Rosi and Dale's Ongoing Electronic Diary: Of Mice and Men

The best laid plans can often go awry, but not always in a bad way.

We've been on the road since Thursday and as anyone that rides knows, and more important rides in Mexico, it's a different time scale and a different world. 6-8 hour days on the bike are looooooong days in the saddle and cute quaint Mexican hotels, as darling as they are, often have beds designed by the Marquis de Sade. And what is it with Mexican bed and sheet manufacturers? Would it be too much to ask to have the sheets actually fit the bed? But nooooo, that would be too easy. It's much better to have them pull away during the night so you end up in a disheveled mess by the morning. But such is life and it's the price we willingly pay to experience the true Mexico. And at $58/night including breakfast and dinner one can't nit pic too much over fitted sheets, can one?

But sometimes the best laid plans change and not always for the worse - sometimes for the better.

We woke up yesterday with the full intention of riding out to a close-by lake and taking in some more of the sights in Creel. Our original plan was then to leave Creel today and take a secondary rode north which would by-pass the Chihuahua freeway system (or as Rosi would call it, hell on earth) and eventually spit us out in Nuevo Casas Grande, a really nice little Mexican town not far south of the border. From there it would be a long but easily doable one-day ride home.

But two things changed. We started thinking about safety and as much as we've never - not once - felt anything remotely threatening down here, discretion played the better part of valour and we decided we should ride through Chihuahua, city traffic or not, because from there we can stick to the better traveled toll roads. And with this in mind, and knowing it was a little longer ride, we decided to leave Creel a day early. Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous morning. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and by 10:00 it was really warming up and the high-mountain road out of Creel just begged to be ridden.

So off we went; a great ride on a sunny day on fantastic roads, and like the Yellow Brick Road, it eventually spit us out at Oz. Or in our case, that bastion of civility, that which knows no compromise, the Holiday Inn Express! It was a a VERY stressful last half-hour navigating the eight-lane freeway through the centre of the city to get here (especially when a large truck in front of us dodged out of the way to avoid the big piece of cardboard that then blew directly into our path) but once we arrived it was all worth it.

We're in a large room with a king bed, high-end linens and a luxurious bathroom with a massage shower head and HOT HOT water. Muy Bueno! And I can't tell you how much we enjoyed the free happy hour in the lobby last night with an open bar of wine, beer and drinks and enough "snacks" to make dinner unnecessary, and the hot breakfast buffet this morning was superb!

Which brings us to our change of plans. This morning, when we should have been climbing back in the saddle for another six hours to the border, we decided to spend an extra day here in Chihuahua.

Chihuahua has a history going back to the 1700's when it was first settled by the Spanish but more recently, in the early 1900's it was the headquarters of the Mexican Revolutionary Army of the North lead by Pancho Villa.

Lately it's better known as a large, modern, sprawling city of just less than a million people and a hub for industry, commerce and agriculture. There are large north-american styled suburbs and modern shopping districts right next to huge Mexican housing developments and mega-factories with names like Ford, Honeywell and Toshiba, all pumping out merchandise for shipment north and abroad.

The downtown core though is replete with lovely parks, the presidential palace and several fantastic museums all within walking distance of the main town square. Most north-american tourists, those few that there are, only stay long enough to board the train to the Copper Canyon but for the Mexican tourists and locals the downtown central historical district is a hub of activity and we enjoyed every minute of it. The absolute highlight of the day however was the visit to Casa Villa, the home of Pancho Villa, both for it's excellent museum and the great way it offered education and some perspective on general Villa's influence and contribution to what is now modern Mexico.

It's now late in the day and we've settled down in our (very nice) room for a bit of a Siesta before we make our way to the lobby bar for drinks and snacks.

Viva Mexico!
Cheers

Outside facade of Casa de Villa