Bus-ted: on our way to CDMX
Leaving tranquillo La Paz involved a few stressful moments. Packing everything is always a bit different when loading your bikes on the back of a truck… Tom did us a great favor driving us to the ferry terminal at 10pm. We arrived and all of a sudden realized we left our seats at Tom and Gail’s house… Tom turned into our hero when he did a quick turn-around to pick them up. Luckily we were still in time to make it onto the ferry. Pfiew, good start of our trip to the Mexican mainland.
Mazatlan
After a few nightly hours on rough sea we enjoyed some relaxed hours on the deck reading a book in the morning, before we arrived in Mazatlan. Our hosts Cris and Fred have an amazing old colonial house in the historic center of town and we enjoyed walking the colorful streets of this port city. Although the town is considered a ‘village’ compared to its larger brothers Guadalajara and Mexico City, it still offered a wide range of food options! This has probably something to do with the snow birds from the United States that flock to Mexico during winter time. We enjoyed a very good Italian lunch and even an authentic Indian dinner which was surprisingly good!
We spent an extra day to see the cliff divers, check our bikes and have lunch with Fred and Cris, learning more about their cycling adventures. Cris has competed in the world oldest cycling race: the 1.200km randonneuring race Paris-Brest-Paris which he completed within the time limit, really extraordinary! Unfortunately we also had to deal with an electric problem that popped-up. Matthijs’ electrical assist stopped working. We checked with a bicycle shop in town, but were forced to take a bus to Guadalajara to get it fixed.
Guadalajara – GDL for insiders
It was an early goodbye, although everyone looked fresh and fruity :)! We got to the bus station just after 7am to find out if the whikes could go on the bus. The baggage handlers looked at us a bit funny, but we were super happy that the whikes just fitted across the luggage compartment! Pfiew, one worry less. The comfortable bus got us, after some traffic jams, to GDL by 6pm. We realized how ideal it is to travel by bicycle and not get stuck in traffic. This first bus ride was a nice eye-opener and a good time to read!
Rookie mistake
As bus rookies we jumped right into the first pitfall, just booking a bus to a city and not realizing where you will get dropped. Naive thoughts put us in the center of town, but we got dropped miles away at a less fancy part of town. Now what? Luckily Fernando, a fellow randonneur friend of Cris, was triggered by a Facebook post of Fred and contacted us. Our guardian angel Fernando picked us up with a 7-person van. Wow, both whikes fitted perfectly. Off we went to the electrical bike shop to see if we could get the problem solved. As the mechanic would only have two mornings at the shop we got his direct details and drove to his personal ‘workshop’, a garage full of random stuff. It seemed like this guy knew what he was talking about and we left the whike with him for fixing. It was a Friday night, Fernando took us to a vibrant taco spot and advised on a good place to stay in the center, close to the whike. The next day we explored the city, its amazing cathedral and theater and one of many (free!) museums. Although we have not seen many electric cars on the roads in Mexico, GDL’s university is going all electric! A nice surprise to see innovative solar panels and a full electric Nissan Leaf fleet of cars!
Pueblo Magico
In the evening Fernando showed us Tlaquepaque, a ‘magical village’ next to GDL. On Saturday this town is hot and happening! Mexicans gather on the square to feast on local snacks and enjoy street performances. We got to taste some local flavored ice cream before we entered a popular restaurant filled with Mariachi bands playing their tunes at different tables. From our neighboring table we listened in to a fair share of mariachi songs, as the guy was trying to impress his date by singing along loudly. Another romantic Mexican hombre was more successful as his girlfriend responded with ‘SI’ after he had his whole family and friends holding up letters asking the big question. A great fun night out and it only could get better as we were introduced to the REAL tequila! This stuff was actually quite nice. Not sure who in the Netherlands invented the way we drink (the cheap kind of) Tequila and take it as a shot. In Mexico that would be an insult to the drink, you’re supposed to sip it and take the salt and lemon both beforehand.
TEQUILA!
Our experience last night was only the start… Together with Fernando and his mum, d’Chachis, we went on a day trip to the town Tequila. Like Champagne, the drink can only be called Tequila when it is produces in the Tequila area. We toured one of the most famous distilleries which hold a world market share of 35%: Jose Cuervo. Quite extraordinary to learn more about the history of this family business since 1795. It all starts with the blue agave which is harvested, baked, pressed and distilled. We do tastings at different stages of the process and discover the distinct sweet flavor of the baked agave hearts. When we get to the end product tasting from ‘young’ tequila to aged (up to 18 months in oak barrels) we conclude that we actually like Tequila much better than previously anticipated!
In a cheerful mood we leave the distillery and rejoin with Fernando and d’Chachis to tour the town and get introduced to the local food. If you had not noticed yet, Mexico is all about its food and local specialties. Something we can only encourage and enjoy trying! We see ‘dancers’ from Veracruz, but to us they seem more like a group of bungee jumpers playing a flute. Quite mental! We check out the market, get fed the local dessert and introduced to the concept of ‘day of the dead’ as we see ‘Catrinas’ all around town. It is wonderful to get Mexico’s rich history explained by Fernando’s passionate mum. In one day we learn so much and all of a sudden understand things we encountered on the road much better, having this historic context. We go for lunch at a hacienda up in the hills to overlook the agave fields while indulging in more local specialties, like nopales: cactus!
GDL continues – no white smoke yet
We almost forgot, we are here to get the whike fixed! Our electrical engineer is still hopeful he can fix it. We join him at the garage as he shows us the potential problem with the controller. He obtained almost identical models to replace ours, but he just needs some more time to get it done. So we go back to our hotel and book another night.
We visit a former orphanage, a beautiful historic building turned into an art museum. A nice way to kill time as we are suppose to return to the garage around noon. Now the wheel was spinning, but backwards and at low power. We were losing hope. As the Dutch say, the courage sank into our shoes. The ‘stroopwafel’ (Dutch caramel waffle) shop we found by surprise, while going for a healthy salad lunch, got our Dutch spirit back up. We met with Fernando in the evening to pick-up the whike and stayed at his family to cycle out together early in the morning. Unfortunately this plan was too good to be true. The problem could not be fixed, we had to change our plan and shift gears jumping on a bus again. Very unfortunate, but we absolutely loved spending time with Fernando and his family!
The next morning Fernando drops us and our whikes at the bus station. This time we made sure we would get off at the most convenient location in Mexico City. You definitely do not want to make another rookie mistake in a city of more than 20 million people.
Mexico City – meeting Hanna far from home
A smooth bus ride to Mexico City makes us meet Hanna a bit earlier than expected. Wow, those bus kilometers go fast. What takes a whole day by bicycle will be about an hour by bus. Luckily we timed it well because Hanna, a uni friend of Jakoba who is working in Mexico City for the last 1.5 years, had Friday off as it was a long weekend in Mexico: fiesta! Great to meet so far from home and catch-up on all adventures on both sides. Although we saw Hanna briefly in LA, we now had more time and could discover her hometown together. However, we first had to battle 4 kilometers uphill in rush hour traffic from the bus station to her house. Luckily we parked our whikes safely in the parking garage shortly after.
Time to chillex and see CDMX
Oh, and of course we had to get the electric problem of our whike fixed. So the first thing was getting the whike to the electric bicycle shop! Luckily we found one that installs new systems and converts normal bikes into e-bikes, we were sure this was going to do the trick! Not knowing yet that we were going to become half-electrical engineers in the process.
But first, as you may expect, time for food and local specialties! Hanna is an expert by now and takes us to taste some delicious dishes for lunch! Who thinks Mexican food is only about burritos and nachos really needs to go to a proper Mexican restaurant and try all the good stuff this kitchen has to offer! Our cherry on the cake was a Marquesita, this questionable looking rolled waffle with nutella and strawberries inside, yum! After lunch we do a first cultural round through the city and we are stunned, there is so much to see, do and enjoy! We can easily spend a week here, and we do… in fact, a week and a half as we have a nice home at Hanna’s apartment and we need some more time for the whike.
Over the next few days we drink coffee, check out museums, become inspired by Frida Kahlo, taste more delicious food, party at a Dutch-Mexican wedding, swap out the electrical parts of our bikes, go to a Folkloric ballet spectacle and get struck by the beauty of the historical site of Teotihuacán. Wow, this historical place is a must visit, although its a bit touristy, we were really impressed by the mystical stories and the architecture.
We even got to meet with Matthijs his dad’s old friends with whom he lived in San Diego while they were all doing their PhD’s! Super special to hear stories from back in the days and learn how Matthijs his dad had set-up the first soccer teams for UCSD! They had so much fun together and still have warm memories to share.
With Pancho & Carmen, friends of Matthijs’ dad
One top of all this we met with Artemio who works for Land Life Company, the Dutch social enterprise that has a mission to reforest the world and compensates the emissions of our trip. Over coffee we got to learn a lot about the different reforestation projects they set-up in Mexico and other countries in the Americas. We also learn more about the COCOON, a biodegradable carton box to supply the tree with 25 liters of water to survive in dry areas. Very inspiring to find out that there is a growing interest from corporations as well as governments to start planting more trees to reforest degraded areas!
With Artemio & 2 COCOONS which we take on our whikes
In the mean time we finally figured out the electrical problem with the whike after swapping all the different electrical parts. It was the wire connected to the pedaling sensor that was not working. Good news as we did not need to order parts from the Netherlands to fix this problem. We brought the bike back to the shop where they replaced the wire and were finally able to get back on our whikes. Yay, after three weeks we got back on the road again!