Morning over Valle de Bravo
We were up and on the bikes around 9, headed for downtown Valle de Bravo and breakfast for the road
The road into downtown was packed, no doubt for the Day of The Dead celebration coming up in a couple of days.
The night before, Rob and Hank had looked at routes to Taxco, the original plan being for Jimmy and Rob to go on to Taxco while we turned north. After some discussion with locals, the route Rob and Jimmy had planned on taking was up in the air. Apparently there had been robberies or rumors of such on the road, but information was dated and sketchy. The only real information being that it would be full of truck traffic. After looking at the maps at where to go after Taxco, it appeared R & J would be too far out of the way for their schedule, so they decided to hang with us yet another day before splitting.
We had a relaxed breakfast on a balcony overlooking the lake. Each meal in Mexico has been leisurely. It's been nice not having to swallow an Egg McMuffin whole, while simultaneously snorting a cup of coffee through a nostril and climbing on the bike. Actually its been nice not even seeing an Egg McMuffin.
The two policemen spent a lot of time looking at my bike
Orchids everywhere
The view and the breeze called my name, so I told the gang to go ahead without me. Said I'd meet them in Vera Cruz at the Rally the next year cuz I wasn't leaving this balcony. Rob reminded me that gringos come south, meet a lovely chiquita, move there and then try to survive by starting a bar or copy center, only for it to fail.
True, so I decided to go with them.
We saddled up in our stanky gear, once again trailing through a beautiful town and up to the faster roads leading ever to the horizon.
We were on high beautiful roads until reaching the tollway heading north for Queretaro. From there it was hot, long and tiring.
After days of 85 mph buffeting, it begins to tire you. You notice pressure points in your jacket, that now have become irritating. You notice things about your helmet that bug you, and you decide you're going to get all new gear - like the Rukka jacket you tried on at the vendors booth in Uruapan. Hey, $1800 for a jacket? Who cares! Woohoo! And that nice Schuberth C3 helmet with comm system? $1300? Who cares! Woohoo! Oh yeah, and while I'm at it, that new red 1200 GSA would be much better than my antique Anniversary Edition - $25,000? Who cares! WooHoo! Then I began to wonder if I have enough pesos for the gas and tolls between here and wherever the heck Hank is taking us. Crap, I should've gotten some pesos from the ATM.
About the time we were all getting burned out, we rolled into the small town of Bernal, a colorful and peacefully quiet town sitting beneath a massive rock promontory.
Hank found a hotel on a side street, where we unloaded gear and then parked the bikes in a gated lot on the next street. Rob opted for a single room and Jimmy and I shared one. Poor Jimmy.
Entrance to the parking garage across the street
The town was right out of a storybook - colorful buildings, cobble streets and a quiet atmosphere. We wandered and climbed, eventually reaching the old cemetery under the rock cliff.
This guy was very friendly and spoke English well. He told me of the preparations for the Day of the Dead they were doing. And yes, it's one of those pigs from Angry Birds
As we climbed the road, I kept hearing a horse’s hooves clip-clopping but each time I looked, I only saw a white pickup truck coming towards us. Turns out it was this guy exercising his horse and I couldn’t see it behind the truck.
The cemetery we explored had not yet been decorated for the holiday.
This young man decorated the grave while we were there and spent much time talking to his loved one(s).
I had not been able to get wifi in the last 2 days and Rob found out the main plaza had a gazebo with free wireless, so we planned to have dinner and then get caught up on email and posts.
About the time we decided to head for dinner, I began to feel a bit weak and queasy. Hank and I walked a bit shooting pics, but I was going downhill fast and began looking for a farmacia. I feared it may get much worse and decided to try to get some antibiotics ahead of time, in case it did. Hank got directions to one and Rob walked with me, however we found out it was much further away than we realized, so I blew it off.
I barely was awake through dinner and felt pretty bad overall, so I left some money on the table for the guys to cover my bill and went back to the hotel and laid down. I could feel intestinal happenings and prayed it wouldn't get worse. The gang arrived and I felt a little guilty at having dampened the last night's party (cause God knows I'm the life of the party). Hank and I looked at his GoPro video and some other stuff before I finally passed out, feeling like I had a stomach full of lead.
The Route:
