
My KLR did it, but I would now never recommend anybody try it with a bike less capable or heavier.certainly never on my V Strom or GS and my Focus would have never made it , would have hung up on the rocks .

Considered trying that route last month with my KLR. Glad now that I didn't. So far, 2 months and I feel as safe as ever.
--JohnD

[Old-n-slo]

Crossed back into Mexico a few days ago using the river crossing at Frontera Corozal. Shit head Guatemalan Migracion officer tried to hit me up for Q140 to stamp my passport. Got away with Q30, but the S.O.B.! Then I didn't have enough Quetzals to get the bike across the river. By the time I scraped together pesos, dollars and my last 33 quetzals, I was so confused about exchange rates...I ended up paying about $20 to get across. It took 5 guys to lower the bike down the flight of stairs to the river edge and up into the lancha. On the other side, only the boatman, me and two young boys had to do the job...managed to get the bike out of the boat and onto the beach.

I can highly recommend the river trip up to see Yaxchilan ruins. Tied in with a motley group...a 50 year old school teacher from San Cristobal, two 30-something gay guys from Mexico City, and an elderly fat lady from Merida. We all had such a good time, we stuck together for two more days! Talk about ''strange bedfellows.'' Beer seems to do that.

Did Bonampak and Palenque and then headed up to Vera Cruz. Made it to Puebla tonight in a bit of thunder shower. I've decided I don't like big cities and am wishing I was still back in the jungles of Chiappas or up in the Sierra.

Checked a calendar today and it looks like I have about 1 week before I need to cross back into Texas and head back to Michigan. A couple of months sure can fly by! Will start making my way north in a day or so, probably going through San Miguel de Allende and Guanajuato and then booking straight up to Chihuahua to cross at Ojinaga-Prisidio around the 1st of April. Got to be back for Motor-psycho Barley Therapy in Chelsea, MI on the 5th.

Later,

JohnD

[MikeMike]

Originally Posted by Old-n-slo

and an elderly fat lady from Merida.

Did she sing?


Send me a PM if you want to do some good riding in Veracruz.

[mark883]

Originally Posted by Old-n-slo

.....


Checked a calendar today and it looks like I have about 1 week before I need to cross back into Texas and head back to Michigan. A couple of months sure can fly by! Will start making my way north in a day or so, probably going through San Miguel de Allende and Guanajuato and then booking straight up to Chihuahua to cross at Ojinaga-Prisidio around the 1st of April. Got to be back for Motor-psycho Barley Therapy in Chelsea, MI on the 5th.

Later,

JohnD

Practically being your neighbor, I'd be interested in hearing some of those stories at therapy...

[Old-n-slo]

Originally Posted by MikeMike

Did she sing?


Send me a PM if you want to do some good riding in Veracruz.

As a matter of fact, after a few Negro Modelos at a jungle comidor outside of Bonampak, we were all singing...but I don't think it was the same song.

[Old-n-slo]

Originally Posted by mark883

Practically being your neighbor, I'd be interested in hearing some of those stories at therapy...

C'mon up! First Thursday of the month at 7:30, only in the winter. April 5 th is the last one. It helps to ward off motorcycle withdrawal during ice fishing season. The Wolverine Bar, Michigan 52 just north of I-95 about 1 mile. Exit 152...it's about 15 minutes west of Ann Arbor.
--JohnD

[Old-n-slo]

OK. Maybe somebody can help me out here before I take off.
I'm in Puebla and need to get around or through the Distrito Federal. My maps, as well as the Guia Roji, suck a big green one when it comes to accuracy or detail...towns in the wrong place, roads missing, wrong numbers, NO numbers.

Can someone give me a tip or two for negotiating The Big City? I'd like to get up to S. Miguel de Allende or Guanajuato and am hoping I can do that in a day.

I'll try to check the forum before I leave a little later today.

-JohnD

NOTE TO SELF: Buy a cheap netbook and travel with it. Cybercafes are a bummer. Too old to know any better.

[acejones]

What would you recommend for a cheap netbook ?

[mark883]

Originally Posted by Old-n-slo

OK. Maybe somebody can help me out here before I take off.
I'm in Puebla and need to get around or through the Distrito Federal. My maps, as well as the Guia Roji, suck a big green one when it comes to accuracy or detail...towns in the wrong place, roads missing, wrong numbers, NO numbers.

Can someone give me a tip or two for negotiating The Big City? I'd like to get up to S. Miguel de Allende or Guanajuato and am hoping I can do that in a day.

I'll try to check the forum before I leave a little later today.

-JohnD

NOTE TO SELF: Buy a cheap netbook and travel with it. Cybercafes are a bummer. Too old to know any better.

Search for Arco Norte on this thread. Its the new outerloop, and you will avoid the city- but its a cuota. Schizzman knows it / has driven it.

Paging Schizzman to the Green White and Red courtesy phone....

[tricepilot]

Originally Posted by Old-n-slo

I'm in Puebla and need to get around or through the Distrito Federal.

I'd like to get up to S. Miguel de Allende or Guanajuato and am hoping I can do that in a day.

This is simple. Arco Norte.

Puebla to San Miguel in a super easy day.

Take the cuota 150D west towards Mexico City, but keep your eyes peeled for the sign to the right for Arco Norte. This is the periferico that'll take you completly around Distrito Federal and hook you'll be on 57D to San Juan del Rio, Queretaro and on to SMA.

[tricepilot]

Here's a closer up view to give you the idea whats between Puebla and the turn to Arco Norte

[tricepilot]

Originally Posted by Old-n-slo

NOTE TO SELF: Buy a cheap netbook and travel with it. Cybercafes are a bummer. Too old to know any better.

Originally Posted by acejones

What would you recommend for a cheap netbook ?

I carry the Toshiba NB305. Google it.

Perfect size (small)

Has an onboard camera for Skyping home. Make sure you carry a cheap headset/microphone.

It grabs WiFi anywhere and with that you can Skype, email, update ADV, everything.

Pack an extension cord in your electronics bag so you can relax on your bed and surf the net.

You'll never darken the door to an internet cafe again.

Skyping with this has replaced calling home everywhere I go.

I'll be taking it to Honduras next week.

[MikeMike]

[QUOTEI'll be taking it to Honduras next week.[/QUOTE]

Stopping by?
Semana Santa spring break is going to be hot and heavy, cabrones!

[Sjoerd Bakker]

Originally Posted by Tengai In Toronto

Sjoerd, the choppers woke you up? This leads me to believe you sleep in even later than the narcos, and on a weekend too!

PS, thanks for sending me the hotel books. You may not remember me, but you sent copies to me in Toronto just before you hit the road I think? Anyway, they've come in handy many times.

Adrian

Hi Adrian, yes I well remember our phone talk the week before you set off from Toronto, Mike Mike in Veracruz said you visited him and conveyed your greetings to me.
Thanks Bato for the correction on the ^voladeros^^ ( hope I got it right this time (on second try !)) I thought that was a funny and apt description of somebody skydiving a bike off those precipices.
This morning woke up well rested in Los Mochis and will be looking for a carwash to clean the dust off the KLR before doing an oil and filter change. Then a day of slow touring and exploring with the intent of winding up in Culiacan. I am NOT going to try another transect of the Sierra Occidental this trip
Trice , I may eventually have to enter the computer owning era with something like the gizmo you describe - all info of interest. Just thinking of all the bucks I never spent over all the years by NOT buying and repeatedly upgrading that stuff ,probably paid for a lot of trips for me ,I think.Hope those things are not fragile?