Quit our jobs, sold our home, gone riding...

[Patrick46]

Originally Posted by Turkeycreek

Gene, Try eating yogurt to beef up your resistance to food born intestinal bugs. Get the kind with active cultures, not Yoplait which is all sugar. I'm lactose intolerant and I can eat yogurt. If you can, it just might help prevent the next one. Imodium is also a good thing to have a long.

Great advice!!!

[AleXtz]

The guy riding that Teneré 660 is my buddy Constantino from motoviajero.com, boy he is tall

The day u took that picture he was at the end of an off road trip we made. Gee! I should of go to Tres Marías that day, I'm a long time follower of your awesome trip since you been in touring some Canadian Islands

The pic of that day in Lagunas de Zempoala



Next time you guys come to Mexico City I'd be pleased to be your guest, im from Coyoacán and know some off road caminos around the mountains in MX City

Wishing you guys the best of the times,

Alex

[Two Moto Kiwis]

Originally Posted by lightcycle

Geez, and yet at the same time...

How fitting though, we've both been struck with a case of Montezuma's the last 24 hours. Going to lay low for the next day or two...


We've been trying to practice that as well. Right now racking our brains trying to figure out which one of the restaurants gave us the old Aztec Two-Step...

Heya Gene and Neda, all the time in Mexico and the times I got crook was from restaurant so 2 x, never been crook yet from street food!!

That sorts the deal out for us we just don't eat out in restaurants now.

In Oaxaca and heading south tomorrow.

[lightcycle]

Originally Posted by Turkeycreek

Gene, Try eating yogurt to beef up your resistance to food born intestinal bugs.

Great idea, we're drinking those liquid yogurt drinks, hopefully those will do the trick. Been a few days, and Neda is still not 100%...

Originally Posted by AleXtz

The guy riding that Teneré 660 is my buddy Constantino from motoviajero.com, boy he is tall

The day u took that picture he was at the end of an off road trip we made. Gee! I should of go to Tres Marías that day

Yes, that would have been such a coincidence to meet there! Here are a couple more pictures of your friend. I love the Tenere!

Originally Posted by Two Moto Kiwis

Heya Gene and Neda, all the time in Mexico and the times I got crook was from restaurant so 2 x, never been crook yet from street food!

We love street food as well! We look for the ones with tons of locals eating there, they seem to know what's safe or not, probably through trial and error. Ivonne was telling us as we were walking around town: "And that one is okay, don't go to that one..."

[Saralou]

Great report and pictures as usual. We loved Garry and Ivonne too. He said to us "if you stay till Sunday I'll go to the pyramids with you". We were lucky to meet up with them for the monarchs as well. Don't skip Salvador! Riding south tomorrow. Cheers



Sara

[MarGyver]

HI, great report!! I am in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Anything you need please let me know.

[Blader54]

Get well soon!!!

[AleXtz]

thanks for the Teneré extra pics!

empirically proved by me, drink plenty of mezcal to kill all your parasits, before and after a meal... When they see you started to party with mezcal they prefer to leave your body

[lightcycle]

Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/73.html



I think we're crossing into our 10th Mexican state, Oaxaca, today. It's a 3 hour ride on the Cuota roads (yes, we finally succumbed and dished out a small fortune) from Puebla and the weather was sunny and pleasant as we headed south-east. The terrain here is arid, and we've lost a lot of the lush green tropical trees that we saw in Michoacan.


Nice winding roads outside of Puebla


(un)Controlled burns seem to be a popular way of clearing grass in Mexico

Because we left Puebla pretty late in the day, we arrived in Oaxaca, the city, as the sun set. Unfortunately, while in Mexico City, the headlight wiring on my bike has broken so I'm forced to blind traffic around me with my high beams. As we head into the city, a fellow local R1200GS rider pulls up beside us and asks if we have a hotel for the night. "Nope". He says he knows a good one, so we follow him into the city, glad that someone that knows what they're doing is leading!


Lots of vendors in the main square in Oaxaca

Carlos the GS rider checks all of us into a very nice hotel, maybe a little bit above our budget, but it's very central and we run into them later on in the town square to have a drink and chat about Mexico and motorcycles. The main plaza is alive with vendors selling brightly coloured trinkets and lots of tourists wandering around. Neda remarks that Oaxaca is the cleanest Mexican city we've been to, so automatically she loves it here! I reserve judgement until I've tried their Brain Tacos...


Street performers playing in the main square

We also ran into another Canadian motorcycle couple, Kari and Rose from Thunder Bay! They trailered their Kawasaki Super Sherpas to Texas and rode across the border. Just two weeks into their trip, their 250cc bikes are outpacing us as they race towards the Guatamelan border and parts further south. We've been in Mexico for over two months already! We get a lot of helpful hints on accommodations from them and will probably run into them again if they slow down and wait for us!


Photo courtesy of Kari and Rose


Serious Scooter-Face in the streets of Oaxaca


VW Bugs used to be made in Mexico and is the country's most popular car


Colonial-style buildings in the historic part of Oaxaca


Vibrant nightlife in the city streets


Striking a bargain in the main plaza


Oaxaca from above, surrounded by mountains


Strolling around the back streets of Oaxaca

Neda found a great swimming hole called Hierve el Agua, Spanish for "The water boils", an unusual set of rock formations about a couple of hours outside of Oaxaca. The dirt road that leads up switches back on itself many times as it rises up into the mountains where the attraction lies.


Terrific views of the Oaxacan mountains and the valleys below


Taking a scenic break from the ride


Enjoying the ride through the mountains


Hierve el Agua

Hierve el Agua looks like a waterfall, except it's made up of rock. Rising up almost 100-meters, it was created from mineral-rich water that has bubbled up from the ground. Over 2,500 years, the water has dribbled down the face of a cliff, calcifying into what's known as a "petrified waterfall".


Mineral-rich waters create psychedelic pools of water at the top


Although the water bubbling up from the ground looks like it's boiling, it's actually carbonated and quite cold


More natural pools of water at the top and the funky patterns the minerals leave on the ground


Natural infinity pool and a model poses for us


Riding back down from Hierve el Agua

[pceire32]

Great Photos, Check out the market in Oaxaca one of the biggest in Mexico, gets a lot bigger on weekends when the Indians from all around bring there goods to town. Try and get up to San Cristobel De Las Casas a neat town South of Tuxtla Gutierrez in the mountains, it is the town that the Zapatista's operated from. You can also see the Lacandon Indians there wearing long white shifts that live in the remote jungles between Chiapas and Guatemala.

Good luck and ride safe.

[Turkeycreek]

Two months in Mexico. You are practically native Mexicans by now. Your trip seems so much more fulfilling and meaningful than a high speed run south just to say you did it. Great photos as always

[Lunatic]

Hi ,
When you get to Costa Rica look me up if your interested in a tour and a free crash pad .

Cheers, Mario

[motoged]

You two are seeing some outstanding parts of Mexico. Michoacan certainly is a great blend of lush mountain scenery, great riding, and pueblos magicos....not to mention their ice cream fame...

Oaxaca city is such a treat, as you are discovering. The winter months exaggerate the arid component ....it must be something else in the wet season.

Try to spend a day in Valle de Teotitlan learning about their remarkable weaving....the ride north from there is good too.

Thanks again for taking us along. My brief two-week KLR rental ended a few days ago (Toluca, Morelia, Patzcuaro, Mazamitla, Comala, Nexpa, Troncones, Altamirano, Taxco, Toluca) and I am baking in Huatulco for last week of this trip.

The digestive issues (food poisoning) I experienced in Mazamitla have subsided, but my appetite has decreased significantly and my experience is that the effects linger. I picked up some kind of rash in an untreated pool in Taxco....don't know what it is yet, but some type of organic source is my hunch.....the experience was not nearly as exotic as lounging in a mountain-top tufa pool.

Keep safe...enjoy the topes, and best of luck as your adventure continues.

[Vinbowie]

Originally Posted by Turkeycreek

Two months in Mexico. You are practically native Mexicans by now. Your trip seems so much more fulfilling and meaningful than a high speed run south just to say you did it. Great photos as always

That's right ! That's the way to see the country. Bravo !

[lightcycle]

Originally Posted by motoged

The digestive issues (food poisoning) I experienced in Mazamitla have subsided, but my appetite has decreased significantly and my experience is that the effects linger.

Been bedridden for the last day and a half sick with the stomach flu. Muscle aches, high fever, bad vomiting and diarrhea, lost a lot of fluids and wasn't able to keep anything down. Thankfully the worse is over and I'm on a diet of Gatorade, bananas, crackers and baby food - which is delicious BTW!

Note to self: Never self-diagnose on the Internet while curled up in bed with the shakes... Your symptoms will fit everything from Avian Bird Flu to Ebola...

Originally Posted by Saralou

We loved Garry and Ivonne too. He said to us "if you stay till Sunday I'll go to the pyramids with you". We were lucky to meet up with them for the monarchs as well. Don't skip Salvador! Riding south tomorrow.

They must have done all the attractions around MexCity a thousand times already! :) Safe riding, you guys!

Originally Posted by Turkeycreek

Two months in Mexico. You are practically native Mexicans by now.

If only I could speak the language properly! The country is so beautiful, we stayed for a lot longer than I thought we would. I recent read a report that said that last year for the first time there was zero net immigration between the US and Mexico, and the trend is actually reversing. Confirmed by all the gringo ex-pats we've met down here!