Day 153-154 Veracruz to Tuxtepec

It has been a long time since I've been able to update the blog. In fact, the last time I updated it I was on the Gulf of Mexico. Since then I have traversed Mexico's mountainous spine and am back on the Pacific coast. I can split up my adventures into three parts: Going to the mountains, the mountains, and coming down from the mountains. Here is what happened between Vera Cruz and the mountains.

Going to the Mountains

Going out of Veracruz was very fast. The wind was incredibly strong. At times I was pushed uphill without having to pedal at all. This would have been a much more welcome boost if the road only went in one direction, and the wind wasn't prone to changes in direction and gusts. At lest fortunate times I had to lean perilously sideways just to not fall over (weird, right? leaning over to not fall over), and often it was hard to maintain a safe, straight path.

Observe the wind.

I have had extremely good luck with flats. I was much less cautious than many of my riding companions when it comes to avoiding road debris, and my tires aren't as tough as others, but I seem to get fewer flats. When I DO get flats, they are spectacular. First my tire gets a 1 inch slice on its side (over 2000 miles ago) and now a nail that went in through the top, and out through the side. I was able to patch it, and put a special "tire boot" on the tire. It has held up so far. 

Exit wounds.

 The region is known for sugar cane. In this one they are burning it. I don't know for what purpose, but it sounds really cool because you can hear the sugar crackling. It's like sap popping on a thousand logs at the same time. You can see the black specs of ash flying in the air. I'm sure my lungs are worse because of this.

I passed this slow moving tractor pulling sugar cane.

In Tuxtepec I rented a hotel room. I inspected it and found the bed, faucet, and wifi to be functional and worth what they charged, so I paid and moved in. As I was about to lay down for bed, I though "Wow, the traffic is sure loud in the courtyard. I better shut the window." I went over and saw that there was no glass in the window pane. And so from now on I will check to make sure my hotels have glass in their window panes.

The oddest thing about Veracruz has been the coolness of the people. Coolness as in reserved and unhelpful. At a busstop I asked "Could someone help me find an ATM?" And one woman just looked away with headphones in, and a teenager sat with his sweater pulled over his ears like a turtle. I thought maybe this was an isolated incident, but I got odd responses in the next town when I asked for a hotel. It was an odd, complete change from what I have been accustomed to. I felt uncomfortable. Since then, after crossing the Veracruz/Oaxaca border, the people have been normal. Don't know if it was a regional thing, the weather, bad luck, or what. I feel much more comfortable now that the people are friendly and helpful again.  

I also took the time to clean my filthy bike and put some new bling on my bike. Check out the gold chain.