We have been very busy traveling through central Mexico and have had little time to write in the blog and when we have had the time, we've had no internet. So I will try to catch you all up on the happenings with us.We left San Carlos after an excellent week and headed south along the Pacific coast making our first stop in Los Mochis for the night at an AutoMotel.
In Mexico we are finding that the most cost effective places to stay, when we don't have a host, are the AutoMotels. AutoMotels are your basic hooker motels where the standard rate is quoted at 8 hours (usually between 200 -300 pesos or about $15-$23). They have no amenities to speak of and the rooms are very basic, just a bed and bathroom and a T.V. and A/C. The nice thing about them is that they are all about privacy, meaning that you drive in through a gate, usually just speak to someone through a speaker like a drive-through at McDonalds and you have your own garage to park in (I would guess it's so your spouse can't see your car there) so the motorcycle has been safe from prying eyes and wandering hands.
From Los Mochis we continued south again the next morning, making it as far a Mazatlan before it began to get dark and we again shacked up in an AutoMotel right off of the main highway. After checking in to our motel we decided we would jump a bus and head to the hotel strip down by the beach to grab some dinner and check out the scene. We chowed down some excellent tacos and decided it would be appropriate, to walk down Mazatlan's Malecon, what we would call the Boardwalk only it was a nice, wide, well lighted concrete walkway. A very nice walk with plenty of interesting people watching. Overall, Mazatlan just felt like it was a giant tourist trap. Everything is much more expensive than we have encountered thus far and I felt like people were waiting to prey upon us if we let down our guard. We were definitely getting out of town in the morning.

From Mazatlan we continued down the coast to Puerto Valllarta. The road south to Puerto Vallarta takes you away from the coast and up into the mountains through a city called Tepic. It is in Tepic that we encountered our first sub-one hundred degree day in almost 3 weeks. It was a beautiful 80 degrees and we did enjoy it thoroughly.

Now, up until this point we have been on a major highway which has given us the option to either take the free road or the toll road. The toll roads can add up quickly as there are toll booths frequently and you can easily accumulate $10-$15 worth of tolls in a matter of hours but they do offer quick passage from place to place. They are well maintained, free from topes because they circumvent all of the small towns (pueblitos) and they provide free roadside assistance as an added benefit provided by the toll. The free roads are still in fairly good condition but do pass through every single little tiny town you ever imagined possible and these town are riddled with topes ranging in size from tiny little plastic bumps about the size of hockey pucks to topes the size of tabletop ramps similar to what you would find on a motocross track. The topes are intended to slow vehicle traffic providing safer pedestrian crossings and they are very efficient at this task, bringing traffic to a snail's pace. Some of these topes are clearly marked with signage and painted yellow or white, others provide no warning whatsoever and if you are not vigilant you can conceivably jump your motorcycle or car 20 to 30 feet through the air (as Brooke, Brian and I found out when we rented a car to go from Cancun to Chichen Itza a few years back)! Imagine a scene from the Dukes of Hazzard, the famous car chase in Bullit or the scene in Ferris Bueler's Day Off when the parking garage attendants take the Ferrari out for a joy ride. Fortunately the bike is made for such unforeseen dangers and the skid plate I mounted under it has passed the test thus far.

On our way from Tepic to Puerto Vallarta we met a couple from San Francisco, also motorcycle adventurers, riding a Ural with a sidecar (Ural motorcycles look like what you would see the German troops riding in WW2 movies, basically displaying the technology and reliability of the 1950’s Harleys). We had seen them ride by us in San Carlos and were quite surprised to cross paths again. We chatted briefly as we pulled up beside them in traffic and I inquired about the Ural and he told me he had already broken down five times since departing on their trip. There is definitely something to be said for the reliability of Japanese made motorcycles and proper maintenance as we have yet to encounter a single problem with “Chingona”.

I suppose this is as good a time as any to explain the name “Chingona”. Up until this point the bike has had no name and we have been trying to think of one but have had no revelation until we were stopped for gas. A man approached us, looking the bike up and down with great interest, he was clearly a motorcycle aficionado. We answered a few of his questions about the bike and before departing all he had to say was “chingona”, which means “badass” in Spanish. We thought it was a fitting name and have since adopted it.

So, on our way from Tepic to Puerto Vallarta there was no toll road and the road we were on was narrow, had no shoulder, and cut a path through steep mountainsides, up and down through the valleys. It was a splendid ride up until we experienced our first rainfall in weeks. It was no typical afternoon shower like you would enjoy on a hot day in Denver. This was a torrential downpour of the likes that can dump 2”-3” of rain in an hour! We had no choice but to keep riding as there was no shoulder and the visibility was so poor that even travelling at approximately 10 mph there was little time to pull off of the road in the event we could find a flat spot suitable to stop the bike. Eventually we spotted the lights of police car that had stopped to assist a stranded motorist and it provided enough warning distance for us to stop so we could wait for the rain to lighten up. At this point even the best “waterproof” riding gear was no match for the precipitation and we were soaked. After the rain eased up we continued on for about an hour and we were happy to get to Puerto Vallarta, find another AutoMotel and begin the process of drying out our gear.

Vallarta is still, clearly, a popular tourist destination but it doesn’t have the same feeling of being constantly stalked by predators that I felt in Mazatlan. I’m sure the average tourist that goes to Vallarta doesn’t get to see city from the same perspective that we did and that is unfortunate. Sure, there is the typical hotel strip along the beach and all the same restaurants and tourist attractions; however, Vallarta is skirted by beautiful subtropical forest and mountains which give it a much more exotic ambiance. The drive from Puerto Vallarta to Mayto, our next destination, is a feast for the eyes. The perfectly paved road closely follows the coastline revealing spectacular cliff-side views and awe inspiring homes, hotels and restaurants. Absolutely gorgeous drive!

Leaving the desert, finally!

Stopped for gas on the way to Tepic.

Just about to rain outside Tepic.

Just one amazing view from the road on our way from Puerto Vallarta to Mayto.