October 27th, 2002
Presidio, Tx to Acapulco Mexico
Crossing into Mexico at Presidio we entered Ojinaga. Presidio is a tiny
little town with the only new construction being bunker like homes being
built for an influx of INS agents. Ojinga on the other hand was a thriving
community and probably more then ten times the size of Presidio. We stopped
just long enough to exchange some money and then we headed towards
Chihuahua.
The following day we made our way to the north end of
Copper
Canyon where we met up with 6 KLR riders from Dallas who had been spending
a few weeks exploring the area. Since we got to Creel early we where able
to unload our bikes and do a bit of exploring ourselves. We checked some
of the natural wonders and I went on a few mile hike through the hills to
check out a waterfall.
The next day we rode through Copper Canyon to the small town of
Batopilas.
This required us to ride over 40 miles of treacherous dirt roads which took
us over 3 hours and was very tiring. While the Mexican drivers are generally
great it seemed on this road as if they whre determined to kill us. Once
we got to Batopilas however we got a nice cheap hotel that was recommended
by the riders from Dallas and all was well with the world.
The next day we had to ride the same stretch of dirt roads to get back
out of the canyon but this time it was
raining
arrrgh! By the time we made it out of the canyon it was raining hard and
the temperature had dropped to 48 degrees brrrrrrr. When we finally
stopped for lunch I had lost so much body heat that I couldn't stop shaking.
So I put on the electric vest and of course it stopped raining and the temperature
went up. I still kept the vest on however as it's toasty warmth sure felt
good. We stopped that night in Hidalgo del Parral and the next day headed
to Durango.
Our hotel in
Durango
was quite cool and had a night club attached where I met and had the oppourtunity
to hang out with the chef of the hotel. He offered to show us around Durango
but unfortunately we had a date with the Devil's Backbone and the beaches
of Matzalan planned for the following day. The
Devil's Backbone
was everything I hoped and about 10 times more with about 95 miles of non
stop twisting road with incredible views of the mountains. Since it's the
major route between Durango and Mazatlan it also had quite a few large trucks,
busses, and other traffic. Luckily the Mexicans are good drivers and I didn't
have much trouble getting around them so that I could enjoy the road.
Mazatlan
is a nice resort town and we spent two nights there mostly lounging around
the pool trying to look a little bit less like Gringos and relaxing.
After Mazatlan we headed to
Ixtlan del Rio
which would give us only a 100 miles to ride to Guadalajara the following
day and allow us the time to visit the ruins of
Los Torilles
on the outskirts of Ixtlan and the Jose Cuervo
distillery
in the town of Tequila. We spent two nights in
Guadalajara
which gave me a full day to wander about and check out this very nice Colonial
city.
We left Guadaljara just in time to ride through the remains of a hurricane.
We rode over 250 miles in near constant rain and it was pretty miserable
and I got completely soaked from the waist down. Luckily it wasn't
as cold as it was leaving Batopilas and I put my vest on early so I never
got that uncomfortable. At one point as we where lost in a small city we ended up riding through flooded streets in 2 foot plus deep water which was actually very fun. The next day however the sun was out again and we
where treated to beautiful scenery and more great roads as we made our way
to
Acapulco
.
A special
page
for Cory.
Still Heading South