At Home for a Week... In Oaxaca :D

The Transalp and Africa Twin admiring Santo Domingo
 
Oaxaca has become a familiar city now. Every time we have mentioned Mexico for the past two years, anyone who knows mainland Mexico has said: OAXACA - GO THERE!!! And since we knew we’d be going there, and had a mutual riding friend who lives there, I was able to give Moto Machines an address where they could send a very nice care package

Anyway, I digress.





So we did go to Oaxaca. And once we got past the traffic (Oaxaca is known for it’s protests these days, which generally cause traffic to come to a near stand-still) and the smog, and found a lovely cheap hotel with secure parking 3 blocks from the Zocalo, we understood why everyone is so keen on Oaxaca. The city is a beautiful blend of old and old-with-new-interspersed, cosmopolitan Mexicans and Indigenous Mexicans and celebrations that reflected this took place every night. The Market on the Zocalo is a great place to grab cheap food from a sit-down stall and an even better place to people watch as many of the wedding celebrations wind up there.


These performers twirled and twirled to the music once the new couple emerged from the church. You can see the bride in the background: she's wearing a typical white dress and veil that most of us are accustomed to seeing.


This wedding party poured out of the church across the street from the hotel we were staying at, and it was impossible not to get caught up in and carried along with infectious energy of the band and wedding attendants. The bride can be seen in the bottom right corner of the photo, standing between the woman in the short red dress and the woman in the long white dress: she is wearing a long red skirt.


The moto-cops detailed the wedding and re-routed traffic as the party made it's way down the street to the Zocalo, dancing and singing as the two bands they'd hired battled back and forth...


The party continued for a while at the Zocalo...

After spending the weekend amongst all of the action downtown, we headed outside of the city to meet Ruben and Aurora, a couple we’d been e-introduced to by our Canadian Fairy Godparents, Carol and Hans (yes, the ones who put us up when we Roel couldn’t get back into the US, surprised us with a visit in Australia and suggested we head to Alaska). Ruben, Aurora and their children have ridden all over Central America and through much of the US and Canada. They are a wonderfully warm couple and gave us an equally warm welcome in their lovely home. We chatted late into the night about moto travels and became fast friends.

The next morning, we tallied up a bike maintenance list a mile long. We rarely are in a position to pull apart the bikes and if necessary, walk away to clear our heads when we hit a wall. Here, at Ruben and Aurora’s, we could do just that. So we were eager to get to work: both bikes needed an oil change and the Africa Twin needed to have it’s valve clearance adjusted.

We had to divide and conquer our to-do list, and since I had some blogging to catch up on, Roel kindly changed the Transalps oil & filter for me Using up the last of our filters from HiFloFiltro



And after a home-visit from Ruben’s mechanic, Luis, it was determined that the slider bolt on the AT’s rear brake needed to be replaced as there was too much free-play. We didn’t even bother riding to the Honda Shop to see if they could order the part: 1. They probably wouldn’t even be able to find it in their system. 2. The part of the brake that the slider bolt fits into has likely worn, too. So the best option was to follow Luis to a nearby Soldadura (welder) who could add material to the current bolt and then machine it down to size. This took a bit of time, but the end result was an excellent fit. For 200 pesos ($14.30). It was a relief to get all of this done.


First he soldered more metal onto Roel's worn slider bolt and then he machined it down to size. Probably not the way most mechanics would recommend getting the job done, but sometimes, you need a little creativity and out-of-the-box thinking to get the job done.


And after some sweaty city riding, it was time to wash the suits. A lot of women have well-founded concerns about the practicality of the light gray/cream KLiM Altitude... Well, for visibility, I think it's great AND it does come clean: LOOK!!



But the real sense of relief came when our package from Moto Machines arrived. Relief at first and absolute excitement! The base of my original top-box, Walter, was cracking a bit more with every tope I crossed. (By the time we made it to Oaxaca, I was practically coming to a full stop (like a bus) before crossing a tope, in an effort to minimize the bouncing of Walter.) And goodness forbid I didn’t see a tope quickly enough to come to a stop, I caught myself looking in my mirrors to see if my belongings from my top box were scattered over the road behind me.



Yes, as you can see, my new Hepco & Becker Gobi top box is a bit smaller, so indeed I had to shuffle some things around (i.e., move some stuff to Roel’s bike - like my oil cans)… But, tis a small price to pay for a replacement top box that mounts and dis-mounts incredibly easily (with a twist of a key), and looks a heck-uva-lot better. The Gobi Trifecta is now complete.






What home decorating looks like when you live out of a box

Moto Machines also sent water taps and luggage loops for the Gobis. Because we wild camp and cook so much of our own food, being able to carry water for dish/hand washing in Roel’s Gobi’s has been extremely helpful. Now, our water-carrying capacity is 12 liters between the two of us. Yes, that’s too much weight to carry all of the time, but provided we stop at a fuel station just before camping, we can fill up everything and then one of us can wash clothes while the other sets up camp. This may not mean much to you, but given how smelly stuff gets after a long day of riding (especially Roel’s stuff ) I’m stoked.

But mostly, my bike looks beautiful. And I love the simplicity of the Gobi System.

THANK YOU MOTO MACHINES!!!


Seriously, how GOOD does this bike look, now!!! (You can see here that we were trying to imitate the mounting system that a fellow ADV Rider had made for his RotoPax - it didn't quite work, so for now, Roel is carrying my oil cans as we contemplate another solution. Suggestions welcome.)


A really cool art school campus 10 minutes from Ruben & Aurora's that we NEVER would have found on our own


Ruben & Aurora... our riding family in Oaxaca. Love them!




On the way home from the art school, we stopped at the local bakery to pick up breakfast for the following morning. a.k.a. Roel's new Happy Place. When the baker told Roel "Everything you can eat here is FREE; everything you buy to take home is double-price" - it was GAME ON!!!


Roel is such a creeper - look at him eying the remains of Azure's treat!


Score!!

Before leaving Oaxaca, Ruben and Aurora took us to some lovely local spots that we wouldn’t have found on our own. And we even managed to squeeze in a visit to Monte Alban, an incredible archaeological site with intact ruins and good explanations for the interesting buildings and cosmic methods the inhabitants of this ancient city used to tell the time and date. We are so grateful to Ruben and Aurora for opening their home to us and for becoming part of our motorcycle family.


Game game. Unlike game courts found at other pyramid sites, it is believed that human sacrifice was not part of the "game" here at Monte Alban. Instead, it is believed that playing this game was used to settle land disputes and such.




One of the 40ish reliefs found around Monte Alban, that they originally labelled "Conquest Slabs" as they were thought to depict fallen enemies. However, upon further investigation, they are believed to portray sacrifices and in some cases, may be representative of a plague or epidemic that wiped out some of the population at Monte Alban.


Checking out one of the many art installations housed in the converted Convent of San Pablo... Ruben brought us here knowing we'd be enthralled with how they've integrated new architectural elements into this building that dates back to 1529.


Roel's supervisor, Oreo, looks on as he worked on the bikes... made him feel quite at home, as he has a Border Collie at home in Holland.

Our First Encounter with Mexican Police and Paying it Forward

We headed for Cholula to have a nice view of the volcanos before heading to Puebla for the evening. (But really, you can see the volcanos from everywhere, but Cholula still had a lovely church and it was a nice town to ride around.)



We checked out an RV park that had been recommended to us, but they wanted to charge 180 pesos. It was in the middle of a neighborhood, so from experience we knew there would be cocks a-doodle-doling all night and REALLY 180 pesos for a shoddy patch of grass? I think not.

So we headed into Puebla figuring we might have to spend another 120 pesos ($8) for a hotel room, but at least we’d be in the center. We eventually found a hotel with secure parking for 300 pesos ($21). We went out for a wander around the city which was now alive with lights highlighting the magnificent architecture and most of the 300 churches of Puebla (I’m basing this off of the sampling we rode/walked past of course ;)). I went to photograph a stunningly intricate church facade and that was when I realized I forgot my camera. Gasp. It does actually happen once in a while, so my apologies for that,guys.


All this for under $2!!!


Pudding broodjes for Roeltje!

The following morning, we carbo-loaded before leaving Puebla and headed for the Federal Road to Oaxaca. Just before dark, we pulled off into a field, made our fajita dinner and tucked into our cozy tent as we wondered about the temperature outside… 10 deg Celsius?


Africa Twin Incognito

Freezing, but eager to get on the road early, we were in Tehuacan just in time for rush hour traffic. We were momentarily separated when Roel was able to make a turn off into the towns Zocalo and I had to continue straight due to the pesky mopeds that were like a swarm around me. Through the headset we communicated that I’d find my way back on the one-way streets and he would wait. Moments later, I heard the voice of a lady through his microphone asking him if he’s lost the other motorbike with the woman. He doesn’t understand fully, and by the time I make it back to the Zocalo to thank who turned out to be a traffic cop for her concern, they were “chatting” happily. I learned later that she and her traffic cop buddies had been tracking me around the city center via radio as I made my way back to the Zocalo - so it was no coincidence that all of the traffic cops I passed where in fact waving me in the right direction back to Roel.

How lovely.

We explained to the friendly traffic cop (and her Sergeant who had come by) that we wanted to make coffee and have breakfast in the Zocalo. This was apparently a no-go, and they kept recommending restaurants around the Zocalo. We’d just been on the equivalent of a spending spree (for us, anyway) in Mexico City and Puebla and didn’t want to spend very much money, if any at all, on breakfast. They eventually got this, and the Sargent’s face lit up as he suggested to the lady cop “Take them to where we eat breakfast!” Now, that’s a suggestion you can’t refuse ;) So, we followed the lady cop a couple blocks down and she directed us to park the bikes in front of a pharmacy with a juice stand in front of it (we felt bad for blocking their street area, but the pharmacist and everyone had come out to see the bikes and were just smiling huge smiles at us, so OK). She told us the cops would guard the bikes and then led us another couple of blocks on foot to a tiny two-table restaurant that smelled awesome. We were ushered inside and in short order had two awesome friend tortillas with eggs and coffee sitting in front of us. All for 48 pesos ($3+)





When we got back to the bikes, our lady cop was still standing there guarding the bikes and guiding traffic around them. We decided to buy a smoothie from the stand we had parked the bikes in front of and instead of just one, he made us two, and wouldn’t accept any money for them. An older gentleman from the Pharmacy who had spent some time working in the US and was eager to use his English, offered that they would help us with anything we needed. Well, we had been planning to figure out a way to get antibiotics in case either one of us became ill in a rural area and although we’ve had great luck, so far, we were also thinking given our penchant for street food, perhaps it would be good to get something prescription strength in case that would go wrong. No problem, and in about 5 minutes, Roel walked out with both of these items for 80 pesos ($5).



Wow, simply the nicest people. They sent us on our way and warned us that maybe we shouldn’t stop in any of the small towns on the road we were taking, because there was a chance we would be robbed. This was rather shocking as we’d heard this was a safe area to ride through, but when you’re riding through safe areas you still have to remember that robbing you is potentially akin to survival for someone who needs to feed their family that
night.




Sadly, this was part of the ride. The entire roadside doesn't look like this, so obviously, folks just aren't fans of these signs. *Sigh*



The road to Oaxaca was beautiful and we felt completely safe riding, but we did only stop at Pemex stations and an abandoned restaurant where we made our lunch. And oh, when we found a bicyclist needing assistance with a flat. And then a motorcyclist having engine problems.



By the time we found the motorcyclist, Luis, on the side of the road, we were nearly in Oaxaca anyway. We had the tools he needed, but he was still unable to get his bike running. So, Roel pulled out his rope and towed him to the next town where he would have mobile service and assured us he would be able to call his family to bring a truck.



 
 Sadly we weren't able to fix this guys bike, but Roel gave him a tow to a nearby town.

Our love for Mexico grows every day.

Impressions of Impressive Mexico City

Smog in the City

The owner’s daughter of Teotihuacan RV Park gave us a ride into Mexico City to catch the subway. They had offered that we could keep the bikes there for free, while we were in the city and we felt extremely comfortable with the level of security there, so we gladly took them up on their offer.



I’ve been on subways in several countries and major US cities, and as a person who HATES public transportation, I have to say that I was seriously impressed. The subway in Mexico City is fast, frequent, cheap and CLEAN.


The salespeople in the train cars were rather interesting - they sold everything from CDs (like this guy - he had a sound-system in his backpack) to hammers.

We immediately found a cheap hotel near the Zocalo (center square) and set out to explore.


While we were in Mexico City, there was a holiday that was being celebrated by free tamales being given out on the Zocalo. It was nice to see people gathering for this, but the police presence was astounding. There were 8-16 cops on any given corner around the Zocalo and this spread for a few blocks in all directions.





We met up with Alex, our rider friend who we traveled from Durango to Aguascalientes with, and visited the Diego Rivera Museum.


One of my favorite Diego Rivera murals - Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park - it spans 15.6 meters. I could have spent all afternoon taking in Rivera's messages communicated through this artwork.
He then took us exploring and we wandered through beautifully tranquil city parks, had awesome Gorditas, and eventually stumbled upon what I would describe as a traditional revivalist dance troup that was dancing like mad in one of the squares - it was awesome to watch.



My degree in Anthropology made a visit to the National Museum of Anthropology a must. I felt bad for Roel as most of the placards were not translated into English, but many of the exhibits were obvious enough in their message that they didn’t require a placard  The museum was massive and I would easily rank it with the Smithsonians in Washington, DC. It was extremely well done. So much so, I spent 8 hours exploring, while Roel returned to the city center and watched the Flag ceremony in the Zocalo.


You don't need a placard to tell you that these folks were cannibals, right?


Though there are subtle differences, we are all more or less the same underneath the skin.




Flyers



The following 4 photos are from the impressive end-of-day flag ceremony on the center square:








We finally brought my little crash incident in Guanajuato full circle and met up with Jose Jr.. He toured us around another area of the city, we chatted moto travels (check out his site: KeepTheRiding) and then had an awesome cheap dinner with his lovely girlfriend.





All in all, we were happy not to have ridden into the city only because it was so easy to use the subway, but the traffic was well-organized and if it wasn’t for the opaque rules about license plate numbers and foreign motorcycles entering the city on certain days, we would have been happy to ride in.

San Juan Teotihuacan

Heavy Traffic

We arrived in San Juan Teotihuacan and immediately headed to the Teotihuacan RV Park where we’d heard we could set up our tent.



The owner was extremely welcoming and immediately told us that we could pitch our tent anywhere and that we could leave our bikes there if we wanted to go into Mexico City by bus to explore. Awesome!

The pyramids of Teotihuacan are impressive and are thought to date back to 100BC. The ‘histories’ of these massive structures and their surrounding “living quarters” and avenues are full of mysteries and conjecture, so it is indeed a place where you can allow your imagination to wander. Who built these structures? Where did they go? How is it that mica is contained in every structure at Teotihuacan, but the closest it can be found in nature is Brazil? Human sacrifices? Pyramids dedicated to the Sun and Moon? It's nice to have all of these questions to ponder if you haven’t hiked 20 flights of stairs in a while and you're a bit out of breath and in need of a break