10. Puebla
Day 23 I had a good night sleep after yesterday’s marathon day. I am not in a hurry today as I plan to ride only about 160 km. A quick Mexican breakfast in the hotel and it is time to load up. They have this nice trolley in the hotel for hauling bags which made my life much easier. I knew the first 70km will be boring. It was, sort of. I was riding on a secondary roads through one village into the next. I didn’t know where one ends and another starts. But those topas! (speed bumps) Hundreds of them. They are getting on my nerves. They are spaced sometimes less than 20m apart. I didn’t get out of 3rd gear for 70km. 1-2-3-2-1-2-3-2-1 …. You get the picture.
Not too soon I left the “main” road and was heading for the mountains. I was gradually climbing, I started at 1,500m and by this point I was at 2,500m. I am climbing on a very narrow road in a pine forest. No traffic. I am a little bit suspicious after yesterday’s experience. When I checked the weather in the morning, I knew it is not gonna be the best “viewing” day. Clouds everywhere. But it was cool, soon enough I was riding in the clouds. By myself, nobody around. I was looking at my altitude readout and it was climbing. 3,000, 3,200, 3,500.When I got to the top, it was reading 3,695m. Highest point on the trip, so far. And the top is Paso de Cortès. It is a pass between two biggest volcanos in Mexico. The more famous is Popocatepetl at 5,393m. It is all situated in the National Park. However, it was not my day as it was cloudy and I couldn’t see a thing. But the ride up was worth it.
There is a police detachment at the top of the pass. Mean looking guys and ladies with big machine guns. So I go and talk to them, what can go wrong, right? They were actually all very cool. They were interested in my bike (shocking) and I was asking about the ride down on the other side, which was not paved. The gang was friendly and we had a nice chat. One of the guys spoke prefect English and French. And he also works a mountain guide. I have a card so I will look him up on the way back home. I’ve been told that avg wage in Mexico City (higher then the rest of the country) is about 9,000p/month. A policemen makes about 15k. So it is a good job if you can get it. I’ve also been told that motorbikes are VERY expensive in Mexico. According to official BMW Mexico website, the “regular” 1250 GS cost 480,000p which is nearly $40k CAD! That’s nearly double the Canadian price! And they don’t even have the higher end GSA model on their website. So, the bike would cost 4,5 YEARS of avg Mexican salary. That’s why you don’t see too many of them.
I’ve been told the road down is good for my bike so off I go. Great off roading! Steep road but easily handled. I was not in a hurry so I took my time. The weather was getting better on the other side and I quickly descended 1,500m into the valley. On the pavement, again. Easy, fun side roads. I got in the traffic jam in the middle of nowhere. Then I realized that the intersection is a public market. Hundreds of stalls selling anything. You can buy here a new Tupperware, bananas, coal, hay or a cow! I’ve never seen market like this. I couldn’t stop, there was no place to pull over and there were big trucks breathing on my neck. It was cool!
Approach to the city was straight forwards. Puebla is the 6th biggest city in Mexico with 6,5M people. It is designated as a UNESCO world heritage site. It seems that the whole country is under UNESCO. No nav issues like yesterday, only once when both of my GPS sent me to a one way street in the wrong direction. Easily fixed. Found my hotel with no problem, right in the center of the heritage part of the town. It is a NH Hotels, a Dutch chain I was using while working in Holland. It is pretty upscale here, but the price is again less than Motel 6 in the US … I was waiting for my room to be ready and meantime, the clouds covered the skies and started to rain. Good timing.
Got my room, but didn’t feel like walking around in the rain. I was a bit bummed out as I wanted to see the city. I had a dinner instead. I poked my head out on the way from the hotel restaurant and it didn’t rain (as much…) So I beelined it the main square. I didn’t have my Nikon, just my iPhone. I was wearing a T-shirt and shorts. Everybody else was bundled up like they were expecting a snow storm. Anyway, the main square is only a few blocks away. I got there and wow, what a sight. All lit up, a huge cathedral right in the middle. I start snapping pictures, everything looks so cool with the rain reflections. Then I went inside the cathedral. I am from Europe, I am used to big churches, but OMG, this was something else. There was a mass being held at that moment so there were signs to keep out of some section. There is a HUGE pipe organ right in the middle and they played it when I was there. What a sound! I can stay in place like that for hours, soaking up the atmosphere and taking pictures.
Well, it is time to head back, is raining hard again. I must say, this is the most beautiful Mexican city so far. I need to stop here again on the way up.
Back in the hotel, blogging. Now I have to decide where to go tomorrow as I have absolutely no clue. So stay tuned!