Thursday, November 18, 2010

La Costa

We left the safe haven of Mascota to begin the hard everyday riding. Cisco dropped us off up the road from Mascota and we began riding the rolling hills towards Talpa de Allende where thousands of Mexicans travel each year to see La Virgen.


Our first stop to eat. It was a nice old man and his family who lives part time in Mexico and part time in California.


Andy on top of a mini church looking down valley towards Talpa.


The road heading down to Talpa below was an awesome descent. 77 kph max speed

Arriving in Talpa, Andy is stoked!


A very common scenery the first few days. The hills were beautiful until we had to ride up them. Then we were pissed.




Lots of pretty butterflies and tarantulas on the road



As the road turned to dirt and started to climb there were more and more landslides. It looked as if the road was just cleared in the past few weeks. We were told that it had rained more this summer than any rainy season in the last 100 years.



There was construction on the bridge so we had to ford the creek.


The road was all dirt for most of the first two days even though our map showed a paved highway.




Our first stop was in La Cuesta. A tiny town in the hills with one street. We were allowed to camp in the church courtyard and bathed in a natural hot (more like warm) springs that night.


Leaving the next morning for more fun. This was right next to the woman's house/ one table restaurant who cooked dinner for us as we waited in her living room.


More dirt and more climbing the second day. It was two of my harder days on a bike. Lugging a ton of weight on a dirt road with little traction and tons of bumps can really wear you out. Even so, it was one of the coolest road rides I have ever been on.


The second day we arrived in a small ranch town called Llano Grande. We ate in the first restaurant we saw and asked about camping. We were told he had a friend who owned a land down the road we could camp on. We asked if we should speak with him first and he said no, its no problem. When we arrived at his ranch a group of kids were playing with the cows in the bull ring as we waited to try and speak with Reuben, the owner. Another man we ran into also told us it would be fine to camp there but offered to go get Reuben, which made us feel better.

Reuben came by and started chatting with us, wondering why the crazy gringos on bikes wanted to camp in the middle of his cow's field. He was very friendly, and the longer we talked to him the more stuff he started offering us. First he said we were welcome to camp on his land, then he offered to let us shower at his home in town, and he eventually said why didn't we just come stay at his house. It was amazing how well it worked out because when we went back to his house/restaurant we ate dinner, then showered. As we prepared to set up the tent in their yard, his wife Lupe asked us why we weren't staying in the extra bedroom. Extra bedroom? Really? It turns out they had an extra room with 3 beds. Perfect. When Reuben came back from work later he also offered to give us a ride to Tomatlán (as he was taking his kids there to the dentist in the morning) which was probably another two days riding on similarly crappy roads. We decided to take him up on the offer and packed into his work truck in the morning. It's amazing how the universe just works everything out perfectly for you sometimes.


Local kids chasing the cows


Andy stumbled upon a high school and we were invited into this English class to help them practice. The majority of the students were girls as most of the boys drop out to work when there are of high school age. There was only one english teacher and the students only get 2 hrs a week in her classroom.


Hanging out with Reuben and his friends in front of his house in Llano Grande


We were six deep on the bench seat of his pickup truck for the 2.5 hr bumpy ride



After the two difficult days of riding and climbing up bad and bumpy roads, Kodi had decided she was going to return to Colorado. We were sad to see her go, but we have potential plans to meet up after Christmas in Central America.

The day after Llano Grande my camera mysteriously broke and hasn't been working until today when it miraculously started working after I hit it on my palm in frustration. So there aren't any pictures from the last week.

We continued down the coast riding on nice paved roads stopping in beach town where we would be able to camp each night. We continue to eat lots of delicious food and meet interesting people along the way. There are still a good amount of climbs each day but the roads are much easier and the drivers are extremely cautious and courteous when passing.



Here are some maps of the last couple days riding. And for all of my bike nerd friends here is some data from my garmin:

Since we left Puerto Vallarta:
338 km in 23 hrs of actual riding time.
14,550 calories burned on the bike
3800m of climbing and 4600m of descending

Day 1: Talpa to La Cuesta. Day 2: La Cuesta to Llano Grande. Day 3: Tomatlan to Punta Perula


Day 4: Punta Perula to Playa Cayeritos. Day 5: Playa Cayeritos to Melaque

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