Day 6 and 7 Ricon de Guayabitos and the drive to Barra

NOTE - new pictures uploaded to Picassa. Click on the link and scoll to the end to see the latest additions


Day 6 and 7
Yesterday, day 6, was a great day to chill out, get some rest and generally play tourist. We started out with coffee in bed ( we travel with our own percolator and a pound of Starbucks) and then a late breakfast at an old favourite restaurant from our previous trips. From there we went for a long walk along the beach with just about every Mexican family within a 300 klm radius. Beachside resort towns are VERY popular with Mexican families on week-ends. And why not, after all it’s their country. This can make for a very loud and very crowed couple of days though, so after our walk we sat and had a few cerveca's but then left the beach to the million or so families that were having a great time. Instead, we had to make a huge sacrifice and hang out by the hotel pool, drinking beer, lounging in a recliner and taking a dip every half hour or so to cool off. It was rough, but someone has to do it.

Yesterday evening we finished off with another walk around town and a very nice pizza and beer dinner at a local tourist haunt. Muy Bueno.

Today was a great riding day and for the first time the heat reared it head as a factor in how long/far you can go. We got up early and forwent breakfast to get on the road by 7:00ish and then stopped at a roadside OXXO store (very much like our 7/11) for a coffee and donut. Approx 45 minutes later we pulled into Bucarious (sp?) and had a great full breakfast at a lovely restaurant right on the water. We pulled out right around 10:00 but shortly thereafter we lost an hour due to the time zone change just north of PV.

Speaking of which, there HAS to be a way to bypass downtown and head south. If there is though, we missed it. The road is great coming into town - a four lane divided highway - and as you near the centre it’s still good, just busier as you enter the old hotel zone. Then, BAM, it spits you right onto a cobblestone (AKA rocks) street in downtown. We followed the Malecon right into old town, over the bridges, into Centro and through the other side until we missed a turn, backtracked to correct, and hit the hill out of town heading south. The whole process of getting through PV had to take at least an hour. Don’t get me wrong - in the big scheme of things we did remarkably well. And here’s where I have to give my Sweety a big plug. She’s turned out to be a great passenger. Yes, we’ve both had our moments but overall she’s been WAY more of a help than not. She zigs when I do and is a great second set of eyes. And she’s been a real trooper on some of the long stretches.

Vicki and Wayne - when we come back we’ll send you an e-mail and try to get specific instructions. We saw several signs for Nuevo but once we turn off the main drag it’ll be easy to get lost.

So, we eventually got spit out south of town and continued on coastal highway 200. It’s a very good road, roughly equivalent to Hwy 97, just more twisty and a LOT more remote in some stretches. Again, speaking of which, we’ve both agreed to take more breaks. What happens is you look at a distance marker and equate it to travel times back home. IE, you see a sign that says the next town is 38 klm. You might be tired and ready for a break but you say to yourself, what the heck, I’ll wait, it’s only anther 25 or 30 minutes. But then you run into twists, a cattle truck, five small pueblo’s with five tope’s each and the next thing you know it’s an hour later and you’re still not there. We fell into that trap today (not just me for those of you now saying poor Rosi - I suggested we stop but more often than not she said keep going) and we did a couple of too long stretches. Because of course, then what happens is you say OK now we HAVE to stop and there’s no safe place to pull over and/or no gas station etc to get a cold drink.

Anyway, we had a good day. It was just under 300 klm in total and we arrived into Barra right around 3:00ish local time and we were drinking beer by the pool by 3:30. I even bought a round for the only other couple in the pool, a young Mexican couple, and we struck up a great conversation for a half hour or so. Rosi is now taking a well deserved nap and I’m catching up on downloading pictures etc. She took some great shots from the back of the bike which you can see by clicking on the Picassa Web Album. We also have some great video clips from the back of the bike but they’ll have to wait until I can make a video when we’re home. It's just too cumbersome with a slow wireless connection.

Tomorrow is a down day here in Barra. It’s been a few years since we were here and we want to see how the old haunts are holding up.

So far it's been a full week on the road. Five days riding and two down days; Mazatlan and yesterday in Ricon. It sounds like a lot but we were resigned to three straight days from Phoenix just because there's not much to see. We're now following a schedule of one day riding and one day off which is very reasonable. We've covered 2,060 in total and, as long as Rosi holds up as well as she has and enjoys it when we're done, I think SA next year may be on the horizon.

Cheers