Leaving Mexico

Posted by Alex on 21 January 2010

Some places will strike a chord within you and make you never want to leave. Barra de la Cruz was one of those places... A small community ran beach, kept impeccably tidy, with fantastic surf. A small fee to access the beach and the community operated restaurant and facilities on the beach ensured that this sand bar provided the perfect chill out spot for travelers but also economic benefit for its owners, most of the money going towards local clean water infrastructure projects and schooling.

However, the bikes were not going to ride themselves, so after 2 days on the beach, and countless dunks by the waves, we set off down the coast towards Guatemala, with only 600 odd km to go to the border. As we have come to expect on this trip, unforeseen circumstances always seem to make things more interesting. Having cursed head winds up in the Yukon and on the West coast, we now know that cross winds, if strong enough, can be a lot more dangerous and harder to ride in than a steady head wind. Just as we were rejoicing about our first sighting of renewable energy technology in Mexico, a large wind farm, we became painfully aware that one mans joy can be the same mans pain... The wind was so strong that we were physically blown off the road on several accounts, sapping our energy in the space of only a few dozen miles. 

Spying the end of the wind farm, we were relieved to leave the wind couloir and return to normal riding. The road lead us all the way down the coastal side of the Sierra Marde de Chiapas through fruit orchards and farmlands, but somehow much prettier that the agricultural scapes we crossed further North. 

Having arrived in Tapachula, we are taking a day off to let the legs recover before our climb into the Guatemalan mountains.

The next chapter promises to be interesting.

16 comments. Tags: Alex, fin, beach, mexico. Location: Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico