9. Not as planned
Day 22 Well, today went a little bit differently than planned. It started on the wrong foot already in the morning. I went to pick up my bike from the parking garage few blocks from my hotel. Well, the garage is closed. Time for another coffee. They showed up for work 45’ later. Back to my hotel, my bags were packed already so load up and go. Getting out of Querétaro was much easier then getting in. Soon enough, I was on my way. The road was super busy as it is a main artery to Mexico City. Lots of trucks. I planned my route to avoid a big city of Toluca. It is always a mess in those cities. And certainly didn’t want to go anywhere near Mexico City. Population of a Greater Mex. City is 22M! Well, it all turned out differently.
I managed to avoid Toluca as planned but ended up, somehow, on a freeway to Mexico City. My GPS has it’s own mind and from time to time wants to show me other parts of the country. I swear. I realize I am on the wrong road way too late. And GPS was trying very hard to send me through places I didn’t want to go. When I started descending and saw Mexico City in front of me, I knew I am screwed. Traffic there is on a different level. I desperately didn’t want to go any further. GPS sends me off the freeway but the exit is closed. Construction. The next one doesn’t exist at all. And I am going deeper and deeper into the city. Finally, I get off the freeway only to get lost int he maze of one way streets. Stop, regroup and off we go again. Back on the freeway, but the other direction. I missed the on ramp about 5 times. Frustrating. Finally I am on correct freeway and I think I am winning. WRONG. I am on a toll road but there is no toll booth! It is all electronic. I got stopped by transit people and quite firmly being told to head for the exit. And I am where I started. I am gonna blow a gasket. Every toll freeway has a parallel non-toll road. Both GPS were lost in the construction and complexity of the big city. I finally gave up and started to go rogue. Free ranging in a city of 22M people … I knew roughly where I wanted to go so I did go there. I ended up back on the road to Toluca, this time on the free road. Both GPS where trying to send me back to Mex City! I ignored them and continued to Toluca only to get stuck in traffic there. Can you see a pattern today? I knew which road I wanted to take but GPS didn’t want to go there. At the end I was basically going from the village to village, step by step until I got to the road I wanted to be on. A nice road through the mountain range. Meantime there are dark clouds all around me. If I don’t get wet today, it will be a miracle. I have about 60 km to go and I am on the road I want to take, finally. Mexico City sightseeing tour cost me 3 hrs. The road goes across the mountain range and over 3,100m. At the bottom, there are bunch of policemen and traffic is stopped. I slowed down, waved at the cops and they waved me off. OK, whatever. Beautiful road, nice and twisty. Perfect. My destination is just over the hill. I crested the ridge at 3,160m. I am on the way down, less then 30 km from my destination, Cuernavaca. I can practically taste Corona. There is no traffic, which is not unusual on secondary roads here. So all is good, right? WRONG. All of a sudden, there is a lineup of cars ahead of me, all stopped. People out of their cars, walking around. This doesn’t look good. I ride a long way to the front of the line up. And there it is. A long semi trailer is too long for these turns and didn’t make it through one hairpin. The wheels of the trailer are in the air over a deep ravine. Truck is stuck there. If the truck moves, it will end up in the ravine. 27 km from my destination. A bridge too far? I have my camping gear and water, so I am OK. The police is there, one recovery truck is there. This is gonna take awhile. Where are Coquihalla recovery crews when you need them. There are already dismantling the guard rails so they can position the recovery trucks. It seems there are too many chiefs here. And the National Guard with their full war uniforms and .50 cal machine gun on their truck showed up as well. Everybody is out of their cars and truck and watching the show. Anyway, it took 3 tow trucks to pull the trailer back on the road. 4 hours there. The truck is free but still has to get down this hill. We are at 2,800m here and have a long way to go. This truck should not be on this road in the first place. I am the first to ride behind the truck and few cop cars. The truck needs both lanes most of the times to negotiate the turns. We are crawling ahead. Painful. My turn is coming up and I am free. Sort of. Stuck in the evening rush hours. It is getting late and I don’t want to ride after the sunset. But I am in the city already and in few more kms I am in my hotel. Literarily at the last light.
I left at 9 in the morning and it is 8 in the evening. 11 hours working day. No restaurant in the hotel and I am too tired to hunt for food. I got some sandwiches fro the reception and that’s my gourmet dinner for the night. Now I still have to figure out where I am going tomorrow, where will I sleep and all those small pesky details. And the blog and pics.
I am looking forward to go to bed.