Quit our jobs, sold our home and everything in it, gone riding...

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R1200S and CBR1000RR Repsol

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Matching bike and leathers

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Hands up!

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Lots of people were very curious about where we were from and where we were going. This family saw that we were from Canada and wanted to get our picture with them!

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Yamaha Tenere. This is a big bike and the guy riding it was even bigger!

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A couple of RossiHeads

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What time is it? 12 o'clock baby!

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This kid needs a new sweatshirt for this season... or he can dust off his old one from 2008...

Mexico City is not what I expected. Sure, there are tons of people and cars on the road, and the hillsides of the sprawling city are slathered with houses and buildings, like a fungus spreading over the land. But life here is pretty much the same as any large city. We went out for pizza and sushi with Garry and Ivonne, and we were treated to "the world's best tacos" just 15 minutes away from the Garry Hostel! :)

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South Side Motorcycle Club listens attentively. Actually, they are trying to figure out what the heck I'm saying...

The night before we left Mexico City, Garry asked me to do a presentation to his local motorcycle club. The only catch was, it had to be En Espanol! This was my first ever presentation in Spanish! In reality, it was only 10% Espanol, 40% Espanglish and 50% Charades... :)

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Ivonne bids us farewell

We spent a whole week with Garry and Ivonne and really got to know them well. They are such a generous couple, opening up their home to us and we stayed an extra few days at their urging, "Oh you can't leave on Monday, the traffic will be horrible!", "You can't leave on Tuesday, I told my motorcycle club you are coming in to do a presentation"... :)

I think a lot of motorcyclists are afraid of riding into such a large city, but with Garry and Ivonne's invitation, we we're glad we ventured into Mexico City, they are amazing ambassadors for their home town!
 
I'm confused. I thought Mexico was dirt poor. Any resort town I've been too, looks like a **** hole any time you leave the resort property. It looks quite middle class from what you are describing and photographing. Are you just not venturing to those parts of town? Just how poor are you finding this country?
 
jc100 said:
Their economy is doing reasonably well and net immigration to the US is zero.
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People either immigrate from, or emigrate to. But I find it hard to belive that net migration between US and Mexico is zero.
 
killerkeith said:
I'm confused. I thought Mexico was dirt poor. Any resort town I've been too, looks like a **** hole any time you leave the resort property. It looks quite middle class from what you are describing and photographing. Are you just not venturing to those parts of town? Just how poor are you finding this country?
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I would guess that the **** holes areas are there because of the resorts. Probably all the cheap labour grunts who come in to town to make a living off the tourists' dollars. And like every other country in the world, there would be a higher concentration of wealth in urban areas, like Mexico City.

Lesson; don't expect to learn about a country from the perspective of a tourist trap.
 
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Lightcycle said:
I would have thought that as well, but a quick Google search reveals otherwise:

http://www.pewhispanic.org/2012/04/23/net-migration-from-mexico-falls-to-zero-and-perhaps-less/

Turns out there might actually be a reversal of immigrants between the two countries. It would explain why there are so many gringos living down here.
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My guess....a few Mexican immigrants sent pics of Detroit back home and the word got around...

I heard this statistic a few months ago and didn't quite believe it but with the transfer of some manufacturing jobs into Mexico and the decline of some industries plus a generally poor welcome in a few redneck states in the US I can believe it.
 
Light cycle what's the name of the bike in your avatar?
 
Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/72.html

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Puebla is about an hour and a half away from Mexico City. However, most of that hour and half was spent in thick, grid-locked traffic trying to escape the sprawling, over-populated metropolis. We breathed a sigh of relief as we reached the outskirts of the city, thrust into the open spaces of the central highlands of the Sierra Madre. The city of Puebla is the largest in the state of Puebla, but at *only* 2 million people, it paled in comparison to the human sardine can called Mexico City.

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Excavation of some of the ruins at the bottom of the pyramid in Cholula

We're really here to see the pyramids in neighbouring Cholula, about 10 minutes away from Puebla. It's the largest archaeological site in the New World, and most of the great pyramid is still buried and looks like a really large hill. It'll probably remain so, because on top lies a large church built by the Spanish in the 16th century.

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There are tunnels inside the pyramid that you can explore!

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Almost all of the passages are blocked off so it's a single way in and out,
otherwise you'd get lost inside

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Tunnels are narrow and spooky!

Cholula's site is interesting because at least three different civilizations over the centuries have built on or next to the existing ruins, not including the Spanish church at the top of the buried pyramid!

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Velodores!

Outside the pyramid, we saw a group of velodores perform the ancient ceremony of bungie jumping. I can't explain it properly, but this was such a cool sight to see live, ever since being captivated by a TV program I saw of this when I was a little kid. No harnesses or safety wires, just a guy at the top cheering them on by playing a flute as they slowly descended while spinning around the very tall pole.

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This was the closest I got to performing dangerous stunts. Unless you count riding around in Mexico City traffic...

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The pyramid is right inside Cholula. Neda surveys the city from the ledge.

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At the very top of the buried pyramid, we walk around the Spanish church

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Chapulines! Tasty!

In the markets around the ruins and in Cholula, we saw baskets of Chapulines for sale, or as the English-speakers call it, Grasshoppers. Feeling a little adventurous, we bought a bag and tried some. They were dry-roasted with garlic and chilli, and they were very delicious, crispy and salty. I didn't really mind cleaning the wings and legs from my teeth, however for the next few hours I was burping up grasshopper, and that didn't taste pleasant. So no more Chapulines for this guy...

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More traditional fare in the markets in Cholula

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Festive restaurant decor. We had some of Puebla's famous Mole Poblano, chilli and chocolate sauce!

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Cool bike, ma'am!

Neda was excited to see a female police officer on an F650GS! Until she tried to hit us up for a bribe... JUST KIDDING!!!! She was very cool about us taking a picture. There were actually two female biker cops, but the other one was riding a Suzuki, so we didn't really care about her... :)
 
Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/73.html

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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.

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Nice winding roads outside of Puebla

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(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!

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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...

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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!

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Photo courtesy of Kari and Rose

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Serious Scooter-Face in the streets of Oaxaca

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

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Colonial-style buildings in the historic part of Oaxaca

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Vibrant nightlife in the city streets

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Striking a bargain in the main plaza

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Oaxaca from above, surrounded by mountains

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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.

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Terrific views of the Oaxacan mountains and the valleys below

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Taking a scenic break from the ride

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Enjoying the ride through the mountains

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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".

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

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

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

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Natural infinity pool and a model poses for us

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Riding back down from Hierve el Agua
 
What's the temps like in Mexico?

Sent from my Phone, dont judge the grammar
 
RockerGuy said:
What's the temps like in Mexico?
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We're on the coast right now, so the temperatures are pretty high, about 30-35C. However, we've travelled through so much of the country and the climate has changed drastically from state to state. Baja peninsula and the west coast of the mainland was pretty warm, about mid-20s, the interior up in the mountains were freezing, we got down to 0C overnight in Michoacan. The colonial highlands, Mexico City, were very temperate, about 18-20C.
 
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