14. Tapachula, MEX
Day 28 The plan today is only about 240 km, mostly a transit day. It was hot already early in the morning. It was easy enough to get out of Salina Cruz and onto a toll hwy #200 on my way to Tonolà. Not too much to see around but it started to get REALLY windy to the point I was leaning my bike into the wind. The wind was blowing from North to South. The place where I was riding has a shortest distance between Atlantic Ocean (Gulf of Mexico) and the Pacific Ocean in Mexico. The distance is only about 200km between the two Oceans. There is also a break in the natural ridge which goes through entire Mexico and the continent as well. That creates a huge funnel effect which with the temperature differential between the oceans creates very strong winds. Obviously, place like this is an ideal for wind farms. And there are wind mills everywhere there. A sea of towers as far as you can see. Hundreds of them and more under construction. A very impressive sight.
One thing I haven’t seen before anywhere in Mexico. Migrants. There were hundreds of them. Mostly in groups, numbering from a few to 20 or more. Mostly young males but also many families with children. None of them had more that a backpack or a duffel bag. Some had only a plastic bag with them. Walking on the side of the road, heading north, looking for better life. Some of them had a flag on their bag, I saw flag of Venezuela, Honduras and El Salvador. Interestingly, most of them waved and smiled when I was passing by. In some way I have probably personalized their dream. A rich white dude on an expensive motorcycle. They have a long way ahead wherever they are going but I wished them luck.
The road was nice and traffic was light. I was getting to my planned destination way too early. Just before the turn off from the highway I’ve decided to continue to my final destination in Mexico, Tapachula. The road got even better to the point I was riding on a perfect divided freeway, covered by tall trees. I can cover some distance very quickly on road like this. There was almost no traffic here so I stepped on it. Looking at the skies ahed, I knew I am going to pay for this. It is almost guaranteed there always will be storms in the afternoon in this region. The rivers in almost entire Mexico were all dry. Not here. All of them have pretty strong current flowing. When you look around, you can see why. Storm clouds all around me, lightnings ahead of me. There is no other road, so I don’t have a choice. I put my rain jacket on and prepared for the wetness to arrive. I didn’t need to wait long. And it wasn’t just rain, the heavens opened their gates. Water pooling on the road with fascinating speed. Visibility down to few hundred meters. It was WET. I haven’t seen the rain on my entire trip so far but I’ve got it all in the last 50 km. I found my hotel wading through lakes of water that didn’t have a chance to drain fast enough. Welcome to Central America. Only issue in the hotel was that I have a reservation for tomorrow night but not today. A problem easily solved with a credit card. I am taking tomorrow off to sort myself out. There is no restaurant in the hotel, so it is cookies and mango juice for dinner.
Day 29 It was nice to sleep in. I guess I was tired because I woke up at 8 a.m. Hotel has a breakfast bar so I don’t need to hunt for food. Nice. I spend the day organizing my paperwork and researching any info I can find about crossing the border. The border is only 20 km from here. I want to be there early in the morning because 1. I want to beat any potential rush hour traffic and 2. I want to get to my destination before the afternoon rains hit.
I went out for a walk after noon and it was HOT outside. And humid. I found a very large shopping mall very close by so I went it to investigate. It was huge inside. And cool. There is even a Wallmart store there. Nice by any standards. They have a nice food court so I will come here for dinner. Speaking of which, I better go before the next storm comes.
Cheers