We took a ferry across the bay of California to Los Mochis. We wanted to see copper canyon, via train. We thought it might be nice to get off the bike for a while and sit back, relax, and ride trough some amazing territory on a slightly larger steel horse.
 

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By train or motorcycle, the ride to Copper Canyon was fantastic. It looked like what the Grand Canyon would look like if in a tropical environment. The countless tunnels and small villages added to the overall charm.
 

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But after Copper Canyon we got back on the bike to explore around on two wheels. Being huge fans of archeological sites and ruins, we sought out everyone we could find.
 

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Above is Chichen Itza, the first world wonder checked off my list
 

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Above is Chacchoben
 

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Above is Teotihuacan

We made our way south following the coast to Mazatlán, then took an amazing road from Durango into Zacatecas that had 60+ bridges and tunnels to cut in and around the magical landscape. I was enjoying the ruins as we travelled along, and some of the medium size cities were quaint and cute, but the majority of the time it just felt like we were riding from one small town to another that burned garbage in the streets while being stuck behind trucks and cars emitting so much carbon pollution from their exhaust that it would have killed Captain Planet dead in his tracks. Don't get me wrong, I truly enjoy riding around in different countries, but there is a large culture shock that goes along with it.
 

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Things I learned about Mexico:

• It’s not as dangerous as many Americans will tell you it is. Take the fear mongering news and statistics with a grain of salt. And as always, travel smart, keep your adventures for the daytime, don’t be flashy with your wealth, learn a bit of Spanish, and listen to your intuition, and your stay in Mexico should be just as magical as ours was.
• The coast is hot and humid of course, but many parts of the country can get pretty cold in the winter time because of their high elevation. Guadalajara is practically at the same height as Denver (a mile high) and Mexico City lies much higher at 7,350 ft. (2,240 meters). Central Mexico can be quite mountainous and beautiful, not to be missed, but bring a jacket.

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A little of the bad:

• Topes! These are speed bumps, and Mexico is full of them. They have big ones, little ones, practically invisible ones, ones with no signage, and even ones that have signs for them but aren’t even there… very sneaky.
• Tolls, tolls, tolls, and they are not cheap and come about every half hour or so on the major toll roads. As we were crossing Mexico, we averaged about seven tolls a day adding up to about $10-$15 dollars total! And for many of them you have to wait in line - one toll took us more than a half hour to get through. Extremely frustrating!
• Trash along every highway and popular spot, be it a forest, desert, gorgeous shoreline, or even the “Save the Environment” festival going on in San Felipe, which seemed to be just another excuse to throw plastic bags, styrofoam cups, and bottles into the ocean. Very sad. This is not just a problem that Mexico faces, and it could be due to a lack of education, or perhaps a lack of enforcing fines for littering, or a lack of garbage pickup services, or simply a sign of poverty. But I think Mexico’s government needs to rethink how to tackle the garbage that is polluting its natural beauty.
• Not being able to throw toilet paper into toilets anymore. Why has the rest of the world not figured this out yet?
• And finally, the worst of all things that we encountered in Mexico were the police who pull you over simply looking to extort money from you. I understand that they don’t get paid much and are doing a difficult job, but taking bribes through tricks and lies by abusing their power as police officers is unacceptable in my opinion, and it certainly does not give their country a good reputation to visitors. The horrors of going through these experiences where I am being threatened by the police for simply being foreign (because the locals often get away with breaking the laws) will be something I never forget about Mexico. I’m not saying that my country is any better in their treatment to Mexicans in the US, and it may be argued that we are much worse, but it isn’t right whoever is doing it. I believe that bribes and corruption and prejudiced enforcing of laws is always wrong.

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Overall, despite its few setbacks, Northern and Central Mexico was certainly a magical place that we enjoyed thoroughly.

Videos: 
Mexico Part 1
Mexico Part 2

Up next: The Yucatan, Belize, and into Guatemala.

Author of 'Maiden Voyage: The Prequel to The Adventure of a Lifetime' motorcycle adventure book