LOCO IN ACAPULCO

Eventually Leana and I have made it to the Pacitic coastal city of Acapulco. Since my last report we crossed more of the ever-present Sierra Madre mountains, before reaching the Pacific. Although the mountains slowed us down and strained our legs a bit, there were good views along the way.

Oh Yes, let me interrupt myself here! It may not seem like much to anybody else, but me and my faithful bicycle (Old Saartjie) have now clocked up 100 000 km on this trip (one hundred thousand kilometres!). The bike clock went to 99 999, and then reverted back to 0!

Once we had descended to the coastal plains, we passed many average Mexican towns which were interesting to us due to their lack of tourism (finding a budget room could become tricky, what with all the pay-per-hour places along our way). It was around that area that we passed the real “Isthmus of Mexico”, the narrowest part of land which is also a virtual wind tunnel between the Carribean and Pacific. No surprise then that there are huge electricity-generating wind farms in the area, with appropriately named worker-towns like La Ventana.

The road West along the Pacific coast often diverted a bit inland over the hot and humid sequence of seemingly endless hills. Fortunately the roadside was pleasantly flavoured by flowering plants of many colours.

Then we reached Mexico's famous "surf-town" - Puerto Escondido, where we took a day off. The waves here are legendary, and surfers from all over the world flock to Zicatela beach for the powerful barrel ride. In that area we also stayed over at local beaches in "palapa rooms", such as at Roca Blanca and Barra De La Cruz.

On our approach to Acapulco we took the coastal route, thinking that it would be less hilly. Well, surprise, surprise! To get into the city we had to cycle over yet another gigantic hill above Puerto Marques and the neighbouring wealthy suburbs below us on the slopes, where our tortured sweat flowed.

The attraction of Acapulco is the beach, relaxation, and the night life, but there is also the famous cliff divers. We went to see these men diving from up to 35m into a narrow and fairly shallow gully (they first have to climb up the cliff from the water into which they dive).

Now Leana leaves for a "holiday" in South Africa. I will accompany her by bus to Mexico city from where she flies, and then I will return to Acapulco from where I will continue cycling alone. Distances cyled since last time were:- Tuxtla 16 km; Cintalapa 83 km; Tapanatepec 80 km; Juchitan 111 km; Morro Maratan 73 km; Barra De La Cruz 94 km; San Pedro Pochutla 72 km; Puerto Escondido 70 km; Roca Blanca 45 km; San Jose 48 km; Pinotepa 61 km; Cuajinicuilapa 57 km; Mariquelia 66 km; San Marcos 81 km; Acapulco 76 km. Total so far in Mexico is 2838 km. Grand total is 100 383 km.