“Is it safe?”, ”Aren’t there Cartels and drug wars?”, ”How are the drivers and how are the roads?”
Those are just a few questions, we recieved from friends and family, when we announced our bicycle touring plan through Mexico. After all, we can not call it a Pan-American bike tour, without cycling through Mexico.
Leaving Palenque apparently is not as easy as we anticipated.
According to the current news, and from what we hear, the road from Palenque to San Christobal is not safe at the moment.
Apparently questionable voting results in a municipality along the way has local villagers up in arms and stopping traffic .
After exploring the Pyramids in Tula and the Sun- and Moonpyramid in Teotihuacan, we are excited to visit more ancient sites in Mexico . This time though, we are heading into the jungle. In the morning, we set out to find the collectivo to the ancient ruins. Collectivos are small minibuses and for 25 Pesos each, we can fetch a ride to the archeological site, which sits about 10 km outside from the center of town.
After spending a couple extra days in Tierra Blanca to let Ron cure out whatever illness he caught, we moved on.
Although it is a long distance from Tierra Blanca to Palenque, it was a pretty uneventful ride.
After our morning coffee from the OXXO and taking the customary picture at the Puebla-city-letters, we head out of town. Unfortunately, we do not get very far. About a mile into the ride I notice, that something does not feel right. I am trying to go through a mental check list in my head. It is not until I put on my gloves at a red
It is a two day ride from Teotihuacan to Puebla, Mexico. Once there, we plan on spending a down day to visit the city. After riding along one of the smaller roads, we eventually end back up on the 15D toll road.
In the morning, it is time to continue our cycling tour from Tula to Teotihuacan. Leaving the Terrace 10 Hotel in Tula was not easy and it had nothing to do with having to pack up all of our panniers and trying to manhandle all of our bags down three flights of stairs without tripping and falling. No, it was simply, because we liked the place and its people.
Eventually though, and much later in the day than anticipated, we find ourselves cycling out of town.
As we arrive in Tula, we find a very nice, but affordable room, which we are calling home for the next couple days.
The plan is to go into town, grab something to eat and drink and have dinner and a nice relaxing evening on the rooftop terrace, which overlooks the city. The next day, we have reserved to visit the Tula Pyramid complex.
It is time to continue our cycling tour of Mexico. Like always, it takes some time to find our way out of the city. As we reach the outskirts of Guadalajara, we stop at a gas station to buy drinks and notice a bank across the street. Since we are running low on cash we decide to go ahead and get money out at the ATM.
Our bicycle tour of mainland Mexico continues. It is roughly a 150 mile bicycle ride from Tepic to Guadalajara. The route takes us from 3002 ft elevation to roughly 5140 ft elevation. However, that does not take in account the several long ups and downs in between.