From Anchorage to Ushuaia by Bike

After a couple of days of well deserved rest, we're feeling a little better. Although today Sara still has the sniffles and a sore throat... sometimes it feels like we'll never get rid of it!

Our first impression of Oaxaca wasn't great, so it was a good thing that we stayed and got to know it a little better – the city really surprised us. We walked all around, up and down the streets, through its  markets, and tried many of their culinary specialties, thanks to the  advice of our hosts Jessica and Joël.

Today we visited the Monte Alban Ruins that loom over Oaxaca and the surrounding area. Wonderful.

So tomorrow we will set out again, the spirit recharged and the legs still sore from our long walk today. We're heading towards Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital city of the state of Chiaspas. We should be there in about ten days. As we continue down the mountains and get closer and closer to the Pacific, it should get warmer and more humid.

Sébastien

We’ve finally made it to Oaxaca, the capital of the State of Oaxaca, but it wasn’t easy. Why so difficult you ask?

When we left Tehucan, we thought we could push through to Oaxaca in three days. It should have been manageable, not too much trouble, even though we saw a few small mountains on the way and knew at least one night would be spend camping in the bush.

So we left the couchsurfers in Tehucan Saturday morning. Sébastien is sick: fever and congestion. I’m not at my best either: I have a cough and my nose is totally stuffed up. But we decided to set out into the desert in the middle of Mexico. As we left the city, the sign said 189 km to Oaxaca…

The first day started out with 45 km of downhill, but then we had to climb and climb and climb. We were supposed to pass through a village, but we never came across it. Good thing that we had filled up our bottles at the toll booth. So after more than four hours in the saddle, 778 m of ups and downs, and 55 clicks, we finally gave up and pitched the tent by the side of the road, just on the other side of the fence, after asking permission from the resident shepherd. It was the worst camping location we have had so far: right at a corner, on a slope. The trucks that went by were so noisy both coming up and going down the hill, and we slept badly. Happily, the shepherd tried to cheer us up by saying that we could camp there whenever we wanted…!

The second day took us to Nochixtlan, a little town that became our saving grace. We found a homey little hotel, not too expensive, with a good bed and a lovely hot shower. We also went to a drug store… neither of us were feeling all that well and our morale was in our shoes. We had had to pedal pretty hard to get there that night – 6 hours, 82 km, and 1313 m of ups and downs.

The third day, today, we checked on Google maps and really thought that it would be easier. But no! It was up and down the whole way – 85 km, 763 m of altitude adjustment and almost 5 and a half hours in the saddle.

So we were absolutely exhausted by the time we reached Oaxaca – everyone had told us what a great city it was, and supposedly cheap. We went around the city and checked all the hotels we found, but everywhere was expensive, the most expensive that we had seen so far in Mexico. We eventually went back to the first hotel we had tried, without a private bathroom (and still 50% more expensive than what we normally pay). As of yet, Oaxaca hasn’t won us over.

We know that we are on an amazing trip, the trip of a life time, as everyone tells us. We know that this really is an incredible experience, but not every day is sunshine and puppies. Sometimes we just feel like ditching the bikes and going home to our loved ones and familiar surroundings. It’s been a bit rough for the past three days, since even though we’re sick, we have to keep pedaling, eyes on the road.

Sara

In Mexico City, going from Fabienne and Patrice’s to Nancy and Abelardo’s, I fell for the first time since Anchorage. It was a stupid fall, like most falls are. We were navigating the streets of Mexico with the help of the GPS, and we were on the right street, but it was one-way. To save ourselves a couple of extra kilometers, we decided to ride on the sidewalk. Going over a high curb, I didn’t have enough speed and so tried to pedal even though the front wheel was a foot higher than the back wheel. The pedal hit the ground, the bike stopped short, and I fell heavily into the road… right in front of a taxi that stopped only a couple meters away. I fell on my left side and the loaded bike fell on top of me. I had some trouble getting back up – it felt like my left leg couldn’t really hold my weight. In the end, I was more shaken up than hurt, although my knee is still bothering me a little. Luckily the taxi wasn’t going very fast…

For three weeks now, we’ve been coasting along at an altitude of more than 2000m. Between Mexico and Puebla, we actually got up to 3215, our highest point since Anchorage. It’s been good practice for when we have to tackle the Andes. We’ve discovered that we react differently to altitude: Sara is more easily out of breath and gets headaches more easily than I do. We were surprised that we were able to climb up to 3215m without any problems since only a couple of days before, we had had to stop a couple of times on the way up to 2845m because of dizziness and shortness of breath. And that first hill was actually less steep than the one we just climbed up to 3215m.

After making it up the hill, the snow-peaked volcanoes that separate Puebla and Mexico City rose up on our left. Popocateptl is the most famous peak. It is 5465m high and is still active: plumes of smoke rise continually from its summit. The name means "smoking mountain" in the Nahuatl language. A little later we saw in the distance the perfect crater top of Orizaba (5747m). This beautiful countryside is unfortunately spoiled by all the litter by the side of the road. We haven’t written about this before, but since Anchorage, all sorts of garbage has lined the road because people empty their garbage bins out the window of their cars. In Alaska and in the Yukon too! There’s considerably more garbage here in Mexico, and it’s actually gotten worse in the past few days. The most common litter are individual plastic soda bottles – we see them about every 50 cm.

Sébastien

Since we’ve been staying with Nancy and Abelardo (Nancy is the sister of Daniel who we met through the warmshowers network in San Diego), we learned about a new terror that families here have to live with.

At any time, you could receive a phone call telling you that your child has been kidnapped. You’re scared and not thinking straight, and you say your child’s name. The kidnapper asks for your address, telephone numbers, and then is able to cut off your phone lines so that you can’t reach anyone except him. He also asks who else lives in your home and what kind of car you have. And then money comes up: the kidnapper wants a ransom for your child. You do everything he tells you to – you comply with every demand – because this is about your child, your own flesh and blood. You panic, you don’t know what to do. And just then, your kid comes home, safe and sound, and finds you in a total state of panic and tears…

Yes, you got it – it’s a complicated form of extortion. If you’re not prepared when you answer the phone to give a fake name for your child, then you end up giving these “kidnappers” important information which they can use against you, either right then or later. But if you remember to give another name, and then the fake kidnapper repeats it, saying “Oh yes, we have your child X,” then you know you should hang up on him right away.

These kinds of threats happen frequently in Mexico City, and sometimes they even go further. Last August there was a high profile kidnapping that scared a lot of families: a child of an upper-class family really was kidnapped. The father had just sold his franchise, and the kidnapper demanded a ransom. The ransom was collected, but the “deliverer” took off with the money and the child was killed. They found his body two months later.

Why are we telling you this, when we are on the trip of lifetime and when every day we meet wonderful new people? Well, because we want to show you that not everyone in the world lives as peacefully as we do in our very privileged countries. And sometimes we take for granted the value of living in security.

Sara

Since arriving in Mexico City, we have to learn how to deal with this sprawling megalopolis, and we’ve even started to enjoy it.. well maybe enjoy is a bit too strong a word to describe our somewhat ambivalent feelings towards this capital city.

We’re staying with Patrice and Fabienne, a French couple that moved here more than 25 years ago. We learned a lot about Mexico from them and their advice has been valuable, especially with respect to safety here. Just like in any big city you need to be prepared for everything. Except that here we could be robbed at gunpoint in the middle of the street, a taxi driver could drive us into a little alleyway and make off with everything, and there are pick-pockets everywhere… So we’ve been trying to make sure that we only carry the bare minimum: we left the camcorder and our nice camera back at the house, and we only take a little bit of money. When we get into a cab, we check the license plate (legitimate ones start with “A”), that there is a meter, and we scope out the driver. We’ve also got our little self-defense spray cans that we bought in the States and that we hadn’t even taken out until now. But we also make sure that we are home before dark.

23 million people live here, and so far everyone that we’ve met has made a point to watch out for the inhabitants of Mexico City…

We’ve been able to see a fair amount of the city by visiting the IMFs and meeting with their clients. We walked around the historic centre of town and we visited 2 museums (Muséo Interactivo de Economia and Muséo de Anthropologia). We even got the chance to see Teotihuacan, the famous Aztec site in the north of the city. It was spectacular! 

We discovered that the subway stations here have names and symbols, so that people who can’t read can use the system and not get lost. There are special cars for women and children during rush hour and a police officer is there to make sure that people stay orderly. After passing through all those charming villages and beautiful colonial towns, we don’t exactly find Mexico City very attractive. But we guess it’s just that it seems too big for us….

Sara & Sébastien