Acapulco - An Alternate Reality

The Wild Adventures of Roaming Hamsters...

We opted to ride the bus into Acapulco proper from Pie De La Cuesta to try and get a bushing made for my motorcycle.  Boy, was that the correct decision.  The streets there are CRAZY!  The whole place is built on the edge of a mountain and there are endless hills and not regular hills like back in the States, crazy inclines that seem impossible to drive up, and these are the STREETS.

With a business card in hand and only a vague idea of where we're going, we hail the bus and jump on.  Here there are no "Bus Stops" with signs.  There are busses that have signs in the front window or written on the window that tell you where they are going, but there aren't any signs on the street of where to catch the bus.  So what you do is you stand on the street where you know your bus is coming and when you see the bus you want to take, you basically hail him like a cab and he stops.  So far the most we've paid for a one way ride is $7 pesos.  Yesterday's bus cost us each 6 pesos bringing the grand total for a one way ride into Acapulco to $12 pesos or roughly $0.94.  

What a ride.  I'd looked at the map of Acapulco's roads and knew it was a bit windy, but I had no idea that the windy was on the edge of a cliff with crazy traffic.  So I was very happy that we took the bus instead of trying to navigate on a motorcycle in a city we didn't know and even worse, in the heat.

The first thing I noticed about the area and the ride into the city was that on one side was the beautiful ocean and on the other was advertisements and graffiti painted and spray painted on the cliffs.  The town seems to be a little rundown.  It's a very hilly city and as you look up, all you see are houses.  Houses here, houses there, houses up and down the hills.

The bus driver was nice enough to let us know where we needed to get off after we showed him the address on the card and it was on a main street.  I have no idea how close or far we were from the center of town but that's where we were dropped off.  We started walking down the street looking for the correct address and stopped and asked a nice couple that was selling magazines and candy and stuff on the sidewalk.  The nice woman told us that it was a few streets back.  Then another nice man who just happened to be walking by must've heard the name of the street we were looking for (Rio Grande) and chimed in telling us that it was by the grocery store.  We thanked them and headed back the way we had just come.

Conveniently enough, we just happened to walk by a machine shop.  Christian inquired whether the bushing could be made and the man said yes. We asked when it could be ready and he said about 5 o'clock.  That was 4 hours away.

Honestly I wasn't too excited to be hanging out in Acapulco for 4 hours wandering the streets in the high humidity and heat.  But we needed the part made and considering the fact that he could make it by the end of the day, we agreed.  It was going to cost $100 pesos ($7.81 dollars).

The street was loud and crowded and traffic was insane.  Christian kept asking me if I was taking pictures but I didn't exactly feel super comfortable taking out my camera and snapping away.  So he said he would do it.  Now, you have to understand that everyone is about 5'9" and they have darker skin here.  Christian is 6'1" with blond hair and blue eyes.  He was wearing a white, short-sleeve, button-up shirt, his ASU hat and a backpack.  He was obviously not a local.  So I was a little concerned.  But he wasn't worried and took a few pictures and we continued up the street to a "Coppel" store which is similar to a Target (C says to tell you that they sell Mopeds there but they also sell Mopeds at Wal-Marts here too).

We ended up being fine and we walked into the Cool-Heaven-of-Air-Conditioning, Coppel.  It was wonderful.  The humidity here is worse than anywhere we've been and I have a hard time with it.  I really dislike being sticky and even worse being hot so the combination of the two isn't exciting for me.  So I am VERY grateful for A/C.

There turned out to be a Movie theater inside and we watched the movie "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" with Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock.  We got popcorn which I was pleasantly surprised tasted exactly the same as at home and we both got a cherry icee which cost $105 pesos ($8.21 dollars).  The movie was okay.  I wouldn't watch it again, but it was a good "dollar movie" as we say in Salt Lake City where we still have movies that cost a dollar.  So it was worth a dollar, but no more.  We paid $84 pesos ($3.28 dollars per ticket) so I don't feel too bad.  [For the record, I, Christian, enjoyed the movie.  I would not watch it again, simply because I do not enjoy crying and having my heart ripped from my soul.  But, as far as a "good, emotional, dramatic, heart-felt" film goes...it was very good.  It was about 9/11 and an Aspergers child.  Need I say more?  That said...it was a very good movie, but not one your spirit can handle twice.]

By the time the movie was over, it was time to pick up our new part.  It was ready and we were very happy!  We went back the Coppel and celebrated with McDonalds for Christian and a frozen yogurt for me.  It was a good day.

Oh, one last thing...on the bus into the city, there was a Winnie the Pooh decal on the windshield and on the bus back, the word "Winnie" was painted along the whole top of the bus with pictures of Winnie the Pooh as well as Piglet and Tigger.  They must really like Winnie the Pooh here because there are also Winnie the Pooh stickers on the tiles in our shower.  This is an odd fixation that someone has GOT to explain to us!!!

The Bus Rooftop Mural Reads "Winnie", as in Winnie the Pooh

And The Hits Just Keep On Coming

The Wild Adventures of Roaming Hamsters...

Though last night (Sunday, 26FEB12) was the first night that we slept without the 3AM serenading banda music, neither one of us slept much.  We got up around 6:30AM and packed our gear.  For the first time, we were on the road at 8AM, in anticipation of a long, hot ride to Acapulco, and we were not disappointed.  By 2PM, the temperature was around 97-degrees and approximately 50% humidity.  I could feel my face mask burning into my cheeks as we rode.

We stopped for a delicious salad at a road-side stand, with an amazing view of the ocean.  It was gorgeous.  The food was good.  The company was beautiful.  But, all things must come to an end.  Somewhere around mile 207, LaNova’s rear brakes began to fail.  She communicated this to me, but, due in part to the heat and my own riding frustration, her concerns were only met with my ill-temper.  Finally, I pulled over. At that point, I became acutely aware of how severe her brake problem was when she fell over.

LaNova lay on the ground, and I struggled to extricate her from under the bike.  Hot and tired, I proceeded to lift her fully-loaded bike back up, and roll it into the shade.  By this time, LaNova was in tears.  She had had enough, and rightly so.  It was that moment that marked the end of the adventure.

Upon close examination, I discovered that her rear brake lever had become detached for want of a pinion bolt.  How she was able to make it to mile 207 without rear brakes, or with a rear brake behaving in a sporadic and chaotic fashion, we’ll never know.  But, there should be adequate kudos given to LaNova’s skill.

Luckily for us, we were stopped directly in front of a motorcycle repair shop.  I was elated to discover that the shop had the metric bolt that I needed.  Unfortunately, I found that, with the loss of the pinion bolt, a critical bushing had been lost, as well.  This, the shop did NOT have.

I pulled the bushing off of my rear brake set and replaced LaNova’s.  Then, I found a tolerable substitute for my bushing, and installed it.  I was banking on my riding skill to be able to accommodate the tenuous makeshift bushing.  And, with that, we resumed the final 15-mile stretch to Acapulco (Pie de la Cuesta).

When we arrived at Pie de la Cuesta, LaNova petitioned for a hotel room, and I was all to enthusiastic to oblige.  We found a nice room, with air conditioning, fan, TV, safe parking, refrigerator, and HOT WATER.  I emphasize the hot water because that was one of the specific questions that I asked.

We unloaded our gear, turned on the AC, and stripped down in exhaustion.  LaNova was the first to wash the day off of her…but…without hot water.  When I went downstairs to inquire as to the status of the hot water, the girl suddenly didn’t understand any of my Spanish.  All of a sudden, she became very quiet.  After pressing her a bit, she acknowledged that there was, in fact, no hot water.  Of course, she did offer to bring up a bucket of hot water, but we opted out.

The First Ten Minutes Were Fun

The Wild Adventures of Roaming Hamsters...

Manzanillo to Playa Azul
Distance: 326 km - 203 miles
Time: 6 hours

Yesterday was a long day.  We rode from Manzanillo to Playa Azul.  The road was...well, just look at the picture of part of the route below.

This doesn't do it justice!

All you hardcore bikers out there you would probably be stoked to ride this road.  It was pretty cool for me, but I did at times feel a bit sick as we made sharp, uphill right turns again and again. I wondered at times if we were going to drive in a complete circle. There were stretches where we didn't shift out of 2nd gear for miles.  It was a long ride.  We stopped quite a few times because our butts and shoulders needed breaks.  Happily it wasn't boiling hot.

Seeing this road and knowing I rode it is quite an accomplishment for me.  Christian and I were talking about it over our mics and reminiscing back to Petaluma days.  I was so scared just to ride in that dinky little town and now, here I am, 3 months later taking turn after turn without crying!  I'm pretty proud of myself.

Just to let you know, the road wasn't all flat.

There were some amazing views of the ocean along the ride.   I wish we could've stopped and taken a few pictures, but there were no shoulders and there were buses that needed to maintain their schedules.
But mostly we were alone and it's no wonder.  I most likely wouldn't opt to drive this.  There were a few little towns along the way but as we got farther down the road we realized that there weren't any gas stations.  My gas light came on and thankfully we had the extra gas we always have and I used the extra gallon.  But later, Christian realized that he needed to get fuel soon.  It got pretty stressful as we rode mile after mile and no gas station and no Playa Azul.  The destination seemed to get farther and farther away as the need for gas became more desperate.

But we made it and I have to say, that as we turned off Mexico Highway 200 and the sign said Playa Azul 3 kilometers, I watched my odometer and it was actually 5 miles which is actually 8 kilometers.  Not a big deal when you have gas, but it's a huge deal when you don't.

Moral of the story:  Always carry extra fuel.  If you're on a motorcycle.  And if you're in a different country. Or, if you're riding out in the country in a foreign county.  Or even if you're in your own country riding out in the country.  No matter what...if there is "country" involved in where ever you are...bring fuel...lots.

Quality Dirt Road

Respite for my butt

Now that's the face of a happy man and his Snickers

Greta and Maggie watching that truck thinking it's crazy to be driving on that road.

Maggie posing for the camera

God-Sent In Manzanillo

The Wild Adventures of Roaming Hamsters...

Today was a special day.  We got up and were heading out for lunch.  We were at the first stop light when we noticed the front tire was low.  "Aww, that's ok," we thought, "We'll just go to a gas station and fill it up."  But...we didn't make it that far before complete flatness.  No, not just flat on the bottom, but flat ALL the way around.  :(  The problem is, we're in a parallel universe.  Normally, you can't walk 5 feet without passing a 'llanteria' (tire shop).  But, not here.  We pushed the bike some 4 or 5 blocks.  Then, out of nowhere, materialized two Adventure Riders--Randy and Bob.

Christian Assessing the Damage ;)  (anyone get it??? hahahaha)

Randy drove me back to my bike where I was able to pick it up, come back, and have all of my tools.  But, it was hotter than blazes, and the axle bolt was seriously over torqued.  But, R&B suggested going to the Honda motorcycle dealership.  I NEVER thought of that.

They Deliver

The customer service here is unparalleled.  They drove to the bike, picked it up, drove it back to the shop, and fixed the flat.  Apparently, the "tubeless" tire, wasn't tubeless.  And, who ever had installed the inner tube, pinched the tube.  C'est la vie.  MEANWHILE, R&B came by to see how we were doing, and they brought us lunch!  (Side note--the best fish tacos we have ever eaten!!!)

Thank You R&B

R&B are on their return leg to Sacramento, California.  They just came down through Central Mexico, and are heading North via the coast.  Unfortunately, Bob's bike had a hiccup, and they've been sitting around Manzanillo for 8 days, waiting for the part to arrive.

Truly...when you travel the world, you're never far from home.  And, when you ride a motorcycle, you're never alone.  In this world, we've discovered that there are friends at every turn.  And, when we've needed help the most, someone has been there with unprecedented kindness.

There's My "Tubeless" Tire...with a TUBE!!!

Moving On...

The Wild Adventures of Roaming Hamsters...

After dealing with our pannier issues in Puerto Vallarta, we resumed our travels Southward.  It was a slow go, but we made it.  The climb out of Puerto Vallarta was windy and slow with a lot of road construction going on, as the town prepares to host the National Travel Convention.  There are little worker bees just buzzing all around the area repairing roads, installing street lighting, and planting grass and flowers in hopes of cementing this temporary exhibition that usually resides in Acapulco.  Acapulco's unruliness has escalated to a point where Mexico doesn't wish to showcase the city, anymore.  Good news for Puerto Vallarta; bad news for Acapulco and motorcyclists.

Once we reached the pass, however, the road smoothed out.  It was a fairly gentle ride, and in many ways, nicer than the toll roads.  There was much less traffic, and the scenery was prettier.  But, all good things must come to an end.  And, ours was within 30 miles of Barra de Navidad.

You see, Mexico has this propensity to label cities following a rather curious logic.  In fact, we making heads or tails of their labeling system could just drive you batty.  Ultimately, we're heading towards a town called Manzanillo.  We should get there tomorrow, no problem.  But, the challenge is that, there are other towns with that name.  And, traveling on the "highway" is kind of like traveling a two-lane country road...it's just that vague.  So, if you see a two-lane country road heading off, with a sign that reads 'Manzanillo', well...silly me...I followed it.  Wrong!  That's a DIFFERENT Manzanillo.   Oh, and distance markers.  The signs to Barra de Navidad seemed to hover somewhere around 28km.  No matter how far we would drive, Barra de Navidad just stayed 28km away.

Well, needless to say, we were glad to finally find a campground.  We set up shop and took a much needed dip in the pool.  All in all, it wasn't too bad.

If It Ain't Broke...You're Not Looking Close Enough!!!

The Wild Adventures of Roaming Hamsters...

Today we rode into Puerto Vallarta proper to see if we could get a bolt or two from the "Casa de Tornillos" (the "House of Bolts").

If you remember from our previous blog, Christian had a problem with one of his panniers and the breaking of a bolt...something like that...haha.  Okay, seriously, look at the following pictures and see if you can decipher them.

But basically the day went like this:  We woke up, took showers, jumped on my bike and rode into PV.  The ride was great.  The highway was smooth and the traffic wasn't bad compared to a few places we've been.  The directions we got were really good and when we got lost...haha...everyone was very helpful in getting us to where we needed to go.

After wandering around for a few minutes trying to find the bolt store, we stumbled upon a great bakery and bought some yummy pastries.  Then we found the bolt store and when we showed the woman the bolt we needed, she reached down under the counter and said, "How about this?"  and it was the right bolt with the right threads, just a little short.  This is worth mentioning because we'd been to a few places we thought would have the bolt and they didn't.  I'm wondering if they even knew anything about bolts, but this woman, she knew her stuff. So we got the bolts!

Everything was working out and we came back to the house and took a much needed nap.

Then, the trouble began.

We decided that the pannier frame needed a little more support so our Couch Surfing host took us over to a welder she knew and he welded a little support bracket.  We started to reassemble the panniers and realized that the bolts weren't going in very easily and we had to take everything off to see the problem.  Christian was annoyed and I said, "At least it's not welded."  Famous last words.  The bolt wasn't the problem after all.

We realized that we had put a spacer on the wrong side and that the bracket that Juan had just welded on, was just that, welded on.  So we had to take everything apart and he had to cut the bracket and fix it and then we had to put everything back together again.

Old Bolt - New Bolt 

Juan the welder.

No gate...and he makes gates!

Christian wants this tool.

Welding...you just can't see it without your shield.

Hooray!  Or Hooray??

Looking good.

Oops! Too short. Gotta cut it. Dang.

Hooray! It's fixed. Again.

The other side was done right.

Panniers secured and ready for take off.

The moral of the story is: Always check your bolts and have spares!! 

P.S. ~ It wasn't Juan's fault that the bracket was too short the first time.  It was ours.  Sorry Juan.

P.P.S.~  We paid Juan a whopping 10 dollars for his trouble.  100 pesos.  Go figure.

Pristine Views Along The Way To Puerto Vallarta

The Wild Adventures of Roaming Hamsters...

Puerto Vallarta a.k.a. La Cruz de Huanacaxtle

We made it!  WE MADE IT!!!  Perhaps that isn’t anything too noteworthy for anyone else, but it certainly is for us.  Why?  Mainly because my panniers were hanging on by wing and a prayer (or, more accurately, some tie-wire and an extra strap).  After identifying the problem with my bike while in San Blas, I did everything I could to repair the problem.  Unfortunately, the tiny town of San Blas does not deal in metric bolts.  Our only hope was to get to Puerto Vallarta and go to Home Depot for the elusive bolt.  The probem in that plan is that there is about 100 miles of windy, hilly, bumpy roads between San Blas and Puerto Vallarta.  So, when I say “we made it”, trust me, it is a God-sent.

Here in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, we are staying with April.  She is a fantastic woman who has lived in México for the past 26 years, with her husband.  They’ve raised their children here, who now attend college in the U.S. and work summers in México.  April has been an absolute blessing.  Again, why, you may ask?  Because she actually has a FULL sized garage with workshop that is perfect for storing the bikes while the repairs are being made.

So, let me tell you a little more about our ride to Puerto Vallarta.  To start with, ever since we left Mazatlán the climate has been changing.  Sure, just North of Mazatlán, we passed the sign “Tropic de Cancer”.  Obviously, that means we entered the tropics, but it wasn’t until we left San Blas that we really began to see the lush tropical jungle fauna.  Now, when I say “jungle”, I mean, lots of green and kudzu-like vines that overgrow the palm canopies.

Anyhow, I digress.  The ride was really nice.  By-in-large, the road was smooth.  It was a two-lane highway pretty much all of the way.  Of course, every time the highway passes through a town, the highway becomes riddled with speed bumps.  Our average speed was 29.7 miles per hour.  But, that was also due, in part, to our overly cautious driving because of my bike’s condition.  But, the little towns all along the way were so gorgeous.  Tiny towns dotting the coastline, with lush greenery and banana farms in between.  It was truly an impressive ride.

A Curiosity

The Wild Adventures of Roaming Hamsters...

San Blas is a very tiny little town.  It seems fairly nondiscript, yet there seems to be a lot going on amongst the very few people that live here.  San Blas is the home of México's Naval Command No. 7.  And, for being a super tiny, off-the-beaten-path town, there are a LOT of tourists!  It's remarkably uncanny to see so many white faces when the town is only a handful of blocks.

But, San Blas has been more than just a curiosity for us.  It has also been our little refuge.  Upon arriving into the town, I discovered what it was on my bike that broke when I fell (refer back to our adventures to Los Mochis).  One of the bolts that holds my pannier framework to my bike was sheered.  I've done some jerry-rigging to get us through, but I'm hoping to find what I need at the Home Depot in Puerto Vallarta.

When we rode in to town, we were met with some rain.  But, later that night, we got hit by a rather torrential tropical storm that lasted close to 6 hours.  The thunder and lightening clambered on throughout the night, but we faired just fine in our little REI Half Dome Plus.  Our camping neighbors tumbled out of their RV to exclaim their concern for us...after the storm had passed.  Not to worry, though.  We're two, well-seasoned campers.  We had all of our gear neatly stowed away, motorcycle covers on the bikes, and snuggled up tight throughout the night.  In fact, had it not been for my allergies, I never would have even noticed the torrent.

This somewhat segues to my next point...sounds.  Though thunder storms and sounds of nature rarely interrupt my nocturnal respites, music does!  Something that I've noticed here, in México, is that "music" is something that people love to share...loudly...and at all hours.  Last night, we were serenaded with a stereo until about 4AM.  So, here is my travel note to anyone who wishes to travel in/to/through México.  If you like peaceful sleep...be sure to get lodging outside of town.  No matter how big or small a town is, there is going to be music.  LOTS of music.

San Blas - 15 Feb-17 Feb

The Wild Adventures of Roaming Hamsters...

To be honest, this has not been the best day...and, it started last night.  I (Christian René) got hit with allergies late yesterday afternoon.  And, when my allergies hit, they hit all at once.  I start sneezing.  My eyes feel puffy, watery, and itchy, and my head gets congested.  Of course I forgot to pack my Benedryl, and so I spent the night tossing and turning.  Poor LaNova didn't get any sleep, either, because of all of my tossing and turning.  Had I been a decent husband, I would have slept in another room, but I didn't.

We woke up...not refreshed...and started packing and getting ready to leave.  But, I was so overwhelmed with allergies that I had to leave and go find a drugstore.  Armed with Benedryl, I returned to the house and we finished loading the bikes.  We were only an hour behind schedule.  Google Maps put the journey at 277 km with a travel time of  3 hours 35 minutes.  But, Google Maps and Mexico are NOT on the same page.  We averaged 45 mph--between the road construction, detours, slowing as you get into a village, military check-points, police check-points, etc. 45mph is VERY ambitious.

The ride was fine.  I mean, aside from my congestion and my head feeling like it is in a vice, the ride was fine.  The climate has officially changed from desert to tropical, with lush greenery everywhere and intense humidity.  Upon entering into the small town of San Blas, we were hit by rain.  It didn't really phase us too much since we already felt drenched with the humidity.  As we rode towards the beach, we came across an RV campground called Los Cocos (The Coconuts).  It's a nice little place with no one else here since this is not exactly tourist season.  And, if you don't mind the sand fleas and mosquitoes, it's really quite beautiful.  For those that DO mind the sand fleas and mosquitos, I just have one word for you...DEET!!!  The wonder chemical of the 21st Century.  

You know that song, They Paved Paradise to Put Up A Parking Lot?  Remember that stanza that goes, "Farmer, farmer please, I don't mind the spots on my apples, just leave me the birds and the bees"?  Well, that's a nice 'feel good' song about not wanting to destroy nature.  But, clearly Counting Crows never sat in grass with sand flees!  To him I say, "Kill 'em all!!!"  DEET, DT, Agent Orange?  I don't care!  Bring it.

Anyhow, the short of it is, this is a beautiful little town, and a perfect resting stop before moving on to Puerto Vallarta.  Puerto Vallarta, you ask?  Yes.  With the allergy situation and other factors, we're going to be by-passing Guadalajara and just moving South.


LaNova speaking here - To make matters worse, we had to pay a ton of money in tolls.  Ugh.  

Mazatlán - An Adventure in Eating

The Wild Adventures of Roaming Hamsters...

We planned on visiting Mazatlán but we didn't expect to be accompanied by friends who knew their way around...food wise!

We all ate soo much!  I will always connect Mazatlán with seafood.

Octopus?  Oh, when I was in Mazatlán.....


Shrimp cocktail...Christian had a shrimp cocktail... Mazatlán style!
Marlin...Marlin Tacos are better in Mazatlán.
Oysters...Ate them for the first time in Mazatlán!  (Watch the video and my reaction on Facebook.)
Coconut Shrimp w/mango sauce... Mazatlán.

Bacon wrapped, cheese stuffed shrimp...No one does them better than in Mazatlán.


This is among all the other food we ate and snacked on.  I swear I gained at least 5 pounds just from 2 days of eating.  We also walked around downtown and ate ice cream and had shaved ice - Mexican style.  Very yummy!  We went to a breakfast buffet, had seafood on the beach and seafood with the locals.  Basically, every adventure began and ended with one delicious meal or another.

Mazatlán will, forever and always, remain in my memories as the place for fantastic seafood.

He had the "Burned Milk" ice cream. 

Fish Paté

Raw Shrimp in Chili and Lime delicious-ness.

Shredded Coconut with Sugar

Culiacán...Continues

The Wild Adventures of Roaming Hamsters...

We have had the full experience in Culiacan.  And, let me just say that, it is entirely due to our friends/tour guides.  Frank took us to a Cuban Bar where we got to watch a fantastic band play authentic Cuban music, complete with dancing.  It was truly a night of enchantment.

But, the experience that rounded out our experience was the car accident we were in while en route to ice cream.  The guy in front of us stopped short, so Frank hit him.  Then, a guy behind us hit Frank.  First, Frank got out and spoke to the guy in front.  No damage.  Have a nice day.  Then, Frank went back and spoke to the guy behind us.  The other car was a BMW.  The driver was a surgeon.  There was considerable damage to the BMW, but none to Frank’s Ford.

The next thing we know, Frank is back in the car and says, “We just made a ‘Mexican Deal’.”  A ‘Mexican Deal’?  What on earth is that???  Because of the way insurance works and how long it takes for the adjusters to show up, it would be cheaper if Frank drove away, and the doctor to claim a hit-and-run.  A ‘Mexican Deal’ is where the two parties shake hands and continue on their way.  Wow!

Culiacan (7FEB12 - 11FEB12)

The Wild Adventures of Roaming Hamsters...

Culiacan (Part I) – Off the Beaten Path

Though Culiacan is  about half-way between Los Mochis and Mazatlan, following the coastal highway MEX-15, it is not considered to be a very “touristy” location.  According to locals, it does not have a great number of attractions, and has about 2 lines in the Frommer’s travel guide.  But, Culiacan is anything but ordinary.

Culiacan is the capital city of the Mexican state of Sinaloa.  It is the proud home of various sports teams, from Futbol (Soccer) to basebol.  The very distinct Instituto de Sistema Tecnológica de Monterrey has a campus there.  And, there are a number of museums, botanical gardens, and more to capture the interest of any traveler.

We arrived in Culiacan on Tuesday (7FEB12) afternoon.  The ride to the city was nice, but quickly turned sour when we reached our first off-ramp.  (Please note that the signage in Mexico makes for, what one might build as, interpretation!)  Upon riding up the off-ramp, we were met by a guard who informed us that we were entering a private club and, therefore, we would need to back down the off-ramp and turn around.  After some careful explanation that pigs stood a better opportunity at the aerodynamic development of flight than we did of backing down an occupied off-ramp, we were permitted to make a U-turn.  And, what appeared to be a very nice little town on a 2-dimensional map ended up being a city of topographical equivalence to San Francisco, replete with what Bill Cosby referred to as “risk of head-on collision with a hill.” 

After some negotiation with the streets of Culiacan, we finally ended up close to our destination.  But, around that time, my bike decided that it was a “bridge too far”, and informed me that it was official…it was too hot.  My engine light turned on, and I quickly discovered that 90-100 degree temperatures, coupled with 5-mile-an-hour-traffic, was too much for my air-cooled engine.  We found refuge near the local cathedral, parking the bikes in the shade, and waited.

Culiacan (Part II) – Celebrities

The cathedral square was bustling with activity.  The focal-point of this established town hosted vendors of all types, from food merchants to car washers, and even some type of dancing event.  And, there, while passing the time, we blended in like lipstick on a dress-shirt collar.  Onlookers took pictures of the bikes, kids mocked our peculiar riding garb, and a local TV camera crew honed in on us.

Parked In The Cathedral Plaza

Suddenly, we were the subject of a television interview by Channel 3 – Culiacan TV, Ritmo y Salud.  They wanted to know who we were and what we were doing.  They asked why we were riding motorcycles and what brought us to Culiacan.  It was fantastic.  We were celebrities, and all we did was park in the shade.

Culiacan (Part III) – A Tour to Remember

What few know about Culiacan is that it is the home of a dark and savage underworld.  Back in about 2009, there was a huge war waged in the streets of Culiacan.  And, we were blessed with the opportunity to take the dark tour of Culiacan by one of the city’s long time sons.  According to our guide, Culiacan looked like Kosovo, back in 2009.  The drug trade is a significant thread in the tapestry of Culiacan.  He showed us the wealthy neighborhoods where Cartel Lord’s and their henchmen live.  He showed us where Caesar Chavez (the boxer) has a home.  And, he showed us the monument in the middle of a local grocery store parking lot where a narco-trafficing Kingpin’s son was blown up with a bazooka.  It was a fascinating descent into the dark corners of the city.  But, the icing on the cake was going to the Capilla Malverde.

For The Anonymous Donation

The Chapel of Malverde is the gangster’s church.  This infamous site is where gangsters from around the world come to pay tribute to their “Robin Hood”.  Legend has it that, in the short 39 years of life in this region, back in the 1800’s, Mr. Malverde raided the coffers of the governor, and gave the monies to the poor.  In adoration of this man’s selfless pilfering, all types of criminals come to seek their “saint’s” blessing, whether for an upcoming assassination or a profitable deal.  The chapel is ritualistically and richly ornamented with plaques of gratitude, statues of the grim reaper, and prayer candles.  During our visit, we even got to see, and hear, the illegal serenades of real “corriadores” (singers of ballads to the underworld), and witness the dancing of a young celebratory couple.

Culiacan (Part IV) – An Ensign to All Nations

Our hosts consist of two American professors who teach at Instituto de Sistema Tecnológica de Monterrey.  Tec, or Tec de Monterrey, is a well-established, prestigious, private institution that spans all of Mexico, and many other Central American locations.  The secondary and tertiary institutions are combined into one campus, and leads this area of Latin America in language and technology development.

For the upper division English and Cultural Studies department, this week marks the introduction of Native Cultures of North America to the students.  Our host, Colleen, requested that LaNova present a lecture to one of the classes on the Navajo (Diné) Nation and a brief overview of other native peoples.

LaNova spoke for over an hour to a class of upper-division students in their third semester of Cultural Studies.  With the assistance of media resources, she was able to provide a very good  introduction to the government, language, tradition, and life of the Diné.

This was a very exciting opportunity for LaNova, and a pleasing chapter in our travels.  We hope to build an even better presentation for the next time we come across an invitation, such as this.

Be Apart of Our Cause

If you would like to donate to us, to help support our efforts, please donate to our PayPal account.

To do so, all you need to do is create your own free account within PayPal (though free, it is not simple).  From there, you type in our email address (we're not going to display, just in case Big Brother is watching), and then enter the amount that you would like to contribute.



PS~  No need to donate your life savings, all at once.  Be sure to do it over time...like installments!  (Multiples of $1,000 are ALWAYS appreciated)  :)

Black Cloud In Mexico

The Wild Adventures of Roaming Hamsters...

Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico (30 JAN 12 - 6 FEB 12)

Chino's AWESOME 2 Bed/1 Bath Where We Have Gotten to Stay for the Past Week

In case many of you are wondering why we have been so remiss in our duties to update the blog, allow me to enlighten you—

We should have known that this was going to be a trying leg of the journey when, the night before, we were both anxious about the upcoming ride.  That omen proved prophetic quickly into the ride.  While stopped for gas at Navajoa, Christian’s headlight went out.  Ok.  That wasn’t too bad, right?  But, wait…there’s more.

The day’s ride turned out to be one of the hottest ones, yet.  It was well into the upper 80’s, dusty and dry.  The signs to Los Mochis and the map were not what one might build as übber helpful.  We turned off the highway a couple of times (following signs to Los Mochis…or so we thought) that ended up being back-road dirt roads.  Upon attempting to reconnect with the highway, Christian dropped his bike.  The sharp turn, the slight incline, the non-existent shoulder, pour footing, weight, heat, exhaustion all combined into a horrific drop.  Once we got the bike vertical, again, Christian heard an odd ping come from his right cylinder bank.  Not bueno.

Then we got into Los Mochis.  And, things progressed from bad to worse.

Needless to say, we were a little grumpy.  And, as LaNova laid down for a nap at our gracious host’s, Chino, house, Christian set about trying to put together a short video of our adventures.  It was then that the external hard drive crashed.  CRASHED!  Completely erased!!!

To contextualize the full magnitude of this crisis, it is important to point out that, hitherto, this hard drive carried ALL of our backup documents.  Yes, that’s right.  (Now, feel free to criticize, but we’re dealing with some challenging resource issues on this journey.)  Not only did the hard drive contain every last back up of our trip, but it also contained all of our photos of the trip.  (And, let’s face it, if you go on a trip and no one sees the photos…did you really go?)

This new event put us over the top.  We were in a tail spin.  And, to be perfectly honest, if it were not for the hospitality of Chino letting us stay as long as necessary to resolve this situation, we may both have been sitting in a bar at the bottom of an empty Coke bottle (the hard stuff, not even diet).

We spent the next 72 hours buying data-recovery software, contacting Apple Service via Skype, WD via Skype (the hard drive manufacturer), and every single friend from here to Utah, that might have an inkling of an idea of what we could do to resolve the situation.

And, in the moment before boxing up the hard drive and shipping it to Utah via DHL, Christian plugged the hard drive back into the computer.  What ensued was nothing short of a miracle…but, everything was restored.  EVERYTHING.  We didn’t bother asking how, we just prayed and gave great thanks for saving us.

Now, as an epilogue to our tale, we would like to reassure you all that we have taken considerable preventative measures to ensure that this never happens, again.  We have backed-up all of the photos onto SD cards.  We have backed the computer up on two separate external hard drives.  And, we have implemented a feature on our newly acquired data-recovery software that protects against accidental disposal of files.

Phew.

And, THAT is why the blog has not been updated in nearly a week.