Day 305 Thursday 11th of May San Miguel de Allende to Cholula 477km

Last night we went out for dinner, celebrating Mothers-day, again. We went to the Church Square where all the restaurants and bars were, non of them full, even on Mothers day as tourist don’t come here, even though it is on a par with Split in Croatia (in my opinion.)  There were several Galleries and shops that sells furniture and interior decorations.

The food was great again, as usual, I also discovered Hard Shell Tacos, these with Beef Mince in, the best food of the trip so far. They also serve pork crackling with the Guacamole. We also all had Margaritas, the real deal, (when I say all I mean the 4 South Africans as our Mexican Hosts don’t drink.) But the Margaritas were served very plainly in normal short whisky glasses, the rims salted and a slice of lime inside, no frills. It tasted similar to ours but it was less sweet and a little more bitter after taste.

This morning we got going at 7h30 and the 1st hour was great, but today was not a Tourist Day, it was a Travel Day, to get from point A to B, tomorrow more Tourist stuffs. But we had to go around Mexico City, around its Eastern side, we were very sure we did not want to see Mexico City. There are 9 million people staying there and it’s an old city, 900 years old, so the town planners did not exist back then, so the roads are chaos we hear. But as we got closer to Mexico City, 150km away, we suddenly hit the outskirts of the city, actually we het all the smaller cities around it, and it was the tail of the morning traffic, 4 lanes, all standing still. But there were many small motorbikes and scooters and they showed us that there was a special lane for us, (some would call it a pavement,) so we had a mad dash through the traffic and into our special lane and then back to get onto the highway out, then more special lane riding and eventually we left the city behind un. But then the road changed to a dual carriage way and many speed-humps to slow us down, the bumps were extreme, and the cars and trucks all cross over at different speeds, so frantic lane changes at the last minute. Every 100m there would be a street dog, and the little shops were packed with stock, one shop would sell hardware, another would be a boutique with clothing, many shops were little restaurants, it reminded me of driving around Maputo on that ring-road up North.

And just when I thought we had finally made it through the town we would hit the 1st speed bump of the next town, it was madness, it just continued town after town followed, It was a Copy and Paste, each town the same as the previous, speed-humps, dogs, shops repeat. The speed bumps (and I think we could have ridden over 500 speed-humps today, was also a place where the hawkers would trade and tied to sell you drinks and nuts etc. A few entrepreneurs were standing on the side of the speed-hump with a little tin of yellow paint and white paint and only a few lines painted on the hump, then he asks for money as he intends to paint the entire speed-bump today so that it can be visible, a different trick, similar to the kids in the rural areas in RSA that fills the pot-holes with sand and then ask for small change because they “fixed” it.

At one stage Doc dashed to the side and stopped and ran into a shop to buy us some Empanadas, (we would call it a Pie,) I continued further when everyone stopped just to take a few phots, this is what was at the side of the road at that stage. (Sadly left his wallet at the shop or on his bike and now his Drivers License and other documents are lost.)

The houses are all one or two storeys high, none are painted or plastered. I was lucky to get this photo as we were leaving another little town and was entering the farming area on the edge of town, note how they plant the Blue Algarve Cactus around the edge of the Corn Field.

They grow everywhere, even in between the duel carriage way. See example of the restaurants I talk about below, they are on the main road.

This plant is not just used in the making of Liquor but also when they cook, like this pulled pork which is steamed inside the leaves. This was our breakfast, note how the Taco is filled with pulled pork, and then hot sauces and limes are added.

Just after Breakfast Milsy and I took out my knife and did some tailoring, he discovered that he had bigger ears than normal people as the top of his ears were rubbing against the lining, (which over a million riders with Arai Helmets found a perfect fit,) so we cut away some of the sponge and did a custom fit for old Big Ears, of all the big things he could have got he got the ears, shame. I used the knife to cut off the front of my jackets sleeves as there were little satin inserts which has to catch your thumb so your jacket can’t be blown up when you ride, but with then now removed with knife the sleeves do blow upwards and then make a little funnel to channel the airflow up your arm, I also added and improved the Air Vents on the jacket, so for the next few trips I will be cooler, but will probably pay the price next year when we hit Argentina and Chilli. My tailoring skills surprised me.

We have corrupted our Hosts with this constant stopping for ice-cream.

And just when I thought it will never end there was a slip road to a toll booth and we got onto this new experience, you take a ticket as you get on the highway and then you need to pay when you get off again, only to find another toll booth, each booth manned by 3 people, one inside and two outside, armed with guns to make sure you don’t get smart and try to ride through. And the language difference made it interesting as Rodger was going to pay for all of us but the toll-guy -with-gun chased him through the boom making us all deal with the payment, root-chaos, hy you mos, slim vang sy baas. Note how nice their RSA Flags are looking, it flaps in the wind as they ride.

Today was hard kilometres, we had to fight the bike and traffic and road for most of the kilometres we did, there was hardly any open roads to clock-up the kilometres, so we are rather knackered tonight.

I saw the Medical Help we can expect and suddenly I am riding like an old lady on her way to church:

Thankfully we eventually got of the main road and into a even smaller town where we rode right past the shops a meter from the front door, smelling the meat as we pass the butcher, or the hair colour products as we rode past the hair dresser, hearing the different music at each shop as we passed. And then we got to quiet street and found our hotel for the night, proper Oros, more like Oros de Lux. But no air-con as we are now at 2400m above sea level and it’s much cooler.

My Oros Suite for tonight:

You always know you are at a top-notch spot when you can park in the conference- room: